Page 10 of The Don's Captor


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“When I was thirteen, I got horrible pain in my right thigh. Everyone said it was growing pains. But then I started to get nosebleeds and bruises from nothing. I would wake up and there would be new ones on me. Finally, the doctors sent me to a specialist, and it came back that I had bone cancer. I had to go through surgery, chemo and radiation.

“The doctors said the same thing: the chemo and radiation would destroy my eggs. I could never get pregnant. I have had to make peace with never having a child for fourteen years. And by some miracle, I got pregnant, and the rest you know.”

“I had no idea. Dom doesn’t get full medical backgrounds on his targets. He doesn’t care what could happen if they aren't on drugs. I’m sorry you have to go through this.”

He was sorry, but he wasn’t going to be doing anything to stop it, either. He was a soldier and would follow his orders like a good little boy. I was on my own. It was up to me to come up with an escape plan. But maybe, just maybe, I had found a weak spot in Armando that I could exploit; that might be all I need.

Chapter ten

Armando

I was still reeling from my conversation with Natalie hours prior. I knew it hadn’t changed anything. There was nothing Natalie could say that would ever change things. Dom was never going to let her go. He was never going to let the baby go. Still, it made me feel more like an asshole that I was guarding her, keeping her trapped here. I couldn’t change that either, or technically I could but I was not about to let one of the other guys watch over her.

They would treat her like shit and try to sleep with her every chance they got. I couldn’t save her from her fate, but I could make sure she was at least safe here while she was forced to be here. That didn’t ease the guilt eating at my stomach. For fourteen years, she never thought she would be able to have children and then she gets a miracle, only for it to be ripped away from her. If it wasn’t for Alexis, I would do something. I would take Natalie and get her someplace safe, but I can’t do that. I can’t let Alexis’ death go unpunished.

My thoughts were interrupted when the front door opened. I looked over and saw Gabriele coming in. He was going to watch Natalie while I took care of her father. I was actually looking forward to killing him. It would not only get her justice but allow me to release some of the tension that had been building up within me.

“How goes it, brother?” Gabriele asked as he went and collapsed down into one of the chairs in the living room.

“Not bad, you?”

“Can’t complain. Talked to the guys back home. Everything is holding down.”

When Gabriele and I left New York, I had to leave it in the capable hands of my third in charge, Andrea. He was a bit of a meathead but able to follow instructions. I had left him very detailed instructions on how to handle everything. So far, it had been going really well, and when all of this was over and done with, I was going to owe him a massive bonus.

At first, I had been worried about how well the guys would do without me there running things. I had expected that there would be some men that wanted to throw a coup while I was away handling this, but surprisingly, everyone was content to stay where they were. I didn’t run my mafia faction the same way as the majority did. I took care of my men, even the lower-ranking ones.

If your workers are happy, they would have no reason to turn against you, either with the law or internally. I had their respect and not just their fear. I had gotten shit for it over the years, especially when I had first started. It was not how my dad ran things, but I didn’t want to rule that way. I didn’t want to kill half of my men off just because one dared to whisper about something being unfair. I wanted their loyalty, respect, and appreciation, all of which I had been able to accomplish.

“Good. I want to be done within the next nine months and back there.”

I knew that was putting us on a tight deadline, mainly because we had been doing this for three years, and we were both finally in a position of power within this faction. Still, we would have to make it work. I wasn’t going to be doing this again. And if I could finish this before Natalie’s baby comes into this world, that would be icing on the cake.

“It’s not going to be easy. Why the change? You were thrilled to wait for the right opportunity to present itself.”

“Things change,” I said with a slight shrug.

“Come on, Mando, don’t give me that bullshit. I’ve known you too fucking long to know that you don’t change your mind like this ever. What is going on?”

“We’ve been here for three years. It’s already taken longer than it was supposed to. It’s time to get back home.”

And it was time to get back home. I had initially thought this would only take six months, a year maybe, but it was three years in, and we were still nowhere with killing Dom. I was done waiting. It was time we forced an opportunity to take him out. Gabriele stared at me; I hated when he did this. He had a way of looking at you like he could see right into your soul. It freaked me the fuck out.

“It’s the girl, isn’t it? Don’t tell me you have gone sweet for her.” A disapproving tone was dripping from his voice.

“She had bone cancer when she was thirteen. She’s been told that she could never have children practically for half of her life. Then one day, she finds out a miracle has happened and she’s pregnant. Now we’re going to rip that baby away from her.”

There was no point in lying to him. There's no point in playing it off like it didn’t bother me. It did fucking bother me. It bothered me a lot, and I didn’t know if I could do this. I knew I had to, but it would haunt me for the rest of my life, more so than anything else I had ever done. If I could get justice for Alexis and save Natalie and her baby, I had to try, even if it killed me.

“And that is terrible, but that doesn’t make her any different from the previous women before her. You’ve never had a problem doing this. You know why we’re doing this.”

“You’re damn fucking right. I know why. The other women, most of them were asking for it. The ones that weren’t, the ones traded by their family, were hard to get through. I had to bury their bodies. We stood by and did nothing. Who the fuck knows where their babies end up and what sort of life they will have. Natalie she’s different. She didn’t ask for this. She didn’t ask for a piece of shit, father. She had any hope of having a child ripped away from her at just thirteen, and now she has a miracle and we’re supposed to take it from her and move on with our lives?”

I have hated this mission since I arrived here three years ago. I was fully prepared to bury bodies and kill people. I was not prepared for a baby-making factory with slaves. But I pushed through it because my hatred for Dom was strong enough to get me to the end. Every time I look into Natalie’s eyes, I feel that strength wavering.

Maybe it was because she reminded me so much of Alexis, the way she was strong-minded and stubborn. How she was brave even when she was terrified. The fire in her. Maybe it was suicide to rush things, but if I could get revenge and justice for Alexis while saving Natalie and her baby, I had to try.

“So, now you want to save her. What if we can’t?” he asked with great patience.

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