I stay with the girls for a while longer, talking about the wedding and the parts they'll play in it. Of course, they're both going to be my bridesmaids. Along with God only knows how many others due to how large Draven's family is.
Brooke asked me if I'd like to join her and Maria for something to eat. I declined only because I'm not feeling all that great, and I just want to go home. I'm in the mood to relax in a hot bubble bath, soft music playing in the background, and even some scented candles burning. I'm smiling to myself in the back of the car. My head is tilted back against the leather seat as Stefano drives me home. I'm not sure where Tom is, but Stefano said he had an errand to run and I'd be safe with him.
It's strange that I'm looking forward to seeing Draven when he gets home from work tonight. I like to sit with him and hear about his day. The good parts at least, because I know he won't tell me anything else. I don't want to know the bad parts. I'd rather be ignorant to it while I can.
It seems to be taking a rather long time to get to the house. I sit straight in my seat and look out of the window beside me. Even the tinted windows can't hide the fact we're nowhere near home. “Stefano, where are we? I asked that you take me home.”
“I'm sorry, Ms. Webster, but I'm not taking you home.”
“Then where the hell are you taking me?” Panic is setting in. I know what people like Stefano are like. I've heard the stories as much as anyone else. Draven promised me he'd never let anybody hurt me. Why was I so stupid to believe a damn Mafia King?
Stefano says nothing until he pulls up outside an abandoned warehouse. I'm so scared that he's going to take me in there and kill me, I can't stop shaking. I know I need to be brave, but brave doesn't come into it when you're about to pee yourself in fear.
He opens the door and takes my arm, physically dragging me out of the car. “Stefano, please. I don't know what this is, but Draven won't be happy when he finds out.”
“Who said he didn't tell me to bring you here for this?”
I think I'm about to hyperventilate. Draven wouldn't have told this man to bring me here. Don't ask me how I know that, but something inside of me is telling me there is no way he'd put me in danger. Okay, maybe he doesn't give a damn about me, but I know our baby means the world to him. Draven would kill anyone who threatened his child, I may only be the vessel carrying said baby, but Draven wouldn't allow anything to happen to me while that baby is inside of me.
“Let go of me, you pig! Draven did not tell you to bring me here!”
Stefano laughs and ignores me. He drags me inside the cold and dirty warehouse, and my stomach is turning over. I'm going to have bruises on my arm from how hard he's holding onto me. Not that it will matter if he kills me.
I could fight against him to get away, and I may succeed enough to run for the door. He could also put a bullet in the back of my head before I even got a foot away from him. I touch my stomach and pray to God that he keep my baby safe through this. Whatever this is.
The huge room Stefano is literally dragging me through is empty, apart from the dirt and dust beneath my feet. I'm terrified that I'm walking to my death. I don't deserve this. I don't understand what I've done wrong!
Stefano ignores my pleas to let me go, and he drags me into a small room at the back of the warehouse. He pushes me through the door, and I fall to my knees. I instantly clasp my stomach because pain rushes through my body. I don't want to lose my baby; I just want to go back to Draven's house, and pack my stuff and leave. This may not be of his doing, I really hope it isn't, but I can't go through this again.
I don't even know what I'm thinking. I might not even make it out of here alive. Unless I've been brought here so they can kill my baby, threaten me with God only knows what, and then send me on my way. All I care about is this baby, and if my only way out of here with my baby alive is to run and never look back, then that's what I'll do.
“It's nice to finally meet you, Marnie.” I look up from my position on the floor. Two well-dressed men, I'd say fifty-something, stand above me. Everything about them screams power. Everything from their expensive suit and shoes, to the way their gray hair is slicked back, and especially the smell of their cologne.
Maybe they work for a rival family, and they've got Stefano on the books. Draven told me how his enemies would do anything to get to him, to make him pay for the things he's done, how better to make him pay than to kill his baby. I doubt Draven would give a damn about me, nor what happened to me. Then again, I belong to him, so he keeps telling me, and no one takes what belongs to Don Vidal.
“Who are you? What do you want from me?”
“Who we are is irrelevant. Whom you're sleeping with, and the information you have is what we're interested in.”
I narrow my eyes at him, a yelp ripping from my throat when Stefano drags me off the floor and to my feet. He pulls me to the corner of the room, and I'm trying not to scream and call these men for what they are. I don't want to give them a reason to hurt me, but they are nothing more than cowards.
I close my eyes as Stefano sits me in front of the large pipe that I can't recall the name of, and straps me to it, strapping my hands behind my back, and around my chest. I breathe in through my nose and out through my mouth, trying not to give in to the frightened tears. “Draven will kill you for this.” I hiss at Stefano.
He looks at me, and tells me quietly, “I know.”
I watch Stefano walk to the other side of the room. He leans back against the door, eyes looking anywhere but at me. I close my eyes for a second, breathing deep through my nose and out through my mouth. I'm terrified, but there's nothing I can do to get out of this.
“Now,” The older looking one of the two men says while he looks down on me. “Why don't you tell us what you know about Vidal, and don't spare us the details, girl?”
“I don't know anything. I hardly know the man.” My arms are already starting to ache in this position. I have a funny feeling they're going to keep me here, but I have a worse feeling they're going to kill me slowly.
“So what's this,” He points to my stomach. “Scotch mist?”
“None of your business. Let me out of here!” I yank on the cuff trapping my wrists.
“The Don's baby.” He smirks, the other guy laughs. “What we could do with that.”
“You stay the fuck away from my baby!” I kick out at them as hard as I can, and then instantly wish I hadn't. My stomach is screaming in protest.
“Careful,” The younger looking guy says. I wish I knew their damn names. I think I'll call this idiot Prick Two. The one who looks like he's in charge will be Prick One. “That little bundle is going to make us a lot of money.”
“Y
ou will never get your hands on my baby!” I scream only to be doused in ice water. I don't know how or who did it, but the bucket must have been hanging over my head, and someone tipped it all over me. I can't catch my breath for a moment, and the water is soaking through my clothes at a fast rate.
“Are you going to play nice?” Prick One asks. “Tell me what you know about Vidal's business, and I'll let you go. It's not a lot to ask. Is it?”
“I don't know anything about Draven's business.” My fucking teeth are chattering. I'm so cold.
“Oh, I think you do, and you've got five minutes to tell me what I want to know, or my friend here is going to show you the meaning of pain.”
“But I don't know what the fuck you want me to tell you! You've told me nothing other than, “Vidal's business,” That could mean anything. Why the hell would you think I know anything anyway?”
Prick One, bends down in front of me, a vile smirk plays on his lips. “Your boyfriend took something that belongs to us. We'd like it back. You have two choices, tell us what we want to know, or we'll keep you here until that baby is born, then we'll send your body parts back to your boyfriend after we've sold your baby on the black market.”
“I've told you, I don't know anything. Why would Draven tell me about his business?”
“Because there's something about you that weakens him.” Prick Two informs me. My eyes dart from side to side. “He took it, didn't he?”
I don't know what the hell to say to him, so I say nothing. Prick One, moves away from me in time for Prick Two to press a cattle prod to my right shoulder. I scream in agony as it shocks my body. I can't stop screaming, I'm incapacitated, and I am so scared for my baby. I don't understand why they're doing this to me!
They continue to question me about Draven's business, about any deals he may have made, about where he's hidden whatever it was he took from these people. Prick One tells me how Draven doesn't care about me, and if he did, there is no way he'd have let this happen to me. There would have been no way for them to have gotten to me at all, but they did.