ChapterOne
Something died in my mouth.
Even worse. Whatever it was, ate something that didn’t agree with it, it emptied the contents of its stomach onto my tongue, and then died. Its body then decomposed in my mouth. I couldn’t remember the last time I’d woken up in this bad of a shape.
Pain radiated through my body. As I attempted to take a full deep breath, it stuttered out of my mouth. A moan of pain left my dry lips as I tried to open my eyes. The light in the room was way too fucking bright, and it sent a piercing sharp pain through my head.
What the fuck happened?
I tried to remember what I did to cause myself so much pain. Flashes of meeting Jasper and arguing with Dom and Angel played in my mind. I’d gotten a lead on the shipment of girls Gio was accepting and went to intercept them. After that everything was blank.
Forcing my eyes open, I fought back the bile rising in the back of my throat. A couple of deep breaths through my nose settled my stomach enough for me to open my eyes a crack. A blurry film coated my eyes. I went to lift my hands to rub my eyes, hoping to clear my vision, but found my hands strapped down.
My brain was quick to come back online. Blinking my eyes rapidly to clear them, I pulled on my other arm and attempted to move my legs. The pain in my torso didn’t matter anymore. I found myself strapped to a metal chair.
I couldn’t help but appreciate the symmetry of the situation I found myself in. It wasn’t too long ago, I tied Lewis to a chair naked, tortured him for information, and then killed him. Looking down at my body, I was a little relieved to find I wasn’t completely naked.
A bandage was wrapped around my body from just above my breasts to just below my belly button. The black tong I’d put on before leaving the house to head to the docks was the only thing covering my lower half though. So, I wasn’t completely naked, but I wasn’t far from it.
It was interesting that I found myself here, since I couldn’t remember what happened at the docks. However, I wanted to know who the fuck brought me here. It wasn’t hard to guess. I’d gone to the docks to steal Gio’s shipment of girls. His men capturing me was the only conclusion.
My mind immediately wondered if Nico and his boys were here. If they had anything to do with my capture. I wasn’t holding out much hope for the chance of keeping them in the dark about who I was. The struggles of the last few months were all for nothing if they did know about me. It didn’t really matter right now.
Looking around the dark room, there wasn’t much I could see. Most of the room was shrouded in darkness and shadows. A single bare bulb hung from the ceiling above my head, illuminating the space where I sat tied to the chair. It was bright as fuck and made my pounding head hurt even more. The light sensitivity making my stomach churn.
Experimentally, I pulled on the zip ties around my arms and legs. That was a bad idea. Whatever was going on under the bandages wrapped around my stomach hurt with every tug and pull. I felt as if my intestines were attempting to leave my body and go on the run. The bandages felt rough and abrasive on the sensitive skin of my abdomen.
Squeezing my eyes shut, I tried to calm the turbulent roll of my stomach. Fighting the pain that wanted to drag me back down into unconsciousness, I tried to replay what happened at the docks. I could remember being at the apartment with Jasper and my uncle. I could remember getting there and fighting our way to the container where the girls were being held. I even remember fighting with Angel and Dom when they arrived. Everything after that was nothing but a black empty void.
I couldn’t remember seeing the girls, getting them to the safety that awaited them with Porter, or what happened to Jasper. My lack of memory bothered me more than waking up in the precarious situation I found myself in. I could handle whatever was going to happen in the dark room, but I couldn’t handle not knowing what happened to those girls.
Inspecting the bindings that tied my hands down to the chair arms, I allowed myself to be a little impressed. I didn’t have a centimeter of slack. I wouldn’t be getting out of the bindings until someone else removed them.
The haze of sleep had left my mind a little foggy, and the pain of my headache left it throbbing, but the moment I heard the muffled rumble of voices I became focused and sharp. The sounds were coming from right in front of me. That told me where the door was. The different pitches and tones of the voices also told me there were at least three people standing in the other room or hallway.
It seemed it was time to get started on my interrogation.
I wasn’t under the impression it was going to be anything other than that. They were going to attempt to get as much information from me as they could, by whatever means were necessary.
When I started my journey to get revenge for the death of my parents, I knew getting caught was a possible outcome. It was something that I had to plan and prepare for. As long as they didn’t come in and simply shot me between the eyes, then I could survive this. Since they took the time to patch me up from whatever happened to me on the boat, I doubted they were going to put a bullet in my head without attempting to get any information from me first.
The squeak of hinges bounced off the walls of the room. Holding my breath, I listened for how long it took for the sound to echo back. The room wasn’t that large. Probably no bigger than a storage closet. From the darkness that filled the room on all sides of me, I was hazarding a guess there weren't any windows either. The scent of sweat and grease filled the room as the door swung open into the room.
I could see the silhouettes of three men, just as I suspected. The dim lighting from the outside room helps keep their identities hidden.
Not that it mattered.
I knew my Valentino boys.
Cole, Nico, and Dante moved into the room. No one spoke as the door was closed and they were shut into the darkness. It was an intimidation tactic that wasn’t going to work on me. I was more than willing to admit that I was worried about how this was all going to shake out.
I always had a plan. Always knew every outcome, assessed every exit strategy of any situation I found myself in. Yet here I was. I was strapped to a chair, basically naked, with my guts basically falling out. I have no idea who put me here, how I arrived, and the men that I'd been playing with for the last four months are staring at me from the darkness.
I didn't know how much of my secret they knew, but they knew I'd been on their cargo ship. I'd been coming after them. They at least knew I'd been after something. I wouldn’t be here if they didn’t.
However, I refused to show them any of the anxiety that I was feeling as I waited for them to approach me.
“I knew there was something going on with you. No one shows up in our territory and pushes back against us the way you have. I’m not sure if I would’ve guessed you were attempting to sabotage us, but I knew there was more to you then you were admitting.” Nico stepped out into the light. The bright light from the bulb glinted off the white surface of my half mask he was holding in his hand that dangled at his side.