“Keep an eye on her. She’s feisty,” my kidnapper says before I hear his footsteps retreating.
I look around the room. There’s a window, but there are bars over it, so I can’t climb to safety. It’s high, but I push the bed against the wall and open it anyway. I can’t see past the garden. It’s well kept, obviously, to keep up appearances. I can’t see anything further, but I can smell seawater and hear the ocean’s waves crashing against an unseen shore. I wonder if there’s a way I can get out and get to the beach, there’ll be people there who could help me.
I sit back on the bed. This wouldn’t have happened if my father wasn’t who he was. I rue the fact that we can’t be a normal family who does ordinary things. Even the other children I grew up with are involved in this sort of life, some moved to New York to start afresh, but I know they will always have ties to the mafia. There’s no escaping the family.
I wanted to come to New York to study, so when my father said I could go on a trip here, I was excited. I was even more excited when he told me a few days ago that he was coming up for a meeting. He may be a mobster, but he’s still my father, and I love him, my mother, and my siblings dearly.
I think about all the life lessons my father has taught me about what to do in situations like this, and I can’t help but try and formulate some sort of escape plan. I know my father will send someone to find me. He won’t let Jose just take me even though he practically owns our family.
My great-grandmother married Jose’s Great Uncle, and we were tied to the Catalans through that marriage. I know my father is resentful of it. He always says we could be a more remarkable family if we didn’t have to follow Jose’s orders.
I don’t care. I want out of this mobster life. I want my own future, to make my own choices. That’s exactly what I’m going to do now.
I get up and stride to the door, knocking. “Excuse me?”
The door unlocks, and I step back as it opens. “Hi, sorry to bother you, but I need the bathroom.”
“Don’t try anything stupid,” he says, patting the gun in his holster on his side.
I shake my head. “I’m not stupid.”
He takes my arms and guides me down the hallway to a room a few yards away. He opens the door and lets me in. “Be quick.”
I shut the door and looked around. It’s disgusting here. The toilet obviously stopped flushing years ago, and the sink is moldy and dirty.
There is no window, so there’s no way to escape. The guard has a gun, so I can’t exactly walk out and then run away.
I grimace and open the door. “Well, that was disgusting.”
“It’s not your royal palace,” the guard says, taking my arm again.
“I know, it’s just…I’m going off to Jose, and I’ll never be able to do anything I want to again.” I sigh dramatically. “Like I’m still a virgin. I don’t want to lose my virginity to him.”
The guard eyes me out. I can see he isn’t sure whether he believes me or not, and I slap his arm. “Are you questioning my honor?”
The guard looks admonished. “No, it’s… Just get back in the room.”
“If you come with me, if you promise to be gentle, you could make my last free day a memorable one,” I say seductively, stroking his chest.
He shoves me back into the room and shuts the door. I sit down on the bed, disappointed. I try to think of another way out when the door opens again, and he hurries in, shutting it behind him. “We do this quick. If the boss finds out, I’m dead.”
I smile and get up, sauntering over to him. “He’ll never know.”
I put my arms on his shoulder, and steeling myself, I kiss him deeply, moaning softly as I press my body against his, angling it just right. He groans softly back, but before he can even wrap his arms around me, I bring my knee up with as much force as I can muster, using my hands on his shoulders to pull my leg up hard. It connects with his groin, and he cries out, cupping his balls instinctively. I quickly pull his gun out of the holster. It’s heavier than the ones I’ve held before, and I use both hands to swing it at his head.
He goes down, groaning. He’s not out, but he’ll be incapacitated long enough for me to get out.
I hurry through the door, locking it behind me. I hold onto the gun tightly and quickly go down the hallway. I pause at the end and peek around the corner. A guard is walking with his back to me. I doubt I could take him out.
He then turns down another hallway, and I creep down after him, crossing that hallway quickly and making a beeline for the exit.
As an explosion rocks the world above me, I quickly hide in a closet near the stairs. There are shouts and the sound of gunfire upstairs. I hear footsteps running past the door, and I wait with baited breaths.
My father must have sent someone to get me, and they mean business.
Chapter 3 - Dominic
It’s simple. I choose a motorbike because losing people on a bike is easier. You can get to places that no one else can. I don’t bother with a helmet. If you’re wasting time trying to put one on, you’re giving the enemy a chance to shoot you.