I woke up a little while ago tied to this very uncomfortable wooden chair, with my hands behind my back, and rope around my wrists and ankles. My own father did this to me.

Is he crazy?

He has to know he won't get away with this?

My husband and my brothers will come for me; I have no doubt about that. Draven isn't stupid he knows how the minds of men like Joseph Vidal work much better than most.

It's sad to think that I once thought of this man like Superman. He was my hero. I worshipped him. My daddy. When I was a little girl, he could do no wrong in my eyes even if he spent next to no time with me, even if he did hurt my mother in front of me a couple of times. Then there were all the friends he chased away because he believed them not good enough for his little girl. Then there was the boy who asked me out on a playdate when I was eleven, who got told if he didn't leave me alone he'd go home after school one day to find his whole family dead in their beds. Even that didn't change my mind about how much I loved him.

He had a way of making me see that what he did was for the best, all to protect me from all the bad in this world.

However, nothing he did was for the best. None of it was to protect me. It was all to show how powerful he was, the man who tried to have his own brother killed so that he could take over the family. The man I know murdered my mother.

The only person who ever had my best interests at heart was my brother, especially after my mother died. Don't get me wrong, she tried to show me I was just like every other little girl in the world, but Joseph never really allowed her to be like other mother's, especially when I came along. He had to be Lord and master of all things.

My mother loved me. I will never doubt that a day in my life. She made sure I knew every day that she loved me, she sang to me, read stories to me, took me shopping, told me a million times a day just how much I meant to her. However, there were times my father would drag her away from me, tell her that she shouldn't baby me, I was just a girl, after all, but my Mama never made me feel like I was just a girl. She used to tell me never to let a man make me think I was less than him. I am just as strong as any man on this earth. I've always believed it to be true.

It hurts to think my father would think so little of me that he'd do this to me. What on earth makes a man treat his own child like this? Then there's my brothers and the fact Joseph thinks nothing of them at all. He'd kill them in a heartbeat if it meant he could get what he wanted.

That's how I know he won't think twice about killing my unborn baby and me.

Talking of my baby, I'm in pain right now. My stomach is tight and cramping. I don't know if it's because I'm scared and the stress is causing it, or my baby is on the way, but this really hurts.

I'm scared out of my mind because it's too early for Jessica to be born. Just a few weeks, but still, it can't be good for her. I need to get out of here. I need to get to the hospital and get checked out. It would kill me if anything happened to my little girl. She's everything to me already.

She's going to be a very lucky little girl. She'll never know the monster in front of me because I know, either way, he'll be dead the moment the men in my life catch up with him. She's going to have the best daddy and uncles in the world.

Jett and I can't wait to meet her. She's our whole world. The little girl that binds us together. However, what if I never see him again? What if this morning was the last kiss I'll share with him?

I can't bear it. I just can't.

All I want is to close my eyes, and when I open them again, be safe in my bed with my husband's arms around me. I've tried it once or twice, I know it's not going to work, but I had hoped all of this was just one big nightmare like the ones I have back home each night.

I look around the room; Joseph is holding me in. I can tell no one has been here for a while; the wallpaper is peeling. The furniture is old and dusty, and it smells musty and stale. However, it looks like it was once a beautiful house, even if it does look like it's been abandoned for ten years.

“Why are you doing this to me?” I finally ask out of curiosity.

Joseph is sitting behind a desk to the right of the room, sitting there like he's a man three times younger than his sixty-two years. His smug smirk is getting on my nerves.

“You're the key to the empire, Maria.”

“Draven is not going to hand the family over to you. The famiglia would kill you the second you walked into that office. Why on this earth do you believe they'd be loyal to you in any way? They know what you've done. They know who you are.”

“And that is exactly why they'll follow me, little lady. Your brother has half an hour to do as I say, or –”

“What, you'll kill me?”

He laughs loudly, and my heart sinks. That's precisely what he's going to do. He's going to kill me like I'm nothing to him, but that's what I've always been to him, nothing. I know that now.

I watch him through scared eyes as he takes his phone from the inside pocket of his expensive suit jacket. I hear the ringing tone on the other end of the line the second he puts it on loudspeaker. I know whom he's calling before the person answers. “Where is she, old man?”

“Safe. For now.”

“I'm not playing games here!”

“Now, now,” Joseph laughs. “You know what I want. I warned you what would happen if you didn't come through on time. You thought I was playing? This is no game, Draven! I want what's mine.”

“Not gonna happen. You'll be dead before the nights out, and none of us will ever think about you again.”

“It's like that, is it? Well,” He walks toward me, my eyes widen. What the hell is he going to do? He strokes my hair, and I whimper. “I think your little sister was counting on living another day. Looks like he doesn't care what happens to you, princess.”

“You touch one hair on her head, and I'll rip you apart!”

“Tell your brother that you want to go home, little one. Tell him to hand over what's mine, and you can go home.” He shoves the phone at me, close to my mouth so I can speak to my brother.

There is no way on earth I will tell my brother to hand anything over to this man. He would if I asked him to, or at least, he'd make Joseph think he would. I know my brother inside and out, he always has a plan, but still, I won't say any such thing to him.

“Maria? Maria, are you okay?”

“I'm fine, Draven,” I tell him in the strongest voice I can muster. My brother taught me well over the years. There's nothing to fear but fear itself. Those who hurt us can only do so when we stop fighting. I will never stop fighting.

“Has he hurt you?” There's an urgency in his voice that I've never heard before. I want to ask him if Jett is with him, I want to hear his voice, I can draw strength from him. It might be the last time I hear Jett say anything to me. However, I won't ask. I don't have time.

Joseph grabs the back of my neck making me whimper. I didn't mean to, but he's squeezing so damn tight it hurts.

“Maria?”

“Don't give in to him, Draven. Don't even think about giving him what he wants!”

Smack!

Smack indeed. One almighty smack right across my face that sends the chair I'm in crashing to the ground. A scream erupts from me right before I hit the ground. There's a searing pain in my left arm and leg, and my stomach is screaming in pain.

I can hear my brother yelling, but I can't make out what he's saying, my head is in pain, hell, my whole body is.

“Look what you made me do, you silly, silly girl. Don't worry it'll all be over soon.”

I hope so.