Chapter 30

Josie

I rolled my neck, trying to get the cramps to go away. Being tied to a chair was not a comfortable situation at all, and that was exactly what had happened to me when I got there. The car had been pulled around the back of a deli of some sort, and Harry had grabbed me out of the trunk, dragging me inside with her hand over my mouth. They took me through the meat lockers and into a small room off of the office where they tied me to a chair and tied my arms around my back. The place smelled terrible, like rotting meat and old food, which was making my stomach turn. It didn’t help that my arms and legs had gone numb, and the ropes were tied especially tight. There was literally no way that I was going to get out of that chair, and even if I did, with the way my legs were feeling, I would hit the ground before I could take two steps. The panic in my chest was gone for the moment, but I knew that eventually, it would return.

They had all ignored me so far, walking past me without even so much as a glance. Harry had come in and given me some water, but before I could swallow, she shoved my chair hard, sending me toppling over. She picked me back up and laughed before leaving the room again. I knew it was only a matter of time before they came back in. They were waiting for someone, and I could only assume it was Paulie. I hated that guy with a passion, and I spent the long hours thinking about what I would do to him if I had the chance. He had taken everything from me, and now, he had me right where he wanted me.

By now, I assumed that Blaine had caught on to the fact that I wasn’t home. I knew that he would come looking for me, going to any lengths necessary to find me, but that wasn’t what I wanted. I left to keep him safe, and the last thing I wanted was for him to walk straight into the fire. I figured it was going to be difficult to find me, but being who he was, he had a lot of contacts. But I loved him so much, and I didn’t want to see anything happen to him, even if it meant that I met my end at the hands of the mob. He was stubborn, though, and I knew that eventually he would track me down. I just hoped he didn’t come alone. No one could take on the mob on their own, especially not the kind-hearted man that Blaine was. I was sure his partner, Anderson, would let him know that, but that didn’t mean Blaine would actually listen to him.

I sat there for a bit longer before hearing voices out in the front. I recognized the new one immediately as Paulie, and I shifted in my chair as much as I could, knowing he was coming for me. As the door to the room flung open, I squinted my eyes, the light blinding me after sitting in the dark space for so long. Standing in the doorway was Paulie, wearing an extremely evil grin and rubbing his hands together in front of himself. He was dressed just like I thought a sleazy gangster would, with a nice suit and slicked back, black hair. Harry was standing behind him, a grin covering her face. There was that fear again, creeping slowly back into my chest.

“I don’t appreciate your little stunt earlier, trying to escape,” he said, walking into the room. “What? You think because Daddy is dead, that gets you off the hook? No, we collect debts whether the guy is dead or alive. And you, my dear, are the next in line. We set this all up pretty and perfect, and you are making it very difficult for us. We don’t like that and neither does my father.”

I shook the chair, pulling hard on my arms as Paulie watched and laughed. I gritted my teeth and took in a deep breath, trying to be careful of what I was going to say next. I needed him to get pissed, but not so pissed he put a bullet in my head.

“I was going to turn myself in,” I said. “But you stopped me.”

“Yeah, right,” Paulie said, laughing and looking back at Harry. “You were gonna go in there and sing like a canary. I am not as stupid as you think I am, little lady.”

I watched as he began to move toward me, his shiny leather shoes tapping on the concrete floor. I looked around the room for the first time since I had gotten there and realized this wasn’t some stock room. By the looks of the stains on the floors and the fact that I was sitting right on top of a drain, this room had a less savory purpose that I really didn’t want to find out about. He stopped and smiled as I continued to smile.

“You should calm down,” he said, laughing. “I’ve got plans for you.”

I wriggled a bit more in the chair and watched as he waited for me to stop. I wasn’t going to go down like that. It wasn’t in my plans. I had a lot of goals, but being murdered by a gangster was not one of them. He stepped forward a bit more so the light was shining on his face. He reached his foot up and slammed it in my lap. I groaned and stopped moving, looking up at him in anger.

“You’re going to kill yourself,” he said. “Too distraught over the life that you took, you felt so ashamed and terrible that you just couldn’t go on anymore.”

“I’ll never write a letter like that,” I yelled out defiantly.

“Oh, you will,” Paulie said, laughing. “And it will be the most poetic letter you’ve ever written. And if you don’t, I’m going to make sure that when they find your body, they have to put you back together like a fucking puzzle. And I like to take the non-vital parts first.”

“Screw you,” I said.

Paulie and Harry laughed, standing in the light coming from the office. I cringed as he barked loudly at me, my natural instincts telling me to hide. I picked my head back up and stared at him angrily as he got really close to me. He ran his finger down my cheek, down my neck, and across my chest, stopping at the buttons to my blouse. Slowly, he began to unbutton my top, one at a time. I squirmed, trying to make it harder for him to get to me. I could smell his disgusting breath and bad cologne, and it was almost choking me. He laughed loudly as I rocked the chair back and forth, desperate to keep his hands off of me. Just the thought of that man touching my skin made me want to vomit. He leaned his head back and laughed loudly, signaling to Harry to come over and hold me down. She put her hands on my shoulders and held me firmly in place as he leaned back down. I gathered all the spit in my mouth and spat on him, right in the face.

I watched as he reared back, wiping away the saliva that was running down his cheek. He shook his head, laughing, an angry face shining between smiles. I looked up at him, gritting my teeth, and watched as he reared back and slapped me hard across the cheek with the back of his hand. Before I could lift my head back up, he had shoved his hand down my shirt and started fondling my breasts. I struggled to get free, but Harry had me pinned down. I screamed out, tears filling my eyes.

“Stop,” I cried. “Get your fucking hands off me you disgusting pig.”

Before I knew it, he was slapping me again. Only this time, he didn’t stop after one. Over and over, I felt his hands alternating sides, colliding with my face and sending spit and blood spewing from my mouth. Every time I picked my head back up and faced him angrily, he hit me, and every time, he hit me just a little harder until I could no longer speak. My brain became fuzzy, and I felt his hands on my body, but I was unable to do or say anything. My face was throbbing, and I could feel my lip bleeding, the warm blood running down my chin. I groaned slightly but stopped, knowing I couldn’t take much more of the abuse. As my vision cleared a bit, I leaned my head backward and sighed, looking up at Harry.

All she did was just stand there, looking in the other direction as Paulie sexually assaulted me. I didn’t know how far this would go, but I knew if I spoke up, he would continue to beat me. I could taste the blood in my mouth, and I swallowed, almost ready to spit on him again. The pain was unbearable though, and I told myself that it wasn’t a surprise. I knew this was coming the entire way to the deli in the trunk of that car. I knew that I was going to face some hard things, but I also knew I had to be tough. In all likelihood, I would be dead by the end of this, but that didn’t mean that I was going to go out without a fight. Paulie was a sick fuck with a fetish for molesting his prisoners, and if I could have, I would have gotten out of that chair and cut his dick off just for spite, but that wasn’t an option. I was faced with the decision to either fight and be in pain before I died, or accept my fate and take whatever was coming my way.

I closed my eyes and thought about Blaine and how he had such a charming smile. I let my mind wander to the day we walked on the beach, hand in hand. I thought about the first time I heard him tell me that he loved me, and the feeling I felt inside when those words came out of him. There was nothing in the world I wanted more than to be in his arms. Well, that was a lie. I wanted him to be safe more than anything. So, I sat there accepting the fate that had befallen me, blocking out the pain and feelings of my physical body. I turned my focus inward. I thought about being a child and playing sports with my father in the front yard. I thought about the friends I had at school and all the students that loved me so much. I let my wander to each and every happy moment in my life, knowing that from that moment on, there would be no more. I knew that I was going to die, and before I died, I would suffer unimaginable pain, but it was okay because my family gave me the strength to close my eyes and block it all out.

When my thoughts turned back to Blaine, all I could think about was how grateful I was that he would get to move on from this. I was grateful that he’d realized his dreams and that he was determined to follow them, and not for me, but for his own self-interest. I was thankful for the time that I got to spend with him, and how I had, for the first time in my life, and the last time, found out what true love was really like.