Gio’s interrogation lasts for a few hours. He yells, screams, and threatens everyone I love, dangling them in front of me. But I don’t give in. My resolve to protect Ginny to the end stays strong. Even as his fist connects with my face then my stomach, I keep my resolve. Not getting what he wants, Gio leaves my room, leaving me in a painful silence of the tears that I hid from him. Tears would have meant he won, and I wouldn’t give him the satisfaction. Not one wet drop of emotional exhaustion and fear would fall for him.

I will not give in. There’s too much at stake if I do.

My mind shuts off the horrors happening on the outside, and I focus on happier times.

I think of Ginny first. She is the spark that keeps me going. My life would be lost for hers. That much I knew. Despite how hard my brother would fight for me, I was willing to lose it for her. Ginny has so much life left to live, and she deserves to have a chance at it. Her childhood may have put her into this precarious and life-threatening series of events, but I could change that. Her life was so much more important than mine. I imagine her future. Her being so happy and peaceful. She will find love, and start a family. I cling to those imaginative dreams, until they too fade away.

Voodoo soon follows. No matter how hard I want to push him away, his face slips back into my mind. His smile beaming down on me in a loving embrace settles my nerves, as I focus on his face, and not Gio’s. I should be furious at him, but as I feel my life slipping away by the minute, I find that I can’t. Like Ginny, he is a beacon of hope in such a hopeless situation. I know he’s out there looking for me with everything that he has. Just like my brother and the club. Yet Voodoo’s devotion to saving me would be much stronger than a familial bond. His drive was powered by love, and that trumps all. I just hope that if I somehow survive this that I get the chance to tell him that I forgive him.

The foreign man who tied me up returns a short time later with a glass of water and a plate of food that resembles dog food. He shoves it on the floor in front of me, and shuts the door behind him. I peer down at the meal in front of me, and though my stomach retches at the thought of consuming, I can’t ignore the hunger pains. The only problem is that I’m still tied to this fucking chair.

Ideas float in my mind like clouds in the sky, but there’s only one solution to this problem. Planting my feet firmly to the ground, I lift the chair and lean forward, letting my weight take me off balance. My body hits the cement floor with a thud, and pain floods my left side. It wasn’t the best idea, but it was all I had. I scoot to the best of my ability, until the glass of water and plate are directly in front of my face. I nudge the glass until it topples over, spilling the content in front of me. My tongue slips from my mouth as I lick the water like dog from the dirty floor. The wetness coats my throat, relieving the pain from days of thirst. I lick as much as I can, before turning to the food. The smell is enough to take away any chances of eating it. The glistening slime atop the brown lump of mush disgusts me. Even the thought of it makes my stomach turn the longer I look at it. The growls radiating from my stomach scream to eat it and take away the hunger pains, but I can’t. It will only come back up. It’s better to starve, than to taste the foulness presented in front of me.

I slide and scoot myself away from it, until the legs of the chair hit the edge of the bed. I lay like that for hours, slipping in and out of sleep, until the door clangs open with a bang against the wall.

“Well now,” Gio’s voice calls out. “Someone was thirsty.”

His brown loafers step around the plate and toppled glass, stopping in front of me. I crane my neck up to look at him, as he smiles down at me.

“You weren’t hungry, Presley?” he teases, before turning to the plate and then back to me. “And Alpo spent such a long time preparing that cuisine for you. You’re disrespecting my hospitality.”

Dog food. The fucker was trying to serve me dog food. I’m so glad that I didn’t eat it now.

“What do you want, Gio? I’m not going to tell you anything. I thought you’d have realized that by now. Starve me, beat me, or do what you want. It won’t change anything.”

His hands grip the back of the chair and toss me upright like I was a weightless being. He was strong, but I had already figured that out by the velocity of the jabs he delivered to my stomach. He took no pity on me as woman. Gio is a heartless, soul-sucking monster, and is currently shoving his nose right in my face.

“Such strength you have, my dear. It’s almost endearing. But the clear fact remains that you’re nothing to me. I have all the information I could ever want sitting back in my office. Bios on your family, your friends, your nieces and nephews who you think are safely tucked away in Arizona. We know everything about you.”

“If you have everything you need on me, then why are you torturing me?”

“For pleasure, of course,” he declares, smiling like one of V’s movie villains. He means what he says. If I had balls, he’d be holding them right now. But why if he has that information has he not charged the compound and taken what he wants? The realization hits me. He doesn’t know that Ginny is there. The only thing he knows is that I was there. That’s the piece he doesn’t have one hundred percent certainty on. He’s trying to appeal to my feminine weakness to try to get me to slip up. That will not be happening.

Gio rotates quickly, heading back to the door. He abruptly stops.

“On second thought. You might rather enjoy what I’m about to do. Ricliss!” he calls out. “Bring her along.”

The hulking form of one of the guards bursts though the door. He pulls a small silver knife from his pocket, popping it right in front of my face. I flinch in terror. I can defend myself against mental attacks, but physical ones are a different story.

Ricliss grins, as he uses the blade to cut the ropes binding feet, leaving the binds wrapped around my hands. Using the rope as a leash, he jerks me upright, and my legs falter underneath me. They tingle and burn, as feeling and blood return to my lower limbs. Ricliss doesn’t wait for me to get my bearings. His strength is over-powering. He practically drags me from the room and into the hallway, like a dog who refuses to walk.

Plain gray colored walls line the corridor. I try to memorize each twist and turn that we take, but I lose count. We pass a series of doors just like the one I came out of. Gio and his family have built a fortress with enough cells to hold more than twenty people just in this hallway alone. These were sick men who killed for pleasure and territories. Why it surprises me to find this kind of place in their possession is lost on me. Sick men often have twisted realities. These men were no different. Ricliss and Gio chatter like two teens at the mall as they walk. The language is still foreign to me. I should have paid more attention, during my language studies in school.

Ricliss shoves me forward into an open doorway. I crash to the floor in a heap. My eyes peer up from the ground to find dozens of men staring back, including the old man who was in my cell the day I woke up. His face is unchanging, as Ricliss picks me up again, jerking me into a chair. He pulls a small roll of duct tape from his pocket. The knife he used to cut me free returns, he uses it to unbind my hands. I rub my wrists, trying to get the blood back into them, but he uses the duct tape to bind them to chair.

“Stay there, and shut up,” Gio whispers into my ear. “If you don’t, I’ll gut you.”

His threat hits home, and I comply.

“Gentlemen, shall we?” the older man asks at the head of the table. Gio moves beside him, and presses a button on the table. The sound of a dial tone fills the room with the dialing of a phone number after it. It rings and rings, until a voice finally answers.

“Hello,” the voice on the other side of the line answers.

 

It’s Michael. This is what my purpose was for them.

“Good afternoon, Michael,” Gio nearly sings. “You’re a hard man to find my friend.”

 

“I take it this is Gio Zezza,” Mikey calmly growls.

The men in the room look around, grinning at each other like they’ve won an award. Gio leans down closer to the speaker.

“So, you know who I am, and I presume then that you know what I want. Yes?”

“Yes,” he hisses. “You want the girl.”

“That’s right. I seem to have something in my possession that you might also want.”

“Is she alive?” Mikey inquires. He’s playing this smart. This isn’t his first rodeo dealing with murderers and thieves. Proof of life is the first thing you need to establish, when dealing with kidnapping. That much I had learned from watching my father. The dead are of no value. The living were worth a hundred times that.

“I want to make you a deal,” Gio offers. “The girl for your sister.”

No, Mikey. Don’t do it. Please, I’m not worth Ginny’s life.

I squirm and my chair squeaks, as I do. Gio’s eyes flash up to me. His finger cuts across his throat, as a warning to shut up.

“You’ll have to be more specific. We have a lot of girls around here. You in the market for pussy?” Mikey deflects. Good. Keep him talking. V is no doubt on the other side of the call trying to trace it. My heart skips a beat, when I think of his face listening to this all go down. Is he thinking about me?

“Don’t be daft, Mr. Sanders. You know damn well what girl I’m talking about. Your sister’s travelling companion. She’s told us oh so much about her.”

Lie. My brother has to know that.

“I want proof of life, before we discuss the particulars.”

Gio looks to me.

Shit. What do I say?

“She’s right here, Michael. Why don’t you say hello?”

“Presley?” his voice shakes. “Are you okay?”

I remain silent, until Gio nods.

“Mikey,” I cry out.

I can hear his sigh over the phone in relief. He thought the worse, and I just put his fears to rest.

“Don’t do this, Mikey,” I beg him. Gio’s face flashes with rage. He nearly runs from the end of the table toward me. His hand flies backwards in the air and comes down in a fist across my face, as he throws a haymaker. I feel bones crack under the force of it. Blood cascades from his fist onto the floor next to me. My mouth fills with the disgusting metallic taste. I spit it out onto his pristine floor, and return to look up at Gio.

You will not break me.

“Shut up,” he yells. “You know the consequences.”

“Don’t touch her.” I hear V’s voice break through from the other side of the call. “Don’t you fucking touch her.”

“Shut up,” my brother hisses to him. Hearing his voice sets my spirit on fire.

“Don’t trade her for me,” I yell again, bracing for the hit that comes with my insubordination of Gio’s only command. His strike this time is harder, knocking the air right out of my lungs.

“Stop!” Mikey yells. “We’ll agree to the trade.”

“Coming to your senses. That’s much better. I’ll send you a location.”

“No. You’ll come to me, and I want to see my sister, before the trade. Up close.”

“And why do you think that I would agree to that?” Gio huffs, returning to the head of the table with my blood dripping from his knuckles. “Do you think that I’m stupid enough to come on your turf?”

“Our turf or no deal.

He’s leveling the playing field. Home turf advantage will put them in a well-protected and secluded area. He can control it, even if he can’t control the rest of the situation. My brother knows that I’m ready to die, but he won’t give up on the chance to save me. His stubborn pride will fight, until the last drop of his blood spills to the ground. Yet he’s still angling for something as the conversation continues. What is he hiding?

“I have a stipulation, if I agree to this. My men can search your grounds. No guns. No cops. The clubhouse will be empty and the girl outside. Do you agree to these terms?” Silence fills the room for what seems like an eternity.

“Do you agree?” Gio asks again.

“I agree. Tomorrow at noon.” Mikey concedes, before the line goes dead.

The room of men all erupt in a joyful glee. Each of them has smiles plastered on their faces a mile long. Celebrating their victory of wills over my brother. Gio stalks back toward me, and grabs my face with his hand. The pain shoots from my open wounds on my face, as he brings me to look him in the eye.

“Tomorrow, we get the girl, then kill your brother’s club in front of you. You will watch, until every one of them is dead, then it will be your turn.”