TAKEN

CHAPTER ONE

AYA

Carefully prodding the dark purple blotch that spread across the right side of my face, my fingers trembled violently. My heart beat dangerously fast against my ribs, pummeling the bones while my lungs struggled to take shallow, weak breaths. Under the bright, white lights of the bathroom the person in the mirror looked disgusting and pathetic.

“Aya! Get your ass out here and clean up for my guests!” Blanching at the hoarse, brittle shout, I sucked in air through my teeth. Goosebumps formed on my bare arms and across my chest as a bolt of fear pierced my heart. I caught my own eyes in my reflection, my orbs bright and shimmering from tears that were always building but never fell. Red lined my eyelashes, and if I looked close enough I could see a faint, tiny white mark on the side of my nose.

It was the only physical scar I had. Sliding to my bruised cheek, my eyes burned as the flesh ached and throbbed. Every piece of me was tender, like a slab of chicken that had been beat until it was so thin it was see through.

Shuffling slowly from the old, run down bathroom of this decrepit apartment, my legs struggled with each small step I made. The thin board someone called a door creaked loudly as I pushed it open, and I couldn’t help but wince again. Even such an ordinary sound gyrated against my ear drums like sand paper. A thick, wet wall of heat rushed to greet me, and I gulped down the tightness in my throat.

Trevor was nowhere to be seen as I wandered through the kitchen and into the living room, but my shoulders still stiffened. His phantom touch caused my jaw and neck to tingle, a residue of his rough treatment only hours ago. Glancing around, I pursed my lips together when I spied a tray filled to over flowing with cups, spoons, and forks. Even from a few feet away the stench of cigarettes burned the tiny hairs in my nostrils.

My skin crawled all the way up my arm to my shoulder when I picked up the tray. The smell of spoiled milk and beer wafted up, forcing me to close my eyes for a second. Refusing even to breathe, I set the tableware on the counter next to the sink and resisted the urge to wipe my hands on myself.

Glancing down, I shuddered lightly as disgust swept me in its embrace once more. My shirt had been stained when Trevor bought it second hand, and now it didn’t have a single speck of white left on it.

Just like me. Dirty. Used. Tainted. Twisting at the thoughts, my face throbbed before I shook my head hard. Reaching for the faucet, I ignored the pressure that built behind my eyes as I tried to bottle up what I was feeling. Water gurgled from the faucet, but even that was brown and stank of sewage.

Holding my breath, I washed each dish under freezing cold water. Cuts slit open the thin skin covering my fingers, as if the water had turned to ice after leaving the spout. Globs of old drinks splashed up onto my shirt, and my throat tightened with the urge to gag.

“Don’t fuck this up for me, Aya. You understand?” Stiffening at the hot whisper against my ear, I bit my bottom lip hard as my head bopped automatically. Trevor’s greasy fingers groped my backside, and his breath was heavy as it flowed down my bruised jaw. “Good. You wouldn’t want a repeat of this morning, right?”

The threat hung heavy against my already abused face, and I shook my head. Stringy, dirty, red hair flopped over my shoulders, and I couldn’t move a single muscle until Trevor released me with a groan. My mind turned slowly, my heart hammering against its cage as my thoughts made themselves known.

These guests were important to Trevor, but Trevor wasn’t important to anyone. My brows came together at that, and I gently put a spoon in the drain with blue tinted fingers. He wasn’t even drinking; that was how important this was to him.

When my hands stretched but felt nothing I turned off the tap, leaning on the sink to stare at the drain. Even the clean dishes weren’t clean; there were still blotches of caked on food and liquid rings. For a moment I basked in the knowledge that I didn’t have to use any of it. Trevor had called me disgusting once, forcing me to eat with my hands.

Stepping away from the sink, I closed my eyes for a moment to savor the silence. My tormentor was even too nervous to pace, his usual stomping absent on the rickety floors.

A sharp knock on the door made Trevor curse, and for once I really, truly looked at him. His tousled, dark brown hair didn’t give off that sexy, just rolled out of bed look. Instead it was greasy and shiny, like he couldn’t be bothered to wash it when he showered. It framed what could’ve been a handsome face if he stopped scratching his thick blotches of acne. I was shorter than him by no more than five inches, and an almost foreign feeling settled in my gut.

He’d ‘cleaned up’ for this meeting, too.

Flinging the door open, Trevor’s hefty form tensed at what was on the other side. Watching from the kitchen, my feet ached to rock onto my toes as curiosity burned through my eye sockets.

“M- Mr. Callipicci!” Higher than normal, Trevor’s squeal made me wince as it speared my brain. Holding tight, my lungs seemed to shrink inside my chest as he stumbled back from the door. The barrel of a silenced gun forced him back, and my eyes widened at the absolutely monstrous form that squeezed through the door frame.

The man had to be well over six feet tall, a pure behemoth; he was so tall he had to duck to fit underneath the archway. A black t-shirt his taut shoulders roped in muscles, but the short caps had been ripped off. His face was shadowed in the beginnings of a beard, and his head capped in short, styled, dark hair

“Trevor, you cockroach.” It wasn’t the brute of a male that spoke, and I tore my eyes off him to watch a shorter, leaner figure saunter through the door. This new man wore a suit, with a nice tie and his hair slicked back stylishly. His voice held a playfulness to it, and a tremor lodged between my shoulder blades as he offered a cocky smirk. “So, I heard you’re doing business with the Russians, cazzo idiota.”

No one had noticed me yet; I probably looked like the rest of the house- dingy, dirty, brown. Holding my breath as Trevor stammered stupidly, I ignored the pounding against my skull and the shrill warning sounds that had created it. My legs shook, abdomen clenching tightly, and I wrapped my arms around myself. Trevor tripped over the edge of the torn, decaying sofa with a loud thump, his gaze never wavering from the gun pointed at his forehead.

“Wh- what are you t- talking about? I would never betray you- never. You… you have my word!” The shorter of the two men grimaced, slowly shaking his head at Trevor’s babbling.

“Your word is about as reliable scotch tape, Trevor. Not to mention I would never take your word over proof from my spies in the Russian mafia. Why would they lie to me about you- a worm they’ve never had the inclination to know? No- I don’t trust you one bit, cazzo idiota. So you’re going to tell me everything you know and did for those red bastards, and in exchange I’ll have Luciano go easy on you.”

Turning my gaze back to the beast that stood, rigid, next to his boss, I sucked in air at the orbs that stared back at me. The rich brown color swirled, taking in everything in a single glance even as it left my skin feeling tight. He moved so languidly, never taking his eyes from mine, that I didn’t notice his bulging muscles flex.

I barely noticed the chink sound that reverberated around the room.

The floorboards under my feet buckled, and only then could I tear my gaze from Luciano’s. Trevor’s body disappeared over the front of the couch, and I rolled my lower lip between my teeth. Gazing at the spot where he’d just been, my eyes blurred as my brain started to fry trying to process what had just happened.

“Ragazza di fuoco-” Jumping back, my hands flew to my chest as my heart threatened to squeeze through my ribs. The smaller of the two men stood only a few feet from me, his hands raised in surrender. “Relax… relax. I won’t shoot you.”

Thick cotton built up inside my mouth, and I choked on the lump that formed in my throat. Backing up, my feet scraped against the wood as my knees knocked together. Every step I took back, the man followed, and a whimper wiggled through the crevices of my blocked airway when my butt hit the sink.

“Don’t be scared. You’re free to go now.” Taking a large step to the side, he swept his arm out before opening his mouth again. “You should leave before the police get here.”

My eyes flickered between the two of them, but the rest of my body refused to move. Nothing came to mind; no command or wimpy thought, or even the notion that this man was really going to let me go.

Flying to Luciano, my eyes instantly sought the gun he still held in his hand. No. No. I’m not free. The thoughts bubbled up like hot tar in my mind; this man would shoot me as soon as stepped a single foot. Shaking my head, I couldn’t hide my shudder as my hair slipped along my skin.

“Do you understand English? Capisci l'italiano?” Inching back, I ignored the questions the man was asking me to glance at the giant behind him. Luciano’s steps were heavy, hard, forcing the floorboards to creek and groan under his weight. Pushing past his boss roughly, he took the space between us in three strides. Frozen, my foot poised to take another step back, I couldn’t even blink as this monster glared down at me.

Leaning down, Luciano grunted in my face before his lip curled back to reveal perfect, straight, white teeth. Grabbing my neck, his tight grip drew a gasp from my lips before he straightened.

“Tell me your name.” The deep, rough timbre that wrapped around me sapped the heat from the room. So close, the little hairs on my face stood up as Luciano’s breath rushed down my cheeks. My feet still touched the floor, but his grip was suffocating. Those tears that had never wanted to fall before suddenly broke free of my lashes, and I took a shallow, gasping breath.

“A- Ay-ya…” Choking on what little sound I could get out, my lungs burned as black spots assaulted my vision. Before me Luciano tossed his head, but his expression was lost to me as my eyes rolled in their sockets.