“Okay, so here’s what we know,” Alex says, looking over his notes. “Greg Russo, cousin to the Costanza brothers, fled to Las Vegas two years ago after their shared grandfather died. He met Luna soon after, and they had a relationship. Fast forward a year, and Luna leaves Greg because he’s abusing her. She flees the state and ends up here in Boston—unknowingly putting herself in arm's reach of her abuser. Greg finds her, kidnaps her, and that brings us to now.” Alex presses play on the video.
The scene continues, and Greg tells her she owes him money, or the Costanzas will sell her to every gangster in Boston. “They are going to sex traffic her.” Everything Luna worked to get away from was being thrown at her again, and it’s my fault.
“They plan to auction her off,” Alex says, pulling out a white card from under the stack of papers on his desk. “I got this invitation a few days ago, it’s for tonight. I wasn’t going to go because it’s not my type of business, but the Costanzas are hosting aget-togetherfor some of the city's elite criminals. I’ve heard about these parties before; their grandfather was notorious for putting them on, so it seems they are keeping the family tradition alive after his death, or they are just desperate for money. Greg made it sound like they had this planned, whether she would pay them or not. This is why I told you to stay away, Dante.” Alex says, pinching the bridge of his nose.
“Where will the party be? If I can get to her before—”
“No, Dante, that’s not how this is going to work. The little fantasy land in your head you live in most of the time doesn’t exist. They know you’ll come for her.” Alex pauses, “Before you arrived, I talked to my informant…he said they sent someone to trail you after the trade off to find out where you lived, but you didn’t go home, did you?” Alex drops his hand and turns to me.
It feels like all the air leaves the room. “No…I–I didn’t. I went back to Luna’s.”
Alex looks down at his desk and back up tomeet my stare. His face is serious. “You made some significant missteps, and now they have your girl, someone they were looking for. You led Greg right to her, and now you’re going to let me buy her from this auction—”
“I will not let Luna get on a stage and be sold like livestock!” I roar, the darkness threatening to take over.
Alex slams his hands on his desk in a fit of rage. “She has no choice; you took that away from her when you decided to choose for her! She didn’t ask to be a part of this, Dante. You made that choice for her! Your inability to see that will get her killed.” Alex shakes his head, closing his eyes, taking a deep breath, and cracking his neck. “As I was saying, youwilllet me buy her, and to pay me back, I’m going to need a return on my investment. I’ll let you take out the Cosantazas one by one, however you see fit, as long as you doeverythingby the book tonight. I will not let you go in guns blazing and put her and my men in more danger.”
“But Alex, you don’t understand she–”
“I don’t care, Dante. This is your fault; let it be the wake-up call you need. My informant should be calling any minute with an update, and then I’m going to hand the phone to you, and you’re going to explain the plan to Luna so she complies, and doesn’t get herself killed while she waits for us.”
A feeling of grief hits me so hard it fills my soul, and everything feels like it's closing in on me. “Luna will hate me.” I try to swallow, but my mouth's gone dry.
“Maybe it’s what you deserve.”
Alex and I stare at each other as I let his words settle. He’s right. It’s what I deserve, I’ve said as much myself, but hearing it from someone else is like a dagger to the heart.
I don’t deserve, Luna. I need to fix this situation and get her to safety, but after that, I’ll—I’ll leave her alone. I’ll make everything right, and then I’ll stay away for good, because that’s what Luna deserves. She deserves a life in the light, not tainted by darkness.
I give Alex a slight nod, and I see his shoulders relax a bit. His phone starts to ring, and a bitter tastefloods my mouth at the sound. “Talk…Mhmm. Got it. Put her on the phone.” Alex leans across the desk, handing his phone over to me, “Here’s your chance.”
I take the phone from his hand and put it to my ear. Luna’s soft crying is the first thing I hear, and I grit my teeth. “Luna? Can you hear me?”
“Dante?” Luna’s sniffling stops, and my eyes fill with tears at the sound of my name on her lips.
“It’s me, angel. Listen, I need you to listen to me very carefully, okay? We don’t have enough time to talk properly, but I’m so sorry about everything, and I’m going to get you out. I have a friend who’s going to help you, but listen to me, angel, it’s going to look bad before it’s better. I just need you to be strong, okay? You can do that for me. I know you can.” I shudder, letting out a shaking breath. I don’t want to tell her, but I have to; she needs to know. “ Luna, you’re going to be sold at an event tonight, but my friend is going to buy you, and you’ll be safe after that, I promise, angel.”
There’s silence on the other end. I feel like I can’t breathe, and there's no air left in the room to help me. “Was any of it real for you?” Luna says, her voice barely louder than a whisper.
Tears slip down the bridge of my nose. “Angel, it still is real for me. It will always be real for me, which is why, after everything is over, I’ll let you walk away from me forever. I’ll let you live out the rest of your life in peace because…Te iubesc, Elena.”
“Times up,” a male voice says, and the line goes dead. I swallow hard and hand Alex his phone back.
“We’ll leave soon. Get suited up downstairs in the armory; you’ll have to fit the part of my security.”
Luna
The dark waters that pulled me under give way to light. My eyes flutter open, my vision still blurry, but I make out two people standing in front of me. I try to sit up, but a hand on my chest roughly pushes me back down.
“Stop! I just administered the reversal drug. It’s normal behavior, she will hmmm hmhmmm ten minutes mmmhm mmmh new location.” I only picked up half of what they said. I think it’s a woman, a nurse maybe? She gave me a reversal drug? I don’t hear anything else as a new wave of exhaustion hits me, and my vision fades again.
I snap awake, my vision clear this time, but with a massive headache. I reach up, touching my arm, the skin sore and tender. I blink, bringing the room I’m in into focus, and I’m in what looks like an office. Whoever was in here with me is gone now as I look around the room. I’m lying on a brown leather couch, across from me is a big oak desk with intricate carvings of a woodland scene. There’s a door on the far side of the room, but I don’t dare move from this couch.
The gravity of my situation settles deep in my bones, and hopelessness fills my core as I stare at the beautiful carvings.
Greg kidnapped me, and he plans to sell me to men for money. I shouldn’t be surprised. Many times when he had me cowering on the floor, he would threaten to sell me or threaten to have men come over to rape me for money. But he never went through with it.
I guess he’s had a change of heart since then and is desperate.
