"Not long."
She took a deep breath as she glanced around the cell. "Some coffee? With cream and sugar? And maybe some water? I'm not really hungry."
I thought about making her something anyway, but what I had to do shouldn't take more than a few hours. With a nod, I left the room to get her drinks, taking the time to clear my head. When I came back, I slid them along the floor through the bars.
"Tristan?"
"Yes?"
She stared at me for a long time, but then she just shook her head and looked away. "Nothing. Never mind."
The only thing I heard in her voice was…hopelessness.
CHAPTER 14
Tristan
Islowly opened my eyes, wincing at the pounding in my head. The world around me spun and my stomach lurched. I swallowed hard as I tried to take in my surroundings. I was in an unfamiliar room, lying on my back on a black leather couch. It was dark, lit only by a dim overhead light, but I could make out white walls and a cement floor. The air was damp and cold, and something was scratching inside the wall behind me. The sound was abnormally loud in the silent room.
The last thing I remembered was leaving the drop I'd made for Luca before lunch. How the fuck did I get here?
I looked down at myself. My suit jacket was unbuttoned, revealing my black dress shirt. My gun was gone, as was my knife. I patted my pants pocket. My phone wasn't there either, though that wasn't really a surprise. Lifting the sides of my jacket, I noticed the corner of something sticking out of the inside pocket. Pulling it out, I stared at the photo of Luna and her brother.
My lungs seized in my chest as the day's events came rushing back. I'd made the drop because Luca and Enzo were meeting with the other mafia bosses a few hours away. As a long-time capo, Gino was required to attend, so Luca thought it would be better if I wasn't there and sent me to meet his contact with the cartel, an old friend of Luca's who posed little risk. Before going back to the house, and knowing Luna's father would be occupied elsewhere, I went to Gino's. Our world was built on fragile alliances and power plays, and Gino was about to make one against Luca. We all knew it. I thought I would look around a bit and see what I could find, and while I was there, I'd grab anything I might have missed the first time for Luna before.
Gino's cars were gone from the driveway, but I parked a block away, just in case. As always, sneaking onto the grounds was easy. Squatting down behind a clump of brush at the edge of the front yard, I watched the house. No one came or went other than a guard out front. It appeared deserted.
Still, I used caution as I made my way to the back of the house where Luna's room was located. It was risky coming here in the middle of the day, but no riskier than at night when Gino and his men were home. I knew for a fact he only had a few security cameras, and I avoided them easily as I made my way to the back of the house and snuck into Luna's room through the window.
I found her old cell phone in the nightstand drawer and smashed it on the floor, tossing the pieces into the trashcan in the bathroom. I was sure Gino would use it to track her if I took it with me. Underneath it was the picture of Luna and her brother she'd mentioned when I'd brought her clothes to her. She was young in the photo, maybe nine. She stood next to her younger brother, one arm thrown over his shoulders. They were both grinning with the innocence of children who hadn't been thrownout into the world yet. It was probably taken right before their mother had died. Staring down at her sweet face, I realized this was what I'd come for. It would make her happy to have it back. I tucked it into the inside pocket of my suit jacket.
I made one last sweep of the room and went to the window. My phone vibrated in my pocket, and I paused to respond to Luca so I could let him know the drop had gone down without any issues, then I dropped it back into my pants pocket. One leg was out of the window, when suddenly a wet cloth was pressed to my face, and I breathed in the sickly-sweet smell of chemicals. I froze as strong arms tightened around me, trapping my arms. I tried not to breathe. I tried to fight back. But the shock of someone's arms around me had locked my muscles down in terror. The last thing I remembered was hearing Gino's voice giving orders, and then there was nothing but darkness.
He wasn't at the meeting with Luca. He'd been waiting.
For me.
Taking stock of my body, I didn't find any injuries, so I slid off the couch on shaky legs and crept slowly towards the door. I paused with my hand on the knob, straining to hear any sounds on the other side. Silence. Holding my breath, I tried the knob. It was locked.
I started to make my way around the room, looking for any other way out. There were no windows. Nothing I could use as a weapon. The only furniture was the couch I'd been lying on.
Staggering over to it, I flipped it over, looking for something I could use to pick the lock on the door. Tearing the protective fabric away, I studied the coiled springs. I didn't think about what would happen to me if I was still here when he returned. IfI knew Gino, and I did, it wouldn't be a quick death. Especially not for me. I needed to get out of here.
But I wasn't fast enough.
The spring I was working on was just starting to loosen when I heard a key in the lock. Straightening, I spun around as four of Gino's men preceded him into the room.
He was dressed in black slacks and a pullover black shirt, the sleeves pushed up to reveal his forearms. In one hand, he held a whip. In the other, he held my knife. His eyes traveled over me slowly, with too much familiarity, before coming back to my face. "Hello, Tristan."
And with those two simple words, my blood froze in my veins as I was transported back, back, back to a room much like this one. I shook my head violently as screams filled my ears, but I couldn't tell if they were coming from me or just the demons in my head. I wasn't that child anymore. This wasn't that room.
Yet, I couldn't move as two of his men walked on either side of me and swiftly righted the couch, then joined the other two as they wrestled me down and stripped off my clothes.
The picture fell onto the floor. I couldn't take my eyes from it as the four men forced me to the back wall and chained my wrists to metal hooks on the ceiling. It was the only thing keeping me the slightest bit sane.
Until Gino walked over and picked up the photo.
I screamed and cursed at him to leave it alone, my fractured mind somehow associating Luna to the photo of her.
