I pull up our uncle’s number and hover over the dial pad.
“I have an idea,” I say, and the wheels in my head are spinning.
“What is it?” Carmine asks.
“Just follow my lead. Someone use something as a gag on my sister. Just tight enough to seem real. Rose, I need you to scream and cuss me out like you’ve never screamed and cussed me out before,” I instruct them.
“Gag, is that necessary? Ugh, okay, I get it,” Rosalie huffs and plops her ass down on the couch. Tiberi grabs a scarf from nearby and wraps it around Rosalie’s head and places it into her mouth far too efficiently. I wonder briefly if he enjoys doing that.
I press Eivor’s number and wait for it to ring. It only rings twice before he picks up.
“Rosalie, you’re in serious trouble, young lady, what the hell do you think you’re—” I cut him off.
“Eivor, how nice to hear your voice,” I tell him through grit teeth.
Rosalie starts screaming muffled through the gag and swearing at me in words that I don’t understand. She even kicks her feet and acts like her arms are tied behind her back.
“Soren,” Eivor says on the other end. “I knew you couldn’t do it. I knew you’d betray this family.”
“Frankly, I don’t give a fuck what you want right now, Uncle,” I tell him honestly, but I play it up a bit more by making my voice calm and casual. “You tried to kill me. I don’t like being threatened. Especially not by my own fucking family.”
My jaw tightens and my eyes stay glued to Rosalie, who is putting on a very good show.
“What’s going on over there? Where is Rosalie?” he asks me, suddenly seeming to process the background noise.
I mimic smacking myself in the face to Rosalie who slaps herself in the face and makes a sound of pain in response.
“She’s in a bit of a bind,” I tell him. “You see. You might care ‘bout the bitch, but I always thought I could do better.”
“You get your hands off her, Soren. She’s your sister,” he shouts at me over the phone. “She’s not part of this!”
“Isn’t she? You tried to kill me, Eivor. Not just me, but Carmine. You want to kill their entire family and you’re willing to kill your own nephew. How sad is that?” I’m glaring at the wallbeside Rosalie’s head now. She is panting for breath and trying to get her energy back up, but I can tell it’s difficult.
I step closer to her and reach a hand out to her, as if to ask for permission. She nods, her eyes burning with emotion. I know she wants to sell this as much as I do.
I grab her by the back of the hair and yank her head back. She yelps. A real genuine sound.
“Let her go,” Eivor demands.
“No, I don’t think I will. I don’t think we will,” I tell him. “Six men here, one woman. What do you think is gonna happen, Eivor?” I smirk. Trying to sell the emotion in my words.
“What’s going on?” my aunt says in the background.
“Oh, you can tell Aunt Patricia that we’ve kidnapped Rosalie,” I tell him calmly. I smack my own sister across the face hard enough for it to make a noise and her to grunt in pain and hiss in irritation.
“Stupid bitch,” I spit at her.
“You’ll let her go, or you’ll die,” Eivor threatens me.
“Oh, no, you can’t use that one again, Eivor,” I remind him. “You’re already after my head. I have nothin’ to lose.”
I chuckle and shove Rosalie down onto the couch. I make a motion with my hand trying to get her to amp it up. She starts pretending to cry and beg. The sounds are muffled into the couch. My stomach feels sick, but there’s also a part of me that enjoys what’s happening right now. The dark and sick twisted part of me that wants to see pain and suffering.
I shove it down and focus on only what the point of this is.
The real man I want to see pain and suffering from.
“Soren,” Eivor’s voice is frantic. “Rose is innocent.”
