Deadly Vows - Chapter 35 (Patreon)

Luca

“This way, sir.” Alexander’s maid is leading me through the dark halls of his home. Miserable doesn’t even begin to describe how I feel. And walking through this guy’s home makes it even worse. I have never met someone that lacks such … personality.

Alexander and I grew up together, and we hate each other— that’s a fact. He isn’t a part of the Mafia, but he does play a huge part in all our wars. He is a dirty bastard that likes to see people fall. Including my family. He has been behind countless schemes that have had to do with us being set back.

We checked the surveillance footage and found nothing, but we did get a list of people that were at that auction, and Alexander is one of them. I pray he doesn’t have Elise. He is known for brutality. Not just to people, but to the women he owns. He is merciless. More often than not sending them to the hospital. I have to calm my breathing. Just thinking of him laying a finger on her makes my blood boil.

As I make my way to his office, I look around me to see if there is anything out of place. Any indication that she is here.

The door to his office is cracked, and I step in. He is waiting for me, standing in front of his desk. A smile that doesn’t reach his eyes appears on his face.

“Hello, Mr. Pasquino. I see you still haven’t acquired any manners.”

I roll my eyes at his tone.

“To what do I owe the pleasure of this visit?”

“I’m sure you’ve heard. My wife has been kidnapped.” I watch his reaction. He doesn’t even flinch. He clicks his tongue at me.

“You should be more cautious with your wife, Luca. You know this is a dangerous world we live in.” He has a look of amusement on his face. I want to punch him so bad.

“She was in that auction you were at about two months ago.

Did you happen to see her? Or anyone that bought her?”

He cocks his eyebrow as if in thought. “No.”

I can feel my anger flaring at his blatant lie. I have to calm myself down. If I blow it, then Elise’s whereabouts will slip right through my fingers. I decide to bluff.

“Really? Well, we know you were one of the contenders of the private auction.”

He shrugs his shoulders. “So? Why don’t you go ask the other contenders? I wasn’t the only one there.”

I bite my jaw in irritation. “We are. I have my men at the others’ homes as we speak.”

He leans on the desk, crossing his arms. “Are you sure you can trust your family, Luca? I mean, it was your family that helped that traitor Stefano almost kill you. Can’t say I’m not disappointed.” He smiles at me. If there was ever a time I needed to keep my temper in check, now would be it. I have to keep reminding myself that this is for Elise. He gets a look in his eye as he senses my irritation.

“You know, now that I think of it, I did see your wife.” His smile grows wider as he speaks. “You should have seen her there. With that dark-red lingerie on. She did look good enough to fuck. I did try to buy her, but someone else paid a heavier price. Seems they wanted her even with your god-awful name carved into her milky flesh.” He laughs, pushing himself off the table.

“Too bad I couldn’t get ahold of her. I would have enjoyed beating her within an inch of her life.”

I don’t even think; I am flying toward him. I love the feeling of my fist smashing into the side of his face. As he stumbles, I press my forearm into his throat and pull my gun out, pressing the steel against his forehead, the rage I have been fighting so hard to keep contained blowing up.

“If I fucking find out you had anything to do with her being taken away from me, I will fucking find you and kill you in the worst way possible.”

His eyes flash beyond my shoulder toward the ground and back up to mine, a cruel smile creeping onto his face. “Well, let’s hope you find her before anything bad happens.”

There is blood coming out of his mouth, and I can see a bruise already forming on his cheek where I punched him. I glare at him one more second before pushing off him roughly and walking to exit the room. I keep looking for any signs or clues, but nothing stands out.

I yank the door, and it slams behind me as I leave the office. Then I hear a banging. Just three hard hits that come from within the office. They sound muffled through the door. I turn around and stare at the door. He must be angry from me attacking him and hit his desk or wall out of frustration. As quickly as it starts, the sound stops. I walk past the dining room, remembering my way out. I glance in there as I see a body moving. It’s the maid. She is clearing the plates from the table. As in two plates. Hmmm.

I open the door, stepping out into the cold. The fucking bastard lives up in the mountains, away from everyone. So if there is something he is hiding, he is in the perfect place for it. I step into my car, driving away. I have a feeling he is hiding something. Pretty soon I will have to leave this search to my men, because I have to resume my duties as capo. That is the last thing I want to do. I have to find Elise.

Elise

Bang bang bang.

“Luca, please!” I am shouting in desperation and pain.

My hand is bloodied and filled with splinters. It is also throbbing in unbearable pain. I am pretty sure the bone is chipped or something. I slam the wood against the ceiling above my head. I can only pray that Luca can hear me. The hatch to the trapdoor opens quickly, and I breathe a sigh of relief. Which immediately turns into fear. Alexander opens the hatch. He looks at the missing step and at me in irritation. I then notice there is a bruise forming on his cheek.

“You almost had him.” He smiles at me. He steps down into the room, and when he gets close to me, he yanks the plank out of my hand. He looks ready to throw it, but then he pauses as he looks at it and gets an idea. His gaze travels down my body to my hand.

“Wow, you went through a lot of trouble to get this done, didn’t you?” He laughs at my predicament.

Tears of frustration fill my eyes, and I look back at him with hate in my gaze.

“Luca is going to find out you kept me hidden here, and he’s going to kill you slowly, and painfully.”

He looks at me for a moment before rubbing his jaw.

“Funny, your husband said the same thing.” His eyes travel to the shackle around my wrist, which is now burning and seeping blood. A slow smile spreads its way across his face.

“How about we make good use of that shackle?”

* * * * *

Alexander likes to keep me literally near him at all hours of the day. When he conducts business in his office, when he showers, when he eats. Even if he is just reading a book, he makes me sit near him. He always watches me. He even forces me to eat. I lost all hope when Luca left. He didn’t hear me. If I had been a second earlier, he would have been in the room and I would have been saved when he heard me banging against the ceiling. Now that he’s come here, I have no hope of him coming back through.

I stand in the bathroom, looking at myself in the mirror. I have gotten smaller. I look sick. There are hideous welts and bruises all over my skin. There are bandages around my hand from beating it bloody, trying to break that plank to hit against the ceiling. I drop my gaze to my stomach. There is a tiny bulge there. If I didn’t know what is going on, I would think it is a fat bulge from eating, but it isn’t. It’s a baby. My baby. I slowly bring a hand to my stomach, rubbing over the small life that is now growing inside of me.

Not only do I have myself to worry about, but my unborn child as well. I have no idea how I am going to protect him or her when I can barely protect myself.

I jump, as there is a loud bang on the door.

“Elise, you’ve been in there long enough.” Alexander’s voice comes through. I quickly open the door, and he is standing right in the doorway.

“Can I please have some actual clothes to wear? I’m starting to show,” I ask. I keep my eyes trained on the floor; I don’t want to look into his evil face. I am tired of walking around half-naked. I tried once to wear one of his shirts, and that is a big no-no.

I feel his fingers under my chin, and he roughly jerks my face up to meet his gaze.

“Don’t look away when speaking to me. I thought we already went over that.”

A shiver runs up my spine. We have. And just thinking about that punishment makes me want to vomit. He grabs me by the arm, walking me into his bedroom. He closes the door behind him, engulfing us in darkness.

“Wait, Alexander, I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have asked. Please don’t hurt me.” I am quaking in fear.

He doesn’t make a sound. I suddenly feel him behind me, running his hands down my body. He pushes my hair out of the way and drops kisses on my throat.

“You want clothes? You’re going to have to earn them.”

I feel pressure on my shoulder and slowly begin to kneel as he pushes me to the ground. My eyes widen as I realize what it is he wants. I immediately jump up from the floor.

“No!” No sooner have the words left my lips than I feel his hand around my throat.

“What did you fucking say to me?”

I struggle as hard as I can to get the words out. “I … said … no …” I feel the rush of air and land hard on the bed. Before I can move, he is crawling on top of me.

As I lie in bed that night with the pain of new bruises, I feel anger boiling up inside of me. Alexander has his arms wrapped around me, keeping me pulled into his front. All this because I asked for a pair of clothes. It was a reasonable question. All the men in this world are the same. Crazy, lust-driven monsters. I will be damned if I let my child be born and raised in this house. I am going to get out of here. No matter what. For the sake of my unborn child.

* * * * *

Survival—It’s something I’ve never had to do really. I’ve just existed. I would just beg and try to stay out of the way. But now is the time for me to be brave and stop depending on other people. I never speak; I just listen and do what Alexander says. I can’t put my child at risk by angering him. The thing is that he never leaves the house. He is always here. And he doesn’t trust me enough to roam around by myself. Even when I go to the bathroom, he shows up, telling me I am taking too long.

So on the rare occasions he lets me stay in my own room, I sacrifice sleep to scope out this place. I only need to find the cars, the keys, and the things I can use as a weapon. He has no guards, and only two people work here. The maid and the cook. I never see the cook. And the maid tries to steer clear of me all the time. Even if I can get something of his, I will have to hide it in a room, because he only lets me wear lingerie. I can’t hide it anywhere on my body.

I also start to take notes of Alexander’s habits. He works on things some days, and some days he just relaxes. He never does anything on the same schedule. The only time he ever lets his guard down is when he is asleep next to me. Killing him is going to be the hardest thing I will ever have to do. Nearly impossible. But if I want to get out of here, I will have to make it work.