by Clara Capp
“Go away,” I cry.
They’re still taking in Spanish. I have a general understanding of what they’re saying, because Italian and Spanish are very similar languages. Get the girl. Tie her up.
Two of his thugs approach me. One of them has zip ties, and the other cracks his knuckles. I throw my water bottle in a poor attempt to stop them. Sound reverberates off the metal as the hydro flask hits one of the men’s kneecaps. He curses in pain, and if I wasn’t so scared, I’d be happy I hit him.
Please come home Shu. I need you.
I keep chucking things at the men, and the man with the green eyes grows impatient with me. “Mata el gato,” he finally hisses.
“No! Leave Slippers alone!”
I release Slippers from my arms and try to push him under the bed. One of the henchmen grabs his tail and yanks him out. The man holds Slippers by the scruff of his neck, and the cat flails and hisses as he’s dangled in the air.
“Let Slippers go! I’ll come with you,” I say.
The man with the pretty eyes looks at the man holding my cat. Without saying a word, the man grabs his switchblade from his pocket, flips it open, and kills Slippers.
“No!” I screech.
Words can’t describe how cruel he was to Slippers. My cat’s beautiful white fur is now soaked red, and his blue eyes have fluttered shut. I saw human organs many times in med school, which never phased me, but the sight of my cats have me screaming.
I’m too traumatized to fight the men as they zip tie me. Slippers. He’s been my baby since I was seventeen, and now he’s gone. One of the men throws me over his shoulder and I go slack. I can’t do this.
I know Tony is dead. How can he not be? There are four of them, and one of him. And these men are far more prepared than Tony.
I’m still not prepared when I see his body. There’re multiple bullet holes through his head, and it looks like he took one to the chest, too. I let out a sob, because it’s all my fault. Tony died because he wanted to protect me.
Eduardo sent five men. Tony took one of them out, and he’s face down in a puddle of blood. I don’t feel anything as I look at his body. There is no anger, sadness, or fear. I’ve reached acceptance that I’m going to be tortured and killed.
Whoever this Eduardo is has finally gotten his wish. I’m not dead, but I wish I was. I don’t have Slippers, Tony, or Shu.
I never thought this is how it would end for me. A few months ago, I was just a quiet accountant who watched Netflix on the weekends. Now, I’ll die the pregnant girlfriend of a Mafia underboss.
I wish I was able to tell you, Shu.
Shu
“Drive fucking faster,” I scream at Taime.
The audio was muffled because Stephanie dropped the phone, but I have a pretty good idea of what went on. Eduardo came for her. With the screams she made over the phone, it sounds like he got her.
I just can’t figure out if he took her or killed her. Stephanie had been screaming then abruptly went silent. I didn’t hear any gunshots, so I’m not sure if they stabbed her, or knocked her out and took her.
Please be the latter. If she’s alive, no matter where she is, I will find her. But if she’s dead…I’ll find Eduardo. And all the things ‘The Devil’ has done to people will pale in comparison to what will happen to him.
“I’m going as fast as I can. I don’t want to draw the cops in right now.” He glances at me out of the corner of his eye as we drift around the corner. “We’re almost there.”
We abandon his car in the loading dock in front of my apartment. The two of us rush into the complex as an older woman exits the elevator, and we jump in. I press my floor number and spam the door shut button.
It is the longest elevator ride I’ve taken in my life. The light moves agonizingly slow as it ticks up each floor. I slam my fist into the wall, as if pain will make the object move faster.
Please still be alive. I don’t know what I’ll do if I find her dead body. That hint of light she found in the darkness will fade, and I’ll be submersed forever.
I run down the hall with Taime on my trail. Someone battered my door down, and it is lightly placed on the hinges so an unsuspecting person can’t see the mess they’ve made inside. I growl as I push it aside.
Tony’s dead. It looks like a bullet to the chest slowed him down, but they ended him with two in the head. Poor guy.
He has been loyal to the family for years. Tony started working for us when he was a teenager, when Antonio’s father was still the mob boss. And he was loyal to the very end.
“Dammit,” Taime mutters. He picks up the door and hangs it back on the frame. I wouldn’t be able to explain this to a neighbor, so if they saw I’d just end up with another dead body.
One of Eduardo’s men has bled out in my hallway. He’s face down in his puddle of blood, and I kick him for good measure. Fuck Eduardo for leaving him here to deal with, too.
Stephanie’s bedroom door is split in half. I have an indescribable feeling of dread as I sprint towards the door. Please still be alive.
I burst in and see blood smeared across the floor, and my first instinct is to scream. They killed her. I will burn Eduardo and everyone he loves.
My eyes follow the blood, and it leads to a small, white cat. Stephanie isn’t dead, but Slippers is. Eduardo or one of his men gutted him, and they made her watch. I’m pissed. Stephanie loved that cat, and she had to see them tear him open.
She isn’t here.
I need to break something. I storm to the bathroom and punch through the full-length mirror. Shards stick into my fist as shatters into hundreds of pieces. I keep punching the drywall after I’m done, the hole in the plaster growing with each slam of my fist.
“Fuck,” I scream.
I can’t feel a thing in my right hand. But knowing Stephanie is out there, alone, surrounded by strange men…that evokes a rage in me I didn’t know existed.
I go to the faucet to run blood over my hand. The water washes away the red that is streaming out of my fist. As I grip the sink with my left, I look down and notice something that was most definitely not there when I left.
Pregnant. I freeze as I try to process the information. Stephanie is pregnant. She’s going to have a baby. It’s going to be my baby.
I want to cry from joy, then sadness again. Along with failing Stephanie, I’ve failed our baby. I grab the test and look at it longer, as if holding this stick will bring me closer to them.
A tear falls down my face. And then another. For the first time in my adult life, I’m crying.
“I called a clean up crew. It’s always hard to sneak out bodies from apartments but we should—” Taime walks up to the bathroom and sees me. “Are you crying?”
I know I look pathetic to him. We don’t cry. Antonio raised us to be ruthless, and there was never crying allowed. But this test has changed everything.
I flick the stick that’s in my hand. Taime squints as he tries to make out the small letters on the screen. “Oh. Oh, no.”
“I’m going to kill him,” I seethe. “He took my girlfriend and unborn child from me.”
Stephanie with a smile on her face flashes in my mind. Then, I picture her holding her round stomach as she laughs. I need them, now.
Eduardo took them from me, and I’m going to get the two back.
My phone rings, and it’s a number I’ve never seen before. I don’t need to know the number to know who it is.
“Give her back,” I say.
“Now, now, Shudevil, that’s not a polite way to greet people,” Eduardo says.
“I swear to god Eduardo. Give her back, and if you hurt her in any way, you will regret it.”
“That’s ironic, The Devil talking about God.”
Eduardo hasn’t even seen The Devil. He’s dipped his toe into hell, but after this he’ll see what I’m capable of.
“I would never harm my guest,” he continues. “But something has to be done, Shudevil, and I haven’t decided what t
hat something is.”
“What do you want?” I hiss.
“To upset you and Gary, and this achieves both of those things. I’ll stay in touch.”
The line goes dead. Eduardo is a very blunt man. If he planned on torturing Stephanie, he would have said so over the phone. At least I know she’s safe, for now.
“I’m going to get her. Now,” I say.
“Hold on.” Taime grabs my arm as I try to walk out.
“You can’t stop me. I don’t care if I have to kill you, too.”
He rolls his eyes at me. “I’m coming with you. And I’m not letting us go building to building in hopes that Eduardo is there. I’m going to see if I can get intel on where he is, and then we’ll leave.”
I want to leave now and destroy everything in my path. I’ve never been this angry in my life and Eduardo has me seeing red. But Taime is a voice of reason. I can’t save Stephanie if I’m dead.
“Fine,” I mutter. “Just…hurry up.”
I should be nicer to someone who is helping me. But I can’t. All I can think about is Stephanie, alone and scared.
Stephanie
I think I’ve been here a day and a half. It’s hard to say, because they keep me in an area with no windows. The men have locked me in a tiny cell. It’s connected to two of the concrete walls, and the other two are steel bars.
I need to ask any time I want to use the bathroom. They didn’t know I was pregnant, so the first time I urgently requested ‘el bano’—at least I know the word in Spanish—they ignored me. I threw up through the cell bars.
They slapped me after and made me clean it up. I asked to go to the bathroom, why the heck are the men getting mad at me when it’s their fault. It happened one more time before they got smart and gave me a bucket.
I’m stuck in a small cell that smells like my vomit. Sometimes I catch the smell, and it makes me puke again.
My situation is even worse than the status of my environment. The man who killed Slippers is the one who watches me most of the time. I hate looking at him. All I can see is his face as he took his knife and ripped open my cat.
I can deal with puking all the time. I can deal with being held captive. But I can’t stand looking at this man’s face most of my waking hours.
It passes the time, though. I spend hours thinking how I will kill him for what he did. I’ve pictured grabbing his gun from him and shooting him in the chest until he bleeds out. Taking his knife and cutting him the same way he did to Slippers. I’ve pictured every way to kill a human being on this man.
Who am I kidding? I’d never have the guts to kill someone.
I sigh as I lean against the concrete wall. Shu definitely knows I’m gone now. I wonder if he’s looking for me right now, or if he’s cut his losses and moved on.
I hear footsteps coming up the staircase. My cell is in a loft area of a warehouse. I can never see anything with how far back it’s placed, but I can always hear things going on downstairs.
It’s probably another guard coming up to give Slipper’s killer a break. I grumble as I wait to see what thug will be watching me next.
It’s not a thug. It’s the man with the pretty green eyes. He’s been up here a couple times, but always with his men. They talk in Spanish and I generally follow what they say, but I pretend to have no idea what’s going on.
He orders the guard to let me out in Spanish, and I scramble up too quickly.
“So, you’ve understood us this entire time?” he says.
“What, you,” I sputter. “You speak English?”
He’s only spoke Spanish in front of me. I’ve asked him questions in English, and he ignored them, so I presumed he didn’t understand the language.
“Obviously. We all do.”
“Why have you been ignoring me, then?”
“I’m not interested in what you have to say,” he says simply.
I’m angry, and hormonal, and I’m about to chew him out for being a jerk. I stop myself when I realize he’s a higher up in the Mexican Mafia, and I’m an unarmed girl.
I don’t respond to him. I shouldn’t be interested in what he has to say, either. But I am. I want to know if he’s talked to Shu, and if he’s coming for me.
“Come,” he says, motioning for me to walk out the cell doors.
I do so. If it were just me, I would be a bit more defiant. I’m probably going to die anyways. But it’s not just me anymore. In the small chance I survive…this baby needs to survive, too.
“Do you know who I am?” he asks.
Duh. He’s the man who orchestrated the kidnapping attack. He’s the reason Tony and Slippers are dead, and I’m not safe at home with Shu.
“You kidnapped me,” I say.
The corner of his lip turns up. “I did, and I never introduced myself. My name is Eduardo.”
“You’re…?” I stumble backwards. He’s Eduardo. The dangerous man who Shu talks about has been right in front of me for over a day now.
I never considered him extremely scary, as far as criminals go. He has very pretty eyes and soft features. When he looks at me, I don’t see intent to kill in his eyes.
I’m far more afraid of Slipper’s killer. But the man with the pretty eyes is Eduardo. I’m just an idiot for not realizing it.
“I wasn’t going to kill you,” he starts. “You’re far too pretty. I planned on taking you back to my compound and impregnating you.”
Bile rises in my throat, and this time it’s not from morning sickness. I’d rather be dead than have his baby.
“But, it appears that Shudevil beat me to it,” he smiles at me. “I’m still torn between ripping the baby out and taking you or killing you.”
My throat is dry. This man is sick for wanting to impregnate me because I’m pretty.
“You can kill me,” I say.
“I figured the girlfriend of Shudevil would say that. Well, the plans are in place. I just need to get the video camera.”
“You’re going to send it to Shu?”
He can’t. I don’t want Shu’s last memories of me to be however they killed me. I want him to remember the good things when he thinks back to me.
“Obviously. I’m thinking of torturing you and then burning you alive, just like he did to one of my men.”
That doesn’t sound like a good way to die. I try to be strong, but I can’t stop a tear from rolling down my cheek.
It’s still better than the first option.
Our conversation is broken by gunfire in the lower area of the warehouse. I instinctively crouch to the ground, not wanting to get hit by a stray bullet. I can still protect this baby.
Eduardo yells at his man to watch me, and he grabs his pistol as he runs downstairs. Slipper’s killer has my arm in a death grip as he watches the scene below. I still can’t see anything.
Neither can he, because he pulls me closer to the railing. I pop my head out from behind the crate and see Taime. He has a bored look on his face, as if he’s done this hundreds of times before. He probably has.
Men drop the instant he points their gun on him. I knew he was good at killing people, but I didn’t know he was that good.
Taime is here, but where’s Shu? Did he not want to come? My eyes flit over the scene below, looking for his massive body.
I find him. He’s taking shots at Eduardo, and he looks pissed. I’ve never seen this look of fury on his face before. I wonder if it’s because they took me, or the fact he had to use his time to rescue me. Hopefully the former.
Slipper’s killer curses and lets go of my arm. “Stay still or I’ll kill you,” he says.
He grabs his gun and starts to fire at Taime or Shu. I can’t tell which one from this angle.
He left his bowie knife on the table next to me. I don’t even think about it as I take two steps backwards to pick it up. I clutch the knife to my chest, ready to protect myself.
As I watch him fire downstairs, I get really fucking pissed. He killed my cat, Tony, and now he’s trying
to kill Taime and Shu. This man took so much from me, and now he’s trying to take more.
The skin above his jugular vein stretches each time he pulls the trigger. I watch it move with each shot he takes at the person I love, and my friend. I hate him.
I lunge towards him and shove the knife in his jugular. I know exactly where it is from the two years of med school, and the blade slices perfectly through the skin. He drops his gun, and weakly grabs for the knife. I twist it further into his neck.
“You killed my cat,” I hiss into his ear.
I pull the blade from his neck so he can fully bleed out. The light in his eyes starts to fade, and I watch with no emotion as he dies. Maybe he had a family. I don’t care. He shouldn’t have gotten into this line of work.
Maybe there’s a bit of darkness in me, too. It took me until now to realize it. I wouldn’t have killed anyone a few months ago—if someone had suggested the idea to me, I would have been horrified. I wasn’t even able to let Shu bleed out the day we met, and I knew he was a criminal.
There are bad people in the world who deserve what they get. This man was one of them.
I don’t notice the gunfire stop. I just stare at the man, swinging the bowie knife in my hand.
I’m only half aware of the footsteps running up the stairs. “Steph?!” Shu’s voice calls to me. “Are you there?”
I can hear a tinge of fear in his voice. Shu is afraid of losing me. A warm feeling of relief washes over my stomach as he draws near. He stills loves me, and still wants to be with me.
Shu lets out a sigh of relief when he sees me unharmed. Then, he looks to the man on the floor, and the knife in my hand.
“Hi Shu Shu,” I say.
His face softens. “Steph. You didn’t have to do that.”
“He killed Slippers.”
All my emotions hit at once. The knife clatters to the floor and I start to sob. Shu is over in an instant and wraps his arms around me.
“Are you mad?” I cry.
Maybe he hates me now. I’m supposed to be light for his darkness—not add more of it. I cringe in his arms, waiting for his reaction.