Chance

by Lagomarsino, Giulia

  No, no. I’m not too weak. I can still do this. I can still fight back.

  Deep breath in. Just keep breathing. I just need to push past all the shit building in my head. Once they let me out of this box, I’ll be able to think clearer and make a plan. I just need to rethink how I do this now.

  I snorted to myself, laughing at the stupidity of what I was thinking.

  It’s all bullshit. Sure, I’ll keep telling myself that I’ll get out of here to keep my spirits up, but what are the chances I’ll actually get out of this hellhole? I’m losing strength every day. I’m barely getting enough food to stay alive. I’ve dropped so much weight that I can see my fucking ribs. How do I fight back against an enemy when I can barely stand?

  I tried telling myself that hanging me was just like the other times that they tortured me, but the truth was, it really fucked with my head. I could deal with the pain of being whipped or being beaten within an inch of my life, but almost hanging to death was enough to almost break my willpower. It was proof that I didn’t really have any control over what was going on around me. Now I was stuck in a box with no way to help myself. Reality was setting in. Months of hope had just been snuffed out and I didn’t know how to keep fighting when all that hope was gone.

  I tried to think of good times and I tried to keep planning, but my mind just drifted off into the darkness. Eventually, I stopped thinking and just stared into the darkness. It was so hot in the box that even lifting my mouth to the straw became too much for me. I just lay there, slowly dying. I could feel every part of my body begging to be set free, for the pain to end. I didn’t know how to keep going anymore.

  You just do it. That’s what Cap would say. Get in there and do the fucking job that needs to be done. Put all the other shit aside and figure out a way to push through. But Cap wasn’t here and this wasn’t a fucking job. This was my life on the line; my freedom and the freedom of a little girl. I didn’t have anything to defend myself with. I didn’t have any backup or even a way to get off the island.

  Light filtered in through the holes and heated the box up even more. I could barely hold my eyes open anymore and drifted off to sleep. Then there was light that was so bright it was blinding. My bonds were cut away and I was dragged off somewhere else. I didn’t even have the energy to watch where they were taking me.

  I was flung into some kind of pit. It was a large drop and when I landed, my whole body screamed in agony. Mud stuck to me, but the coolness was better than the harsh wood against my skin. Something plopped down on the ground beside me and then a metal grate was placed over the hole. Rolling my head to the side, I saw a bag of some kind. With a shaky hand, I opened the bag and saw a sandwich and a bottle of water. A tear slipped down my face and I forced myself to move into a sitting position. I unwrapped the sandwich and took my first bite.

  “We won’t. Give. Up. Do you understand me? I’ll never stop looking for her. I promise you that. I don’t make a lot of promises, but when I do, I keep them. So trust me. Put your faith in me to help you in any way I can.”

  I wasn’t dead yet, and I wouldn’t give in. I would fight back and I would get Payton and myself out of here. This was not the way I was going down.

  CHAPTER EIGHT

  Morgan

  It had been months and I still wasn’t any closer to getting Wes to get my daughter. I didn’t understand what he was resisting for. I had done everything he asked and there was nothing forced between us, no matter how much I told myself there was. It felt like I had been here for years, but really, it was closing in on six months. Wes had me in his bed every night he was home and I did everything he asked for. Something had to give. I needed my daughter.

  “I was thinking that maybe you’d like to join me on this trip.”

  I looked at Wes in shock. Was he serious? I had been waiting for this moment for so long and now it was finally here. I beamed at Wes and wrapped my arms around him, kissing him desperately. This meant that he was trusting me more and more.

  “You have no idea how happy I am. This is so exciting. Will you take me somewhere fancy to eat?”

  He chuckled and kissed my hand. “For you, Dushenka, I’ll give you anything you want.”

  Everything except my daughter.

  “When do we leave?”

  “Tomorrow morning.”

  “What should I pack?”

  “I’ll send Esmeralda up. She has my itinerary and she’ll help you pick out what you’ll need.”

  I squealed and bounced up and down. I was so excited to get off this property and see some of the real world again.

  “I have a few phone calls to make and then we can enjoy the rest of the night. But there’s one thing you have to remember, Dushenka, under no circumstances can you speak to anyone outside my trusted circle. I have men everywhere that are watching me and they protect me. Saying anything to the wrong person could make us a target.”

  “Okay. I’ll be by your side the whole time, so it really won’t matter, right?”

  “Yes, I’m just warning you.”

  Once he left, I sat on the bed with a big grin on my face. Things were moving along and I would get my daughter soon. I just knew it. I ran to my closet and started pulling out things that I could take on my trip, but then paused as I realized how excited I was. I was falling into my own trap that I had set for Wes. I couldn’t tell what was real and what was fake anymore. I was irritated with myself, but most of all, I was confused because I couldn’t figure out what I wanted anymore.

  ✯✯✯✯✯

  I was out shopping in NYC with my bodyguards. As much as I didn’t want them, I was just grateful that I was allowed out without Wes. It made me feel somewhat normal again. I barely knew my bodyguards and I wanted to keep it that way. The one was pretty much indifferent to me and the other kept scowling at me. I got the feeling he didn’t like me very much.

  I did as Wes said and went from store to store and bought anything that I liked, even if I would never wear it. It wasn’t my money after all. A few of the stores that I went into weren’t so high-end and the guards sneered at the fact that they had to go in with me. I didn’t care. I wanted something that felt like me, even if I couldn’t walk around public in it. Wes had insisted that I pack all nice clothes. He didn’t want me to be caught wearing something distasteful.

  After hours of shopping, I stopped by a hot dog vendor, which the guards informed me was very bad taste, but I had been to New York before and I thought they were delicious. I loaded by dog with ketchup, mustard, and relish and took my first bite of heaven. But that’s all I got. When I turned, someone bumped into me and knocked my hot dog out of my hand. My bags fell along with some of the man’s papers. We both hurried to pick them up and then went our separate ways.

  “Do you want to change?” one of the guards asked.

  “Why?”

  He pointed to my blouse and I sighed. Condiments were everywhere. I sighed and shoved my sunglasses on my face. “No, let’s just go back to the hotel.”

  I didn’t want to be cooped up inside, but I really wasn’t in the mood for walking around anymore. I was wearing heels, which was something I had gotten used to since I’d been with Wes, but walking in them all day was killer on my feet. We walked back to the hotel where I unloaded my purchases and hung them up. Wes snuck up behind me and wrapped his arms around me, kissing my neck.

  “Did you have fun shopping today?”

  “I suppose. It would have been more fun with a girlfriend. You know, your bodyguards really aren’t the best at picking out shoes.”

  He chuckled in my ear and kissed me once more before pulling away. “I was thinking we could go out to dinner tonight.”

  I sighed, not really wanting to go anywhere. After my day of walking around NYC, I just wanted a bubble bath and to curl up under the covers.

  “Not in the mood?”

  “I don’t know. I just…”

  “You want to stay in and watch movies,” he said with a playful grin.
It was times like this that I was grateful that Wes wanted to keep me all to himself. Lately, he hadn’t been in the public eye as much and I got the feeling that he was starting to be a homebody like me. Wes had a sweet, playful side that I found charming. Deep down, I knew that this was only the side of Wes that he was showing me for now. The problem was that he could turn on a dime and kill someone just minutes later for making a mistake. Usually those mistakes were something that I would never even have considered punishable, but it was easy to brush the bad things aside when I didn’t see them.

  “You know me so well.”

  We stayed inside and watched movies and ordered room service. I snuggled up to him in bed and enjoyed the warmth of his body. Wes was very quickly becoming someone I wasn’t sure I could live without. I craved the intimacy that he gave me. Was it possible that I really had Stockholm Syndrome? I shook that thought aside, because I genuinely liked spending time with Wes. I dozed off on his chest and felt him wrap his arm around me. It really was starting to feel like the good life.

  I was woken in the middle of the night by a loud explosion. Wes grabbed me by the hand and yanked me out of bed just as one of his guards broke in the door and yelled at us to follow him. There was no time to grab a robe or even a pair of shoes. Wes had me by the hand and was dragging me down the hall and then down the stairs. I wanted to ask Wes what was happening and I wanted to stop and take a breath and calm down, but it wasn’t even an option. When we got to a side door, I was breathing heavily and scared out of my mind. There was no way that this was anything but bad. You weren’t dragged out of your bed in the middle of the night over something trivial.

  The side door opened and Wes was dragged out by his bodyguards and shoved into his car that was immediately taken away. “Where is he going?” I asked frantically.

  “He’s being taken in a separate car.”

  “Why?”

  “Your car is coming now.” Moments later I was shoved out the door and into a car that took off so fast I was thrown across the back seat. I didn’t know where we were going and when we pulled up to a warehouse and I was dragged out of the car, I didn’t complain. I was assuming I was safe because of Wes. But when the door to the warehouse opened, my heart went into overdrive and fear spiked in my veins. There were men in dark suits surrounding a single chair. I stared at the chair as I was shoved unceremoniously into it.

  I was in just a silk nightgown, but I felt more exposed than if I were naked. The men stared at my breasts and my nipples that were protruding from the cold. A man walked in front of me and stared me down. He had to be in charge. Everyone else deferred to him.

  “So, you’re the woman that has Weston Hughes by the balls.”

  I shivered, not knowing what he was talking about. I was at his house all the time. This was the first time I had ever gone anywhere with Wes. How could I possibly be seen as having him by the balls?

  “Weston has something I want and you’re going to be the one to get it for me.”

  “Me? But, I don’t know anything about his business. I’ve never been part of any-”

  His hand shot out and punched me in the face. The force of the blow sent me sprawling across the floor, but before I even had time to think about what was happening, a man picked me up and shoved me back in the chair.

  “Let’s try this again.” The man gripped me by the chin and forced me to look up at him. “You are going to find out what I need and report back to me. Is that clear?”

  I was shaking so bad that I couldn’t answer him.

  “Is that clear?”

  The door to the warehouse flew open and shots were fired all around me. The man gripping my chin turned to shoot, but was taken out first. The splatter of his blood landed on me. I looked down at my hands that were covered in his blood and just stared at them. It all seemed so surreal. How had I managed to become part of this crazy world? One minute, I’m a single mother with my life going great, and the next, I’m a stripper and megalomaniac’s girlfriend. I started laughing hysterically, unable to control myself at this point. The whole thing was insane and nobody would ever believe that this was really my life. This was the stuff of horror novels and crime shows. This wasn’t what everyday people went through. Maybe when this was all over I could get a tv deal and make a killing. But who would I get to play me? That was the real question.

  “Dushenka…”

  I looked up into Wes’s eyes and laughed. His face contorted in confusion and I laughed harder. “You should see your face. You would be a great actor. I would guess that Henry Cavill would play you. Charming and sexy one minute and psychotic the next. We could hire a bunch of b list actors to play your bodyguards and I could be played by Julia Roberts.”

  “Dushenka-”

  “She’s probably not a good choice for me. Maybe Rachel McAdams would be better. Just think of the movie they would make of this. I bet we would be rich. Of course, you’re already rich. What am I thinking?”

  He leaned forward and kissed me before I could say anything else and I wrapped my arms around him, allowing him to pick me up and take me to the car. I shouldn’t have been so grateful to be in his arms. I shouldn’t have been craving him right now. This was all so twisted and wrong. But Wes did something to me and whether I liked it or not, he was all I had right now.

  ✯✯✯✯✯

  The ride to the airport and the flight home were all a blur. Wes assured me that he had taken care of my luggage and everything else, but I didn’t care about any of it. Being with Wes had opened me up to a world that I wasn’t prepared for. When I was working as a stripper, I thought that was dirty and the doorway to evil. I hadn’t been wrong, but I also hadn’t been prepared for how bad it would get.

  “My men will take you home,” Wes said, bringing me out of my haze.

  “You’re not taking me home?”

  “No, I have some things to take care of to make sure nothing like that ever happens again.”

  “Okay.” I didn’t want to be separated from him. The last time, I had been taken and I didn’t trust that it wouldn’t happen again. I slipped into the car that was waiting, still wearing my nightgown. I should have changed on the plane, but I just hadn’t cared at the time. I was exhausted and wanted to go home and get in bed. When had I started thinking of Wes’s home as my home? Maybe after all of this he would agree to get Payton for me. Hadn’t I had to deal with enough? I’d been shot and kidnapped, yet I still followed every rule he had. If that didn’t prove my loyalty, I wasn’t sure what would.

  The driver’s phone rang and I heard him say boss. Then the car was turning away from the house and we were speeding down another road.

  “Where are we going?”

  He didn’t answer, just kept driving.

  “I thought we were going home. Why are we headed this way?”

  He still didn’t say anything and I was beginning to worry that there was more going on than I originally thought. When we pulled up to a dark building, dread raced through me. This was just like before. Was I going to be taken and interrogated again? And by who?

  The door opened and the driver stood next to it, not looking at me. “What’s going on? Why am I here?”

  “Get out of the car, ma’am.”

  “Why? Where’s Wes? He told you to take me home.”

  “Plans changed.”

  “By who? I want to talk to Wes. Get him on the phone.”

  “You’ll see him inside.”

  No, this couldn’t be right. My stomach was in knots. There was no way Wes would bring me someplace like this after what had just happened. I heard him tell the driver to take me home. The driver must be a traitor because there was no other explanation for what was going on.

  “I’m not getting out.”

  The driver bent over, yanking me by the arm out of the car and throwing me to the ground. My hands and knees skidded across the pavement, leaving me hurt and bleeding. I was pulled up by my hair and dragged toward the building. Every step toward
the building was one step closer to death. I could feel it in my heart. I would never see Payton again and I would die in this run-down building and probably be tossed in a shallow grave.

  The door swung open to a large room that looked like it had once been an office building. Most of the desks were gone and the cubicles had been torn down and left in shambles. I looked around, trying to figure out why I was here, but I didn’t see anything.

  “Let’s go. We don’t have all day.” The driver shoved me from behind and I walked forward, not really knowing where I was going. Another man appeared down one side of the building and jerked his head toward a doorway. I was nudged forward again and then stepped through the doorway, terrified that I was about to be murdered.

  Wes was sitting at the table and I was so happy that I almost ran to him. But then I remembered how I had been treated and I saw the look of hate on his face. This wasn’t the Wes that I had come to know over the last six months. This was the man that had kidnapped me and shoved me in a cellar. He looked at the man behind me and nodded. I was shoved to my knees as my arms were yanked behind my back and tied with something.

  “Wes, what’s-”

  He was in front of me before I could finish my thought and his fist struck out, slamming into my face. It was already in pain from the last time I was struck, but this one felt like he had knocked something loose. I fell to the floor, dazed and confused until I was yanked up again. Wes stood in front of me, glaring and breathing hard as though it was taking everything in him to keep his control. I wanted to beg and plead, but I didn’t know what I was pleading for. Mercy? Mercy for what? I hadn’t done anything.

  “Did you really think that I wouldn’t find out?”

  I licked my lips to try and get some moisture into my dry mouth. Was I supposed to answer?

  “Answer me!”

  “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”