by Haley Ladawn
“No.” I shook my head a little too eagerly, trying to think of an excuse. “It was literally a mess in there. They need to hire a janitor or something. There was toilet paper everywhere, the sinks were clogged, the mirrors were so dirty that you couldn’t even see your reflection.”
“Gross,” Elisa said with a scowl, wrinkling her nose in complete and utter disgust. “Let’s change the subject and talk about our dates. If we keep talking about that restroom, I’m going to throw up my dinner.”
“You’re already calling this a date?” I raised my eyebrows in disbelief, feeling my stomach drop. She was already in too deep, and I didn’t know how to get her out. Hell, she didn’t even want to get out, she wanted to be here. She was having the time of her life, but she didn’t realize that tonight could very well be the last night of her life. Ever.
“Well, we haven’t just been talking about business. Things have gotten… personal.” She bit down on her bottom lip, bumping her hip with mine. As my heart hammered in my chest, she rocked back on her heels with a childish smile on her lips. “I really like him, and no, it’s not just because he has money. He’s been so nice to me, and he’s not much older than I am.”
“Promise me you won’t go home with him,” I demanded, wrapping my arms around myself in nervousness. I really hoped Elliot couldn’t hear me. He seemed like the kind of man that controlled his surroundings. He oozed power and authority just by looking at you, and I doubted that he ever let things get so much as an inch out of his control. He warned me about what he would do if I tried anything and his threats didn’t leave my mind easily. I regarded them with caution. “You can’t see him again until you break up with Daniel. Promise me that you’ll stay away from him until then.”
“Fine.” She seemed a little annoyed by my odd request, clasping her hands tightly at her sides. “I promise I won’t go home with Mr. Santoro, or as I like to call him, Mr. Sexy-pants, tonight. But I’m breaking it off with Daniel first thing tomorrow morning. He’s going to be so pissed when finds out that our little break has turned into more of a vacation.”
“He loves you,” I muttered quietly, hoping our girl talk was believable. I was trying to give her yet another warning without being too obvious. “Of course, he’s going to be upset. Maybe you should give him another chance before you break things off for good.”
If she gave Daniel another shot, maybe that would keep her away from Everet Santoro and his wicked brother.
Elisa didn’t get a chance to respond before Elliot was walking back to our booth with a grim look on his otherwise gorgeous face. My heart was beating a little faster with every step he took. Slowly, his hand reached toward the breast pocket of his expensive designer suit, reaching for the gun he’d temporarily hidden.
“Did you clean up the mess you made?” I asked when he was behind me again, feeling my chin tremble nervously. “Or is someone else going to clean it up for you?”
“I’m not a child. I don’t make messes.” He rolled his eyes, returning the gun to the small of my back once he pulled me to the other side of the table.
His hands trailed down my waist, curling his fingers around my curvy hips. He dipped his reach a little bit lower, causing me to pull away, but he only pulled me closer. There that tingle was again, causing me to bite down on my bottom lip.
Elisa let out a soft laugh, gathering her coat from the back of the booth. “You guys are going to have a better night than I am.”
“You’re leaving?” Elliot pulled away from me, raising his dark eyebrows in suspicion. “Right now?”
“Unfortunately.” She sighed, pursing her lips together in a tight line. “Lily talked me into going home.”
His eyes darkened, and I knew I was in for some shit.
“Lily needs to stop telling people what to do.” His words came out playfully, but I knew they weren’t. He draped his shoulder around mine, pulling me into a crushing hold. He said these next words so quietly, knowing that only I could hear him. “I’m going to skip the shock collar, and go straight to spanking your ass. Those who don’t listen get punished, fiorella.”
Elisa waved us goodbye as Elliot pulled me into his arms. When she was out of the line of fire, I pleaded my case.
“I didn’t tell her that you blew someone’s brains out!” I whispered underneath my breath, trying to get him to release his grip on me. “Doesn’t that count for something?”
“For your information, I didn’t blow anyone’s brains out. I blew her intestines out,” he said nonchalantly, shaking his head back and forth. “The head and stomach are nowhere near each other. You need to brush up on your anatomy, sweetie.”
“Oh, my god.” I cupped my face in frustration, biting down on the inside of my cheek to keep myself from screaming. He was so at ease with this, but I was having a nervous breakdown.
“For the last time, I’m not God.” He pouted his lips in mock sadness. “How many times do we have to go through this? Do you think I’m lying? Do you want to see my birth certificate?”
“No.” I scowled in his direction, tightening my hands into fists. “I want you to stop talking about the woman you murdered in the restroom! Have some r-r-respect.”
“Respect?” He laughed huskily, rolling up the sleeves of his dress shirt, showing off his biceps. “Do you even know what that word means, gattina? You want me to respect you when you don’t even respect yourself.”
I sucked in a sharp breath, gritting my teeth together. He didn’t know anything about me and it made my blood boil that he pretended to. When I failed to entertain him with a response, he grabbed me by the wrist, pulling me toward the exit Elisa had just escaped from.
“Where are we going?” I pulled my wrist free, noticing the red ring that was beginning to form around it. “Tell me where you’re taking me.”
“I’m taking you home.” He raised his eyebrows, seeming surprised by my question. “Where else would I take you? Back to my place?”
“I don’t believe you.” I narrowed my eyes at him as he shoved me into his expensive car. “You’re not going to let me go after everything I’ve just witnessed. I’m a liability. I’m not stupid.”
“That’s up for discussion.” He let out a dark laugh, slamming the door shut behind me. I reached for it reluctantly, knowing that it would be locked. “But you’re right, Rose, you’re not going home. Not now. Not ever.”
He slid into the driver’s seat gracefully, turning on the ignition in a steadfast motion. He pulled out a bottle of medication from the visor and tossed it to me with his free hand. The label was peeled off, so I couldn’t tell what the pills were. They were white bars with lines down the middle.
“Take three of those right now,” he ordered, pulling the silver gun from his pocket. He used it for initiative, like it would give me the proper motivation to do what he asked, and it did. “Or I’m going to shoot you for each pill you don’t take.”
“Are you serious?” I creased my eyebrows, gaping at him incredulously. “What if I’m allergic to them?”
“Then, you die.” He shrugged with a frown, clicking the gun back. “You have three seconds before I light your ass up. Got it, fiorella? Three, two…”
With trembling hands, I swallowed the pills one-by-one as he counted them for me in Italian. I thought about punching him in the face and running, but I wouldn’t get far in the pouring rain, and that was after I figured out which one of these buttons unlocked the car. There had to be at least a dozen of them.
“Drugging a woman to get her to bed?” I crossed my arms over my chest, resting my jaw on the headrest as he rested his hand on my thigh. I could feel my eyelids getting heavy as my breathing slowed. “It doesn’t seem like your style, since you could sleep with any girl you want, provided that you quit murdering people and do something about your awful attitude. If you did that, then you could definitely get any girl you want. You should be writing this down. You might want to take notes.”
“I don’t want anyone else.” H
e pulled out of the parking lot, leaving the lights of the restaurant behind in a blur. Suddenly, we were masked in stark darkness. I couldn’t see anything. “I want you and I always get what I want.”
I yawned quietly, ignoring his words. My eyes were beginning to get too heavy to hold them open and I stopped trying to after a while. This was a nightmare that I couldn’t wake up from. Sleep might have been my only escape.
I was left wondering whether it was the pills that were making me so tired, or if it was everything I’d been through that day.
“We’re almost there.” Elliot’s alluring voice was the last thing I heard, aside from the engine humming softly.
Chapter 9: I Woke Up Like This
“Welcome home.” I felt his warm hands encompass my body, holding me against his rock-hard chest. He smelled so good, like the ocean breeze and stale smoke.
“Your chest is not as comfortable as my pillow pet back home.” I was too tired to lift my eyes open, but I could tell we weren’t at my house. It was too quiet and the air around us was too clean to be city air. We weren’t in Burlington anymore.
I heard a door shut behind us, but even that wasn’t enough to pull me from my dreams. I was pretending that I was back home in my own bed, instead of in a stranger’s arms in the middle of nowhere. This mirage was enough to keep my fears at bay, but when Elliot sat me down in front of him, my daydream disintegrated before my eyes.
I thought that I was in a bedroom, but that wasn’t the case at all. I was standing in a porcelain bathtub with my hands tied to a towel rack above my head. How he managed to do that so fast, I didn’t know.
The lights weren’t on, but sunlight flooded in through sliding glass doors that lead out to a beautiful balcony which stood high off the mossy ground. From where I was standing, I could see green pastures jet out for miles. Of course, we would be out in the country. It was perfectly secluded, making it the perfect place for torture.
The sun’s bright rays made me blink groggily. It felt like I’d only been out for a couple hours, but night had changed to day. I wasn’t sure how much time I’d lost.
A cool breeze came in from the opened doors, causing me to shiver. That was the moment I realized I was wearing skimpy lingerie. A black lace push up bra clung to my chest, and thin panties that were attached to white stockings raked over my long legs. There was even a garter belt wrapped around my left thigh that had a few hundred-dollar bills sticking out of it. They were all crisp and clean, like they’d been placed there just for show.
He was treating me like a prostitute, and it infuriated me to no end. I yanked at the towel rack, but it wouldn’t budge. The rope around my wrists was bound tight. I pried and yanked with all my might, until if felt like blisters were forming on my tired hands. Unfortunately, all my wasted energy was useless because I was too weak to move. I would need a crowbar to get out of this predicament, and I didn’t have one.
I was stuck there. In defeat, I burrowed my head into the cool tiles on the wall, sighing in defeat and irritation.
This was how my life would end. Tied to a towel rack, in a bathtub, wearing lingerie.
“Nice rack, huh?” Elliot’s deep, husky voice echoed through the large bathroom, causing me to sit up with heightened awareness.
When I turned around, he was staring at my chest with a deviant look in his glacial blue eyes. His thick eyelashes deepened his gaze, brushing against his brow bone. He licked his lips slowly, as he waited for a response. I was speechless for a while, captivated by his sensual lips.
“They’re clearly not nice enough if you had to put them in a push up bra.” I finally replied, baring my teeth at him. The double meaning to his words infuriated me. “Did you see me naked?”
“How else would I have gotten the bra on?” he questioned, narrowing his eyes at me.
I tried to cup my face in embarrassment, ignoring the sharp pain that shot through my wrists. If I got free, I was going to have one hell of a case of rope burn.
Realizing that there was nowhere else to look but the floor, I focused my attention on the elephant in the room. A towel was draped around his hips, hanging a little too low. I could see where his dark happy trail started around the carved v-line of his waist. His tan skin only heightened the contours of his built body.
“Don’t tell me you’re about to take a shower.” I held up my tied wrists, sighing in defeat. “I’m kind of stuck here, and I don’t want to get wet.”
“You already are.”
“I’m not.” I furrowed my eyebrows, ignoring the heat that began to radiate from my core. I told myself it was the sun. It was shining right on me. “I’m not attracted to you. I’m disgusted by you.”
“Your mouth tells me one thing but your body tells me another, gattina.” He let out a deep laugh as his smoldering eyes raked over me from head to toe. I held my breath until he turned he body away from mine.
He combed his obsidian hair back with his hands, as he stared at his reflection in the mirror.
“Is there any particular reason you left me in a bathtub?” I gave him a questioning gaze, my eyes lingering on the towel on his waist. “Did you cut out my kidneys, and sell them on the black market?”
“There’s no ice, sweetheart.” His lips curved into a corrupted smile, his eyebrows arching just slightly. “And the black market’s been down in the dumps lately. I would have better luck selling your kidneys on Craigslist.”
“Nice to know that you keep track of the rise and fall of the black market,” I murmured underneath my breath. “You’re the complete serial killer.”
“Only sometimes,” he replied coyly, taking it as a compliment.
“You’re seriously fucked up.” I felt my stomach turn upside down. If I’d eaten just a little bit more last night, I’m sure I would’ve thrown up by now. “You need professional help. You’re a monster.”
He placed a hand over his heart sarcastically, pretending to be offended my by analysis. “If I had feelings, they would be so hurt right now.”
I rolled my eyes, wishing my hands were free so that I could rub my temples. He was giving me a migraine. “You’re nothing but a cold-blooded sociopath that makes a mockery of women.”
“Please.” He sighed, turning around to face me. His postured had stiffened, but he couldn’t have look more relaxed. “I make a mockery of men, too. I’m an equal opportunist when it comes to my victims. I’m not picky.”
I snickered at him, catching a quick glimpse of myself in the mirror. I looked pale and placid, but the red lipstick added a splash of color to my otherwise dull face.
“Why do I have $1000 tucked into my underwear?” I deadpanned, noticing the green money in the reflection.
“How do you know it’s $1000? Did you count it?” He arched an eyebrow, seeming amused by my curiosity.
“My hands are tied.” I shook my head in frustration, grinding my teeth together. “I can’t count the money. I can’t do anything.”
“That’s kind of the point.” He shrugged absentmindedly, a sardonic smile tugged at his lips. “I wouldn’t be a good serial killer if I just let my victims run free, now would I?”
“Whatever.” I made my voice sound strong and steady, not allowing myself to sound frightened in his presence. He’d taken everything from me. I wouldn’t let him take my strength.
“There’s money in your garter because I said I would pay you for your time,” he replied shortly after, loosening his grip on the towel. “I’m a man of my word. I don’t say things I don’t mean. If I say something is going to happen, it will.”
Oh, no! He was about to take the towel off…
I drew my eyebrows together, feeling an ominous wave of fear wash over me. It was a cruel reminder that he was the one in control here. Not me.
“What’s going to happen next?” I swallowed the lump in my throat, holding my chin up high, feigning power. “What’s going to happen to me?”
“I haven’t decided yet,” he answered coolly, taking a step
closer to me. “What do you want to happen?”
“Nothing.”
I could see the towel slipping from his waist and I forced my eyes shut. I only opened them when a knock placed itself at the restroom door. Could it be someone that could help me? Elliot let out a dangerous laugh, as he tightened the towel around him in irritation. He seemed a little angry by our unwanted guest.
“Perfect timing.” Elliot gritted his teeth, as he opened the door to his older brother, Everet.
Everet leaned against the door for support, mustering a pained smile. The uncomfortable look on his rugged face wasn’t from fear or surprise that his brother had a girl tied up in his house. He was physically injured. There was a gunshot wound to his left shoulder, drenching his white dress shirt in a crimson pool of blood.
“One of our friends got jealous…. again.” Everet stifled a laugh, running his fingers through his snowy hair. “We had dinner last night and he tried to kill me today. I guess this whole best friends for life thing isn’t working out. Everybody wants to kill us.”
“That’s why we don’t have friends, yes? Cazzo! Why didn’t you call for help?” Elliot grabbed another towel, pressing it into his brother’s bloody wound. He picked up a cellphone from the counter, and dialed a number instantaneously.
“I wanted to have you dress my wounds.” Everet fought back a pained smile. “Doctors scare me.”
“Nothing frightens you.” Elliot rolled his eyes, growing very impatient and distraught by his brother’s physical state. “We’re not afraid of anyone or anything.”
Everet nodded absentmindedly, giving me a boyish grin that made my insides churn. He was so out of it, but he seemed innocent in that moment unlike his brother.
“Why is Lily tied up?” he questioned quietly, staring between the two of us quizzically. “She’s not an animal, Elliot.”
“Don’t worry about the girl,” he snapped, his eyes darkening with a sudden surge of rage. “Worry about yourself! You could die, idiota. I’ve lost enough family members to last a lifetime. I will not lose anyone else.”