by Fariah Zaidi
I laughed lightly and looked down at the woman lying at my feet, “She kinda does, huh?”
“Well,” Vincent threw his hands up, “I’m not carrying her up the stairs.”
An argument commenced shortly between three unwilling men who were scared or repulsed of carrying an unconscious woman to our car. We were interrupted when my phone began ringing and I picked it up.
“Yeah?”
“The club you’re in right now is rigged with bombs. You need to get out before it blows to pieces. NOW!”
Enzo
I watched Stefan’s eyes widen as he pulled the phone away from his ear and stared at it.
“Boss, what is it?” I asked.
“This place is gonna blow up. We have to get out of here, now!”
Everyone sprang into action. I hauled the surgically enhanced, unconscious woman on my back and followed Stefan and Vincent out the door and back down the hallway.
“Everybody out!” Stefan commanded, “Get the hell out of here and move away from the building!”
I heard rumbling somewhere from within the building, which proved that the bombs had started going off. The ceiling shook a little, dropping a couple of lights and disco balls on the floor.
“Boss, we’ve got all girls except two!” Seth called, waving at everyone to get out, “Can’t find them!”
“Alright, we’ve to go then!” I answered with a heavy heart, “Come on, Stefan.”
But he stopped and looked at me with uncertainty.
“Stefan,” I looked at him, speaking slowly, “I know what you’re thinking but I can’t let you go back in that maze. Get your ass to the car, now.”
It was moments like these when it felt like I was the boss and he was one of my soldiers, moments where his heart overpowered his rational thinking. The ceiling shook again, and a chunk of concrete fell loudly a few feet away from us.
“Take Fox upstairs! I’ll meet you there in a minute!” he shouted.
“We don’t have a minute, Stefan!” I tried to reason but he suddenly held both my arms and looked me right in the eye, “I will meet you outside! Just go! I have to find those girls!”
I hesitated. I couldn’t help it.
“That’s an order, Enzo!” he finally stated, and then turned back and started running in the direction of the stairs.
I’ll come back for him.
That’s what I thought when I ran through the tunnel and up the staircase. I burst out into the open air, throwing Fox on the floor. My eyes darted around for a second, noticing our soldiers, Vincent and a group of little girls, all waiting to leave.
“Where’s Stefan?” Vincent asked, breaking away from the group.
“He’s still in there!” I answered, turning back towards the door again, “I’ve to go get him!”
The ground beneath us shook violently. I vaguely heard Seth commanding everyone to step back and away from the building. It would come down any minute now.
I have to get Stefan.
There was no point in waiting for him. I had to go down there.
I ran for the door again, but the moment my hand touched the handle, another blast went off. And this time, it was somewhere near us. The door was flung open from the impact! Rubble and concrete sprayed out and I was thrown back!
Dread seeped into my stomach at an alarming rate and my palms began sweating. I waited with bated breath for Stefan to come out, my eyes darting around the building.
Nothing. No one.
My eyes stung with tears. My hands blindly grappled with the ground so I could hoist myself up. My gaze was solely on the now broken door, waiting for my brother to push through. I vaguely felt someone helping me up. I barely paid attention to them as they yelled at me to stand back. But I couldn’t. My Boss, my friend, my brother- he was in there, probably lying somewhere under the rubble and debris, bleeding and hurt.
“Enzo? Enzo,” Seth stopped me, putting a hand to my chest, “you can’t go in there. The ceiling has caved in and the whole building in going to come down any second. We have to get out of here now!”
“Are you fucking with me?” I screamed hysterically, “Stefan’s in there. We have to get him.”
No one heard me. No one paid attention to me. Everyone stood shocked out of their minds as reality started sinking in.
Did we just lose Stefan?
Zara
Light seeped through my lids, making me flinch away. It was bright. A little too bright. Everything felt hazy. Blurry.
I blinked a few times, trying to see straight. When I tried to move, I cried out in pain. Everything hurt. Each part of my body hurt. I didn’t dare to look down at my own body when Valentin’s impromptu torture session began playing in my head.
Tears welled up in my eyes and when I raised my hand to wipe them, I couldn’t help the sob that wracked through me. Long bandages covered my hands, both of my hands. Crying, I rested my palms flat on the mattress and tried to sit. God, it was painful.
And then I felt someone hook their arms under my shoulder. I jumped, scared and panicked and pulled away from whoever it was.
“It’s me, it’s just me.” Sienna spoke softly, raising her hands in surrender, “Let me help you.”
“I don’t need your help. Please just-just leave me alone, okay?”
I no longer had the energy to deal with her or anyone else. I felt broken. I couldn’t even dare to imagine the scars those cuts are going to leave. The thought alone caused a fresh wave of sobs.
Sienna watched me with pity as I took my time and lifted my upper body, leaning back against the pillows. I didn’t bother to wipe my tears, no longer caring that she was there.
“Here,” she said, holding out her hand, “take these. It’ll help with pain.”
I would’ve done anything to numb down the excruciating pain. So, I grabbed the painkillers from her hand and downed them with the water she offered me.
“Why are you doing this?” I finally asked, “Is it another one of your honey-traps? Cause let me tell you, I don’t swing that way.”
“How can you be sarcastic right now?” she wondered out loud, her eyes roaming over my bandages, “Aren’t you in pain?”
“Aren’t people like you supposed to be smart?” I scoffed, “I’m hiding my pain with jokes and sarcasm.”
She was silent for a moment.
“I’m sorry.” she whispered suddenly.
“Why?”
“Your screams could be heard all over the mansion. There was nothing I could do.”
“Look, if you’re really on my side, you’d get me out of here, okay? So, unless you help me break out from this prison or get me a phone so I could at least talk to Stefan, you and I are done.”
She smiled hopefully.
“I was hoping you’d say that,” she started rummaging in her pockets, “because I have something for you. Good faith and all.”
She held out her hand in which rested a black flip phone.
“It’s a burner.” she explained, “It has enough money to make a five-minute international call.”
“International, huh? Where are we, exactly?”
“On one of the Romano properties, five hours from Rome.”
“Rome?” I sat up in shock, “As in Rome, Italy?”
“Yes,” she nodded, “make the call when no one is here. When you’re done, hide it under the mattress. I’ll take it back.”
I turned the phone over and over in my hand, suddenly having the urge to call Stefan. But I knew I had to wait for a while more.
“Why don’t you finish telling me how you ended up being related to Stefan?”
“I thought you didn’t believe me.” she cocked an eyebrow.
“I still don’t,” I answered firmly, “but since I pretty much can’t do anything else right now, let’s hear it.”
She checked her watch, “I guess we have time for a shorter version of it.”
My pain had dulled a little as I sunk further on my pillows and waited for her
to start.
“A couple years before he met Valerie, Alessandro had a one-night stand with a woman named Dina, our biological mother.”
“Our?”
“Yes, me and my twin brother, Steven.”
“You have a twin brother?”
“Please save your questions for the end of the lesson.” she remarked, rolling her eyes. I almost, almost smiled. Then I nodded at her to go on.
“Well, Dina was still in college, and had to drop out after she got pregnant. Her parents disowned her, and she worked at a café to pay her bills. When we were six, she died in a car accident.”
I stayed quiet, even though I wanted to say I was sorry.
“We were thrown around in foster homes until we were sixteen years old. And then we ran away.”
“Where did you go?”
“Wandered the streets, stayed and ate in shelters. But we never left each other’s side. Valentin found us one day when-”
The bedroom door was suddenly thrown open.
Sienna snatched the phone from my grip and slipped it under the mattress, her whole demeanor changing as Valentin causally strode in. He was gloating again. My stomach pummeled at the thought of whatever bad news he had brought with him.
We watched in silence as after him, another man strode in, wheeling a tall box.
“What’s that?” Sienna asked, casually.
“It’s for Zara. Why don’t you open it, though?” Valentin answered.
Sienna moved away from me and walked to the box. I gasped when I saw what was inside.
It was a wedding dress. A beautiful, most gorgeous wedding dress.
My eyes darted to Valentin again who spoke up, “The wedding has been rescheduled. You and I are getting married tomorrow morning.”
“What?”
Sienna and I exclaimed in unison.
“I have news for you, kitten.” Valentin grinned, “Your precious, precious Stefan is dead.”
Nineteen:
Lose
Zara
I couldn’t breathe.
It felt like someone was tightly crushing my lungs. It became hard to take in air. My hands grappled at my chest. The dread and panic broke through me.
“You-you’re lying. It can’t-can’t be.” I stuttered, my voice hoarse with emotion. The lump in my throat won’t allow me to speak.
“You can see for yourself.” he grinned, handing me an iPad and hit play on a video, “That was one of my clubs I use for auctions. I knew he’d find it one way or another, so I had it rigged with explosives to the end.”
The CCTV footage showed a series of upturned chairs and tables, dead people lying on the floor. In the far end, I saw a huge stage. The image shook every once in a while. I watched as a figure emerged from the opposite end.
I could recognize him anywhere. Stefan. My heart yearned at the sight of him. He rushed through the sea of bodies and furniture and climbed up the stairs and then disappeared behind it. The image shook again, violently this time. I saw huge chunks of the ceiling falling to the floor.
And then it all came crashing down.
The drapes along the stage, the disco balls, the flashy lights- it all came down along with the rest of the ceiling.
“No, no, no, no!” I gasped in horror.
The iPad was snatched from my hands and I looked up at the monster. He was grinning. He turned to his guard and Sienna, waving them to the door, “Get out, I need some time alone with my bride.”
I could feel Sienna watching me, trying to pass some supportive, silent message. But I didn’t care. My heartbeat was suddenly rising, my eyes were welling. I could feel the ache. The excruciating pain in my chest.
Stefan was dead.
My Stefan.
Dead.
I needed air. I needed to breathe. I was stuttering, gasping. My hands took support of the mattress and I climbed out of bed, only to fall on the floor. I groaned in pain- I didn’t know whether it was the physical pain or the emotional one.
“News channels are covering it too.” Valentin mocked, “They’re saying that the intensity of the blasts was such that there’s little chance of finding any survivors down there. And even if he’s alive, that club is three stories underground. There’s no way they’d be able to reach him in time.”
He crouched down beside me, reaching out to tug a strand of hair behind my ear, “Now that my biggest threat has been eliminated, I can look forward to our future together.”
And then I was seeing red.
Every inch of my body was suddenly filled up with a dark, all-consuming rage.
I looked at the monster in front of me. This despicable excuse of a human being. The man who ruined my life- not once but now twice. When I’d finally regained the semblance of normality, peace, when I’d finally found someone to love and someone who loved me, he’d come along again and destroyed everything. Again.
And through the haze of that rage, I reared my arm back, curled my fingers in a fist and rammed it straight to his face.
My body, my wounds screamed in protest, in pain, but I didn’t care. I didn’t care about what he would do to me. I just wanted him to hurt. I wanted him to be broken like I was.
He howled in pain and fell backwards, falling on the carpet with a thud. I climbed on top of him, wrapping my hand around his neck. And with the other, I landed another punch to his jaw.
“No matter what you do, I will never be yours.” I hissed, my voice venomous, “I belong to him. Only him.”
He gasped, scratching at my bandaged hands. I wanted to laugh at him.
“You took everything from me.” I went on, tightening my hands further, “I got nothing to lose now, Valentin.”
The door to the room was slammed open and in rushed two guards. They scrambled to get me off their Boss, dragging me away from him. I watched him couch and gasp, and then finally stand up.
The maniacal look in his eyes made me want to laugh now. I’d made him mad.
He walked over to me and without a word, slapped me straight across the face. I didn’t gasp. I didn’t scream. I said nothing. I turned back to him with a dark smile on my face, raising a mocking eyebrow, “Can’t even fight me on your own, huh?”
He yanked me by my hair, “I would’ve kept you happy. I would’ve gotten you anything you wanted- anything in the world. I would’ve treated you like a queen.”
“I answer to only one king.”
He wanted to hurt me. I could see his fingers twitching with the urge of it. But he didn’t. Instead he grabbed the tranquilizer gun from one of the guards, aimed and shot me in the stomach.
“We are getting married tomorrow.” he declared, “You are going to put on that dress and walk down the aisle.”
Before passing out, I strived to keep my eyes open and look directly at him, “Like I said before, I got nothing to lose.”
Stefan
The first thing that I felt was that my head was throbbing. There was a dull, annoying ache that had settled near my temple and at the base of my head that made me groan loudly.
I gingerly opened my eyes, blinking away the dizziness. Sitting up was a workout. I had to concentrate all my efforts on lifting my upper body so I could lean back against the headrest. My question however was- what the hell I was doing in a bed?
I took a good look around. It was a small apartment, minimally furnished, no personal items. A grey couch lay in one corner and on the center table was a neat arrangement of guns and rifles.
Keys jingled on a door in front me and it was pushed open. The man that walked in was whistling merrily, holding a plastic bag in his hand.
“Well, hello sleeping beauty.” he greeted, grinning away to glory, “I thought I’d have to kiss you awake.”
“Who the hell are you?” I asked groggily, swinging my feet down the bed, “And where the hell am I?”
Despite the heavy load of arms this guy had gathered, I didn’t feel any animosity from him. I watched him curiously as he took out the Chinese fast foo
d containers and began spreading them on the bed. Mama Bella would’ve had a heart attack if she saw this- the oily food sitting right on the bed sheets.
“We can talk while we eat.” he stated, heading to the small kitchen and coming back with two plates. I had every intention of refusing the food but when my stomach let out an embarrassing growl, I awkwardly took the plate from him.
He helped himself to large portions, settling down on a small stool. I too, took some rice and chicken on my plate, but the moment I was about to take the first bite, I couldn’t help but think of Zara. And just like that, my appetite vanished, and I put the plate down.
“You not eating isn’t going to help her.”
I looked at the man sitting in front of me, and something about him felt familiar. And then I remembered.
“It was you in the alley last night. Hiding in the shadows!” I exclaimed.
He smiled, wiping his mouth with a paper napkin, nodding his head in admission. I reached for the bottle of water he’d brought, breaking the seal, “You still haven’t told me who you are.”
The water felt heavenly going down my parched throat.
“My name is Steven Rossi,” he slowly stated, “and I am you half-brother.”
I choked. Water sprayed out from my mouth and I went into a fit of coughs, thumping on my chest for relief. Steven, most helpfully, started laughing and handed me a few napkins to wipe my mouth.
“Man, I’ve been waiting for that reaction for over a year now.” he chuckled, dramatically wiping tears from his eyes.
“What the fuck? That’s impossible. I-we would’ve known about you.”
“Clearly you didn’t.” he rolled his eyes, “Don’t I look the least bit familiar? I mean, we share the same father.”
Yes, yes we did. But I wasn’t going to admit that to him. He shared a vivid resemblance with my father- the sharp nose, the jawline. I had started noticing already.