Abducted

by K. I. Lynn

  Desperate times called for highly amped reactions, and as secrets spilled out, as I realized how much we had in common, the closer we grew. It wasn’t just physical, even though that was strong.

  Domenico heaved a sigh, clearly agitated as he stuffed his gun behind him. He looked over his weapons stash and groaned.

  “What?” I asked.

  “I don’t like leaving so ill prepared, but carrying ten guns isn’t going to help when I only have two hands.”

  “I have two hands,” I pointed out. He already knew I could handle a gun.

  “It’s not that.”

  I nodded. “You’re always in the know, in charge. The unknown claws at your chest as what-ifs run rampant and you want to stay locked up in safety until you feel like you have some measure of control of the situation.”

  His brow knit as he nodded. “Exactly.”

  “You may have upended my life, but this isn’t the first time I’ve dealt with those emotions. When I was planning on escaping, I was crushed by the same thoughts. The fear of the unknown is powerful, but we can face it together.”

  I slipped my hands in his and watched as he relaxed. He pulled me close and pressed his lips to my forehead. “Sei il mio inizio e la mia fine.”

  Beginning and end. No truer words could describe the whirlwind that was our fucked-up love story.

  It began with Domenico, my life forced anew, pulled back into the world I’d fled. Somehow it felt like the pieces were coming together, despite being unable to see the path. We would walk it together, fight it together, and live it together.

  He took one last glance at the monitors before I pulled on my wool coat and we headed out.

  As we sat in the car, he turned to me. “I can’t go in with you, but I’ll keep a lookout. Go in, get supplies as fast as you can without drawing attention, and get out.” He pulled a wad of cash out of his pocket and handed it to me.

  I checked the bills, wanting to make sure I didn’t overspend, but when I saw there was at least two hundred, I slipped it into my pocket.

  The drive was tense, both of us keeping a lookout for anything or anyone familiar. A few miles away was a small grocery store. It was older, hence its size, and I felt better knowing it wasn’t some huge mega store.

  He parked along the side, where he could view the rest of the parking lot.

  “Food, supplies for a week.”

  “Anything you want?”

  He shook his head. “Be watchful and hurry.” He slammed his lips to mine, and I hated when he pulled back too quickly.

  The adrenaline pumping through my veins increased my heartbeat, and I was acutely aware of everything as I entered through the automatic doors.

  I glanced around, taking stock of the order as I grabbed a cart and headed over to the pharmacy section. I loaded up on gauze pads and medical tape, along with some over-the-counter pain medication, then moved on to food. I tried to appear relaxed as I loaded the cart up with fresh fruits and vegetables. Some ground beef, chicken, and steak. Bread, pasta, and rice. Cans of soup and vegetables.

  Everything was going great. I moved through with ease, but at a faster than meandering pace. The frozen food aisle was my last stop. I pulled out a pint of ice cream, trying to decide which flavor when I felt someone behind me.

  “Hello, Ella,” Roman whispered in my ear.

  I froze and the pint fell from my hand, dropping to the floor with a thud. A shudder of panic rolled through me and my muscles tightened as he ran his arm around my waist.

  “After I kill him, I’m taking back what is rightfully mine,” he hissed as he shoved his hand between my legs.

  I glanced around, trying to figure out if there was anyone else around. I mapped out where the door was and the path to get there. He wasn’t the only one—I just knew it—but I hoped I’d be able to make it to Domenico before they got me.

  I slammed my head back, his cry of pain signaling I’d hit my target, then swung the cart around, knocking him off balance and into the glass door. I didn’t pause and didn’t look before I took off down the aisle. The sound of footfalls stormed behind me as I burst through the doors.

  I ran all-out toward the Mustang but was knocked off my feet, my head slamming into a windshield before the car stopped and I rolled off onto the ground.

  “Ari!” Domenico yelled.

  My vision was blurred as I looked toward him, seeing him struggle to fight off multiple men.

  “Get her and let’s go!” Roman said as hands grabbed me.

  “N-no!” I screamed, but my limbs felt sluggish and I was unable to fight against them.

  “Don’t you fucking touch her!” I could tell he was still struggling against them, his injury hindering him and allowing them to gain the upper hand.

  “Domenico!” I screamed as they loaded me into the car.

  I still struggled, but my head was spinning and pain radiated through me.

  Roman put a cloth over my mouth as the car sped off. My eyes widened as I tried to pull away.

  “Not this time,” he hissed, his lips pulled up in an eerie smile. “Sleep tight.”

  That was the last I heard before the slightly sweet chemical smell from the cloth took me under.

  I awoke gradually, and awake was entirely subjective at that point.

  My eyes were heavy, but I felt the familiar cold sinking into my bones.

  Bars. Cold steel. The stale smell of decay.

  My head pounded and my body ached. I wasn’t even sure the words at least I’m alive were relevant. The sinking in my stomach confirmed that, because things were about to turn out very differently than before.

  The scene before me was familiar, eerily so. A sort of déjà vu.

  I sat up, and darkness enveloped the room. My heartbeat skyrocketed because I knew Domenico wasn’t hiding in the shadow. A fate worse than death slithered in the black.

  “Awake now?” Roman said as he emerged from the shadows.

  “Let me out of here,” I growled.

  “Oh, kitty got her claws, huh? A little bit of freedom and suddenly you’re a badass?”

  My lip twitched up into a snarl. “I always was. You were just too stupid being nice not to notice.”

  “You bitch!” He slammed his hand against the cage, but I didn’t flinch. I wasn’t going to give him the pleasure.

  It was all an act with him. A role he wanted to play but could never measure up to. Not for lack of desire but for lack of wanting to put in the work. Killing for him was all a game. He was going to play with me first, hurt me. That was why he’d set up the kidnapping—to break me, to make me believe in him as my savior, and if he couldn’t do that, he would break me.

  He was the one who’d given me the ecstasy. Planning for me to be taken by every man in the place and appear as my savior as he pulled me away. But I wasn’t as stupid as my father told him I was, and neither was Domenico.

  “You will never measure up to him,” I taunted. “You don’t have the strength. You’re weak.”

  He reached through the bars and knotted my hair in his hand, pulling me closer. “Shut your mouth before I fucking break your jaw.”

  I smiled up at him. “Truth hurts, doesn’t it? You never could compare to him. You manipulate, but you can never strike fear or respect in men like he can.”

  He yanked me forward, slamming my head into the bars. “I fucking told you to shut up! I am Roman motherfucking Ferrante. You are nothing!”

  My head was splitting from the impact, pain radiating through my face, and I could feel blood trailing down from my brow. Still, it couldn’t stop the laugh that left me.

  I couldn’t stop it.

  Maybe I’d hit my head one too many times in a short period, or maybe I could hear the fear in his words, the insecurity.

  “Scared, little boy? You should be.” I smiled up at him. “La Bestia is coming for you. Will you play dirty again? Play the spoiled brat enacting revenge because you didn’t get what you wanted?”

  “Yo
u will be mine. You were supposed to be mine, and I will make it happen.”

  I glared up at him through the bars. “Good luck with that.”

  He shoved me back and stood. “Get comfortable, Ella. You’re going to be here a while.”

  “Minutes?”

  He glared down at me. “Domenico isn’t coming for you. He can’t.”

  “You killed him?” I asked.

  I expected him to flinch, to be angry I caught him in his lie, but instead his lip curled up, and a dark look took over his eyes.

  My stomach dropped, as did my expression.

  “Not yet, but he won’t be going anywhere anytime soon,” he said before snapping his fingers and heading toward the stairs. “Don’t go anywhere.”

  The group of men broke out into a cascade of laughter before disappearing.

  I watched after them and held back the despair that was trying to surge through me. Did they have Domenico? Was he downstairs? Were they going to kill him?

  I took deep, steadying breaths to keep the panic at bay.

  Don’t believe him. Roman is a liar. A manipulator.

  Still, in the back of my mind, there was a small scratch that sent a nagging seed of doubt.

  What if?

  I swallowed hard and focused on not panicking that I was back in the cell, that Domenico was hurt, that I had no idea where he was.

  What if nagged at me again.

  I had faith in Domenico. He promised he would protect me, and I had no doubt in him keeping that promise, but how was he going to find me? Even if I had to take a few hits, he would make them pay, and I would happily watch him enact that justice.

  What if he couldn’t?

  A sob caught in my throat. Without him, there was nobody to stop Roman. Without him, my future was nothing but pain and torture, and there was no longer a card to play.

  I had nothing and no way out.

  The despair that thought caused rolled through me. Was this what the girls felt when they were brought in?

  The cage was exactly how I’d left it when Domenico had taken me away, when he’d freed me and showed me what love could be. Dirty and dingy and even colder with the November air, it didn’t feel the same without Domenico sitting in the shadows or a group of men sitting at the table watching a football game.

  Was that what it was like normally? Were girls just left in the cages unattended?

  The fear was real and bone deep. There were things before that allowed me to not feel helpless, but those things were gone.

  I pulled the blanket tight around me. At least my coat helped to hold in the warmth.

  There was no way to tell what time it was, especially since the sun set around four thirty. For all I knew it was only minutes after that.

  I expected them to come back, for anyone to, but as time wore on, the silence stretched. Hours ticked by and nothing. The feeling of being alone, trapped, only made my anxiety grow.

  Eventually my eyes grew heavy, and I relaxed down into the mattress.

  I drifted in and out of sleep all night long. The sun moved higher in the sky and when it finally hit the skylight, I heard a clanging of doors.

  I froze, my gaze on the stairs as I begged it to be Domenico, but there were multiple voices. Their pace was slow and casual, no worries. That scared me more.

  Domenico.

  Roman emerged first, followed by two other men I recognized, and made his way over.

  “Did you have a good night?” Roman taunted as he stood in front of me. “All alone with nobody coming for you, waiting for your knight, who is lying in a ditch somewhere.”

  I glared up at him. “You don’t know where he is, so stop trying to pretend you do.”

  “He’s not coming for you, Ella.”

  “My name is Ari.”

  “Still so feisty, I see.” He leaned in closer. “I can’t wait to break you.”

  The clang of the lock turning echoed off the walls, and my teeth mashed together as I watched every little movement he made.

  “Don’t you fucking touch me!” I hissed as he grabbed me. It was easy for him to overpower me.

  Roman’s grip released with a hard push, and as I regained my balance, his hand whipped across my face, sending me down to the debris-covered floor. I reeled from the shock and pain.

  “I do love to destroy the things my brother loves.”

  I looked up to him, my eyes widening as he pulled his belt through the loops, a sneer on his lips.

  I pushed myself up and started to run, but my path was blocked. I ran the other way and the other one blocked me.

  “Don’t wear yourself out too much. I want you to still be able to struggle.”

  I gritted my teeth and tried to find a path, but every direction I chose, they immediately blocked. One of them gave me a shove in the direction of the other, who shoved me as well. I fell to the ground at Roman’s feet and looked up to find his belt looped in his hand. He pulled his arm back, then whipped it forward.

  I cried out at the sting across my hip. Another one across my ass and stomach before he stopped. My eyes watered from the pain, and I could feel welts rising up from where the belt snapped, even through my coat.

  “Hold her down,” Roman instructed as he opened up my coat. One of them grabbed my arms, but I swatted him away. The other joined, and together they were able to pin my arms above my head. Something brushed against my skin, and I looked up to find them wrapping a zip tie around my wrists.

  Roman held a knife up in front of my face, and my eyes widened. “Don’t move unless you want to get sliced up.”

  I wanted to kick him in the balls, but as the tip slipped under the fabric of my shirt and tank top, I froze. The knife sliced right through the cloth, slicing it in half and exposing my chest.

  He wasted no time repeating the action on my bra, and I drew in a sharp breath as my breasts met the cold air.

  A groan left him, and he palmed one with his free hand. My stomach rolled as he was one step closer to his goal. He threw the knife down, and I returned to my struggle to get him away. He straddled my thighs, his weight holding them to the ground.

  His tongue peeked out to wet his lips as he stared down at me. “I’m going to enjoy breaking you.”

  My heart was slamming, my mind in total disbelief of what was happening. I was about to be raped. Forcefully held down.

  “N-no!” I cried out as he pulled the zipper of my jeans down.

  “Mmm, there it is.” He grinned as he yanked on the waist, tugging them down my hips. “Come on, baby. You creamed all over his cock. I know you love it.”

  “Fuck you,” I hissed as I glared at him.

  He yanked hard, and my jeans and panties were over the swell of my hips and ass. I drew in a shuddering breath and pulled at my arms again, but they didn’t budge. A tear slipped from my eye, running across my temple.

  “Such a pretty pussy. I’m going to enjoy wrecking it.”

  “You don’t have the equipment for a job like that,” I spat.

  The back of his hand crashed into the side of my face, and I cried out. The hit dazed me, and he took the opportunity to drag my pants all the way off and toss them aside, then he balled up my panties and shoved them into my mouth.

  “Let’s see you talk through that,” he said as he gripped my knees and forced them open, pressing them down to the floor. I wasn’t strong enough to stop him.

  A sob broke through me, and I closed my eyes, unable to watch what was about to happen. I could still hear him fumbling with his pants and the sigh as he freed himself.

  I braced, waiting, but the next sounds I heard were two loud bangs, followed by the release of strain on my arms. I tilted my head back, my eyes widening as I saw both men dead from two perfectly aimed headshots. I blinked away the tears just in time for a sob to rip from me.

  He’d found me.

  “Son of a bitch!” Roman cursed, but that was all he got out before Domenico’s fist connected with his face.

  Roman g
rabbed hold of him, and they crashed to the floor. They wrestled, each trying to gain the upper hand before Domenico pinned him to the floor and slammed his fist into his face.

  I sat up and pulled the fabric from my mouth, watching in satisfaction each time Roman’s face flew to the side. The blade he’d used to cut my clothes was a few feet away and I scooted over to it as Domenico’s beating began to taper off.

  Loud groans and pleading croaked out of Roman and earned him a fist to his stomach. He whimpered and fell to his side, his arms wrapping around his waist.

  Domenico turned to me, and I was captured by the burning rage in his eyes. Another tear fell from my eye as I looked at the cuts and bruises that littered his face. His gaze moved down to the knife, which I was trying to use to cut my bonds. He stepped over and took the knife from me and slipped it across the zip tie, freeing me before moving back to Roman.

  Domenico delivered a swift kick to Roman’s stomach before straddling his chest, one foot resting on one of his arms, pressing it to the ground before squatting down, trapping the other arm with his knee. He wrapped his fingers around Roman’s neck, holding him in place, then pressed the blade against his forehead.

  Roman screamed and struggled with all his might, but he couldn’t knock Domenico off. I watched the motion, the curve of the blade’s path. Roman’s cries echoed around the dank walls, reverberating across the hard surfaces.

  “Now we match, brother,” Domenico hissed into his ear.

  He maimed him. Carved into his flesh the same way Roman had done to him years ago.

  Domenico straightened and stared down at his brother.

  “You don’t touch what’s mine.”

  “You’re a fucking dead man, Dom. I’ll make sure Father has you killed for this.”

  “Then I better make it worth his while,” Domenico spit before plunging the blade into Roman’s chest.

  Roman sputtered, his eyes wide, a silent scream that became shrill when the blade entered him again. Domenico sank the knife into Roman’s chest again and again in escalating fury.

  All Roman’s fight died down, his head lolling with each plunge, eyes unfocused.