I drew in a deep breath and shook my head attempting to escape the sickening thoughts. I attempted to think of something else, but they consumed me. Would it always be this way?
I gripped my bag tightly against my chest as I drew in a deep breath. I didn’t feel scared, not really. Knowing that I had a gun hidden away made me feel powerful.
Footsteps squished against the white tile floor from behind me, becoming louder as my own footsteps quickened. Paranoia perhaps. I had many great reason to be paranoid… I did.
“Bella,” a breathless voice spoke and hand pressed atop my shoulder. Prickles poked in cold sheets across my flesh. My hair stood on end at the nape of my neck, my long hair hiding any evidence of the chill that I’d gotten. I’d stilled my steps, slipped my hand inside of my bag gripping the cold black metal stock with my fingers with closed eyes. “Bella?”
My body shifted immediately recognizing the voice as Emily’s. My heart took another crashing bang against my chest. “Shit!” I nearly collapsed from the rush of adrenaline, but pulled a smile to my cold, tightened, pale cheeks and drew in a calculated breath. Smooth and deep—air rushed into my lungs filling me with calmness. Calm hadn’t been something I’d felt for a while. Even before the attempted murder of my husband, I hadn’t known calm. Not really. Not since the night Sam had taken me from the bar all those months ago.
“You look as if you’ve seen a ghost,” Emily gasped, her smile folding downward with concern.
A shuffled rustling echoed in the hallway, a giggle then footsteps followed. Several children rushed passed us. I froze watching the little children with bouncy hair and rosy strawberry cheeks laugh and chase each other.
“I’m so sorry,” a woman said from behind Emily. Her stomach was visible before she was. It was large and rounded from pregnancy. She wobbled past as she chased her anxious playful children.
“No problem.” Emily nudged me gently along the wall of the narrow hallway. “You okay?” She shook my shoulders lightly.
I nodded when I recognized the worry on her face. My brows furrowed as I camouflaged the undeniable frozen state I’d found myself in. My hand still gripped the stock of the gun. “I’m fine,” I muttered. My fingertips released from the cold metal and slipped from my bag. “You startled me, I’m fine.” Another camouflaged smile painted across my face.
All lies.
I supposed I’d been shaken because of the man in the elevator, or maybe it was the weakness that every woman held onto. Weak was just how the men in the familia saw us. That’s what they told us from the day we were born. The men would take care of us and make us what we were. So they said. I needed to get that backbone I always portrayed to have. Because the bullshit they spit at us, about being weak, was just that, bullshit. I sucked in the apprehension and exuded a shiny golden armor. My gaze roamed the hallway searching for the sign that would lead me to the cafeteria. “Come on.” I nodded in the direction we needed to go.
“I’m starving, but wouldn’t you rather have something else.” Emily’s face curled with disgust.
I shook my head as I lifted my foot into the direction I’d been headed previously. “No, I’m just gonna grab something and head back,” I told her. Without another look, we turned right and followed the hallway.
An open cafeteria presented itself as we entered, and a wraparound walkway showed off the different cuisines they offered.
“You doing okay?” she clung to my arm.
My eyes slid to hers offering a heartfelt smile. It was a lie. A dark, dark lie. “I’m as to be expected, I suppose,” I whispered while my eyes roamed the area. I was the only one to reach for a tray, mindlessly taking a salad wrapped with cellophane and a piece of cake as my meal. A little sugar wouldn’t hurt.
“Yeah, I’m surprised he hasn’t woken up though,” she said under her breath.
My eyes narrowed. I had been very up front and demanded that only positivity would be tolerated. Emily was about to cross that line with me. “Emily.”
“But I’m certain it will be any day,” she countered with a soft smile.
I slipped the attendant my debit card to pay for my food and exited to the walkway. I had intended to pay and get back upstairs in record time. I checked my watch seeing I was already behind.
“Let’s sit, Bella,” Emily insisted with the tug of my arm.
I quickly nodded. “No, no. I promised I’d come right back.”
“Seriously? It’s alright for you to be away. He’s going to be okay without you for a few minutes. It’s you that I’m worried about.” Her brows furrowed. “With everything that’s happened, we’ve barely spoken.”
“We talk every day.” I knew she was right, but I had things on my mind. Things I didn’t want her to know. She didn’t need to know, either. I didn’t want to put her in senseless danger.
“Five minutes,” she pleaded through her round caramel eyes.
My eyes sought the direction of the exit as I held a large red food tray.
“He’s fine. Five minutes with your best friend isn’t gonna hurt anything.” She tugged my arm.
I contemplated leaving, but in the end, I needed a few moments with Emily. She was the one person I trusted more than anything in this world besides Jax, and that was a welcomed reprieve at the moment. “Five minutes,” I challenged, my face serious.
“Deal.” She smiled.
We found a small table in the corner away from those that entered for lunchtime.
“Oh this looks good.” Emily dragged the cake-filled plate from my tray. I’d been looking forward to eating that carrot cake and had been craving it for a few days.
“Not sharing the goodies,” I laughed, shrugging when she seemed surprised. ‘Sorry not sorry.”
“I heard Tony talking to Sal when I got to the room.” She lowered her head as she whispered. I watched her, waiting for the gossip. “Give me a bite and I’ll tell.” her right brow lifted.
“Blackmail doesn’t suit you,” I disputed.
Emily’s face drew into a smile. “It does actually, but fine.”
I pushed the cake forward. She took her sweet time getting to the point before shoving a bite of white frosting between her pink-painted lips. My eyes pinned hers while she relished in the frosting.
“What?”
“Get to it,” I demanded.
“Geez, okay. I heard Tony talking about some guy…I didn’t catch the name but—” her brows raised and head tilted.
“What?” I asked anxiously.
“It sounded like they were planning revenge for something.” She shrugged and slipped another finger full of icing in her mouth.
“Not so loud,” I hushed her. “Do you think it was about Jax?”
“Not sure.” Her eyes wondered the area. “Probably was though, right?”
What else could it have been about? “Did you hear anything else?”
“No, Alessandra came up from behind and scared the shit out of me.” Emily’s hand went for the salad.
“Really?”
“What? I’m starving.”
“Ugh!” I shoved the salad at her.
I’d have a conversation with Tony and Sal when we were alone. I’d ask if there was anything new, and of course they will lie to me. No one took me seriously. I was a woman; why would they?
The standards women had to live up to were ridiculous and even then it wasn’t like someone would take them seriously. I felt like I’d been locked inside a box. I was frustrated and angry.
Emily and I shared the chef’s salad and finished the cake several minutes later. Once we were sated from hunger, we cleaned up our mess and began the journey back to Jax. I was getting more nervous by the minute having been away from him for so long, but it was nice to stretch my legs a while.
CHAPTER THIRTY
—Bella—
A few hours had passed since I’d returned from lunch with Emily. Jax still lay in that same unmoving position. Mrs. Moretti had sat vigil in the corner of the room most
of the day knitting or crocheting; I wasn’t really sure of the difference. She looked up, breaking concentration once in a while. Alessandra visited as well but spent most of her time in the penthouse or running errands. I’d instructed Tony to have someone watch over her at all times. I needed to decrease the possibility that my family would be hurt.
A knock tapped at the wooden door followed by a rich, husky voice calling, “Bella.”
Recognizing the voice, I covered a yawn as I looked up and answered, “Yes.” Sal stood in the doorway waving me to him.
I offered Mrs. Moretti a nod then took another look at Jax. I stood and left the room, closing the door behind me. “What’s wrong?” I suppose that question was probably far from normal. Asking what’s wrong just simply because someone has said your name. I shook off the thought.
A new man I’d never seen before stood at the doorway. Tall, mid-twenties, short dark hair, larger than the suit he wore. His face was uniform and monotonous. “This is Wyatt. He’ll be watching over Jax today.”
My eyes pinned Sal’s. “A word?” I pointed down the hall.
I walked away before they had, but I knew that they followed close behind me from the distinct footsteps. Sal in a pair of black shiny dress shoes that tapped against the tile floor and Tony in a similar pair although his made an annoying squishing sound as he stepped behind me. The elevator bank was just beyond the square couches that sat in the waiting room.
I turned to see the two men I’d grown up with. My eyes searched the area knowing that there wasn’t anyone near us. There was a camera in the right corner for security, but no sound could be caught. “I’ve trusted the two of you.” I pointed my black gel fingertip at them. “Don’t fuck with me. I’m already aware something is going down.”
Tony snorted, “Seriously?” He was calm.
“What do you think you’re gonna do, Bella?” Sal shook his head.
Slow deep breaths, slow deep breaths, Bella. My eyes closed. I tugged on the seam of my jeans along my thigh. “You want to see what I’m gonna do?”
They laughed. I was a joke, and until that second I’d thought it would change somehow. Maybe they’d see me for the serious person I believed I’d been. But they would never see what I didn’t show them. So now I’d show them. I’d show them something they’d never expected.
I pressed my hand along each of their shoulders shoving them out of my way so that I could pass between them. If they wouldn’t give me what I so very nicely asked for, I’d get it for myself.
“Bella?” I heard them ask behind me.
Tunnel vision took over, and for the first time since I’d been here I wanted to leave. I wanted to do something so powerful that I’d be the last woman a man in this family would laugh at.
Wyatt continued to stand at the door to Jax’s room. “Don’t leave this spot unless someone—” I turned to search for Tony and Sal, “—one of them are at this spot. Do you understand?”
“Yes, ma’am.”
“The name is Isabella Morretti.”
“Of course, Mrs. Moretti.” He nodded.
I opened the heavy hospital door seeing that Jax hadn’t changed in the few moments. I reached for my bag that set along the windowsill. “I’m going to be leaving for a little while.”
“Is something wrong?” Mrs. Moretti asked, sitting upright in her chair.
I swung my bag over my shoulder then turned my head looking towards her, “Not for long.”
That poor woman had no idea of what to make of me. “Isabella?” she stood.
My feet had come to a stop at the door. I turned meeting her dark eyes. She watched me for several long beats and then offered an approving nod reaching for her crucifix.
I also nodded, tucked my bag under my arm, and left the room closing the door quietly behind me.
Tony followed “Where are you going?”
I ignored his question. “I’ll see you soon,” I said as I tapped the down arrow at the elevator.
“Bella?” Tony pressed his hand on my shoulder to speak further, but the doors opened allowing me to step inside the little death trap. “Don’t be stupid Isabella,” he pleaded through narrowed eyes.
I wanted to smile smugly, but I knew that look. I had only seen it a few times, but the times I had seen it were crucial. The doors eventually closed leaving me alone inside of the descending elevator.
Now what the hell was I to do? I didn’t even have a car at the hospital. I decided to call my driver and have him drop me at the penthouse. I knew I needed Tony and Sal’s help. I wasn’t ignorant. What the hell did I know about this stuff? Not a damn thing, that’s what. That irritated the crap out of me more than anything ever could.
I decided on taking the elevator back to Jax’s floor and demand that Tony and Sal help me find the person responsible for putting him in this fucking hospital. The elevator keypad indicated that I was approaching the lobby. I’d simply go back and suck it up. I didn’t want them to know how much I truly needed them. I’d make them think it was their idea.
The doors slowly opened. I stepped to the right of the small space, wishing I had taken the stairs. I was getting a grip on my fear of elevators, but it wasn’t without its moments. I pressed the floor I needed to return to then stared at the elevators’ floor. From my peripheral I could see a pair of large shoes enter followed by another. They passed moving toward the back of the elevator.
I raised my head the moment one of them spoke. I recognized his Russian accent.
“Hello, Kotik,” a deep strong Russian voice hummed.
Slowly I turned searching the two men that stood before me. A few more words in Russian, and I knew these men were here for Jax or me. I didn’t consider the outcome when I smiled and slipped my hand inside of my bag. My gun was just inside. I wrapped my hand around the stock feeling power rip through my weakness.
My eyes didn’t waver or disconnect from their large, muscular, squared jaws. They appeared ready to kill whom they’d come here for… and it was likely my family.
Of the two men in the elevator the one that stood closest to me slid his body to his right and extended his hand. There was a black box hidden behind his large fingers. Everything happened so quickly. Three breathes, three heartbeats, three blinks from my eyes, three Russian words I didn’t understand and then everything went black.
***
Power.
I could swim inside of the satin entangling myself within its depths of satisfaction.
That’s what I thought before today.
Something squeezed my wrists, pulled at my feet, and held me tight to a hard chair. The air I breathed was suffocating and burned at my throat. I coughed until I woke inside of darkness. A soft smoky glow caught my attention while my eyes fully adjusted. A sharp pain at the nape of my neck made only minimal movements possible.
What could have happened? I wondered as I shook the fog from my mind. I tried to process the last events.
What was the last thing I remembered? The elevator. I was on the elevator with two Russians!
Those bastards! I fought the bindings that were wrapped around my wrists. I was a prisoner, “You motherfuckers!” I screamed.
Footsteps followed by Laughter came. “Isabella, not the words for such a beautiful woman. No, no.”
The pain in my neck worsened when I pulled forward to get a better look at the man behind the patronizing voice. “Who are you?” I asked through my teeth.
“Ah, you know who I am.”
“Orlov?”
He clapped his hands together three times, asshole. “Very good, Kotik.”
“You were the man on the elevator?” He had been the man. He’d been hiding in plain sight. He’d been close enough to kill me and I never knew who he was. I’d failed at each and every opportunity that I’d had to kill him.
“Isabella Sagatori, mmm. I must say you are a beautiful woman.” he laughed while he watched me fight against the restraints.
“What do you want?” My eyes roamed
the area seeing only a desk. Everything beyond that was filled with darkness.
“You were looking for me, so I thought I’d give you what you wanted. Tell me Isabella…what is it you want, Isabella?”
I sat still as I waited for him to speak further. I’d let him talk until I had all of the information I needed. Prisoner or not, I’d use it to my advantage. I truly knew nothing of this man. I’d been so wrapped up in Jax and thoughts of revenge that I hadn’t taken the time to learn about the enemy.
“Revenge,” I spit, unable to hold it in.
“Ah, yes, revenge. I know it very well.” He leaned against the wall. “What do you know Isabella, of this revenge you speak of?”
“I know that I plan on having it,” I sassed.
“Is this revenge you seek for the unfortunate beating of your husband?”
“Yes,” I said matter-of-factly.
He nodded pulling something shiny from behind. Was it a knife? He pulled the object to his front and flipped it with the jerk of his wrist; a bright light filled the darkness. He used it to light a cigar.
I'd taken every breath I could in between the rage and the heartache. My emotional state had been lacking composure to say the least. I laughed just thinking about the crazy that lingered inside of me. “What are you going to do?” The stench of the cigar made vomit coat the back of my throat.
I laughed, tugged on my rope-covered hands, and raised my head seeing his shiny incandescent eyes glower back at me. Contemplating my next move was important as it would be what saved or killed me. I would either live or die and in that moment, those two situations were the only possible scenarios. But I would choose how it would go.
“You played ball in a man’s world Isabella,” he laughed and pulled the cigar from his lips. “You know where I get these?” He watched me, waiting for a reply. I shrugged. “Cuba,” he stated, inspecting the cigar before he put it back between his teeth. “They have the best tobacco in Cuba.” He turned and slid a metal chair across the floor; the torturous screeching caused me to cringe. “But I pay the highest dollar because it's the best cigar I'll ever smoke.” I remained quiet and watched him all while allowing my eyes to wander around the dark cold room. I didn't know if there were men beyond the small amount of light that loomed from the lamp on the desk or if we had been alone. “It's a bargain really. I'd pay more if they'd ask because it's worth the satisfaction I get from having the best.” He continued.
Bella: The Begining (Sagatori Family Saga #1) Page 23