by Bella J
“No, no, no, no.” My stomach twisted, my body numb while my mind decided whether I wanted to cry or scream.
Carlo reached down and pulled me up. “And I have to agree with my brother. I’d prefer that thing out of you as well.”
One shove, and he pushed me backward on the bed. Before I could even try to right myself, two hands grabbed me and forced me to stay down. Vico. Vico was holding me down while the unfamiliar man started to strap my arms to the bed.
“Please! What are you doing?”
The man strapped my legs to the bed before Vico finally let go. I thrashed and screamed, cried and begged, trying to get free. But it was no use. The straps around my arms started to gnaw at my skin, but I didn’t register the pain. All I wanted was to make them stop.
“Calm down, Tatum. This time tomorrow it will all be over.”
“What? What will be over? What are you doing? Please don’t hurt my baby!” I was irrational, my mind spinning out of control as fear and panic took hold of all my nerve endings.
“Relax, Tatum. You’re only going to make it worse.”
“Please, Carlo,” I pleaded.
“Shhh, baby.” He placed his hand on my forehead. “It’s going to be okay. I promise.”
The strange man handed Carlo what looked like four tablets, and a pair of gloves. Carlo tossed the plastic gloves to the floor. “I’ve been inside that pussy more times than I can count. I don’t need gloves doctor.”
The man nodded, then stepped back. Carlo looked at me. “This is a doctor by the way. I don’t want to risk anything happening to you, so he’ll be here to make sure everything goes as planned.”
Tears streamed down my face. “Please don’t do this.”
Carlo dragged his fingers down my body, and it literally ached everywhere he touched. He sat down next to my legs and slowly started to wind up the rag. “It’s actually amazing if you think about it.” He continued to move the fabric up my legs. “They say humans are powerless when it comes to God, yet, we have the power to take away the life he placed inside you with just four little tablets.”
I tried to sit up, tried to see what he was doing. But I couldn’t.
“Carlo please, I’ll do anything you want. I’ll stay with you, I promise. Just don’t do this.”
As if he didn’t hear me, he continued, “Once I put these inside you, your cervix will soften and your body will expel the pregnancy.”
“Oh God!” I screamed, trying to pull free from the restraints.
“It will take a few hours, but it’s not like you have anywhere to go right?” He smirked. “Vico, could you give me a hand?”
I tried to force my legs closed, pulling and tugging, going completely crazy on the bed. Vico forced my legs down, keeping them spread and still.
“Please!” I screamed. “God, please!”
“It will all be over soon.” And then I felt a finger prod at my entrance.
“No!” I cried. I cried so hard, my spine wanted to break in half. As his finger entered me, I pushed. I tried to push it out of me, and the warmth of my own urine spread beneath my thighs. “Stop. Please stop!”
“Oh, Tatum. You pissed yourself. Such a dirty girl.” He pushed his finger all the way inside me, and I screamed as I refused to stop fighting. My head jerked from side to side, and I forced my body to move. Anything just to make them stop.
Carlo stood up and placed his hand on my stomach pushing me down, forcing me to keep still. His finger slipped out, and within two seconds it was back inside me. It hurt. He pushed so deep into me, it fucking hurt.
And then his hand was gone the same time Vico let go of my legs. I kept on screaming, pushing, trying to force out whatever it was he pushed inside me.
“Stop fighting it, Tatum. It’s done. There’s nothing you can do now.” Carlo stood next to me, trying to wipe away some hair that stuck to my face. But I jerked like a wild fucking animal, feral and insane.
“Fuck you!” I screamed at the top of my lungs while tears streamed down my face. “Fuck you!”
Carlo gestured toward the doctor, and he stepped up holding a syringe.
“What is that?” I demanded.
“It’s just something for the pain. It’ll calm you down as well.” Carlo replied, his voice soft, almost compassionate.
I didn’t even feel the needle, I was too busy screaming and crying. The pain felt like my chest had been ripped wide open. My heart was bleeding, dripping onto my spine while my soul was being torn to shreds. My baby. My baby.
Jesus please, my baby.
I wanted to wrap my arms around my waist. I wanted to at least try to protect my baby. But it was no use. The poison was inside me, and it was already killing my baby, killing me.
I started to feel woozy, my head, my mind, everything fogging up. It felt surreal, like nothing more than a bad dream. Further and further my mind drifted.
“Please don’t hurt my baby.” I could barely hear myself.
There was a subtle touch on my cheek. “Soon it will all be over.”
And then…my soul died.
25
CASTELLO
I sat silently in my car, staring at the gates of my old home. The gates of hell. I wasn’t the type of man to regret decisions I’ve made. No matter if the decisions were right or wrong, I would twist the consequences in such a way that it would suit my needs. I had the power and the means to do that. In my world there was nothing that couldn’t be fixed, that couldn’t be manipulated…until today.
I left her. I walked out of the bedroom, and out of the house without looking back, and I left her. It was the only way. My decision was based on the fact that Tatum and my child would have been better off without me. I was nothing but a bad habit, and I knew I had to erase my existence from their lives.
It was the most difficult decision of my entire life, and I had weighed up all my options, carefully considered every outcome. And it all came down to them being better off without me. Uncle Gino would have taken care of them. I would have made sure that they had everything they needed, but I would have done it from the shadows. Kept them safe without being a part of their lives.
Fucking idiot.
I wasn’t even gone for twelve hours before Uncle Gino got word to me that Tatum had been kidnapped. She was taken out of the house without anyone noticing. How the fuck did that happen? The only conclusion was that there had to be someone on the inside. Someone with authority, with influence. Someone who knew the security system like the palm of his hand.
Giovanni.
I glanced next to me. Giovanni had told me everything before I sliced my blade across his throat. Now the fucker was bleeding all over the upholstery of my Aston Martin.
It wasn’t that hard, to make him talk. It appeared that the big ass motherfucker who had been the head of my security didn’t like pain. Especially after I injected him with a special mix of muscle relaxants, of which one was a little bit of curare. Incredibly hard to come by. But not for me.
So while the fucker was unable to move, yet feel every sensation, every ounce of pain, I made him scream out the truth. I made him cry while he told me everything. While acid burned his retinas, I listened carefully to every word he screamed out. Pulling out one nail at a time, I listened to him telling me my twin brother wasn’t dead. That the coffin we buried that day alongside my father was fucking empty.
Blood dripped down Giovanni’s face as I carved two deep slits down the side of his nose, creating tears of blood. He sobbed like a motherfucking baby, begged like a damn coward. He couldn’t do anything while I cut his dick off, slowly, painfully, edging the knife through his skin inch my inch, dragging it out.
They had no idea what I would do for her. What I was capable of when it came to my woman. If I weren’t so desperate to find her, I would have taken two minutes to try and digest the fact that my twin brother was still alive, they had been using me, plotting against me all this time. But they underestimated me…and they would pay for it with th
eir lives.
I got out of the car, and heard the slamming of car doors behind me. Uncle Gino refused to let me do this alone, and brought an army of his own. I walked up to the gate, and the security guy approached me.
“Mr. Fattore.”
I aimed my gun and pulled the trigger before he could say anything else. As his lifeless body dropped to the ground, I grabbed his security tag that hung around his neck and opened the gates. I held the gun out, aimed at the security camera, and shot it into pieces.
Rain started to pour down, rumbling thunder echoing far away in the distance. Not even the storm raging above us was any match for the anger that raged inside me. They chose the wrong fucking woman, the wrong man to fuck with.
The sound of footsteps smashing in the rain that pooled on the asphalt sounded behind me. I was thankful for the support, but even without them, there was no way I would leave this goddamn house without Tatum.
I walked up the stairs, and knew there were two men standing on the other side of the door. I knew the security layout of this goddamn house better than anyone.
As I reached the top of the stairs, I pulled out a second gun. One kick and I broke the door down, two gunshots going off at the same time, and I didn’t even look at the bodies that fell to the ground.
Within ten seconds more security came rushing to the foyer, but with the amount of ammo I had behind me, they didn’t stand a fucking chance. Bodies fell like flies, but I didn’t give a fuck. All these motherfuckers deserved to die.
I stood in the foyer, gripping the guns in my hand tight. The men behind me searched the area before they flanked me with their guns aimed, ready to shoot on sight.
There was no fear, no panic. Just sheer determination to get back what was rightfully mine, and to end this war once and for all.
“Carlo!” I yelled at the top of my lungs, my anger bouncing off the fucking walls. “I know you’re here you son of a bitch!”
Silence.
“Carlo!”
“Hello brother.”
I looked up, and true as God, there he stood. The spitting image of me.
“Where is she?”
“Is that any way to greet your dead brother?”
“Where is she?”
He leaned on the banister, showing off the gun he held in his hand. Stupid fuck. He didn’t scare me.
“She’s no longer yours, brother. She never was.”
I moved, and he straightened, holding out his gun. I paused, then started to slowly make my way up the stairs, indicating for the rest of the men to stay put.
“The way I see it, you can either tell me where she is and then I kill you, or, you can tell me where she is, and then I kill you.”
He let out a mocking laugh. “Very funny. You’ve always been the stupid one, haven’t you?”
Step by step, slowly moving closer to my brother. “I really don’t give a shit that you, Vico, and Mother lied to me. Plotted against me. I don’t even care that you’re not really dead. All I care about is her, and I will slit the throat of every man inside this goddamn house in order to find her.”
Carlo stood at the edge of the stairs, never taking his eyes off me. “Is that a threat?”
“You can bet your resurrected ass it is.”
He crossed his arms in front of his chest, the nozzle of his gun sticking out from under his armpit. It was just a way to show me he didn’t fear me or the two guns I held in my hands. Well, fuck you, motherfucker, you don’t scare me either.
I reached the top of the stairs, and my brother and I came within inches from each other.
He cocked an eyebrow. “I always knew it would one day come down to me or you. It was enough that we shared a womb together. There was no way we would have been able to share this world as well.”
“Where is she?” I didn’t care about anything else.
Then he smiled. “I’ll take you to her. But I can guarantee you you’re not leaving here with her. In fact, you won’t be leaving here at all.”
“Shut the fuck up and lead the way.”
He smirked, then turned his back to me. Just another way to show me that he thought his balls were bigger than mine, that he didn’t think I had it in me to kill him. Fucker should go have a chat with Giovanni.
I followed him as we walked down the familiar halls of what once was my home. I never took my eyes off him, alert and anticipating anything and everything.
When we stopped in front of the door I recognized immediately, he grinned. “She was less than…thrilled to be back.”
“Just open the fucking door.”
“You know, I really thought our reunion would have been a lot more pleasant.”
My hand itched, the gun begging me to pull the fucking trigger. “Open the door.”
He opened the door and gestured for me to walk first. I did. I figured if he wanted to kill me I would have been dead already. And knowing him and Vico, they probably had a big masquerade planned before they put a bullet in my brain.
I walked straight across the room and pressed the red button on the wall. It was the same button I had pushed when I held Tatum prisoner. Just thinking about what she had to have gone through just by being back here made my insides churn, and my head feel like it wanted to explode.
Air swooshed, and the door opened.
Even though I came prepared with knives and ammo, unfortunately I didn’t come prepared to see the picture in front of me.
Blood. So much blood.
I stopped breathing as I stared at the crimson seeping through the sheets. On the inside the monster roared, my blood searing my veins as it turned into liquid fire. My soul screamed in anger, and I was suddenly demon-possessed. I grabbed Carlo’s arm, twisted it behind his back, and shoved his face straight into the goddamn wall.
“What the fuck did you do to her?”
Vico appeared out of fucking nowhere. Or he was there, I just didn’t see him as I stared at the red tainted sheets. The fucker aimed his gun, but before he could pull the trigger a shot went off, and I jerked my head to the side, only to see Uncle Gino holding the gun.
Carlo cursed, and Vico fell to his knees clutching his chest, blood seeping through his fingers. I felt nothing. I felt absolutely nothing as I watched him fall face first to the floor. Dead. Not exactly the way I envisioned ending this war. I thought I would have at least gotten a decent fight out of it. But it just proved I was right about my little brother. He was all bark, and no bite.
“I wish you hadn’t done that,” Carlo muttered.
I tightened my grip on his arm, dangerously close to dislocating his fucking shoulder. I looked over at Tatum. She was on her side, soft moans coming from her direction. It was obvious she was in pain.
“What have you done to her?”
Carlo let out a laugh. “Let’s just say, you’re no longer going to be a father.”
26
TATUM
His voice.
“Castello,” I whispered, my mind completely fogged. I tried to move past the haze. I tried to focus, but I couldn’t.
“Tatum.”
There. It was his voice again.
“Tatum. Wake up.”
“Castello.” My mind grew clearer and clearer, reality forcing its way back in. But the more I remembered, the more I wanted to forget.
“Tatum.”
I opened my eyes, and for a moment panic shot through my body like an electric current.
“It’s me, Tatum.” He grabbed my hand and placed it against his scar. “It’s me, Castello.”
All I saw was Carlo’s face. The face of the fucking devil that ripped my baby from my body. The demon that murdered my soul.
I moved my legs, and the cold, wet sheets made my whimper. I felt it immediately. The loss. The emptiness inside me. I could feel it was no longer there. The life. The baby. The two pink lines. Gone.
“Tatum?” The face next to me drew my attention. And even though I felt the scar beneath my palm, I saw Carlo.
&n
bsp; I started to shake, screams escaping my throat like squeals straight from hell. I closed my eyes, thrashing violently on the bed. I was dead. My soul was dead. I was no longer a human being.
“Tatum, stop!”
I didn’t.
I couldn’t. The pain was too much. The pain I felt on the inside was too fucking much.
Two hands gripped my head tight. “Look at me.”
I tried to jerk my face free.
“Look at me, little mouse!”
And then I stilled.
Two words.
Two words that managed to reach through my soul, touching my heart. Little mouse.
I opened my eyes and stared at the face in front of me. And when I saw the elongated pupil, the only thing Carlo couldn’t fake…I cried. Tears streamed down my face, and my cheeks burned with every drop.
“Castello,” I sobbed, and he pulled me hard against his chest.
“I’m here, baby. I’m here.”
He hugged me so tight I could hardly suck in a breath. But I didn’t care. I didn’t want to breathe. It hurt too much. I wanted to go back in time and change everything that happened. I want to go back and have that life back inside me.
“Shhhh,” he cooed as I cried into his chest. “It’s okay. I’m here.”
I cried so hard. Grief and pain possessed me. “You left.”
“I know, and I’m so sorry.”
And then anger. “You fucking left!” I slammed my fists into his chest, crying, screaming, “You fucking left! You left!” I couldn’t stop. I couldn’t stop hurting him. I wanted him to feel my pain, my hurt, and I kept on hitting him. All he did was sit there, allowing me to take out every ounce of rage I had in me. He let me hit him. He let me hurt him until I had no more strength left.
I sobbed, I wept like all hope in the world had been lost.
“I’m so fucking sorry,” he whispered as he pulled my face back to his chest. My body shook, my insides torn apart. I never knew something could hurt so much.
“Someone get me some warm water and a towel.” He brushed his fingers through my hair. “Tatum, I need you to do something for me.” He leaned back so that he could look at me. “I need you to close your eyes. And no matter what, do not open them. Can you do that for me?”