Act normal when I’ve had my boyfriend try to impregnate me to prevent a psychotic criminal mastermind from raping me in my sleep? Sure. No problem.
“Fuck.” I throw my head back against the pillow and close my eyes.
“Cussing like a sailor. That’s definitely acting normal for you. Good job.”
I’m about to open my eyes and give Leo an irritated smirk when I feel his lips on mine. He’s kissing me slowly and tenderly, calming the pain and worry that have been permanently running through my veins since Jack’s visit the prior evening.
When Leo pulls back and I finally open my eyes to see him, I’m reminded of why I’m here and what I have to do. It’s time to pull my shit together and make it through this final stretch in our journey against all odds to be together. It’s time to finally get back at Mark for the horrific things he’s done and plans to do to me and to Leo. It’s time for my own revenge.
I instantly sit up in the bed, more determined than ever to beat Mark at his own game. “I’ll be my normal rebel self. I’m ready to face him.”
“Good. Let’s go.”
Leo helps me up from the bed, and we quickly shower, dress, and go downstairs to the mess hall, keeping to our normal routine. The room is busier than usual and exceptionally loud and rowdy for this time of morning. We eat breakfast quickly, eager to meet up with Mark to monitor for the call from Jack’s friend.
When we reach Mark’s office, a sharp pang of panic seizes me when I first see him, but I will it away and put up whatever walls I can to maintain my strength and keep myself from running out of the room.
Mark’s already busy on the phone, deep in some conversation about a large rush order of ammunition. They seem to be haggling about price, and Mark is visibly frustrated by it. Leo lingers around Mark’s desk as I take a seat on the couch.
“Fine. We’ll discuss in person.” Mark pauses a moment to listen to the caller. “Yes, we’ll bring the product to the meet. Seven o’clock.” He hangs up without another word and hands a piece of paper from the desk to Leo. “Jesus fucking Christ. This guy’s a pain in the ass, but he supposedly has deep pockets. He wants to discuss pricing in person and quickly, so we’re going tonight. Seven o’clock.”
It’s happening tonight. In less than twelve hours, Leo and I will be free.
Mark’s attention turns toward me, his usual devious grin that means he’s up to no good shining brightly on his face. “I think your expertise could be of use for this one, dear. Let’s milk this guy for all he’s worth.”
“Gladly,” I reply with a smile, a very genuine and unafraid smile.
For a small moment I feel like the old me again. Well, the new old me. I forget that this monster in front of me has his own evil plans to ruin everything I’ve worked for. I forget about the latest decision I made to change the course of my life and Leo’s life.
The battle we’re about to face is just on the horizon, peeking over and showing itself to me in an attempt to frighten me away, but I won’t stand down. I’m in too deep, and the only direction to move is up. I’m going to reach for that horizon and make it to the sky among the clouds. I may just reach for the stars.
32
Truth
The rest of the morning and afternoon whirls away in a haze of getting ready for the meet. I’m pulling out all the stops for this one, opting to wear a tiny red dress that, in combination with my crimson hair and black heels, brings even the most strong-willed men to their knees.
“You’re absolutely stunning,” Leo observes as he walks me to the garage.
I smile, not only because of his comment, but also because I know this is the last time I’ll be walked blindfolded down these hallways and into a vehicle. I can think of many better uses for a blindfold.
I pull Leo to a stop and feel up his chest until my hands find his face and I whisper, “I wanted to look good for our grand exit.”
My fingers come to a stop at his chin and pull his face to kiss me, my soft and sensual intent reciprocated with Leo’s heavy and deep movements against my lips and tongue.
When we pull back from each other for a moment, I smile again knowing that this is the last time Leo will have to kiss me in the confines of this awful building.
When we’ve had our fill of each other, Leo’s hands linger down to my waist. He guides me through the rest of the path I’ve memorized to the garage. The door opens to a bustle of activity in the echoing space. I can hear the creaking sounds of a wooden crate of ammo being loaded into the same vehicle that Leo is helping me climb into.
The entire drive to our destination puts my nerves on edge. I don’t think I was even this nervous before my first mission with Phillips to get the black book from Ruiz. My palms are sweaty, and the only way I can keep myself from rubbing them together nervously is to hold Leo’s hand between both of mine. I can hear his subtle attempts to help me breathe along with him, which he knows helps to calm me down.
This is my last ride in this vehicle. My last mission. Leo’s last mission. We’re about to start a new life together. We’ve created new life together.
So many thoughts pour through my head as we drive that I’m pulled out of a bit of a stupor when we finally arrive at our destination. They wait until we’re out of the car and in the building before Mark allows me to remove the blindfold. A man is waiting for us, greeting Mark and his men and even me before frisking everyone for weapons and leading us into the space.
We’re in another industrial building similar to Mark’s headquarters but more worn down and with a lot more concrete. It reminds me a lot of the prison. I shiver and instantly walk closer to Leo, my heels clicking loudly against the floor. My shoes will let Jack’s guy know we’re coming from a mile away.
The doorman motions us into a room, supposedly an office with its plain metal desk and multiple metal chairs around it, but it’s not at all a homey space like Mark’s office with its bookshelves and art. In fact, there’s nothing else in here but concrete walls and floors, and it makes me uneasy. I feel trapped and claustrophobic. If Leo wasn’t standing right next to me, I’d probably make for the door.
Mark and Leo take a seat in front of the desk. I stand between them, nervous out of my mind while trying to maintain the image of confidence, beauty, and power that I’m supposed to be exuding. Two more of Mark’s men wait in the back of the room behind us with our original chauffeur from the front door. We wait there in silence for minutes that pass by as slow as hours.
It seems like an eternity has passed when a door opposite us opens with a loud crunch in its hinges. There’s no doubt in my mind which one of the three men entering the room is Jack’s guy. He’s tall, dark-skinned, imposing. His jet black hair is slicked back to match the business-like appearance of his suit and tie.
“Mark Castili, I presume,” he greets Mark, who stands up to shake his hand.
“Call me Mark. And you must be Anthony Russo.”
“Tony is fine. No need for such formalities among friends.”
Mark nods appreciatively before gesturing to Leo. “This is my associate, Leo Marini.”
Leo stands to shake Tony’s hand. “Pleasure.”
“Likewise.”
When the necessary introductions are complete, Tony takes a seat behind the desk. When his eyes lock on to me, my defenses go up immediately. He looks me up and down, making no effort to hide that he is checking out every curve of my body and every bit of my exposed skin. Being browsed over like this is nothing new for me, but it always fuels my aggression, and that anger overpowers my nerves. It almost always works in my favor.
Tony’s face breaks into a wide and satisfied grin as he looks from me to Mark. “Beautiful woman. I can see why you chose this one.”
“I’m not his woman,” I retort, slowly sitting down on Leo’s lap. His body instantly tenses beneath me as the gazes of the room center on us. I’m not usually so blatant with my attempts to show which man around me I share a bed with, but today feels different. The ris
k is there, and I’m going to embrace it.
Tony’s eyes widen. “I can see that.” An uncomfortable pause fills the air around us. Tony hardly takes his piercing gaze off me. “I must admit, I’m intrigued by you. This little spitfire attitude of yours with that red dress is a bit overwhelming.” He finally looks away from me to address Mark, and I feel like I can breathe again. “I know we had some disagreement about pricing. Perhaps if I could experience more of her up close I would be more amenable to your requests.”
This isn’t the first time my role as the only female in the room, or more likely the whole building, has led to me being asked to touch or seduce a target during one of Mark’s business meetings. It’s part of my role. This is all part of the act, although this time I wonder if this is the first step in Jack’s plan to get me and Leo out. It’s a way to get me away from Mark and in Tony’s hands.
I look to Mark for permission, as I normally do, and Mark nods affirmatively. Before I get up from Leo’s lap, I sneak my hand into his and squeeze lightly. He knows I hate this part of my role, but he also knows it’s a necessity. It’s fulfilling this purpose that has actually made me a valued member of Mark’s crew over the last few months.
The air feels cold, the breeze against my skin chilling me to the bone, when I stand up and walk around the desk next to Tony. He remains seated, his face at the height of my breasts from his position. He stares at them for a moment before placing his hands over them around the outside of my dress. His hands slither down my stomach and across to my sides to hold me by the hips.
With one last look down my bare legs, his gaze returns to my eyes. It takes a moment for me to translate the look on his face. It’s sorrowful, filled with regret. He’s only spent two minutes in the same room as me, and he somehow feels sorry for me. It’s the exact opposite look of someone who’s about to save you.
In the blink of an eye, Tony throws me backward and I go crashing to the floor behind him. Before I can even scramble to my knees, Tony’s two men have me by each arm, pulling me roughly backward toward the door. An involuntary scream escapes me before I realize what’s really going on.
This is it. This is the kidnapping to take me away from Mark.
I continue to play the part, struggling against the grasp of the two men as Mark would expect me to. I play it up with yelling and kicking and as much insubordination as I can muster, but then I hear it. Something I shouldn’t be hearing. Something impossible.
Leo’s muffled cries. I remember them vividly from the last day at the prison, when Leo’s mouth was taped closed and he was wordlessly begging me not to choose him over my family and my old life. I look up from my strained position on the floor to Leo.
Two men hold him back as he struggles with all of his power against them, one man holding a hand tightly over Leo’s mouth.
The men are Mark’s men. Our own crew.
And Mark is sitting completely still, smiling.
My body and mind go into overdrive, my blood pulsing so rapidly through my veins I think the pathways might burst. With every ounce of strength left in me, I fight against the hands that hold me back. I scream all the oxygen out of my lungs. I push my body to its physical limits to break free and get to Leo.
I will not lose him. I can’t lose everything like this. After all we’ve been through, it has come down to this.
Something hard smacks me across the face, dazing me. My eyes slowly close as my brain resets itself from the blow. For a brief moment I wonder if this is a nightmare, if I’m really just in bed and Leo is next to me and I’ll wake up to everything being as fine as it has been.
When I open my eyes, I see Mark.
“We’re going to have such a great time, Morgan.” His image fades in and out of focus as he approaches me. His hand touches my cheek, and I try to cringe away but can’t. “You and I can finally become properly acquainted without him stealing all your attention.”
Leo’s fighting even harder now. I can’t make out his face, but I can hear the struggle in his muffled screams.
I’m destroying him. I tried to save him, but I’m only going to be the end of him. I failed him.
Mark slaps my cheek sharply, bringing me further into the conscious world, snapping me out of the blurry haze. My vision is suddenly in focus, my hearing acute, my body absorbing every horrifying detail of the room around me.
Mark’s facing Leo, approaching him with deadly intent.
He’s going to kill him right in front of me.
I thrash and cry out and beg with everything I have left. “Stop! Don’t hurt him! Please!” Tears cascade down my face. My throat burns from the screaming.
Mark continues on, completely unaffected. “Oh, Leo. My boy. My son.” He’s within a foot of him, running his hand through Leo’s hair affectionately.
Leo fights against Mark’s touch but stops abruptly. Mark has a knife to his throat.
“I’ve cared for you for the majority of your life,” Mark says calmly. “I put a roof over your head and food on your table. I gave you employment. I even set you up with the girl of your dreams, and how do you repay me? You plot against me. You try to run away and take my greatest prize with you.”
Leo’s eyes are fiery. I know without seeing myself that they mimic my own.
“Taking her from you is going to be punishment enough, but I’ll sweeten this deal even more. I’m going to give you the truth, the sad reality of your life and your family.”
Leo’s face blanches, and for a moment I stop struggling and stop breathing. I just listen.
“Your father was insubordinate. He was too good of a man, Leo, and not right for this crew. He stood up to me too many times, and he paid for it with his life, the life of your mother, and your future.”
The air is completely still and silent. Even from this distance I can see Leo’s body shaking.
“I killed them, Leo. I ordered your parents’ murders and kept you all for myself. I raised you to be my best man, the man your father could never be in this organization. I stole your family and your life from you, and I’m about to take the only thing you have left.”
Leo looks at me with hollow eyes, and my heart breaks. I’m shattered into tiny pieces that can never be put back together because I can’t be there to comfort him. I’ll likely never see him again. We’ll be incomplete for the rest of our lives, however long or short they may be. He’ll never hold me or kiss me or give me his heart again.
He’ll never see his baby.
I scream and wail the pain out of me, pressing forward with all my strength to break free in a hopeless attempt to get to Leo. My body needs to be with him, to comfort him and let him protect me, but we’re done. It’s over. Mark played us. He played Leo his entire life, and in the end Mark is getting exactly what he wanted.
My eyes stay trained on Leo as the men holding me pull me back toward the door. My physical strength is fading despite my resolve to break free. I watch Leo’s panicked eyes and the tears down his face and his renewed struggle to escape the hands that hold him as I’m now at the open door, painfully grasping its frame to prolong this to get every last second of seeing him that I can.
“I’m sorry!” I half-scream, half-cry. My voice weakens in the strain of my struggle. “I’m sorry, Leo. I love you so much.”
My fingers slip. I’m pulled through the doorway.
Something hard crashes down on my head from above.
Then there is nothing.
33
Nothing
I remember them dragging Morgan to the door.
I remember the look of terror on her face.
I remember the vicious tearing of my heart as she disappeared from my view.
Lost from me.
Forever.
It’s rare that I’m afraid. I’ve faced death over and over again, and I’ve accepted it every time. What I can’t face is life without love, the reality that will consume me when I open my eyes.
Morgan is but a beautiful memory. She may
be only a speck among the universe, but she is everything to me, and there is no universe without her. There is no life or love or feeling. There is nothing left for me.
Nothing.
The air smells fresh. The sun beams down on my skin but gives me no warmth. The wind blows soft whisperings against my ears, teasing me. The world is so beautiful, and yet I hate it all. It’s nothing but a facade to the universe. It hides cruelty and pain and suffering so well.
I reluctantly open my eyes. The world is tipped sideways as I find myself discarded on a rough surface. A door opens in front of me, and the figure that emerges is not someone I expect.
He’s someone I owe everything to. He’s someone I took everything from.
Robert Whitford. Morgan’s father. Family member of the woman I love. The man who knows me as her kidnapper, torturer, and rapist.
He looks at me with hatred and disgust. He is furious, beyond reason, feral.
I stare up at him, and all I can think about is everything that we have in common: we’ve both lost everything to Mark, we both love Morgan more than life itself, and we’d both do anything to get her back.
Robert kneels down in front of me predatorily. He takes me by the shirt, lifting my upper body closer to him as he is barely able to control his rage. His hand is shaking, his loathing of me fuming in every aspect of his face.
When he pulls out a gun from behind him, I know that in one way or another it’s over for me.
He swings it high above his head.
Then there is darkness.
Author Notes and Acknowledgements
It’s a bit surreal to be writing this. When I decided on a whim to sign up for NaNoWriMo (National Novel Writing Month) on Halloween night in 2013 within hours of the official start of the month-long event, I never thought I’d end up writing the first draft of an entire two-part series in a little over a month and a half.
This is a story I’ve had in my head for a long time, and NaNoWriMo gave me the motivation and drive to finally get it out into the world in a manner of writing that was completely unlike what I did for my debut novel, Someone to Listen. I just let myself write, setting aside the striving perfectionist within me to let my ideas and thoughts and the story flow out onto the page more naturally. Letting myself write like this and sharing in the experience of NaNoWriMo with so many other authors was an experience I’ll never forget, and it will likely shape how I approach writing my future novels.
Beyond Ransom (The Ransom Series) Page 20