“I told your idi ot son the same thing. School really wasn’t my thing. I’m probably not going to learn that anytime soon,” I said, looking at Sal with every ounce of hatred I could muster. His fist made contact with my face once more. This time, it was exactly like it had been in my dream. He punched me so hard that my chair tipped over backwards. I heard Ivan yell at him and I could hear him struggling in his chair. The two guys that grabbed us came over and set me back upright. “You punch like a weak old man,” I said as soon as I was upright once again. “I bet you can’t even get it up. How many di ck pills do you have to take to even have s ex?” Ivan laughed loudly beside me, which caused Sal to focus his anger on Ivan instead of me. Sal punched Ivan, squarely across the jaw, but Ivan’s massive frame barely budged. He stayed quiet for a moment, looking at Sal. He turned his gaze to me, saying, “you were right. He punches like a weak old man.”
“That’s enough!” Armando said sternly. He had been quiet since they walked in the room. He looked uncomfortable. Good. He should be uncomfortable. His time is coming. “You’re not going to get anything for her if you wreck her face,” Armando said.
So, Dario was right. Sal was planning on selling me to the highest bidder. My anger was a raging inferno inside, but that thought made me laugh. This du mb f**k. Armando walked to stand next to Sal. He hadn’t looked me in the eyes since walking into the room, but he did once he stood next to Sal. The look of surprise on his face was evident. Clearly, my eyes were still dark. I held his gaze, letting even more of my anger come to the surface, secretly hoping that my eyes would go still darker. I said, in Italian, “You’re both going to d ie. Slowly. Painfully.” I maintained eye contact with Armando until he looked away. He looked more nervous than when he’d come into the room. Even Sal looked uncertain about what to say. They looked at each other and walked out of the room without another word.
Once they were gone, ivan asked in Russian, “how’s your face, princess?”
“I mean, it’s felt better, but I’m okay. Lucky that he really does punch like a weak girl.”
Ivan laughed. “What did you say to them?”
“I told them they were both going to d ie slowly and painfully. I’m guessing by the look on Armando’s face, my eyes are still dark?” I asked, looking at Ivan. “Um, yeah. Every time you look at me, they get darker. They’re going to be black by the time this is over with.”
“Or I’m going to spontaneously combust. It could go either way, really,” I said, laughing.
“Judging by that interaction, I would guess Sal is in charge and Armando is going along with him for whatever reason. Maybe Sal has something over him?”
“Yeah, but remember who Armando is sleeping with. I don’t think he’s as innocent as he’s trying to get us to believe. He only came to my defense because Sal beating me further would’ve meant a lower price for me. I’m done with him. There’s no getting out of this for him, as far as I’m concerned,” I said.
“I agree. We might be able to play them off each other, though. If we can get them fighting each other, it might give us a chance to get out of here. You’re doing great, princess. I’m proud of you,” he said, winking at me.
“I would not be doing this well if you weren’t here with me, Super Squish. You’re my favorite. Don’t tell the others.”
Adrik
I was pacing up and down the sidewalk opposite Dr. Moretti’s house. I was so angry that I almost couldn’t think. I needed Sephie to help keep me calm and she was missing. We had no idea where she and Ivan were or how to even begin looking for them.
“I have the info from when they left the warehouse to where they were grabbed and then where we found their helmets and the tracker. Let’s retrace their movements. We’re bound to find something,” Viktor said.
That was a weak plan, but right now, it was the only plan we had. They could be anywhere in the city now. We didn’t even know for sure if Ivan was still with Sephie. They would have to kill him to get him away from her, I knew that, but there was a very real possibility that he was already dead.
I caught Stephen looking at Misha, then he looked at me. “Boss, you can find her. You don’t need the tracker. The connection you two have, that’s your tracker. I don’t know how it works when you two feel each other, but you can find her. Misha can help,” he said.
I stopped, thinking about what he’d just said. “It’s never worked when we’ve been this far apart before. We’ve always been relatively close,” I said.
“Maybe I can amplify it the same way Sephie did for me when we saw Trino in trouble,” Misha said. “I don’t have a clue how she did it, but I’m willing to try everything I can to see if it works.” “We should go to where they were grabbed. Misha might be able to see something there,” Stephen said. I simply nodded once and headed to my bike.
It was still very early in the morning. Most of the city was asleep, which made it easier for us to move through town. We made, it to the corner where Sephie’s tracker had stopped for a few minutes. As we got closer to the spot, we could see bodies. My heart immediately dropped into my stomach. Please don’t let one of them be Ivan. Stephen pulled ahead and checked the bodies. He shook his head no and I exhaled, momentarily relieved.
Misha got off his bike and looked over the scene. Ivan’s bike was still there, but it wasn’t wrecked. There were tire marks on the street in front of the bike, as well as behind. They blocked them in Misha walked to Ivan’s bike, turning to look at the one dead body well behind the bike. He pointed to the body, saying, “he grabbed Sephie. She got loose and shot him.” He looked back toward the bike. There were two more bodies closer to the bike. “Ivan,” he said, pointing to the bodies.
He stared at the bike for long enough that I thought he’d lost whatever it was he was seeing. Just when I was about to say something, he turned to look at a car parked on the street. He bent down to look at the front fender of the car. It was slightly dented, like the car had hit something at some point. He put his hand on the car and inhaled sharply. We could tell by the look on his face that he was seeing something we couldn’t see.
“She went to help Ivan and they rushed her, pushing her into the car. They held a gun to her head to stop Ivan. They took het tracker and all the weapons and put them in their vehicle.” He pointed up the street. “They went that way,” he said.
At least we knew that Ivan was with her, for now. I was now worried about her being hurt, though. “Is she hurt? Can you tell?” I asked Misha.
“I think she’s okay. Or her adrenaline is masking it. She walked to the vehicle okay, even after they shoved her into the car really hard,” he said.
“Let’s go where we found the belmets. Maybe Misha can give us the direction they went after ditching the tracker,” Stephen said. We all climbed back on the bikes, following Viktor to where we found their helmets earlier.
It only took a few minutes to reach the spot where we found their helmets. Misha got off his bike again, surveying everything the same as he did before. He stood for a few moments, looking at everything. He finally looked to me, clearly frustrated. “I can’t see anything this time. I know they went north when they left here, but that’s all I can see this time. Sorry, Boss.”
“North means Sal’s area, which means it was likely Sal that grabbed them,” Viktor said.
Stephen climbed off his bike. “Boss, come here. I have an idea,” he said as he walked toward Misha. At this point, I was ready to try anything. Just because we’d narrowed down the area of the city they were headed to didn’t make it any easier to find them. “So, when Sephie touched Misha, his visions amplified. What happens when you do it while you’re thinking about trying to feel Sephie?”
New Book: Back Home to Marry Off Myself
Loredana’s father left the family for his mistress, leaving them to fend for themselves abroad. When life was at its toughest, her father showed up with “good news” after 8 years of absence: To marry off Loredana to a paralyzed son of the wealthy Mendelsohn family.