CHAPTER 5

‘You’re going to die little girl, you’re done for’. I replayed those words through my head like a broken record in the same sinister and sickening tone that the mafia member had said it.

The other men who had originally come chasing me eventually caught up and formed a barricade, preventing me from escaping again. This wasn’t how the plan was meant to turn out. I was meant to find a door and that be the end of it, I hadn’t factored in so many of the other variables that were to occur.

“I’ll take her to Drakov now Raffaele, we’ll see what he wants to do with her after this,” a voice from behind me spoke. I snapped my neck back to see who was talking.

Fuck. It was that bastard from earlier in the car.

“Alright Jay, if you need backup though, just call it in,” the buff man who I had just slammed into like he was a bloody brick wall, Raffaele, offered his suggestions.

“Look at her, she’s barely 5’5, I can handle a tiny bitch, keep to your job and I’ll keep to mine,” Jay hissed dangerously, gripping a hand around the gun in his pocket, giving the clear warning not to mess with him.

My eyes were drawn to the gun, in fact, there were two of them located on either side of his hips, what kind of a man just casually carried 9-millimetre guns around with him 24/7? I mean, what kind of a man knocks a girl unconscious and locks her in a room to starve? These weren’t good people; I knew that for a fact.

Raffaele nodded; knowing his place was not to argue. Jay gripped my arm and hurled me to my feet before removing the gun from his holster and shoving it hard up against the side of my head.

“I am going to blow your brains out if you’re planning to cause any more trouble here, I’d be doing Mr Drakov a favor,” he growled through gritted teeth, my heart pounded against my chest, so loud that I could hear it through my head. I just nodded, unable to bring words out of my choked-up throat.

“Move,” he demanded, giving my arm a forceful yank and pulling me alongside him. My nose was flooded with the smell of weed and gunpowder, making me gag.

Jay dragged me down the hall, keeping an unbelievably firm grip on my arm, holding me in tight to his chest, preventing me from trying to perform another poor excuse of an escape.

Two men lagged behind us, holding their guns in their hands ready to fire if I ran. Fuck their guns, and fuck them, it was my birthday yesterday. I had been kidnapped on my god damn birthday.

Jay signaled for the other two men to push open a set of heavy doors, which were guarded by massive men whose faces were grim and heartless, allowing him to pass through.

My heart stopped and so did the adrenaline, all that I was left with was a slow burning fear that grew and grew the longer I stared at what was in front of me.

There was a crowd of tattoos, drugs, and guns. At least twenty men were standing in this dimly lit room, all with their hungry and murderous eyes glued on me and the skanky party dress I had worn last night. The scent of weed and cigarettes found its way to my nostrils and made my head spin in an unpleasant manner. There was a large looking chair in the center of the room, resembling some kind of a throne. This was messed up.

I attempted to shrug Jay off, but it was another pointless attempt as he let out a frustrated growl that indicated I should give up before things turned ugly.

“Behave,” she warned in that sinister and deadly voice before releasing me with those icy hands of his.

He threw me against the floor where a group of girls dressed whose faces were caked in makeup and were dressed in flimsy pieces of fabric were. I choked down and swallowed a whimper.

You’re going to die here little girl, you’re done for.

The words rang through my head as I snapped my head from side to side trying to make sense of the situation. From behind a girl tapped me on the shoulder. I turned to her; my terrified eyes were almost identical to hers. Her blond hair was mattered and the makeup she wore was smudged and old, she looked almost lifeless.

“How long have you been here?” I demanded in a hushed and whispered voice.

“A few days, longer than all the others,” She replied. Her worn and tired eyes screamed of hopelessness and despair, she had given up and excepted her fate of death.

“What’s your name?” I asked her, my voice quivering and stuttering with every word.

The throne in the center of the room remained unattended and empty.

She shuffled closer to me slightly, I wanted to comfort her, but I was terrified myself. I had no sense of whereabouts or security, but I suspected that she didn’t either. We were both as lost and as scared as each other.

“Rosa,” she whispered in a hushed and panicked voice.

“Aleara,” I replied, introducing myself. At least I knew the name of someone here, I wouldn’t have to suffer alone now.

Suddenly the heavy double doors opened again, creaking and struggling under their own weight. The room froze, faces fell to the floor and smoke stopped being puffed for all of a minute, time seemed to have stopped.

People parted through the center of the room, making their way to either side of the walls. From the darkness that was when I saw the devil himself, the tall and dark features of a man, sitting down in the throne, clutching a gun in one hand and a cigarette in the other. His head was angled down but his eyes were staring into the mess of girls who were shivering and shaking in fear in front of him on the floor, as if waiting and watching for something to happen.