“I don’t know what you want,” I whisper, but it comes out harsher than expected as my tears begin to fall down my face. “I don’t know what it is that I can tell you…”
“Bullshit!” He yells, causing me to jump. He takes a step closer and grabs out to me, holding me still by my hair. I scream, but that only makes him yank me harder. “You know exactly what I want. Your notebook. The truth, Maria. The only damn thing that might set you free, at least partly.”
His hand travels down my middle as he attempts to lower my nightgown through the rope still tied around my body. I remember how it got there and instinctively look around for him. My eyes dart from right to left in a frenzy as Luigi begins to laugh. Quickly he cups my chin harshly in his hand and forces my eyes to look into his. “Who are you looking for, huh?” He questions. “A savior? Someone to rescue you? Pathetic!” He says as spit flies in my face and he shoves me back slightly, causing the chair to rock and my stomach to jump worried that I might tip over.
“I don’t know where it is,” I lie, knowing full well that I last saw the notebook in Leo’s hands as he flung me against the car. The realization makes my head spin, wondering why he didn’t hand it over to Luigi when he brought me here and obviously kept it for himself. Hope blooms in my chest that maybe this is all a show, but I let it die quickly knowing the things he said, the way he kidnapped me, again, my family lying dead all around me as he shoved me out into the night and towards a fate I always believed he’d protect me from. If he didn’t give the notebook to Luigi, he is saving it for himself. For his own advantage while I meet an end he ultimately brought me to.
“What would you say, if I told you, I don’t believe you,” Luigi whispers, as a shadow moves behind him before two men step into the light. One I have never seen before, and his stare makes me feel dirty as he salivates with no shame taking in my almost naked body in front of him. The other, stares back at me with determination etched across every inch of his face. His eyes look void, cold. Too cold and perfectly set on me as Luigi holds me prisoner. I can’t read him, no matter how hard I try, and the realization makes me begin to shake.
A smarter woman would sell him out. A brighter hostage would take every opportunity to save themself. But I know I have no chance, the only thing I can do is try and buy myself more time before the man in front of me does what he pleases with me and I’m soon laying six feet under somewhere.
“I hid it,” I lie, as I glance up at the men behind Luigi. I look into Leo’s eyes and see a flash of amusement, as if he is sickenly enjoying the fact that even when faced with death I am still protecting him and his secrets, his lies. Something he promised me he’d always do for me, before he turned his back on me and sold me out to someone more important to him than I could ever be. His family.
“Where?” Luigi demands as he takes a step forward and forces me to look at him.
“At Vincent Nitti’s house, in the bedroom.” I say with as much conviction to make it true as I can. He studies me for a moment before letting out a deep sigh.
“Another fucking lie!”
“Believe it or not, but I promise you that is where it is. If you want to get it back, I can take you to it.”
His laugh floats through the empty basement before he leans forward and smiles. “No,Bambina. Just tell me where it is and maybe I will let you live once I send these two men behind me to get it.”
Trying to think quickly, I shake my head and close my eyes before speaking. “It’s locked. In a safe. That only opens with my hand print. I have to go. There is no other way.”
When I open my eyes, I see Luigi lean back as his brow furrows and he tries to decide if I am telling the truth.
“I promise, you can have the notebook. There is no one there to even stop you. My family, they were all murdered,” I look up at Leo and feel my stomach churn at the memory. His eyes tell me one thing, that he holds no remorse in what he did. He’d gladly do it again, like he said earlier tonight, he’ll do what he has to. No matter what.
A few moments pass before Luigi speaks. “Alright Maria,” he hisses. “We’ll all go.” My eyes focus back on him as he leans in and suddenly grabs me by the throat. “But I warn you,Bambina, little girl. You try one move. One fucking attempt to escape, I will shoot you. Make no fucking mistake.”
He lets me go and I gasp for air. When I can finally take a deep breath, I look up and see him snap his fingers. The man I don’t know and Leo round his side and come up behind me. I hear a switch blade open and my eyes widen, but one of them cut the rope around my middle before Leo crawls in front of me and slices through the ties at my ankles. I stare down at him and hate myself for ever trusting him. For ever giving myself to him the way I did and letting down my guard. His hand rests a little long on my skin after the zip tie falls to the floor and he looks up. For a brief second, I think I see remorse in his eyes before the door behind him opens and a man comes into view. A man that I never thought I ‘d see again.
Big Jim. James Costello.
Chapter 25
Leonardo
“Keep fucking walking,” I hear Big Jim hiss out as he pushes Maria through the doorway. I convinced Luigi to use the back entrance, telling him that it would be safer than the front in case the police were watching the house. To be honest, I didn’t expect him to buy it, but he did. And now we are crossing the threshold into purgatory. The silence before the storm. A moment in time that has the power to wipe away everything that was once before and bring about a fucking rebirth, ifweplanned it right.
“I’m going as fast as I can,” I hear Maria whimper and say a quick, silent prayer that she remains strong. Just a little bit further, a couple agonizing moments longer, and hopefully it will all be over.
“You always were a fucking joke, Mia!” Big Jim belts out before his boot rises and he kicks her into the hallway making her stumble to catch her footing. I make a mental note to end James Costello slowly, drawing out his pain, for all that he is putting her though.
“The name is Maria,” she shouts, as she spins around and squares off against all four of us. “Get it fucking right asshole!”
Big Jim raises his hand and wastes no time in slapping it across her face. My insides beg me to take the fucker out now, before he can lay one more finger on her. But I know I can’t. Not yet. Not until this all goes down the way I thought it would. And so far, I was 100% right.
Luigi takes a step forward as Big Jim steps aside. “We don’t have time for games, Maria. You said you had the notebook here. You better be fucking right, or I’ll gladly have Jim here finish a job I hired him to do years ago. Make sure you disappear. And this time, I won’t give him the option to keep you alive.”
I see hatred in her eyes, can feel the fury radiating off her from where I stand, but like the woman I know her to be she doesn’t back down and takes a step towards Luigi instead.
“You call that living? Forced to live with a man who beat me, raped me, held me against my will until my ‘so called’ mother blew her damn brains out? Trust me, I would have rather he killed me! Give me that final punishment, instead of dragging out brutal torture on me my whole damn life!”
“That can be arranged,” Luigi hisses out as he grabs her arm and flings her to face down the hallway. “We can put a bullet in your back just as quickly as I can arrange one to pierce you through yourillegitimateheart. Now do what you are told, before I end you anyways and look for the fucking notebook myself.” He flings her down the hallway and I watch her slowly begin to walk forward.
We come to crossing the hallway from earlier where Vincent and Sofia’s bodies lay, and it doesn’t pass by me that she looks, realizes they’re no longer there, and quickly glances up to meet my eye. I give her a smile and hang my head low so no one sees but her. She stops walking for a moment, her brain trying to catch up with everything, before Luigi begins barking orders once more.
