“Well, I have business to attend to upstate,” the Don continues, dusting off his immaculate suit. “Enjoy yourselves while I’m away, but try not to get killed in my absence. You’re all expendable, but I hardly have the time for new recruits.”
The Don snaps his fingers and I, too, get dragged away down the hall, with Lorenzo’s eyes following me hungrily. The men push me into a darkened room and lock the door. A moment later, someone is wrapping their arms around me and I let out a shriek of fear.
“Serena! Chica, it’s me,” Raf says tearfully. I relax and turn around to hug her. “What the hell is going on? What are they gonna do to us? Who the fuck was that guy?”
“I think that was the Don,” I answer, sighing. “The head honcho.”
“El jefe,” she breathes, her shoulders sagging. “I’m so scared, Serena. I don’t know what to do. I-I’m really worried about Nico. And I know it’s stupid but I’m supposed to be in class right now, you know? I have a life out there that isn’t gonna wait for me and now I don’t even know if I’m ever gonna make it out of this place alive.”
“Hey. Hey. It’s gonna be alright. I promise. We’re gonna get through this. We just have to stick together as much as we can, okay?” I tell her, petting her hair. She nods, and as my eyes readjust to the low light, I can see tears shining on her face.
“Breathe in. Breathe out. You’re a powerful goddess woman who can handle whatever life throws her way,” I say to her, repeating the daily affirmations she’s so fond of repeating to me. She gives me an incredulous look that makes me smile despite myself. Now she knows how I feel when she says it to me.
There’s a knock at the door and we both jump in fear, clinging to each other as the door opens just a fraction. A few skimpy items of what looks like lacy lingerie are thrown into the room. Lorenzo’s awful voice hisses, “Fix yourselves up nice for me. I’ll be waiting in the bedroom. While the Don is away, Lorenzo will play. My men will come to get you soon. I’m going to blow your fucking minds, you little sluts. Don Abruzzi won’t mind if I break you in, get that filthy Costa scent off of you before we hand you over to his nephew.”
The door closes and we’re both left staring down at the little pile of lingerie. A sense of heavy despair has fallen over the room. We know what we have to do. Feeling utterly helpless, we silently strip out of our clothes and dress ourselves in our new digs. There doesn’t seem to be any point in fighting this. I’m going into survival mode now. Dignity isn’t important anymore. We just have to keep living, keep fighting to stay alive despite whatever these disgusting pieces of shit do to us.
“I-I’m scared of what Nico will think,” Rafaela whispers sadly.
I hug her.
“He’ll understand. You and I have to do whatever it takes to survive, okay? You and me— we’re going to live through this to see the other side. I don’t know how long we’ll be here, but don’t give up. Just… try not to think too hard about it. I know that sounds impossible, but you have to just pretend none of this is happening. I’m here with you. You are not alone.”
I hesitate for a moment, letting those long-buried memories start to wash back over me. I swallow hard and continue, “Look, Rafaela. I’ve been through something like this before. I—”
Before I can go on, the door swings open. One of the henchmen gives us a wry smile, looking at our exposed bodies, and then says, “Lorenzo is ready for you.”
BRUNO
M y car tears down the road as if it’s on fire like my heart. I weave in and out of traffic, handling the battered remains of this sedan with more finesse than it should be able to pull off. This is going to be the car’s last ride, and for all I know, it could be mine as well.
I don’t care anymore. There’s only one life on my mind, and that’s Serena.
I arrived at Rafaela’s house barely five minutes earlier. There was a single black sedan parked out front, and I knew that she wasn’t alone in the house. When I made my way inside through a window, silent as a shadow, the first man I found never heard me when I caught him from behind and broke his neck.
Moving silently through the house, I found the second man in Rafaela’s bedroom, picking through some of her things in a drawer. He looked like he was going to shit himself when he looked up and saw me aiming a gun at him.
The gun should have been the least of his fears. I got the information I wanted from him. He and his comrade were Abruzzi soldiers, looting the house after they’d been taken.
Once I had the information I needed from him, and I put him down with a single shot to the head. I’d deal with cleanup later.
Serena was in the dragon’s lair.
He told me that Lorenzo had her and Rafaela taken into the Abruzzi compound, and he told me where it was. He was a tough man, but a little pressure went a long way. Men who put on a tough face are always the weakest, just under the surface.
I take a corner hard, and I hear the sounds of car horns around me as I speed by. I give the clutch a squeeze. Come on, just a little further now…!
In the back of my mind, I hear a voice reminding me that what I’m doing is insane. A family compound is just that—a fortress housing the most important members of a crime family. As I see the estate come into view in the distance, I glance down at my arsenal. After that fight in the alley, I haven’t even stopped to take stock of everything I have. Time is too pressing.
I’m armed with two guns, a few spare cases of bullets, and two knives. My clothes are torn and bloody, and the best I can say about my injuries is that they’ve stopped bleeding. Taking a moment to wrap some duct tape around them did the trick.
But love makes you push your limits.
I grip the steering wheel as I fly down the road toward the entrance of the compound. It’s a beautiful place, with dark red ivy spilling down its walls, and the driveway leading up to the place is nicely taken care of.
Almost a shame to spill so much blood in a place that shows off this city’s beauty so well.
The man posted at the entrance steps out of his guardhouse at the sight of me, his face growing alarmed, and he has time to raise what looks like a cellphone to his ear before I blow past him, pulling my handbrake as I screech into the courtyard of the estate.
I keep my head down since I’m coming in hot. The screams and couple of thumps I feel against the car as it screeches over the cobblestone tells me there were a few guards on their way to investigate when I peeled in.
Immediately, I throw the car door open and dive out, keeping low and whipping my guns out.
The courtyard is a small square decorated with simple hedges, a fountain, and the bodies of the three men I ran over on my way in, sprawled on the ground. Up by the door, there are two stunned men watching me get out, and they waste no time in raising their own guns.
Bullets start flying.