Page 44 of In Ruins
“I’ll just tell everyone I found it in the garbage and I just couldn’t leave it in there.” He smirks.
“You’re a cruel bastard! I’ll never let you take my baby away from me!” I scream at him.
“You won’t have a choice.” He smiles evilly before heading for the door.
“You’ll never get my baby!” I use the last of my energy to scream at him, and he just laughs, the sound grating on my nerves instantly.
“Clean that filthy whore up. As soon as you’re done, make sure you lock her inside. If for some reason she’s not locked inand she manages to escape, then you will pay for that with your life,” he tells Giana before he finally disappears.
My entire body slumps with relief once he’s gone, and the pain now feels ten times worse since he’s no longer here to distract me from it with his suffocating presence.
Giana rushes over to me, gently helping me up and walking us slowly toward the bathroom. Tears stream down her face as well as mine.
“Are you al-… fuck! Never mind, that’s a stupid fucking question. Of course you’re not okay.”
“I’ll be fine. At least he didn’t kill me. He wants my baby, and that is the one thing he’s not going to get,” I mumble.
“What are you going to do?”
“I have no idea, but I’ll have to think of something.”
“I know you will. If anyone can, it’s you.”
Giana helps clean me up, putting bandages on the spots that split. She then rubs pain ointment everywhere on my body that he hit or kicked. After she’s done, she helps me put on one of my nighties before she gets me into bed.
Once I’m settled in bed, she goes downstairs and then comes back with a few bottles of water, some acetaminophen, because that one is safe to use while pregnant, and some snacks that she leaves on my nightstand before she walks out of my room. I don’t miss the sound of the lock clicking into place after her, as she locks me in here, per my father’s orders.
As soon as I’m alone, sobs rack my body. Fuck! How could everything have gone so badly, so quickly?
A few minutes later, I lift my blanket and rub a protective hand over my bump. Through the tears, a smile crosses my face. I’m not mad that she made her appearance when she was supposed to, because I forgot to check the date. All this means is that she’s real and this is really happening.
I have two more weeks to wait until I can find out the baby’s gender. I don’t know, but I have a feeling my little nugget is going to be a girl, so I keep thinking of the baby as her.
If my father thinks that he’s going to get his hands on her and take her away from me, then he has another thing coming. I’ll go on the run if I have to. I don’t care what I have to do. He’s already made me suffer, and I won’t ever let that happen to her. Even if I have to give up my last breath to protect my baby from him, I will.
CHAPTER 13
ENZO
I step into the warehouse, and the chatter dies instantly. I nod my head, acknowledging all my soldiers who are already here, as I move to the center of the room. They remain along the walls, leaving the middle empty, except for the five men chained to the beams.
Their wrists are locked over their heads, the heavy chains drawn tight as the metal bites into their skin. I’m pretty sure their shoulders must be screaming in pain.
Even the smallest movement creates a sharp rattle from the beam, the sound echoing through the cold and enormous space. It’s a warning to everyone in here. This is what happens to you when you betray me. One of them groans, the sound torn from him as his weight drags harder against the restraints.
There’s no way to shift, no angle that eases the pain, only the constant drag, the slow burn chewing through their muscle and joints. I feel no sympathy as I watch them in silence. They’re bare-chested, blood running in dark lines from the wounds split across their backs and stomachs.
I don’t remember how long they’ve been here. Hours? Maybe days? Sometimes I love playing with them by letting them sweat for a while. It fucks with their heads when they realize there’s noway out, and they’re just waiting for their deaths. One of them might already be dead, hanging there, held upright only by the chains. I made certain the pain reached every bone in their body—no relief, no mercy.
The warehouse absorbs their pleas and gives nothing back. No one is coming to save them. They will never leave this place alive. I don’t tolerate being betrayed.
“P–p-please, don’t do this!” one of them eventually begs, barely able to lift his head up to look at me through big, swollen eyes. I punch him in the face, and his head whips to the side as he lets out a whimper. Hearing the agony is music to my ears since it’s exactly what they all deserve for their crimes against my family.
I hate doing this kind of thing, I really do…
Nah, I’m just fucking with you. I don’t hate doing shit like this. In fact, I fucking love it because it sends a message to all the fuckers who think they’ve grown some balls. These assholes never learn.I feel like I went through this same shit a couple of months ago…
Before anyone can even start working for the Andrettis, they’re given the rules they need to follow, a code of honor they need to abide by, and what is expected of them once they start working, since they’re all paid well for whatever job they end up doing for us. Along with all the expectations that are placed on them, they’re also told what happens to anyone who crosses us in any way.
