Page 6 of Ensnared
Dropping her phone to her side, she stared up at the ceiling. There were still plastic glow-in-the-dark stars scattered across the ceiling. Shortly after they moved in with their grandparents, she and Ricky had hung them up. Their mother, Marisa, had told them it would only be a quick summer visit. The visit never ended and their mother slowly stopped coming home altogether.
Her phone buzzed and her stomach flipped as she sat up with a jolt, scrambling for the phone. Swiping at the screen with a shaky hand, the painful hope in her stomach froze as she read the message from the unknown number.
Unknown: my pen does not write with the same caliber as before.
Eve frowned at the phone. Without prompt her mind supplied the sound of Dimitri's rolling "r" and melodic accent to the words.
Eve: Your pen works just fine! I knew I shouldn't have borrowed it from you. And how did you get my number?!!!
The dots immediately appeared telling her he was typing.
Unknown: Managerial powers.
Eve: Do me a favor and lose it.
Unknown: Now why would I do that when this is just beginning?
Chapter 4
Dimitriwalkedthroughtheback door of the old building. The place used to be an old casino. Located on the other side of town, far from the popular Las Vegas Strip, the old place hadn't turned a profit since the eighties. Auctioned off for next to nothing, it along with a handful of other properties spread throughout the city were all his.
Unbuttoning the top buttons of his shirt, he sat down in a chair in the middle of the room with a heavy sigh. All the slot machines had long since been sold off leaving the massive casino floor occupied with dusty old chairs and worn dealer tables.
He looked to the five men waiting silently off to the side. Dressed in black suits, they waited with their hands behind their back until they were acknowledged.
How many years of his life did he spend doing the exact same thing? Just standing there waiting until the man in charge allowed him to move? A muscle in his jaw ticked at the endless memories. Nights he went to bed bruised and broken. The concussions left unchecked. The endless days of clawing and scraping his way through an unforgiving organization. The memories never seemed to fade no matter how many good ones he tried to replace them with.
Dimitri gave the men an almost imperceptible nod and they visibly relaxed at once.
One man stepped forward. "Andrey is finishing up something in the back," he explained. "You want me to get him?"
Dimitri leaned back in the old office chair and closed his eyes. "No."
Andrey had eyes and ears over every inch of this building. The man knew he was here. A sudden shift in the room's atmosphere made Dimitri open his eyes. His hulking lieutenant walked in through the door followed by Andrey's lean frame.
Dimitri looked over at the eager enforcer from earlier and commanded. "Go get our guest."
Within minutes the pitiful figure of Ricky Barrameda was walking through the door closely followed by the enforcer.
"Sit down," Dimitri ordered. He was ready to get back to the hotel and sleep. Who knew serving drinks for over five hours and getting propositioned by dozens of women of all ages was so fucking tiring?
With a firm hand on his shoulder pushing him into the seat, Ricky sat, giving him a petrified look.
Dimitri had no intention of wasting any more time. "It's been a few days now and Andrey tells me you haven't come up with a way to get back what you lost me?"
Ricky let out a desperate sound in his throat. Shaking his head, he gave Dimitri a pitiful look. His tousled black hair and the stubble on his chin only added to his overall desperation.
"I'm telling you, I can’t just-"
Dimitri stood up abruptly from his chair, the wheels scratching against the exposed cement floor. Ricky flinched as Dimitri stepped closer and braced one hand against Ricky's narrow shoulder.
He could break this kid here and now, Dimitri thought. Anger flared through him and he could practically feel the powerless frailty of the kid beneath his hand. But beating the shit out of the kid would not net him what he wanted. Instead, he leveled his gaze at the kid and savored the visible shudder of terror that went through him.
"Consider these past few days my grace period. I want you to think of this time in the future when I bring you unbearable pain, and I want you to remember how you fucked around on my mercy."
Ricky went pale and began shaking his head. "Wait, please. I'm trying to-"
Dimitri continued, his voice going colder as the plan that had been brewing in his head took root, wrapping its thorny tendrils around his black heart.
