Page 48 of The Mafia's Property

We told Bennie to follow the man she had met while Nico and I wasted no time getting out of the casino. Nico’s eyes were on the app as I drove to the cafe. “Has she moved?” I asked. “She’s going back to the apartment,” he replied. I increased the speed of the car and in a few minutes than usual we were at the apartment. “She’s inside,” he said as I got out of the car.

The elevator was down when we arrived and did not have to wait. And when the doors opened to our floor, I made sure to walk quietly to the door and opened it gently. I checked the app to see which room she was in. I almost chuckled. She was in my room. Delicately, I closed the door and took off my shoes. Nico did the same and even though he’s never been known for being quiet, he too was as silent as I made my way to my room. She had left the door slightly open, and all I had to do was push it slightly to enter. She was casing the floorboards, looking for an opening to something. Of course.

She didn’t hear me enter, and it was funny watching her crawl around the room as she searched for what was no longer there. But she was smarter than I thought, because she ditched the floor and went to the bedside drawer and surprisingly found the button on the first try. The safe opened, and she gasped.

“Found what you were looking for? Too bad it’s no longer there,” I said. She whipped around and when she saw me, her eyes widened in shock. Got her.

Freya

I WAS IN a car. Or at least that’s what I thought it was from the sounds I tried to make out ever since Nico put tape over my mouth and Rico covered my head with a black sack. Their faces as they tied me up were etched in my mind. Nico looked and angry and hurt. Rico had a smug look, as if satisfied to have been proven right. My delight at seeing that box pop out when I clicked the button to it turning into disappointment when there was nothing inside the glass case to a further turmoil of emotion as I heard his voice behind me.

Funny how what I thought would prevent me from having to commit murder turned into me possibly having to be killed. When Derreck said we should meet at the cafe, I wasn’t sure how I was going to pull it off. Maybe do the same restroom trick, I thought. But I didn’t have to. The bodyguard had a personal issue to take care of, or at least that’s what he told me. Looking back, that was probably a lie. So without a man tailing me, I told Derreck it was safe. What a fucking dumb move that was. No matter the case, I tried to convince Derreck to change the plan when he told me exactly how the drug worked. He wanted me to spike Nico’s drink. It was Nico who killed Zoe. I didn’t think so. He said it would be registered as a drug overdose in the autopsy, so it would not be an issue, but I didn’t want to go through with it. I eventually I convinced him to ditch the murder plan and revert to our original one. I told him I knew where the jewel was; it was a lie.

After my meeting with Derreck, I went to back to the apartment with a singular purpose. Get that jewel wherever it was. I searched Nico’s room first and found nothing. I had searched Rico’s room before and there was nothing there, or at least that’s what I thought, but when I looked again, I found a button hidden under the bedside drawer. A place I was sure I had searched before. And wouldn’t you know it, something happened. A glass case popped out of the wall. And because of that stupid, stupid act, I was tied up, taped up and currently being driven to some remote location.

To be raped? I didn’t want to think of it. Beside me in the car, I could smell Nico’s scent. Rico was probably the one driving. I was pretty sure there were no other people in the car. I couldn’t hear or feel any other person. I sat quietly, afraid any movement would look like I was trying to escape. Not now, at least. Not in a moving car, while blind and unaware of my surroundings.

After several hours, the car came to a stop. Fuck. Was I in the desert? I had forgotten to count the time. It’s hard to do when you’re in fear of your life. The car door opened, and I felt a hand on my shoulder. Fuck. Fuck. Fuck. This is it. Instead of avenging Zoe, end up like her. I froze. Refused to budge, but Nico, who was beside me, shoved me forward and I fell into the arms and chest of Rico. He carried me into his arms as he made his way down… a tarmac road? His shoes didn’t sound like they were hitting the sand. It was tarmac. Then I heard a whirring machine. An abandoned warehouse? Were they grounding my bones into dust? That would be a better disposal method, I thought. The sound got louder. I squirmed in his arms, but his hold was too tight. “Calm down,” he said. “Or we’ll both fall.” I was too distraught to make sense of his words. I kicked again. And he stopped. “I said calm down or I’ll end you here and now.”

I ceased. The next thing I know he was climbing some steps and soon we entered an air-conditioned room. Rico sat me down on something comfortable. A chair. No, a couch. It was more plush than the car seat and very comfortable to be anything other than a couch. I heard footsteps of Rico and Nico moving about me. And maybe a third person? Or maybe a fourth? I was not in an abandoned warehouse, that was for sure. After what I assumed to be half an hour, someone sank into the seat next to me and then they took off my sack. I blinked rapidly at the sudden burst of light. It wasn’t the desert or a warehouse. I was on a plane. Nico was sitting beside me and Rico was opposite me. I glanced at the two of them. Nico ripped my tape off. “Where are you taking me?” I said.

Rico was busy on his phone as if this was the most normal thing that could be happening and not that he was in the process of trafficking a woman. Nico was still angry. I blanched at the harsh disgust he had for me and wished I had not done what I did. He did not respond. None of them did. Was the removal of tape kindness or knowledge that I had nowhere to run to? It was the latter. Nico undid my bindings and strapped on my seatbelt. The plane’s engines whirled even louder, preparing for takeoff. My nightmare wasn’t over yet. They have something in store for me and my instinct told me it was worse than a grave in the desert. I am a dead woman walking with nothing to lose. But before I embrace nihilism, I wanted to hear it from them.

“Are you going to kill me?”

Nothing.

I wondered if they knew about Derreck. They had to if they knew about the jewel, but I hesitated to ask on the off chance they didn’t. He told me all about how they, Nico in particular, had mistreated him. Nico fired Derreck after accusing him of some trumped up accusation after Derreck asked too many questions regarding Zoe. My time with them had made me complacent and forgetful of the truly awful people these two are. They would not hesitate to destroy a person’s life.

“Where are we going?” I asked again.

And again, they didn’t respond. The rest of the trip was eerily quiet. Nico and Rico acted like I wasn’t sitting right there next to them. I had nothing to do but sit still, anxiously waiting for my fate.

I must have fallen asleep because I jolted awake when I felt a belt being wrapped over my body once again. The plane was descending into an airport. We had arrived at whatever place we were going to. The windows were pitch black, telling me it’s nighttime and not much else. The plane came to a stop, and I was hesitant to ask about my location again. Besides, Nico was no longer sitting next to me and had gone to the back. Rico was the least friendly of the two, so there’s no way I was going to broach some sort of conversation with him. Nico came back with a small bag and brought out my worst nightmare. Duct tape, rope and a black sack. My protests were futile.

♣

Again, someone ripped the sack off me and this time I found myself sitting on a bed while Rico tied my hands to the bedpost. I frantically looked around my surroundings. It was a bedroom, a normal looking one judging by the furniture and bedding. It was of the more exclusive variety and the difference between this one and the one in Vegas was that this had an upper class tropical feel like one of those five star beachfront resorts. And as if the universe was agreeing with me, I heard a crash of waves outside. I heard waves when Rico carried me outside, so I was confident we were at some beach place or… I remembered Nico telling me about an island and a trip there for his birthday. Oh no. This means I’m in some remote place where these two motherfuckers were kings.

After he was done tying me to the post, Rico ripped off the tape and went over to sit in the chair next to the bed. Nico had gone out, and it was only Rico and I. He looked like he wanted to talk. Let him be the first to break the silence.

“Why did you steal the jewel?” He was stern, cold, and unforgiving. A rock had more feeling than this man.

“I didn’t steal anything.”

“What did you want with it?” he asked.

I twisted in the binds and accidentally made them tighter. Good thinking Freya. All you managed is to make yourself uncomfortable. “Can you loosen these?” I swung the binds towards his direction, but I might as well be talking to myself.

“What’s the jewel mean to you?”

I shrugged. “Would you care if I tell you?”

“What did you want with the jewel?”

“Money! Is that what you want to hear? I wanted money. I wanted some shoes for myself. Do I really have to explain myself?”

“Liar. What about Zoe Sanders? Did you kill her?”

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