Beyond Revenge (The Ransom Series) (5 page)

“Good.  Now we can have a little
discussion,” I say, twisting the gun around as if to burrow
it
down into Russo’s skull.  “Where is Morgan?  Where did Mark take
her?”

Russo bursts into laughter, and it only
makes me to want to pierce the man’s skull
even
more. 
“You’re going after that little whore?  Wow.  I know she was your woman
,
but I didn’t think you
actually
had feelings
for that girl.”

I bring my head down close to his ear
and release his hair to compress his neck in a chokehold, crushing his trachea
with the strength of my forearm
. 
“She is not a
whore,” I say through gritted teeth as Russo gasps for breath.  “Where the fuck
is she?”

I hold him there for a moment longer
before reluctantly letting go.  If I didn’t need the man conscious and able to
speak to tell me where Morgan is, I’d have kept him that way until he was blue
in the face.

“You really think Mark told me what he
was doing with her?  You’ll have to find someone else to pester.  My business
with Mark concluded the night we stole her away for him.  That was it.”

“What about your
arrangement
with Jack?  You betrayed his trust.  You went against him.  He
even called you a friend.”

Russo looks away from me dismissively. 
“Jack should have fucking known better than to go against Mark.  Mark and I may
not have done business before, but I’ve always known better than to get on his
bad side.  Mark also happens to be more financially thriving than
the
good old
physician
, though I admire the
man for the success of his solo business
all these years
.”

I feel like I’m getting nowhere.  I
need something from him.  Anything.  “Where is Jack?”

“I haven’t heard a word from Jack.  You
want my honest opinion?  He’s either dead already or Mark’s got him
, too
. 
I doubt
Mark
takes
betrayal lightly.”  Russo turns his head to give me a knowing
smile, as if
hinting toward
my
own
fate.

I ignore his attempt to weaken my resolve and continue
with my questioning.
  “What happened after your men
grabbed
Morgan
?  Did Mark take her or did you bring her back here?”

“I got to spend a little time with her
at that warehouse while Mark dealt with you,” he says
with a smug
expression
.  “Boy, she was a fighter.  She got a good swing
at me before we got her under control.  We had a full dose of sedative ready
for
her
but decided to have a little fun instead.  Gave her
enough to make her woozy.  Watched her stumble around in that skimpy red dress
while she kept trying to fend
off
my guys.”

I reaffirm my gun’s position on Russo’s
temple.  “That’s enough.”

My gaze drifts to Robert.  He’s fuming
where he stands, his anger visible in the slight tremble of the weapons he’s
holding.

Russo also notices this, his curiosity
apparently
having forgotten that I have a gun to his head.  “Who’s your
new partner, Leo?”

I shake my head at Robert.  I know
better than to give this man anything, but there’s nothing I can do to stop Robert’s
visible
reaction to Russo’s description of what he did
to Morgan.

“Wait.  Let me guess.”  Russo’s face
lights up.  “You’re the girl’s father, aren’t you?  The detective who couldn’t even
find his own daughter.  You should have kept that sweet little piece of ass on
a tighter leash.”

“That’s enough!”  I step out in front
of Russo and in the same movement hit him hard across the face with the gun.

I turn to Robert. 
In that small
glance, I see all his devastation and anger and heartbreak at once
.  I should have stopped Russo the moment
he
opened
his mouth
about
what he did
to Morgan
.

The door opens
swiftly
behind Robert
,
and my heart sinks.  The
guard from out front is fully conscious and brandishing his own knife I didn’t
know he had.  He has it pointed directly at Robert’s neck.

We all remain completely still and
silent, and in that moment I wonder if my short stint
with Robert
as partners has come to an abrupt end.

“Stand down,” Russo says behind me.  I
turn to him, speechless.  “These two are off-limits.”

The man with the knife to Robert’s
throat
hesitates before
step
ping
away cautiously.  Robert’s guns remain trained on the other two
men in front of him.  My gun remains on Russo.

“I was given special instructions not
to harm you or the father should either of you show up.  The risk was well
worth the price Mark paid to get my word that I wouldn’t kill you.” 
Russo
looks between me and Robert.  “I’ve told you everything I know.  As
I said before, you’ll have to
bother
someone else
about your beloved girlfriend and daughter.”

I take in the room around me and know
that this is our cue to exit.  We’ve done the best we could, and whether Russo
is telling the truth about being clueless as to Morgan’s whereabouts or not,
we’re in no position to get further information from him.

Keeping my gun trained on Russo, I
slowly back away from him to meet Robert on the other side of the room.  I
touch his shoulder and nod to the door, indicating for him to leave first.

“An unlikely duo you are, joining
forces against Mark,” Russo says nonchalantly as I step
through the
doorway
.  “This should be very interesting.”

My face remains impassive as I slam the
door shut and run with Robert back down the hall.

His Strength

∞

I’m crumpled, battered,
destroyed,

but not broken.

He was my rock, my
solidity, my strength.

He gave me life
and so much more.

With him it all
faded away

into the light and
darkness.

I hold on to him
inside,

feeling that piece
of him through me,

pulling from it.

His strength that
remains.

∞

They say the definition of insanity is
doing the same thing over and over again and expecting a different result. 
A
m I insane for opening my eyes each morning and expecting to find
this all to be a dream?

Or a nightmare.

My eyes open reluctantly, my face
pressed roughly against the pillow as I lie on my side in a silky black negligee
with my legs curled up
in
to
me, reverting me back to my fetal state.  I see my hand extended just in front
of my face
,
grasping the pillowcase for dear life.  I
see the metal handcuff on my other wrist and the trickles of dried blood that
decorate my skin.  I see the door that he comes through to find me, to take me
on this bed as his own and fill me with his evil seed.  I see the smirk and
satisfaction on his face when he’s done and leaves me here, defiled and
devastated, stripped of whatever dignity and humanity I ha
d
left.

Mark Castili took me months before, but
he didn’t own me until three days ago.

In the movement of my face to grimace
at the soreness throughout my body, it feels like my skin is cracking
apart
underneath the dried tears and blood.  I feel dirty,
disgusted with myself, nauseated at the thought of what I’ve become.

A carrier.  A vessel.  An incubator to
create and grow a tiny human being for a man who will ruin its life from birth. 
From the moment he
touches
th
is
baby I’m expected to develop for him, the child’s life will be
forfeit.

I can’t let that happen, because this
child will mean the absolute world to me, not just because I will have given
birth to it, but because it’s Leo’s child.

It has to be.  I have to believe we
were successful the night I asked Leo to sleep with me unprotected to preempt
what I knew Mark would do if our escape plan failed.  There’s no question in my
mind that a tiny piece of Leo is growing inside me, mostly because I can’t
fathom the other possibility.

Mark has visited me morning, noon, and
night the last two days.  He climbs on top of me each time, his weight heavy
and disgusting over my body.  His fingers
crawl across my bare skin with
their eager touch, claiming all parts of me,
only fueling the
lust and primal need within him. 
His balding head rubs up against me in
every possible way as he attacks my breasts with his mouth and presses his cock
between my legs. 
He enters me violently, moving against me
as if I’m an object and not a person.  He continues until he’s yelling and
trembling, filling me with tiny pieces of him that burrow away at my resolve
more and more each time.

Last night I stopped fighting it.  I
kept up my resistance as long as I could, constantly flailing my body and
pushing against him and squeezing my legs shut and bending my knees.  No matter
what I did, the end result was always the same.  He found ways to subdue me:
beating me to the verge of unconsciousness, drugging me with sedatives,
strangling me until I was too desperate for oxygen.  Whether I fought him or
not, he would always win.

So I let him.

I refuse to think of it as defeat. 
It’s more like self-preservation, not just for me, but for the baby that is
inevitably going to grow inside me.  I can’t be careless with my body or my
life
,
because soon I won’t be alone in this body, and
regardless of who the father is, I’ll do whatever I have to in order to protect
my baby.

The deadbolt turns in the door, and I
immediately shut my eyes, wishing I could mentally will away the insatiable
monster determined to destroy me.  I push past
the
exhaustion
and heartache within me to find and embrace the strength that Leo gave me even
when he can’t be my rock by my side.  He got me through the last four months in
person.  My love for him and memories of him will get me through today, and
tomorrow, and every day to come.  He will continue to be my strength.

“Morgan.”

My lips part and tears instantly form
in my eyes.  I peek up from the pillow to see Jack standing in the basement room
before me with his black medical bag in hand.  His gray hair is messy and his
clothes are wrinkled and torn.

“Jack.”

I can barely say his name before I’m drowning
in my own tears.  After
two full
days of being solely
with Mark and all his evils, this comforting
old
man
is the most welcome sight to my eyes.

He pulls up a
white plastic
chair beside me, moving my wild
auburn
hair out of my face.  He
assesses
my
visible
injuries before doing anything else, just as I expected a doctor to
do.

“God, I’m so sorry, Morgan.”  He’s
barely keeping it together.  “This is all my fault.  I was trying to help you
and Leo, and all I did was lead you into a trap.  Russo betrayed me.  He went
to Mark behind my back, and I was none the wiser for it.”

“It’s okay,” I whisper to him with a
tired
smile.  My face feels sore from moving those muscles
that haven’t formed anything close to a smile in over two days.  “I wish you
weren’t dragged into this, but I’m so happy you
’re
here.”

Jack gives me a concerned look.  “Honestly,
there’s nowhere I’d rather be.  You need someone to look after you without Leo
here.”

He seems to instantly regret what he
just said as my smile falters.  It feels like my heart is
split
in two
with the other half nowhere to be found
.  This separation
from Leo
is perhaps the
most painful of all the things that Mark has done to me.

“I miss him,” I say quietly through my
tears.  “It’s only been a few days, and I miss him so much.  It physically
hurts to be away from him like this.”  I realize this is the first time I’ve
had a chance to talk to anyone else about what happened.  “Please tell me he’s
still alive.  Mark didn’t kill him, did he?”

Jack places his hand on my shoulder. 
“I’m as in the dark about everything as you are, but I don’t think Mark would
kill him.  If he truly wants to get back at Leo for trying to steal you away,
he’ll want him to be alive for all of this.”

I nod at Jack
as my expression
turns somber
.  If Leo’s alive, he must be absolutely
devastated.  After all he did to help me and protect me, he lost me anyway.  I
wish I could tell him I’m okay, that I’m surviving and that the strength he gave
me carries through to help me win this war even though I’m losing the battles.

“Mark wants me to check you over,” Jack
says, inspecting the lacerations on my forehead.  “He thought a couple of these
might need stitches, but I think you’ll heal just fine.
”

He opens the medical bag and pulls out
some supplies to clean and dress the wounds.

After a few minutes of silence
,
Jack finally speaks up again.  “He’s doing exactly what I
expected, isn’t he?”

I close my eyes for a moment,
hopelessly wishing this wasn’t my reality, before opening them again and
nodding.  “I don’t fight him anymore,” I whisper guiltily.  “Does that make me
a horrible person?  Last night I just laid there and let it happen.  I cried
the whole time, but I didn’t fight him.”

Jack pauses what he’s doing and looks
me in the eyes.  “You’ve fought enough, Morgan.  Look
at
what he’s already done to you.  Your body can only take so much, and
now
you’re going to have to be more careful with it.”

His thoughts echo my own exactly.  His
confirmation that I made the right decision lifts the tiniest bit of weight off
my shoulders.

I’m not a terrible person.  I’m not
weak.  I’m just doing what I have to in order to survive, not just for me, but
for my baby.

When Jack places the last bandage on
the top of my shoulder where Mark’s fingernails ripped
into
my skin, he looks at me hesitantly.  “Can I check the rest of
you?  I don’t want you to feel uncomfortable.”

“Everything about me being here is
uncomfortable,” I say with a sad smile.  Jack looks at me with concern, but I
try to dismiss his worry.  “It’s fine, Jack.  Do what you need to do.”

I turn onto my back and stretch my legs
out, feeling the stiffness and soreness in them with each extension of tendon
and muscle.  Jack inspects me from my feet upwards, cleaning a few cuts and
scrapes on my calves and knees that were residual from three
days
ago when Russo and his men drugged me until I could barely walk. 
I stumbled into things and fell down on the concrete over and over until Mark
finally showed up and ended their fun, giving me the rest of the sedative to
put me out of my misery
and
into unconsciousness.

Jack’s touch reaches my bruised thighs.
 He pulls the negligee up enough to keep me covered, respecting my privacy, but
I know he should check me there, too.  I pull the silky material up all the way
to my chest and part my legs.

Jack looks at me questioningly.

“It hurts, Jack.  I want you to check
it
.”

He lets out a
worried
sigh before returning his attention to my lower body, parting me,
prodding me, and inspecting me carefully.
 
“You’re
torn up a bit, but you’re okay.”  I can see the anger swelling inside him as he
avoids my gaze.  “I’ll tell that sick fuck he needs to be more gentle with
you.”

I’m a little taken aback by seeing this
side of Jack who otherwise seems so harmless.  Whatever steam was raging inside
him dissipates after a moment, and he returns to the task at hand.

He runs his hands over the large bruise
on my side, feeling for the bone.
 
“Bruised ribs.  I
don’t think they’re broken.”

“He’ll never break me, Jack,” I say
reassuringly, “not completely.”

Jack pulls the negligee back down to
cover me.  “You’re strong.  I know you can get through this, and I’ll be here
for you in any way he’ll let me.”

“Is he keeping you here, too?”

Jack turns away from me, focusing his
attention on packing up his medical bag.  “He has me in a room upstairs.  He’s
going to need me to check on you… and to deliver the baby.”

That word that has haunted me almost as
a dream or a figment of my imagination suddenly becomes very real in my mind. 
In nine to ten months I’m going to give birth to a living, breathing thing. 
The man standing before me will help pull the poor creature out of me, and the
man or monster or thing existing somewhere outside the door to this
basement
will take the baby away from me, to make him or her his own even
though the child may share none of his DNA.

“Please don’t feel guilty,” I plead
with Jack, reaching out to grab his
arm
.  “I don’t
blame you for what happened.  I don’t blame Leo, either.  We all did what we
thought was best in that horrible situation.”

Jack manages a half-smile, reducing his
voice to a whisper.  “Thanks, but I don’t think I’ll ever forgive myself for my
part in this.  What Mark’s doing to you…
it’s
something beyond revenge down to the very essence of evil.  That man is no
longer a man, not the friend I knew so many years ago.  He’
s
touched the fires of
h
ell, and I don’t
expect he’ll ever come back from that.”  Jack’s eyes are
watery
, but I need him to be strong.  “You don’t deserve any of this. 
You should be free to live your life with Leo, to start a family with him and
find a house and be in love and grow old together.  You don’t deserve this
fate.”

A tear races down my cheek as Jack
grasps my hand in his, squeezing it tightly.  I squeeze back just as hard.

“You should rest,” Jack says, rising to
his feet
and grabbing his medical bag
.

I can’t help
grinning
at his suggestion that I’m only too stubborn to follow when Leo
requests it of me.  “I’ll get some rest.  Thank you, Jack.”

He makes it to the door, grasping the
handle before turning back to me.  “Stay strong.  You can get through this.”

Just as Leo would say
, I think as Jack opens the door and closes it behind him.