Another girl spoke up. “Please. It’ll take our minds off whatever is going on upstairs,” she pleaded.
“You really want to know?”
“Yes,” they all whispered.
“Well, I turn eighteen at some point today.” I swallowed the lump in my throat. “And I was taken from outside of a club.”
Silence reigned as that day’s events came flooding back to me in waves of memories, calling me to focus on them. “We were at Club Elicit. Have you heard of it?” There was no answer, so I kept going. “Well, earlier that day my best friend Gia and I got together with some friends. We decided to get dressed up. I wanted to just enjoy the night with my friends, no family, no club members. Just let loose and enjoy life. So, we of course dressed for the part. Knowing that Elicit was going to be our main goal, we put on our sexiest mini dresses, red leather, stopping just at our thighs. If I bent over, I could give everyone a show. We strapped on our slickest stilettos and made our way out to the sexiest club in town.”
I remembered the conversation Gia and I had. Loading into the taxi after a couple pre-party shots, the girls start to pry.
“You have to talk to him, you know.”
I knew who she was talking about without needing names. Dom. “No.” It’s all I said, in a tone that didn’t invite further questions.
“Jules,” I heard, bringing me back to the present.
“Right, sorry. The best way to take your mind off something you can’t have is to scramble your senses with drinks, and that’s exactly what I did. I drank and drank until I was numb. I decided I wanted to leave about three hours after we got there, so I went to get a cab. Enjoying my buzz and feeling the numbness, I headed outside, not really aware of my surroundings. As I got to the street, a lady asked for help. She said her friend had gotten wasted and she couldn’t carry her. I didn’t think anything about it. I mean, it was a chick. We have to help each other out. I went around the corner to help her. Still, something wasn’t sitting right. Blowing it off, I kept going. Waiting for me on the other side was not her friend, but two guys I’d never seen before. They grabbed me and stabbed something into my neck. Just as I opened my mouth to scream, a hand clamped over my mouth. I tried to wriggle free when I felt a strange tingle spread from the spot where they stabbed me. Heat overwhelmed me and everything went black. I have no idea what they stuck me with, but I woke up here just like the rest of you guys.”
The silence lingered as questions floated through my mind. What happened now? What would they do to us? The worst part of all of it was John was behind it all. The way he used to stare, I just figured he was weird. Not that he had a sick infatuation. I could honestly say I was truly scared of him. Who else knew? Did Dad know? Did Dom? Maybe that’s partly why we had that fight. Maybe I was naïve and didn’t pay enough attention to my surroundings.
Thinking back to that night, the feelings that flooded me were almost too much to handle. I couldn’t think about that right now, though. I had to keep my focus and keep us alive. Not knowing what the future held, I couldn’t let that get the best of me.
“What’s going to happen?” I whispered, not sure who’d answer.
Leah was the only one brave enough to tell me. “Well, I guess it all depends.”
“Depends on what?” I asked, unsure what she meant.
With a haunting tone to her voice, she said, “If this John guy plans to keep you or not.”
The clicking of the bolts had my head jerking up. I tried to see what was happening, but no matter how hard I squinted my eyes, all I saw was darkness. I heard softer footsteps. A second person. He seemed to be returning the girl the other guy had just dragged up the stairs.
Eerie silence hung in the air as he rechained her and walked back up the stairs, heavy feet clomping on each step as he made his way up to the top and relocked the bolts. Leaving us in complete darkness and silence except the soft whimpers of his latest victim.
4
Dom
Present
I knew something was up when her father’s henchmen showed up outside the bar. A ball of lead dropped in my stomach.
“What’s up guys?” I tried to sound calm when I was anything but. One of the men, I thought his name was Anthony, spoke up. “Our President would like to speak with you.” The tone of his voice implied it was serious.
My gut dropped to the ground. “Where is she?” Hopefully they’d have no idea what I was talking about.
Anthony just looked at me with sadness glinting in his eyes. “Just come with us.”
“Tell me!” I bit out, making it clear they had no right to me. I was not a member of their club.
“She’s missing! Now let’s fuckin’ go!”
The paralyzing words echoed in my soul. Pain slammed in my gut, so sharp I fell to my knees. My throat constricted. My first reaction was to lash out. To get pissed. But I couldn’t move. Except for the shaking.
A voice jolted me out of my reverie. “Get in the damn car.”
Completely numb, I climbed into the back seat of one of Salvatore’s men’s cars. Anthony, Angelo, whatever his name was, prodded my back. “The Prez needs information.”
“Well, so do I!” It came out of my mouth more forceful than I had expected. Then the tirade continued of its own volition. “Who was supposed to be watching her? How the fuck did this happen? I will kill the motherfucker
