Page 78 of Nobody's Girl

Tamara left and Grant focused entirely on Sofia now, lifting her chin with his finger and kissing her lips. “Wake up, beauty. Look what Daddy’s got for you.”

Sofia moaned and opened her eyes. When she saw where she was and what was happening, she whimpered in terror. Grant smiled. “Hello again, darling. Welcome to the last room you’ll ever see.”

Chapter Thirty-Six

“I missed them, I’m sorry man, I looked everywhere.”

Penn Black looked sick to his stomach but it was nothing to how Ivo felt. She’s gone, she’s dead. The mantra kept repeating in his head over and over. “Just take me to Christo’s club, man.”

The rode in silence to the club. In the early afternoon sun, the frontage looked dull and lifeless, and the least threatening place in the world. Was she here?

The doors were locked but, after five minutes of banging on the doors, an annoyed cleaning woman came to see them. “There’s no-one here, come back later.”

Ivo pushed his way into the club, ignoring the cleaning woman. He strode past the cloakroom and reception and pushed his way into the main room of the club. “Sofia? Christo?”

Silence. He scanned the room, looking for any clue. Penn walked in beside him. “There are private rooms downstairs for couples. Let’s check there.” He led Ivo down the stairs to the maze of corridors underneath. They checked each room, finding them unlocked and Ivo shook his head. “This place…I’ve been to sex clubs before, as you know, buddy, but this is beyond anything I’ve ever seen. There’s something about it…”

“It’s sinister,” Penn nodded. “There’s a darkness, a wrongness about it as if…it’s not about consensual S&M.”

Ivo looked at his friend. “It’s that exactly. This doesn’t feel right…Jesus, Penn…what have they done to her?”

Penn put his hand on her shoulder. “We don’t even know if she’s here, yet, brother. Let’s just keep looking.”

Ivo nodded, and drawing a long breath, he shouted. “Sofia!” They both listened but there was nothing but silence.

“What was that?” Grant went very still, his knife clenched in his fist and Tamara, who was grinning at the fear in Sofia’s eyes, shrugged.

“I didn’t hear anything.”

Grant turned cold eyes towards her. “Go check.”

Tamara stared back at him. “Who died and made you boss? Go check it out yourself, you fuck.”

For a moment, she was scared by the anger in his eyes, but then he put the knife down and strode out. Tamara smiled at Sofia, who was panting with fear, straining at the ropes which bound her wrists. “All alone, princess. Do you know, we have been planning thus for months? This room…we built it with your murder in mind. And now we’re here, so, Sofia, how does it feel to know you’re going to die very soon? Painfully too…Grant is looking forward to gutting you, so he says. Myself, I don’t care how he does it as long as you feel unimaginable pain.”

“You’re a sick fucking bitch,” Sofia spat at her. “You’re worthless, a waste of good air. And now you’re upgrading to murder. You think Ivo won’t come after you?”

“Oh, the delectable Ivo Zacca…how easy it was to get that photo. He had no idea what was going on, of course, which was the whole point. So, you reacted as we thought you would and that sealed your fate. You’ll never see him again, Sofia. Maybe Grant will kill him too…”

“No!” Sofia was beside herself, thrashing against her binds and Tamara laughed. She picked up the knife Grant had left and pressed it to Sofia’s exposed belly.

“I almost want to deny Grant the pleasure and do you myself…but there’s something erotic about a man killing a woman. Besides, you’ll be Grant’s first female kill. He’s been very excited about this.” She raised the knife to Sofia’s throat and nicked the skin. Sofia didn’t look away, her eyes blazing with both terror and anger.

“You killed your own mother. Your own mother!”

Tamara smiled. “Yes, and I would have killed yours too, but she conveniently dropped dead of her own accord.”

Sofia spat in Tamara’s face and, enraged, Tamara raised the knife again. Before she could stab Sofia however, Grant grabbed Tamara’s wrist and twisted the knife from her hand. Tamara screeched but Grant was unrepentant.

“Your boyfriend and Zacca are snooping around upstairs. Get rid of them.”

Tamara glared at him. “What?”

“You heard me. Get rid of them. I’m going to deal with our guest here. Sadly, it looks as if we’ll have to rush this.”