Page 37 of The Bond

With every internal alarm ringing, shouting at me to stop, I followed his orders. Desperate as I was to get away from him, I still hadn’t seen an opportunity to escape. If I chanced making a run for it now, I’d be out in the open. A sitting duck for him to shoot.

The rusty doors swung open with a loud creak that broke the silence. Then, Dave pushed me into the darkness. Before I could take advantage of the dark, the inside light switched on, illuminating damaged old crates and burlap sacks.

Another push. This time so rough that I almost stumbled.

In my head, I silently cursed him, vowing revenge the moment I got my chance.

“We’re going to the lower levels,” he said.

With that, he pushed me across the expansive loading area, down a long dimly lit hall that led to the storage area below ground.

Resentment snaked through me the entire walk. I hated having to follow orders. Hating being threatened. But truly, the most consuming emotion was my fear for Enzo. What if he never learned what happened? Or worse, what if Dave came after him too? Anyone who could set a fire to kill another person was capable of anything else.

A couple more lights came on. There were hundreds of cardboard boxes in the storage area, in addition to crates and ancient barrels. In the center were several chairs. While the place was a mess of huge tins and industrial-sized containers the central area with the chairs looked staged. Specially for this moment.

“Sit down,” he ordered.

This time, I didn’t feel resentment. Just a fleeting relief at being able to sit down instead of having to stumble around on shaky legs.

“Reach your arms behind you,” he ordered.

When I did as told, I felt him slap cold handcuffs on me.

As I squirmed in the chair, Dave took a seat across from me, the gun still trained on me as he dumped my bag on the floor at his feet.

I eyed my bag, then looked at my surroundings, trying to see if there was a way out of here.

“Looking for an escape?” Dave asked. “Don’t bother. You’re not leaving this place alive.”

“Why are you doing this?” I asked through clenched teeth, my anger rising to mix with my terror.

Dave didn’t respond right away. Instead, he reached into his jacket pocket, retrieving a cigarette and a lighter.

“I see you’re just dying to know why you’re here,” Dave said, lighting the cigarette. “Fine. I can fulfil a final wish. You’re here because you deserve to be here.”

As he spoke, his dark, sinister voice made the hair on the back of my neck stand on end. I had to keep him talking. It was my only chance to survive. Because in my heart, I knew that once he stopped talking, I was done for.

Chapter 15

Valentina

“What do you mean I deserve to be here?” I asked, breath hitching in anticipation of the answer.

“You and your family ruined my life, yet you barely know I exist,” Dave said, shaking his head in disgust. “Well, you’ll know me now.”

I tried to think back to any lesser mafia outfits that we might have destroyed or taken over. Maybe Dave was one of their enforcers. “How did we ruin your life? Who are you?”

“Think really hard,” he said before taking a drag from his cigarette. “Back about a year ago. One of your shootouts with the De Lucas.”

“Those happened frequently,” I said. “You’ll have to refresh my memory.”

“The shootout where a bunch of innocents were shot in the crosshairs,” Dave told me. “I was one of the unfortunates who got hit by several stray bullets.”

“You survived,” I said. “I see why you hold a grudge against us, but you lived.”

“I survived?” he spat out, his harsh voice scraping across the brick walls and echoing through the storage area. “I got into medical debt that I’ll never be able to pay off. My credit is shot. I lost my house. Things got so bad that I started drinking. Taking drugs. Then I lost my job. Because of you.”

“I’m sorry.”