Niccolo Fierri [Book #2]

Chapter 24

Sin's footsteps recede, the sound of a door being opened and slammed shut echoing in the silence. My eyes remain on Jess. She shouldn't be here. I thought she was at the safe house. I just didn't understand it.

Why is she here?

"I'm sorry," she mouths after a moment of silence.

I want ask for what, but can't with this tape on my mouth. She looks over at me when I don't respond, realizing why I haven't spoken. Sliding over to me, she rips off the tape.

"Thank you," I breathe out, relieved.

"You're welcome." Another moment of silence and then she says, "I got your messages. I wish I could've answered, but Mr. Fierri said I wasn't allowed to speak with anyone." She looks down, saddened.

"Why aren't you at the safe house?" I ask, the question eating away at me.

Scooting back to lean against the wall, she sighs. I stare at her, just now realizing how tired and worn she looks. Her cheek is red from where I assumed they'd hit her multiple times.

"Someone impersonating Mr. Fierri contacted me. They told me that everything had died down, and that me and my daughter could come back home."

Daughter?

She continues. "I was stupid enough to believe it. Mr. Fierri told me to be careful." She frowns, scolding herself. "They gave me hope where there was none. I had fallen into their trap."

She begins folding the tape into tiny squares. "Shortly after I came home, I was kidnapped. I've been here for almost a week now." She doesn't go in detail of what she endured during her time here, clearly a sore topic.

"What happened to your daughter?"

"Oh, she's okay. She went on a separate flight to her dad's house a day before I flew back."

I release the breath I didn't know I was holding. Another moment of silence. And then I asked, "why haven't you been reported missing or something?"

She sits up straighter, smoothing her fingers over the piece of tape. "I haven't spoken to my family in years. I thought it would be a good idea to distance myself from them, but... I was wrong."

I could tell she missed them. It made me think about my parents. It hasn't been that long since I cut them off. Maybe the missing them part hasn't set in yet.

What she said earlier when she walked in crosses my mind.

I'm sorry.

"You said you were sorry earlier. What for?"

She unexpectedly bursts into tears. "They threatened to kill my daughter if I didn't do what they asked." She's unable to look at me, guilt in her sunken eyes.

"When you first arrived, Sin cornered me. I knew who he was as Mr. Fierri always informs us to be cautious when around him. But I didn't that day. He made me an offer I couldn't refuse."

She's still looking down, sadness pouring out of her like an invisible puff of smoke. Her voice cracks, tears forming. "My daughter is very sick, and I knew I would need the money to pay off her medical bills. So, when he asked me about you I didn't think nothing of it." She's barely speaking above a whisper now. "I didn't know he was sex trafficking women."

Sex trafficking!?

I didn't know how to react, so I just kept listening. " He asked me about a few others. I didn't know I would be putting you all in danger." I could hear the truth in her words. She really didn't know.

She frantically turns to face me and grabs my hands, tears staining her cheeks. "I wasn't thinking. I just wanted to protect my little girl. She's only eight and I-"

"It's okay," I say, cutting her off. "I know why you did it, and I forgive you."

Her eyes widened like she couldn't believe I wasn't hitting her, or shouting at her. She blinked, bewildered. It was clearly a burden that had been weighing heavily on her shoulders. She sighs softly, swallowing.

"Thank you," she says just barely above a whisper. "You don't know how much that means to me."

"Jess." She brings her eyes up to me. "You're my friend, and I care about you. There's nothing you could say or do that would change that." I give her a reassuring smile, and she returns the gesture, before pulling me into a hug.

The door is swung open, hard footsteps sending my nerves into a panicked frenzy.

Whipping her heads in the sound's direction, Jess and I cling onto one another as the man who had injected me with a sedative approaches us.

"Time to go to your new home."

He smiles a creepy smile, and I fight back the urge to cringe in disgust. "I'm not going anywhere with you!" I shout.

He frowns. "We'll see about that."

Jess holds on tighter as he bends down to grab me. Finding it more difficult than he had thought, he grows impatient and swings at Jess. She flies back, falling unconscious.

"Jess!" I cry out.

No response.

I'm about to open my mouth again, but suddenly feel a pinch in my shoulder. It only takes a second for me to figure out what it is.

I drift off to sleep not knowing when I'll wake up, and if I'll be back in the comfort of my bed, or in an entirely different place with a plethora of perverted men taking advantage of me.