Beauty And Her Beast

23 - And It All Comes Crashing Down

With one hand pressing into her cloud and the other pushing her hair back and out of her face, Danny swallowed the dryness of her throat as she starred at the grand penthouse room of a hotel.

She was in a bed, the biggest and most comfortable she'd ever been in before. In front of her she could see two doors opening up to a gorgeous maraccan themed living area with a large flat screen TV posted to the wall.

On the west wall were three large windows that had a tremendous view of the city and Danny could see barely there snowflakes falling.

Great, Chicago weather was already getting crazy.

Somewhere in another part of the room there was the sound of someone clearing their throat and Danny looked up as a man stepped into the room.

He had a friendly smile and was quiet handsome with his salt and pepper beard, but something about those familiar brown eyes put Danny on edge.

"I'm glad to see you've woken up," the man smiled, scurrying about the room and cleaning, as if he was embarrassed that there was a single thing out of place in front of her.

Danny frowned and scooted as close to the wall as the bed frame would allow her. She remembered where she'd seen those brown eyes now.

It was the man from the coffee shop.

"I'm sorry, I should introduce myself again." Still smiling, the man sat on the end of the bed and straightened the navy blue tie he wore. "My name is Frederico, but my friends all call me Fred-"

"Where am I?"

"I'm sorry?"

Danny swallowed the knot in her throat. She wanted to cry and breakdown and have another panic attack, but more than anything else she wanted to go home. And she knew crying would only be wasting time. She was scared, but she also was smart.

"I said...where am I? What do you want from me?"

Freddy's eyes twinkled and Danny knew then that she was asking the right questions.

"You're at a hotel just on the outskirts of the city. The penthouse suite to be exact. As far as what I need from you.....well I think I should finish introducing myself first. I-"

This time instead of it being Danny who interrupts him, it's the sound of knocking on the door. It's then that what the man said registers and Danny realizes that there has to be more guest in this hotel.

Springing into action, she tosses the covers back and moves to jump out of the bed when something locks around her ankle and yanks her back.

Freddy is watching with wide eyes as if he's surprised she really has to courage to try and escape and Danny is doing everything in her power to pry the chain tying her to the bed from her ankle.

When that doesn't work, she begins screaming again. She's positive the man on the other side of the door can hear her and when the door does open and a wide eyed hotel servant steps in, she sobs in happiness.

Only for it all to be shattered when that same servant steps forward and hits her hard across her cheek.

"Antonio!" Freddy screams as Danny hits the floor, completely stunned.

The two of them have a quick argument in hushed tones but the ringing in Danny's ears keeps her from understanding much. She swears she hears Ray's name, but she passes it off as her being hit too hard.

"Danny, sweetheart, I'm sorry," Freddy whispers as he helps Danny back to her feet. "A close friend of ours may have died earlier by the hands of a close friend of yours and Antonio is just upset. I promise he won't strike you again though."