"I thought that I'd been hurt before, but no one's ever left me quite this sore"
-Shawn Mendes
The first thing that I felt when I got my consciousness back was the throbbing pain on my head. The next was the cold and hard ground. The smell of mold invades my senses while the metallic taste of blood is lingering on the tip of my tongue. I sit up with a groan and my eyes still closed shut. I can hear muffled voices around me but my mind is still to hazy to make out what they are saying.
"Sleeping beauty is finally up!" A male voice announces a little louder so that I can hear him.
I master all the courage I can get to open my eyes, only to be met with darkness.
I blink a couple of times to help my eyes adjust and now I can see four other figures in this room. All males.
We are all in chains, our hands tied together and our feet tied together.
"How are you feeling?" Another voice asks softly. A voice I recognize.
"Peachy" I croak out. "You know, Matteo, I think the hours that I see you at the diner are enough. Following me around and getting kidnapped with me is kind of extreme, don't you think?" I joke tiredly.
"And lose a chance to spend time with my best friend? Nah..." He laughs along with me.
"Yeah, go ahead and laugh, let them know we are awake." The voice from before whispers harshly.
I take a moment to look around the room.
"There is a camera in every corner of this room, see the red dots? I think they know we're awake" I reply. "Who else is here?" I add as an afterthought.
"It's me, Atlas, Ares and another guy over there" Matteo points with his finger at my right side. "He doesn't really talk. Like at all"
"Did he come with you? Or was he here before" I ask while glancing at the guy.
"He was already here when we woke up." This time it's Atlas that answers.
"He has to have been here for a while. Look at his clothes" Ares adds. I take a good look at his clothes and indeed they are torn everywhere. They have lost their color and they are covered in blood.
"He is fucking here and he can fucking hear you. " The guy speaks for the first time. His voice is deep and smooth. If it was a color it would be a really dark red, almost black but not quite.
His comment is followed by silence. No one talks for the next couple of minutes. We just sit there and stare at each other, lost in our own thoughts, when suddenly I gasp.
"Noah..." I breath out.
"What?" Atlas asks confused.
I start to panic. "My little brother, he is alone. He's probably so scared right now. Oh God!" I take a moment to breath. "He doesn't have anyone else. It's just him and me"
"What about your parents?" Ares buts in.
"They're not around" I mumble under my breath.
Ares is about to say something else when the door is slammed open.
"Well, well, well" I tall guy walks in. Grey beard, bold head, about fifty years old with a thick accent, probably Russian.
"If you told me yesterday that I would have the four youngest Moretti's and the youngest King, all in the same room and under my mercy, I would have laughed right at your face." A pause "But here you are!" He laughs wickedly while clapping his hands.
"Remember my words Volkov. When I get out of here, because I will get out eventually, I am going to torture you so much that you're gonna wish for death. You're gonna beg me to kill you, to end your misery. But I won't. I will keep you alive for as long as I can. You're gonna be my favorite source of entertainment and when I eventually decide that you've had enough, or I get bored, I'm gonna make sure you suffer a cruel death" The guy, King, says slowly and calmly. If I didn't listen to his words I would think he was having a normal conversation with the way he talked. How can someone be so serene and collected while talking about death?
"Oh please, boy. I'm not scared of your little threats. I have the upper hand here. I can basically control both the Italian and the American mafia." He smiles, oh so brightly, showing us his disgusting yellow teeth.
Mafia? What the hell is he talking about? What have I gotten myself into?
"If you think for even a second that you stand a chance against our brothers then you're delusional" Ares exclaims, his eyes filled with rage.
So his brothers are in the mafia? My brothers are in the mafia? I am SO confused right now.
"You think I want to start a war? Oh no, that's not my plan. Your brothers are gonna pass over their mafias willingly. Besides, you're the ones that believe that family means everything yada yada." He mocks while pacing back and forth in front of the door.
"At least let Athena go. She has nothing to do with this, she's innocent" Matteo pleads.
"Are you insane little boy?" Volkov looks at Matteo bewildered "She has everything to do with this, she's my biggest asset. She's the mafia princess, the only girl born in generations of mafia families. Athena Moretti."
The guys look at him with with their mouths agape and eyes wide. They glance at me and then back at him. Even King seems to be interested in this conversation.
"No... Her last name is Woods."Matteo pauses and looks at me." That's what you said the other night, right Athena? "
I don't answer. I just avert my eyes from him and lower my head.
Volkov looks confused but then his eyes flash with realization. " You didn't know." He says matter of factly with a huge smile on his face.
"This whole thing just got ten times better." He whispers mostly to himself.
"Did you know?" He asks me but I stay silent causing his grin to widen.
"Well, I hate to ruin the whole family reunion, but I'll have to take Athena for a little while." His still remaining smile a contrast to his words.
"What, no! Wait!" The boys begin to complain but before I know it I'm out of the door. Volkov holds my chains in his hand while pulling me around like a freaking dog.
We walk for about two minutes down a long corridor when we finally reach a white door. He unlocks it, pushes me inside and then he gets in as well.
I look around and it looks like I'm in a torture chamber. Tables with all kinds of tools, some of them that I've never seen before, and an iron chair in the middle.
He walks me over to the chair, sits me down, ties my hands and legs and walks over to the tables.
I try to fight back and get out of my restraints but it's pointless. I'm too weak.
He runs his hand over the different tools while seeming lost in thought.
He turns to look at me. Smiles. Looks back at the tables.
"What should we start with?" He asks and my heart starts beating rapidly inside my chest.
----------
Lots of things happened in this chapter. Hope you enjoyed it. Please vote and comment.
-A