"Zaria! Zari wake up." I hear the faint voice of Leo ringing through my ears.
As I slowly opened my eyes, it took a while for my vision to come back. The dim light revealed unfamiliar surroundings. The cold, metallic surface beneath me sent a shiver down my spine. Confusion gripped me as I tried to make sense of the mysterious place, its details unfolding in the haze of my awakening mind.
They were right to put us all in separate corners of the room. We were all tied against poles. But still, that couldn't keep us from breaking out of the tight ropes that held both of my hands together.
"You guys okay?" I asked them.
"Few bruises but it's fine," Nabi said in a hoarse voice.
"The first one to break out gets to kill the first person that walks through that door?." I started a bet. It's what we always do. We were trained for this. We would always make the best out of these situations when we were younger because of the amount of torture we endured. Leo and Nabi both smiled accepting the challenge.
The best thing about being plus size is that I have more hiding places. No one knows but I always keep extra pocket knives under my breast. Which in fact is still there. Not safe but it's reliable for situations like this. As I got up on my knees and tried my best to bend over letting my boobs fall upside down to let the two pocket knives fall out.
"That's cheating," Leo screamed.
"You're just mad because you're a twig." I jokingly told him. My feet slid the knife backward towards my hands. Now the boring part is trying to cut the rope with the blade. I checked on Nabi and looks like she's on the verge of breaking her thumb. Leo on the other hand always struggled with getting undone. Our parents were hard on him for that. Everything just came easy for me. I could honestly do this with my eyes closed or even without the help of the knife.
"Done" me and Nabi said in sync. I looked at her with disbelief.
"I did it first plus you cheated," Nabi explained.
"I'm pretty sure it was me." I snapped back.
"Leo who-" I was cut off by a figure opening the door. Me and Nabi made eye contact both of us ready to pounce on the figure at the door.
"Took you long enough I thought you all were supposed to be some big-shot assassins," I remember him being the right-hand man. Kingston. I shook my head no at Nabi sparring Kingston's life for right now.
"Not exactly morning people as you can see," Nabi said.
"You have access to these cameras right," I asked him. He looked at me extremely confused.
"I do." Kingston took a step forward as he crossed his arms defensively.
"Ok, I need you to look at them and see who came first untieing the rope then come back," I told him walking towards Leo to try and help him get out.
"Don't worry I'm already out" Leo stood up looking disappointed in himself while whipping dust off of himself.
"That's not how this works." The big bad wolf came in blowing the mood away. This man loved him a suit. Every picture we had while tracking him is him in a suit. I'm definitely not complaining.
"And why is that?" I reopened both of my pocket knives getting ready for anything.
"Because I have someone who I think you might be interested in seeing." Big bad wolf said.
"Welp before we get this show on the road let's see who ya got because I doubt it's gonna make a difference in my mood so it better be good." I crossed my arms engaging in this tom foolery hoping whoever it is their worth my time.
Bossman stepped aside and a figure whose face I didn't recognize at first appeared in my sight.
"Xavier?" Nabi took the name out of my mouth before I could even speak. He's supposed to be dead. How?
"Wait Nabi it can be a trap," Leo said as he grabbed her arm.
"Where's 2?" I asked. We made this code up among us when we were younger if anything happened and were not sure if each other was really ok or we made it for situations like this like if someone was holding us hostage. It stands for 'Trustworthy?"
" besides 4" Xavier replied. It stands for 'Trust me everything's cry fine.' Kingston and the big bad wolf looked at us confused.
"It's really Xavier." Leo was stunned. Both he and Nabi ran to him. I stayed back watching everyone else.
"Zari?" Xavier called out for me to join the hug. I didn't move choosing to observe my surroundings.
"Where Tayler?" I said still not moving. Even though I do trust Xavier I don't trust the ones he stood by.
"That's what we need to talk about," Bossman said. I hate those words. Nothing ever comes good. I just wanted to do my job and leave.
"It's best if you have a seat." Xavier gestured towards the chairs that were stacked up in the back left corner of the room.
"I'll stand." I stood my ground.
"Well ok... Taylor is indeed dead. We were set up that day we left. You were supposed to die, Zaria. Our parents thought you were becoming too much of a problem. You started becoming unstoppable one should say. They seen you as a threat. Not only that but the main reason was they thought you knew the truth on why we were adopted-"
"Which is?" I cut Xavier off confused about what's going on.
"If you would let me finish then maybe you'll know. Taylor was the only one who knew the truth but they thought it was you who found out. So they set us up. Taylor was the one who had ordered someone to hurt Leo cause she knew you would take care of him. We all know Leo is your weakness and you'd do anything to protect him. But our parents didn't know about it so the plan to execute you was still effective on their end. Taylor told me everything on the way to the mission. Then the unfortunate happened. I got rescued by the Lombardi family who was there tracking us. This whole time they've been trying to take them down. They thought we were helping them take their mafia down. But we knew nothing about that so that's when Dario explained the rest of their situation with our parents. So I've been trying to help-"
"So what you're saying is they didn't kill Taylor our parents did?" I said not knowing what he was talking about. A million things are rolling through my head at once. So my parents knew we were tracking Taylor and Xavier's killer but the whole time it was the people whose roof we lived under.
"What about the body they found at the scene forensics said it was you," I questioned.
"That's how good the Lombardi family is. They helped me fake my death," Xavier replied.
"Why now?" Leo asked.
"Because they set you guys up again last night. They were supposed to take you guys out but we arrived first to save you-" He was cut off once again. Who's we that nigga weren't there. There was no saving there was a kidnapping and now we're being held hostage.
"A thank you would be nice," Kingston said not getting a response from either of us.
"And you know this because?" Was the most important thing running through my mind.
"There are documents and photos of our real birth parents dying unexpectedly in car crashes none of their bodies were found. It isn't a coincidence that all of our parents mysteriously died from crashes. Honestly, you can't be that oblivious. But there is also another thing that connects all of us. Guess who's at every scene? Richard and Tali." Our adoptive parents. There's other information about them hiring hits out for you. But none were successful." I can tell Xavier was telling the truth but the truth was hard for me to believe.
"There is no going back home huh? They're gonna know that we know something." Leo stated. Our silence was his confirmation.
"Why adopt us? Why turn us into killers? Why now? Wh-" The big bad wolf cut me off.
"That's what were trying to find out."