I sat up in the bed, sleep still clogging all my sense. Nicolas turned towards me, wrapping an arm around my waist. He kissed the skin of my hip, toying with the hem of my underwear. "Where you going?" His voice was coated with tiredness. We had barely slept last night. Celebrating his first week of moving in and all that fun stuff.
Honestly? It was just another excuse for him to convince me to have sex. Not that I needed much convincing. We've been trying to cram two years worth of time in the last seven months.
"The phone," I yawned, covering my mouth. "I need to get it. What if it's important?"
He groaned, scooting back and pulling me down on the bed. "What if it isn't? Lay down with me. I miss you."
I smiled, turning towards him. "Miss me? We've been tied at the hip this past week, baby. And tied from head to toe all of last night."
The phone stopped ringing. Nicolas wrapped his bare leg over me, humming in delight. He kissed me, smiling into my lips. "I really liked last night."
"Me too." I snuggled into him, about to fall back asleep when the phone started ringing once again. Nicolas groaned, pulling me to him stubbornly.
I laughed, "Nick, come one, I need to make sure it's nothing important. If it were important they'd probably come--"
We both stood up lighting fast when someone knocked on our door. Nicolas looked at me from the other side of the bed, pointing towards the living room. "Get the phone. I'll get the door. Don't come out unless I say it's clear. You've got the keys to the window, right?"
I nodded, grabbing my shorts from the floor and putting them on. I tied my hair up and grabbed a gun from the drawer, throwing it his way. "Be careful. Shoot first, ask questions later."
We met at the exit of the room. Nicolas grabbed the back of my neck and kissed me hard, painful even. We didn't say another word before I made way to the office and he stalked to the entrance.
I picked up the phone, holding it to my ear. "Hello?"
"Tasia!" Mateo's voice was frantic. The radio silence in the background made me nervous. He was calling from the private warehouse landline. If he's at the warehouse, it should be buzzing with people working. Considering today was a big shipment that we had with the French.
"Mat?" I moved to the door of the office, opening slightly to peek through. I couldn't see Nicolas from here. "What's going on?"
"You need to get here now." His tone meant business. It made me nervous. "We've been... attacked." He didn't sound so sure.
"What happened?" I asked, holding the phone in my shoulder and opening the closet and taking out a gun. "What's the severity level?"
He breathed heavily over the phone, not saying anything for a few seconds before sighing. "Crimson. Don't take too--"
The line cut off, throwing me off. I grabbed the phone and tried calling back, but got no answer. I grabbed another gun and extra ammunition, waiting for Nicolas.
What the fuck? My mind couldn't stop racing. Something told me there was something very wrong with that phone call. Something worse than what Mateo was letting on.
I gripped the gun when the office door opened, spinning to see Nicolas enter. He eyed my hand quickly, before watching me closely. "We have a problem," he said slowly. He looked back into the living room and sighed. "Who was calling?"
"Mateo," I answered. The air was heavy and we both felt it. Something told me it was for completely different reasons, though. "We have to go to the warehouse. Right now."
Nicolas nodded, opening the door wider. "I agree. But you need to see something first."
I frowned, feeling confused as I walked past him and into the living room. There was a box by the doorway. I stopped upon seeing it, Nicolas crashing into me from behind. I turned to him. "That was here?"
"Yeah. When I opened the door there was no one. Just this box." He gestured forward. "Go on."
I moved up to the box, but hesitated to touch it. "What if it's--"
My sentence stopped midway when Nicolas showed me a card. "It was on top of the box. I don't know if I should believe or not, but it was there nonetheless."
Not a bomb ;) -K.M.
I read and reread the words a dozen times. My eyes seemed to gravitate more towards the initials. K.M. Katerina Mussolini.
I gave Nicolas the card back and walked to the box. "You're opening it?" He asked in panic.
"It says it's not a bomb." I told him, grabbing a piece of tape and pulling it back.
"And you believe it!?"
I looked at him over my shoulder. "Looks to me like they have no reason to lie. If they wanted to blow us up, a bomb this size would've turned us to stew."
"Still..." He said, walking over to me. I could tell he was panicked, but he stayed by me despite it.
I finished pulling the tape, ripping it off the box. I pried the box open. Nicolas helped me, taking whatever was inside, out. It was coated in plastic and Styrofoam. A part of me suspected it was less for the safety of the contents and more for the sake of stalling.
We removed the plastic and Styrofoam, leaving it bare. Once I fully recognized what it was, my heart broke at my feet. I took a step back and another, and another until I tripped over my feet and fell on the ground. I didn't breathe for a full minute, just then realizing Nicolas had crouched down next to me, trying to get my attention. When I fully became aware of my surroundings and the realness of the little gift that was left at my doorstep.
"Sia?" Nicolas grabbed my face, forcing me to look at him. "What is it? What's wrong?"
I tried opening my mouth but nothing came out. Just empty exhales that left me even more breathless.
"Sia?" He tried again. "Breathe. Come on, nena. Breathe in and breathe out."
I followed his instructions, taking small breathes in and out. When the shock had died down and the fear made way for words, I looked him in the eye.
"That's." I swallowed hard, feeling bile rise up my throat. My eyes went back to the present. "That's the cage I was held in. When Mussolini kidnapped me. That's my cage. The cage."
Nicolas looked over to the cage, his face paling at the sight. I followed his gaze, staring at the cage. "There's a gift box inside," he stated.
I swallowed again. "There is."
"You want me to get it?"
When I didn't say anything, he crawled over to the cage and opened it, the squealing of the oxidized steel bringing tears to my eyes. I blinked them away.
Nicolas showed me the note that was taped to the box.
Not a bomb either. -K.M.
"Open it," I whispered.
He pulled the ribbon and lifted the top of the box, carefully removing the pink decorative paper from inside. He frowned upon seeing it before pulling the contents out.
A big plastic bag with something red inside. I knew what it was immediately.
A cassette tape that brought one too many terrorizing memories back. I sucked in a breath upon seeing it.
Last was a birthday card.
"Give me the card," I told him.
He handed it over and I opened it, biting my lip hard at the picture inside. I sucked on the blood that came out. Nicolas scooted over to me and cursed the second he saw the picture.
It was me, in the cage. My eyes looked dead as I stared at the camera. My hands and forearms were covered in blood at my sides. That blood wasn't mine. It was Armando's.
My eyes trailed to the note on the card. Happy birthday, Sister! May today be filled with beautiful memories and wonderful people by your side.
But below that was a handwritten note. That one made the blood on my face drain.
Remember this? Exactly three years ago. We have yet to have a proper discussion, little sis. I believe it's time we put our differences aside, no? -K.M.
And below that, one sentence that I didn't understand fully, but somehow caused goosebumps on my skin.
Welcome, Anastasia, to the Nine Circles of Hell.
-O. T. T. F. F. S. S. E. N.
***
Hiya. Sorry for not posting yesterday. This book is slowly coming to an end so i might just post all the remaining chapters at one point. There's one more book in this series. I'll post more about it near the end of this book.
Happy reading!