Page 96 of His to Have
One flick of my wrist and Alex crashed her fist into Isabella’s stomach. She doubled over for a moment, gasping for breath, but quickly recovered, swinging her leg in a swift motion catching Alex off guard.
“Is that all you’ve got?” Isabella taunted, attempting to straddle Alex, but Alex’s headbutt came fast and hard, sendingIsabella stumbling backwards. Isabella grimaced, holding her nose as blood trickled between her fingers.
“You’ll have to do better than that,” Alex smirked, readying herself for the next move.
Isabella lunged forward, aiming to grab Alex by the arm, but Alex was quicker, sidestepping her grasp and delivering a sharp elbow to Isabella’s side. And followed that up with a hard overhand right. Alex was mid-swing again, but I raised a hand, and she stopped cold.
No words were needed.
Isabella was breathing hard, her back pressed to one of the old steel machines, her white blouse now stained with her blood. Her hands shook just slightly, but her mouth still worked fine.
“Ain’t that something,” she spit, wiping her mouth with the back of her hand. “You couldn’t even do it yourself. Had to bring your little attack dog.”
Her laugh was ragged and even a little bitter. “That’s your style though, right? Always hiding behind the people who do the real dirt for you. Normally it’s Keem. Today… her,” she nodded toward Alex, eyes wild, pupils wide. “You know, that’s why they fear you. Not because of you, but because of them.”
I stepped forward, my shadow swallowing what little light reached her. “You know... I never realized.... you talk too much.” I said, pulling my knife from its sheath. “I will find out where my wife is... one way or the other.”
I let the tip of my blade trail over the delicate skin of her collarbone. The gash opening as a thin line of red appeared, her eyes widening in realization.
She was no longer off limits to me. And I would not be leaving her dainty and pretty. In fact, I was going to show her how I earned my reputation. All that mouth she had before? It couldn’t hide the fear that just crept into her eyes.
Leaning closer, I pressed the blade further into her skin and she let out an agonizing but angry scream.
“One day you will learn. I always get what I want, Isa. And we are just getting started.” I drove the point of my knife into the meat of her shoulder. And her cry echoed off the walls. “Now tell me what you did with my wife.”
twenty-five
Ayanna
The pain wasn’t unbearable, but it was sharp. And persistent. It lingered just long enough to remind me that every second counted. The longer I spent in this hell hole, the more danger I was in. When I looked around, I realized I couldn’t have been here long, since it was still daytime and a small sliver of sunlight filtered in through the glass windows.
Gathering what little strength I had left, I took one shallow breath, trying to ignore the throb beneath my ribs, and the sting pulsing from my wrists. Hell, there was even pain radiating from the tips of my fingers. I tried to push it out of my mind. But I couldn’t since each breath sent a wave of discomfort through my entire body, and movement irritated my skin. But I had to push the pain away if I wanted to survive.
Willing myself to focus on something other than pain, my other senses decided to kick in and I wish it hadn’t. The stench of the stale and pungent warehouse was far from pleasant. The nasty smell of rotten eggs, paired with the stench of stale water,engulfed the air. It was enough to make me want to vomit. Then there was the stillness of the room that made me uneasy. It was practically dark. Minimal windows, one lone light bulb hanging from the ceiling, and a few stray beams of light filtering in from the adjacent room where I remembered three familiar figures standing around whispering about my fate like I wasn’t even there.
“I vote we kill her now,” Corey had said, his voice cold in a way I hadn’t known it could be.
This was nothing like the man I met in the cereal aisle at the grocery store a year ago. The one who offered to grab the last box of cereal from the top shelf when I couldn’t reach it. Back then, his kindness seemed genuine, but now I couldn’t tell how much was real, and what was fake.
“Hell no,” Isabella snapped, her whisper harsh. “That was never the fucking plan. We use her! She’s leverage. He’ll never negotiate without her.”
“If it’s revenge you want,” Orlando chimed in, his tone calm but clipped, “then killing her now won’t satisfy you. Not in the way you think. If you really want to make the Donatelli’s suffer… we do it slow. Public. Let her husband feel it. Let her family watch. Let the hood watch. It’s the only way we all get what we want.”
There was a pause. Then Corey again, quieter this time, almost reverent.
“You’re right, Unk. Aunt Bianca and my Ma would want it public.”
The memory of their earlier conversation threatened to knock the wind out of me.
Corey was Orlando’s and Bianca’s nephew. No way.
He’d been vetted thoroughly. There’s no way my brother, or even Teo would have overlooked his relationship with the Moccasins.
How was this missed?
Corey was intelligent, but not street-savvy. Which meant he was not the mastermind behind any of this.
Looking down at my bound feet, and then my wrists, the panic I was trying not to succumb to began to rise. This place and the thought of what they may do to me was beginning to make my stomach turn.
