Luca

“Excited?” He smirked as the other men laughed.

I glared at them all, damning them to hell and hoping karma would let me watch their descent when it would undoubtedly come.

These men obviously thought they weren’t of the same level of evil as the man they were taking me to, but the fact they dealt with men like that made them guilty by association. They were his minions, dealers for the devil himself. Their day of reckoning would come.

Once the plane landed on a rough bump and a jolt, they hauled me mercilessly to my feet, cut the tie from around my legs carelessly nicking the skin on the back of one of my ankles as they did; then they pulled me along to exit the plane. I was bundled into the back of a waiting van, thrown into the dark and left to fend for myself as they sped down uneven roads, my body flying around despite desperately trying to hang on to the walls. I found rolling up into a little ball was my best defence in the end.

I guess it must have been about two hours later that we came to a stop and I heard the doors of the van open and clunk closed again. I was covered in a layer of sticky sweat and my hair stuck to my neck and back. I winced and shut my eyes as the bright sunshine invaded the darkness of the van. A muscly arm shot forward and dragged me out. I stumbled as I caught my foot on an uneven part of the van’s back doors and I fell onto my knees on the dusty ground.

“She’s on her knees for me already, just how I like them. Good job men.” A gruff voice boomed over the hissing and chirping of the insects that were hidden in the thick undergrowth of the dry waste land I’d been flung onto.

I raised my chin up in a show of defiance and stared at the overweigh bear of a man stood in front of me. He wore a pair of cream linen trousers that looked ridiculous on his heavy frame with black flip flops on his podgy feet. He had a gaudy shirt with splashes of colour all over it like some kind of grotesque modern art, and he wore three large gold chains of varying lengths aroun

d his bulging neck. He had a short dark wiry beard on his round face and his hair was receding although he still styled it with gel as if he was years younger. At a guess I would have put him at about fifty years old. The paunch hanging over his trousers and the jowls around his neck and face made him appear teddy bear like, but the dead look in his grey eyes and the sneer on his face showed he was anything but cuddly. This man was heartless, evil and he had just met his match in me.

He walked towards me and ran his chubby little fingers over my face and down my hair. He smelt of stale sweat and tobacco. Each coarse stubby finger had a large gold ring on it, to symbolise his wealth and power no doubt.

“Beautiful and such soft skin.” He growled.

I jerked my head away from him in disgust and he laughed.

“I knew I’d like this one, she’s feisty. I love a good fight before they submit.” He bent down to put his face right in front of mine, “And you will submit to me bitch.”

‘Game on mother fucker’ I thought to myself as I stared unflinching at him.

He folded his arms then instructed the men to bring me in as he stood back and watched two of them lift me under the arms and usher me forward. The home they were taking me into looked deceptively pretty with white plaster and a terracotta roof; flowers of every colour adorned the garden and crept up around the walls of the villa style home.

Once I entered the reception hall they threw me down onto the polished wooden floor and I pushed myself up onto all fours before pulling myself to stand.

“You are dead men walking.” I sneered over at them. “When Luca finds you, and he will, he’ll make sure you suffer for this.”

They just laughed at me, “Your boyfriend will never catch us, he’ll never find you either. So may as well put that little scenario right out of your pretty little head sweetheart.”

“Fuck you.” I spat back.

I glanced around the entrance hall, a skinny young guy about nineteen or twenty stood with his head bowed next to the staircase. He wore white shorts but no top and no shoes on his scrawny feet and he didn’t make eye contact with any of us. His greasy blond hair hung over his forehead and almost covered his eyes. Behind him a girl about the same age with similar blonde hair stood almost cowering in the corner. A dirty yellow sundress hung off her bony frame. I guessed these two were brother and sister. They certainly looked alike.

Sanchez’s men turned and left the villa and the ‘boss’ strode in slamming the large wooden door shut behind him.

“Well aren’t we just a cosy little family now we’re finally all together.” He grinned.

“Evan, Lyla this is our new guest Chloe. She’ll be staying with us until…well until she’s not able to anymore.” He shrugged, “Say hello and make her feel welcome.”

His bored tone showed how unconcerned he really was with how ‘welcome’ I felt.

I turned to face the two quivering wreaks that he called Evan and Lyla.

“Hello.” They both said without looking up from the floor. I didn’t answer.

The boss walked over to where I stood and picked a handful of my hair up to smell it. His close proximity made my skin crawl; he was like a walrus only less friendly.

“As much as I love your smell I will need you cleaned and ready for my guests to… enjoy you.” He snarled then turned to the other two. “Take her upstairs, get her cleaned up and ready for the party tonight. I’ve left her outfit in Lyla’s room. Once she’s prepared take her down and secure her for me.”

“What the fuck does that even mean? I’m not being ‘secured’ by you or anyone.”

Instantly he spun round and stalked over to where I was standing; I hadn’t anticipated the swift harsh blow that struck me and I fell to the ground as his hand knocked me on the side of the head. He stooped low over me as I lay crumpled on the floor.

“Let’s get one thing straight bitch you belong to me now, I own you and I own your fucking body. If I want you secured, tied up or hanging from the fucking ceiling by your hair I’ll do it. You don’t get a say anymore. Kiss goodbye to your old life because you’ll never see that again.”