Captured by the Criminal (Taken)

One

Bianca

Nine Years Old

* * *

“Just answer the question, Costi.”

“No, it’s stupid.”

“It is not stupid.” His eye roll earns him a shove in the shoulder from me. “Stars do talk to us. What are they saying to you?” I ask again, glancing up at the starry sky, straining my ears to hear what they have to say tonight.

“They don’t say anything to me.”

“Constantine Gold.” I shove him again. “They speak to everyone. You just have to pay attention.”

He plucks a blade of dewy grass and twiddles it between his fingers.

I’ve known Costi since before I could ever know a person. He’s been a constant in my life since birth, always by my side, and I know he’s faking.

“Listen closely.”

He tugs his earlobes and waits a beat before his dark eyes meet mine. “Still nothing. What did they say to you?”

I giggle. “They said one day I’ll be a warrior princess with my own castle.”

Costi laughs. “Will you have a dragon? I can be your dragon slayer.” He swishes the grass at me like it’s a sword.

“You would kill the dragons?” My eyes widen at the thought of Costi hurting sweet baby dragons.

“Well, yeah. They’re dangerous, and they breathe fire.”

“Not my dragons. My dragons will be cute and cuddly.”

He laughs again. “Dragons are not cute.”

“Mine will be. And they’ll only breathe fire to toast marshmallows.”

“That’s a fairy tale. Fairy tales don’t exist.”

Costi is older than me by eleven days, but he acts like he’s an old man with worlds of knowledge. It gets on my nerves.

A cool breeze sweeps over us and the moon hides behind a cloud.

Costi scrubs at the back of his neck. “We should get going. My mother will kill us if we’re out here any later.”

I fling my body back into the thick grass, staring up at the dots of light sprinkled like glitter across the dark sky. “Not yet. Tell me what the stars say to you.”

Constantine stands, brushing loose dirt from his jeans. “They say nothing.”

“Come on, they have to say something.” I give him my best impression of a sad puppy dog.

“Fine.” He plops back to the ground, concentrating on the night sky. “If I get in trouble, I’m telling them it’s your fault I’m out here.”

I smile. “Deal.”

At that moment, Costi’s mother, Esmerelda, saunters onto the back lawn where we’ve huddled together to watch the stars in the sky.

“Constantine, your bedtime was ages ago,” she snips. “What are you doing out here?”

Costi hauls himself up at lightning speed and stuffs his hands into his pockets. “Sorry, Mama. I’ll head inside.”

Esmeralda’s eyes wander over to me as I hop up from the ground. “I see you’re both up to no good.”

I cross my arms, shielding myself from her judgment. “We were just watching the stars. Listening to them.”

Esmerelda scoffs, towering over us in five-inch heels. “Stupid girl, stars don’t talk to people.”

She’s as vicious as she is tall. She reminds me of Cruella de Vil, but she’s got a classiness to her I find fascinating. One day, I hope to be as pretty.

She and my father work hand in hand, her as his assistant, ruling the Miami waterways, creating custom yachts. My nanny says they have a list of clients that would have God himself jealous of the people on it.

“Maybe not you, but they talk to me,” I mumble under my breath.

Esmeralda makes a face like she’s sucking on Sour Patch Kids candy. Then she snaps her fingers at Costi. “Go.”

He springs into action, heading up to their ginormous ocean-view house my dad rents for them. “Bye, Bianca.”

After he leaves, Esmeralda bends over so she’s nearly eye level with me. “Stop corrupting my son, or I’ll make you regret it. You’re just like your mother.” She stands to her full size. “A whore.”

Her nasty words crawl under my skin and claw at my heart. It’s not the first time I’ve heard her say this about my mom. I wasn’t sure what the word meant, so I looked it up and it’s not true.

My chin trembles, but I lift it to meet her gaze. “I’d rather be a whore than mean.”

Fire burns in her eyes and then she does something no one has ever done—she slaps me. “Don’t talk back to me.”