“You didn’t!”
“He killed my father andheld me prisoner for years. I’d say he had it coming.”
“Oh, yeah. He definitely had it coming, but damn. You got fucking balls.” Matteo shook his head. “I’ve never seen Antonio so fucking pissed.”
“It was stupid. I should’ve just left it alone.”
When we reached the top of the staircase, Matteo held up his hand, signaling me to stop. I did as he ordered, and seconds later, I heard Antonio’s voice coming from one of the rooms down the hall, and I no longer felt brave and full of determination. Instead, I became paralyzed with fear.
My mind took over, and I just knew something terrible was going to happen. I could still hear him talking and laughing down the hall, but in my head, he was charging toward me with fury in his eyes. He had his gun drawn and pointed at my head. He was shouting vile things at me and making horrible threats. I started panting, and it wasn’t long before I was hyperventilating.
When Matteo realized that I was on the verge of losing it, he placed his hand on my arm and mouthed the word ‘breathe’, then he inhaled a deep breath and let it out slowly. He did it once more, and I followed suit. I took another deep breath and then another. Once he was confident I was okay, he motioned me to follow as he stepped over to one of the rooms across the hall.
When he opened the door, I was surprised to find that it was dark. As far as I could tell, there were no windows, and the lights were off, which made it very difficult to see as we stepped inside. The hairs stood up on the back of my neck when I heard a strange sound rake across the floor. My heart rate started to quicken as I stepped further into the room. I was beginning to think Matteo had pulled a fast one and this whole thing was a trap, and then the lights flickered on and I saw the source of the sound.
There was a large chain mounted to the floor, and at the end of it was Kiersten cowering in the corner. “Oh, my God! He has her chained to the floor!”
“He wanted to make sure she didn’t get away.”
“Everleigh?” The bright lights had Kiersten squinting as she asked, “What are you doing here?”
“I came for you. We’re going to get you out of here.” I rushed over to her and examined the metal cuffs that bound her wrists. “We have to find a way to get these off.”
“I’ve got a key.”
Matteo reached into his pocket and pulled out the key. He was about to give it to me when a noise drew all of our attention to the hall. Panic filled Matteo’s eyes as he whispered, “Someone’s coming.”
“What do we do?”
“Stay here.” He placed the key in my hand, then ordered, “Don’t come out of this room until I come for you. You got it?”
“Yeah, we’ll wait right here.”
He nodded, then he eased the door open and peered out into the hall. Without saying a word, he stepped out of the room and closed the door behind him. Kiersten and I sat there frozen, waiting anxiously to see if we heard anything, but there was only silence. After several moments, Kiersten looked back at me and asked, “How did you know I was here?”
“Because I know the man who took you.” I reached over and unlocked her cuffs as I explained, “I did something to upset him, so he’s been looking for me. Even came out to your father’s place, and when he didn’t find me there, he decided to use you to force me out of hiding.”
“Why does he want you so bad? Is he your husband or ...”
“Oh, God, no. I could never be with a man like him.” Once I’d removed the cuffs from her wrists, I placed the keys to the cuffs into my t-shirt pocket and said, “I worked for him, and I know things about him and his business that could ruin him. He doesn’t want that to happen, so he’s been doing everything he can to ensure that I don’t talk.”
There was a commotion in the hall followed by a hard thud. Kiersten and I both gasped, then froze with fright. It was at that moment that I realized how stupid I’d been. I’d come there to give myself over to Antonio and put an end to all this, but all I’d done was put another person’s life in danger.
I was silently cursing myself for being so damn selfish when the door flew open, and Matteo came barreling inside. “Something’s going down. I gotta get you two out of here. Now.”
BILLY
When Kiersten was little,there were nights when she’d have trouble sleeping. Instead of calling out to her mother or me, she’d slip out of her bed and creep into our bedroom. With her teddy bear clutched to her chest, she’d stand at the edge of the bed and stare at us, silently pleading that one of us would wake up. Amazingly enough, Grace would sense that she was there and would rise with a start. “Oh, sweetheart. What’s wrong?”
“I can’t sweep,” Kiersten would mumble in her sweetest little girl voice.
“Did you have a bad dream?”
By this time, I’d be wide awake and would watch silently as the two navigated through their little ritual. Kiersten would clutch her teddy bear even tighter, then nod with a pout. “Um-hmm. ‘Dares som’thin in my claw-set.”
“I’m sure there’s nothing in your closet, sweetheart. It’s just your imagination.”
“Uh-uhh.” She’d shake her head. “It was a big, sc’wary mons-stir.”