Broken Beginnings (The Moretti Crime Family 3)

“If you’re a good girl and come with us, then maybe we won’t hurt him too badly.”

“Please…” The world around me spins as I watch the other man kick Steven in the side repeatedly. I swear I can hear bones cracking. Tracy screams for him to stop. Her tear-filled eyes gut me, and all over again, I’m losing someone I care about.

A sudden bout of dizziness slams into me, and I sway on my feet, making my knees knock together. I’m helpless to protect those I love. Panic seizes every inch of my body, and a flashback from the night that changed my life forever replays right before my eyes.

The memory is too much to bear, and it feels like I’m not getting enough oxygen into my lungs. I’m gasping for air, but no one is going to save me.

“We’re going to have so much fun with you,” the man holding me says into the shell of my good ear. It’s the last thing I hear before my eyes close, and I succumb to the panic that’s squeezing the air from my lungs.

When I come to, I’m groggy, cold, and my teeth clank together. I clench my jaw to stop the chattering. Wrapping my arms around my middle, I take deep, calming breaths to stop myself from having another panic attack.

Looking around the small room, it becomes apparent I’m locked inside a jail cell. I have no clue where I am or what happened to my parents. My clothing isn’t ripped, and I don’t feel violated in any way, but that doesn’t mean nothing happened.

I’m alone in this dark cell with a dirty, musty smelling cot. I’m grateful I didn’t wake to find the two men who kidnapped me hovering above me, but I’m still terrified and wondering what the hell is going on?

I’ve never seen them before in my life, but I’m guessing this has something to do with Lucca. There must have been a reason he wanted me gone and hidden away. That reason must have found me anyway.

After a few minutes, my breathing returns to normal, and I build up the courage to get up and walk across the cell and over to the bars. I’d be a fool not to test the door, even though I’m certain it’s locked.

I wrap a hand around the cold bar and tug, but the door doesn’t move. Shadows along the wall alert me of someone approaching. I rush back toward the wall, putting as much distance between myself and the door as I can. The cold brick penetrates through my clothing and skin, intensifying my shivering.

The footsteps grow closer, and my breathing becomes more erratic. They’re going to kill me and cut me up and put me in a box.

Okay, thinking like that is not helping.

A man appears from the shadows and stops right in front of my cell. I start at his feet and work my way up. He’s an average-looking man, but the scar on the right side of his face that cuts through his eye gives him a dark edge.

Fear bubbles beneath my skin again. I look down at his hand. There is a long chain in it, and at the end, I spot a shiny key.

The lanky man says something as he inserts the key into the lock, but because his head is down, I can’t read his lips. I have no idea what he is saying, so I remain pressed against the wall.

“Are you deaf?” he yells as the cell door creaks open.

I remain huddled against the wall, unmoving. The last thing I want to do is walk toward the danger, but what option do I have?

“Yes, I mean partly. I can read lips, but I didn’t see yours. So I don’t know what you were saying,” I ramble on, hoping my explanation is enough to lessen his anger.

“Oh, fuck.” He laughs at me. “That’s funny. Well, I said, let’s go.”

I swear part of my heart shrivels in my chest. There’s nothing I can do, no one that’s going to ride in on a white horse and save me.

Forcing my feet forward, I walk toward the man. Each cold press of my feet into the concrete makes me tremble, and the closer I get, the more afraid I become.

“Don’t make me come in there and get you because I promise you won’t like it.” The man curls his lip, and his menacing eyes cut me to the bone.

I try to move faster, but fear has my muscles stiff. The shaking in my limbs doesn’t help. I’m only a few feet away when the man takes a step forward and grabs me, wrapping an arm around my upper arm and dragging me from the cell.

“You fuckin’ stupid? When I tell you to do something, you do it now!” the man screams into my face. Droplets of saliva cling to my cheeks, but I don’t dare raise a hand to wipe them away. Shaking like a leaf, he drags me down the long corridor. We pass a few other cells, and I wonder where I am? Who it is that kidnapped me, and what they plan to do? That thought alone is enough to make me dig my heels into the ground and fight off this man.