A Kingpin Love Affair (14 page)

Isabella

“JARED!” I screamed
his name praying he could hear me, praying he would lift his head and his eyes would be looking back at me. Instead, they were closed and his body slouched toward the floor. They let the chains go, the clanking causing my nerves to raise more.

“How could you? I said I would listen if you let him go.” The tears fell from my eyes without thought. Jared couldn’t survive those kinds of wounds without medical attention.

“You have to save him.” I fought against the man holding me back. The man I was promised to now known as Israel crossed the room, his footsteps heavy against the concrete flooring.

“I owe you nothing!” He gripped my chin, Jared’s blood covering his hand causing my stomach to convulse. “He will die because of the things he has done. If you decide you don’t want to listen, then I will punish you as well and believe me…” His other hand slid up my thigh. “I will enjoy it very much.” I narrowed my eyes in anger. He was a snake, a dirty evil snake. I pulled my chin out of his hand, barely catching myself from falling to the ground.

Israel turned his attention back to a lifeless Jared. I could see his chest moving up and down but for how much longer? I could hear the thrumming of my heartbeat in my ears, the saliva in my mouth building up and the sweat on my hands forming.

“Get him up,” Israel ordered and his men lifted Jared immediately, removing the chains and allowing his body to slump to the floor.

“You don’t have to do this. It’s not his fault this happened. He was just told to do something for a…” I tried to come up with a lie, but my mind went blank. I had nothing to lie about, nothing to say that could get us out of here.

“Do you think I’m dumb, little girl?” He crossed the distance between us, his hand ripping into my hair as he gripped it forcefully causing the skin to pull tight against my scalp. His dark eyes narrowed as he held my shaking body against his own.

“Do you?” he growled, his eyes lingering on my lips. My stomach twisted in knots, agony taking over. It didn’t matter what I did, what I said or didn’t say—Jared wouldn’t be walking out of here alive. Both our lives were over the second we got in that car.

I shook my head no, answering him before he decided to do something far worse to Jared. Tears spilled from my eyes and I shuttered as I watched his eyes follow the stream of tears down my face. There was no remorse or caring nature in them. Just pain, agony, and the need to feed on others.

“Tears? Tsk, tsk, tsk. They’re weak!” he screamed in my face, his hand raising and landing on my cheek without warning. My skin burned from the strike as I fell to the floor, crumbling into a million tiny pieces. “You’re weak!” he screamed into the air, his hands held above his head.

“Remove them both. Get them out of my fucking sight before I kill them.” He pushed past one of his men, the force almost knocking him to the ground.

“Get up,” the man next to me ordered. I turned my face toward him, allowing him to see the fresh bruise I could feel forming on my cheek. Is this what he stood for? Is this what he wanted for his life?

“Help us…” I begged, my voice a whisper as I prayed Israel wouldn’t hear me. My eyes pleaded as his eyes bled into mine. I could see the apprehension in them—he wanted to help, but something was preventing him.

“Don’t be dumb,” he growled, his hand weaving into my hair as he pulled me from the ground by it. Rage formed in my veins—hate and anger formed from the pain they were causing me.

“You’re a monster! A pathetic, disgusting, degrading, evil fucking monster!” I screamed as tears fell from my eyes. I could hear the room grow quiet and feel the tension pulling tight like a rubber band. They wanted to hurt me, they wanted to break me down. I couldn’t let them.

“What did you say?” Israel twisted around, his eyes filled with anger and madness. A shiver ran down my spine. I should be afraid, I should be scared, maybe I even should’ve kept my mouth shut, but doing so would have given him more power over me than he deserved.

“I said…” I narrowed my eyes at him, “you’re a pathetic,” pulling from the man’s hold on my hair, feeling it being pulled but was past the pain, “disgusting,” leaning forward as I watched him step right in front of me, “degrading,” I spat the word at him, no fear in my voice, “evil fucking person who gets off on hurting others.”

My eyes glazed over as one last single tear fell from my eye. I saw the blur of his hand coming toward me but had no time to move—either that, or I felt no reason to do so. If he wanted to kill me, he would.

“You have made a grave mistake disobeying me.” One hand wrapped around my throat while the other forced my eyes to meet his. Air is forced out of me as he squeezed tighter and tighter. My mind felt foggy as the light behind my eyes dimmed. I continued to hold on, gritting my teeth as my body started to sag from the loss of oxygen. My eyes flickered between a state of consciousness and unconsciousness. My body felt heavy, my mind unfocused, yet I clung to the chance to let him know he hadn’t won.

“When you wake, your boyfriend will be dead, your body will belong to me, and your mind will be nothing but useless.”

It was with his final words I could no longer hang on. I was gripping at the rocks along the side of the cliff, begging myself to stay, attempting to force air back into my body.

Don’t let him win.
Those words echoed to me inside my head as I tried to move my hands, anything to keep me alert.

“Stop fighting it. Stop pretending you don’t crave me or the darkness I can and will offer you.” I could feel his lips against my own, and it was then I let go.

Let go of the pain, the hate, and the anger that was holding me to the earth.

Jared

My body felt
as if it had been slammed through five floors of concrete, my legs numb from enduring hours of pain. The cold concrete beneath my face cooled my skin. I could smell my blood in the air and taste it on my tongue, but through it all, my mind was still drifting to Isabella.

You’ve failed. You’ve failed to protect her.

I clenched my fist against the concrete. I had no strength left. Just pain and a desire to make those who had hurt us pay. My head pounded loudly in my ears doing nothing to ease the ache. Air filtered into my lungs at a snail’s pace as I heard footsteps off in the distance.

“Jared.” The way he said my name had me pushing up onto my arms even if I knew they would give out against my body weight. I had to show him he hadn’t won—I had to try.

I grunted, unable to find my voice, my tongue sticking to the roof of my mouth.

“Interesting. Here I thought you died on us.” I couldn’t see him, even as I looked up. The light above forced me to blink my eyes closed the minute I opened them.

“I’m tougher than that…” I moaned. My legs burned and I could feel the blood flowing from the open knife wounds as I tried to move them.

“Tougher than I thought maybe…” he paused, “or just extremely fucking stupid.” I never saw the kick coming until it landed on my stomach. Spasms of pain rocked through me as I tried to catch my breath.

“Do what...” I heaved in a breath, my chest aching, my stomach threatening to revolt all its contents onto the ground, “…you need to do to me, but let her go.” I attempted to make a bargain with him.

“Pick him up,” he ordered his men. They did as they were told, both men grabbing onto one arm each. They lifted me up, dragging me across the floor and pushing me down into a chair in the middle of the room.

“Look at me,” Israel stated. I had no idea what his name was until I heard Isabella begging him to stop. I narrowed my eyes as much as I could, my head down toward the floor. He could beat me, destroy me, attempt to kill me, but he would never take the love I had for her away.

“I know things—things about you. Things not even you know… things about your mother.” My head snapped up the moment I heard what he had said. I would be lying if I said I didn’t want to know what it was he thought he knew, but in the same instance, I knew there was no way anything he was saying could be considered true. He was evil, a bastard of a man who got off on hurting people.

“I don’t believe you,” I growled, just barely getting out what I wanted to say. He smiled and it was sinister, dark, and ugly just like his soul.

“You can say all you want, but once I’m done telling you what happened, I doubt you will be able to not believe me.” I ignored his words trying my hardest to push them from my mind all while he paced the floor in front of me. His fists clenched and there was anger in every single step. He hated how he had no control over me, and it only boosted me up more.

“Anything you say to me is a lie,” I spat at him. “Nothing you could ever say to me would make me think what you’re doing right now is okay.
Nothing.
” I made sure he heard me, my voice cracking as I raised it.

I watched as Israel grabbed a chair from the corner, moving it to the center of the room and taking a seat.

“Your mother was a sweet woman. Was she not?” He smiled.

He’s baiting you. Don’t give in.

“It’s a shame how she died really…” His voice was dark.

Make it stop. Make the pain go away.

My head pounded in agony as my mind drifted between the past and present. Pain settled into my chest. Though my mother had died years ago, the pain of losing her could still be felt today as if it had happened yesterday. I didn’t want to relive a moment of that with this man.

“Stop talking about her as if you knew her! You know nothing more than what you read on paper,” I hissed out, lifting my chin. He held his hands in his lap as if he were unfazed by all of this.

“There you go assuming things you have no idea about.” He laughed, his voice filling the room.

“Assuming is not knowing, I knew everything about my mother. It is you who is wrong,” I growled, pushing out of my chair. My legs wobbled, searing pain filling my body as I watched him.

“Jared. Dear fragile Jared.” His hands were clasped together behind his back as he stood easily.

“Never talk of her as if you know her.” I wanted to scream, but my voice failed to come out in any other tone but gravely. I was growing weaker by the second.

“When I found out who had my property, I did some digging on you. I needed to, needed to have something to shove down your throat when I got my hands on you!” He was screaming right in my ear, his saliva hitting against my skin.

“You have nothing because everything you’re saying is false. You’re a liar. Right down to your bones. You think you know her and you have a secret that was withheld from me!” I screamed with the last of my strength. I watched as Israel raised his hand, and with a sharp blow to the head, I fell to the ground, my body bouncing off the cement.

The clicking of his shoes on the ground sounded loud in my ears. The world before me was going in and out. How could I make it through this? How could I survive this? Would I even?

“The problem is this is a long running issue. You see, your mother was someone just like Isabella. In fact, you should be the property of my father…” A kick landed against my abdomen, but I felt nothing.

I couldn’t feel any more pain at this point. He bent down with his fist pulled back. My eyes blinked in and out, unfocused as to where he was. I could feel his fingers digging into my skin though, and it just enraged me more. I was a caged animal inside my own body.

“Your mother’s sweet cunt belonged to my family. Her parents sold her to us.” He laughed and it was dark. Then his words hit me, and it was as if an ice bucket of water had been dumped on me.

“YOU’RE LYING!” I screamed. I failed to feel the tears falling from my eyes. I could no longer feel any emotion or pain. After enduring so much, you tend to shut off that part of your body and that’s the point I was at now.

He shook his head. “Nope, I am not. Your mother ran just as Isabella did and it enraged my father. He searched for her for years, but she hid herself well. All it took was one slip up and we had her. He was just going to bring her back to where she belonged when he found her with the likes of your father. To find out she went and birthed another man’s spawn made it even worse. My father spared you and your father all those years ago, but you fucked that up. Your mother’s fate and yours are going to end in very similar ways.” I could hear what he was saying but couldn’t care less. The effect of what he had previously said still lingered in my mind.

“Love doesn’t end all evil, Jared. Love doesn’t take away the injustice. It just makes things worse. For love, you will die.”

“What happened to her?” I stopped him, wanting an answer before he finished me off. I couldn’t handle not knowing after so many years.

He smiled, happy I had finally given into his charade, “Well, we killed her, of course. She ran from us and so we caused the accident that took her life. We cut her brake line. We drove behind her, right on her bumper. Little tap here, a not so little tap there. We distracted her causing her to swerve. She couldn’t regain control of the wheel, she couldn’t stop either because… snip, snip. That’s the short version. Lesson being, you cannot run from the mafia and expect to live.”

My mind was spinning. Was there a reason to even hold on anymore? Everything that had happened was planned? I had all but prepared my own funeral.

“Any last words?” His voice sounded like a whisper as I tried to pull myself from my mind. Had I done this to us? Had allowing myself to open up to Isabella caused this? If she never met me would I even be here?

I said nothing, not even as his fist came down against my skin. I could feel wounds seeping open as he broke my flesh, blood being spilled and in that blood was my heart, my strength to move on.

I was losing this war and there wasn’t a damn thing I could do about it.