Braden: A Dark Mafia Romance (13 page)

“My man says we’ve got about an hour before he’s released from the hospital.”  Don Abrami said as we started to drive.

“Perfect.”  The Indonesian lit a cigarette and cracked the window as we drove down a long dirt road.

“You’re really taking me to my father?”  I pressed my face to the glass.

“Shut up!”  Don Abrami barked and slammed his fist into the glass which was hard enough to bounce it against my face.

I slumped in the back seat and held my hand over the tender spot on my cheekbone.  We didn’t have to drive far before I saw the city appear on the horizon.  It was a sight I never thought I would see again.  I decided that trying to talk to my captors was not going to work, so I just leaned my head against the glass on the door and watched as we got closer.  I didn’t trust either man, so I doubted they actually intended to let me go.  My eyes traced the perimeter of the glass separating the front seat from the back.  When Don Abrami’s hand slammed into it, he had caused it to bend slightly at the four points where it was bolted.  With enough time and a crowbar, I could probably pry it open, but I certainly couldn’t do that with them sitting in the front seat.  My hands felt around in the seats, and I cautiously bent down to feel around underneath the seats, but I didn’t find anything useful.

“We’re almost there.”  The Indonesian said cheerfully.

“This will be a beautiful homecoming.”  Don Abrami pointed the Indonesian towards a side street, and then guided him into an alley. “Turn in there.”

The car came to a rest in the alley which had a full view of the hospital.  My eyes grew wide when I saw Danielle pacing around out front.  A few seconds later, my mother joined her and they started to talk—they seemed to be arguing about something.  Tears welled up in my eyes when I saw them.  I had fully accepted the fact I would never see them again and looking at the two of them carrying on like they always did brought a rush of emotions.  I wiped away a tear as one streamed down my cheek.  My mother walked away with her cell phone pressed to her ear, and she appeared to be yelling at someone on the other end.  I wondered if it had something to do with me.  I looked from Don Abrami to the Indonesian, staying away from the glass as I spoke.

“Well, so are you going to let me go or not?”  I asked them.

“Who said anything about letting you go?”  The Indonesian asked in his thick accent.  “We brought you to see your family.  You see them, don’t you?”

“You’re sick…”  I shook my head back and forth.

“I’m just trying to show you a little compassion.”  The Indonesian looked back at me and smiled.  “I thought you’d like to see them one last time and say goodbye.  By the time tomorrow, you’ll be in Indonesia where you’ll spend the rest of your life.”

“Yeah, have some respect for your new owner, you little bitch.”  Don Abrami slammed his hand into the glass again.  It was loud, but my face wasn’t pressed against it that time so it did little more than bounce underneath the impact.

“Maybe I’ll remove her tongue first.”  The Indonesian shook his head.  “She can still scream without it.”

“That sounds like a marvelous idea.”  Don Abrami nodded his head in agreement.

I felt my tongue recoil into the back of my throat and try to dive into my esophagus just hearing his threat.  I couldn’t focus on it long because the doors of the hospital opened and my father appeared.  He was paler than I remembered and being rolled out in a wheelchair.  My mother ended her phone call and rushed to his side.  Danielle took the wheelchair from the nurse and I saw his car drive up to the curb.  He reached up and squeezed my mother’s hand.  He said something to her and she replied with a solemn shake of her head which cause his face to contort into a mixture of rage and despair.  In all of my years, I had never seen my father cry or break down.  He quickly wiped a hand under each eye as my mother opened the door on his car and started to help him stand.  Danielle walked around the wheelchair and took his other arm.  Adrenaline shot through my body and I rolled back onto my shoulders, bringing my legs up over my head.  I slammed both feet hard into the glass.

“What the fuck?”  Don Abrami said as he turned his attention away from my family.

“That bitch is trying to break the glass.”  The Indonesian said in a rage.

I started slamming my feet into the glass as fast and hard as I could, one after the other.  It started to bend even more, the bolts barely keeping it in place.  Don Abrami and The Indonesian both hopped out of the car.  Don Abrami opened the door and it was all I needed.  I rolled to the side and planted a foot in his sternum.  The older man fell backwards and I scrambled out of the car.  The Indonesian lunged for me, but I drove the car door into him and then started to run.  My father was in the car and Danielle was walking around to the other side.  I screamed out, but the traffic and the sounds of the city were too loud for them to hear me.  I ran down the alley as fast as my feet could carry me, just trying to get out of the deserted area.  I knew that if I could get to the road, I had a chance.  Unfortunately, I didn’t make it.  The car squealed beside me and the Indonesian opened his door into me.  That sent me spinning and Don Abrami was around the car faster than a man his age should have moved.  He grabbed me in his arm and snapped my wrists behind my back.  I felt the tight plastic zip tie squeeze the circulation in them again.

“Maybe it will be your toes I take first.”  The Indonesian slapped me so hard that I would have hit the ground if Don Abrami hadn’t been holding me.

“Do your tools?”  Don Abrami asked.

“Yeah, they’re in the trunk.”  He motioned towards the back of the car.

“Good.  I think it is time you showed this little bitch was the rest of her life will be like.”  Don Abrami roughly shoved me into the back of the car and slammed the door shut.

I watched from the backseat as my family drove away, completely unaware that we were so close to being reunited.  I knew I would pay for my actions, but I had to try something.  It was the only hope I had.  We drove back towards the warehouse and I lay my head on the seat, fully aware of the pain that awaited me when we got there.  I didn’t care anymore.  My family wouldn’t stop looking for me, and I had to cling to that.  I had to believe that my father would be able to find me eventually.  I might suffer for years at the hands of a sadist, but the fact he needed me alive was the only hope I could cling to.  If he didn’t, then death would eventually come and I would make my peace with God long before that happened.  The car pulled up to the front of the warehouse and they dragged me from the vehicle.  Don Abrami cut the zip tie and I tried to fight, but it was no use.  He lifted my arms above me and zip tied them to a pipe which left me dangling with my toes barely touching the floor.

“Now…”  He said with a smile.  “Let’s see what Braden liked so much.”  He tore my shirt open and then yanked my bra off of my breasts.

“She’s mine.”  The Indonesian said as he wheeled a table beside me and unrolled a pocketed cloth filled with various instruments designed to cut and maim.

“Of course…”  Don Abrami took a step back.  “She’s paid for.”

The Indonesian walked over to me with a scalpel and I felt my knees go weak.  He cut the rest of my clothes off of me, leaving me hanging naked in front of them.  Shame seemed like a wasted emotion, but I couldn’t help but feel it as two men stared hungrily at my flesh.  I knew Don Abrami was thinking about fucking me, but the Indonesian seemed more interested in where he should cut.  He pulled the back of the scalpel down my jaw, across my lips, and then down my neck.  I shivered from the feeling of the cold steel and I felt goose bumps rising up on my body.  He walked over to his kit and replaced the scalpel, picking up a pair of pliers.  He placed them against my inner thigh.  He brought them up my leg, across my crotch, and then let them rest on my belly button.  I whimpered when I felt it squeeze and twist the flesh surrounding my it.

“Please…”  I begged.  “Please don’t do this.”  All of my bravery faded as his pliers dug into my skin.

“Ah.”  The Indonesian smiled.  “She’s going to be a lot of fun.” 

“Please…”  I stammered out as he twisted my flesh again.

Chapter 18:  Braden

Stefano parked his car and we began our trek towards the warehouse on foot.  Each step hurt, but I was beginning to feel a little bit of my strength returning.  There was only one car outside and I didn’t recognize it as one of ours.  Stefano pulled me behind a tree and we crouched down, surveying the scene.  The warehouse was old and it definitely wasn’t one we used on a regular basis.  Any warehouse that we used would have been crawling with members of the Family.  Stefano used his cell phone to take a picture of the license plate on the car and zoomed in on it.  He flipped over to an app and started punching in the information.  I was ready to go in guns blazing, but I needed Stefano’s support for that.  He was much more methodical than I was, and liked to cover his bases.

“That car is registered to a member of the Indonesian Crime Syndicate.”  Stefano stared at the information.

“We don’t do business with them!”  I said angrily.  “So the Indonesian freight company must be a front…”  I shook my head back and forth.

“We used to have an arrangement with the Indonesian Crime Syndicate a long time ago.  Their main source of income is human trafficking and drugs.  There was a dark time in our history when we were willing to do anything for capital…”  Stefano zoomed in on the warehouse with his phone, scanning it for activity.

“Don Abrami doesn’t seem to care who he does business with, as long as he gets what he wants.  There is only one car which means there can’t be many people inside.”  I pushed myself away from the tree.

“Braden, we don’t know what we’re walking into.  Maybe we should wait and gather some intel before we rush into this.  Don Abrami’s car isn’t even here.”  He scanned the horizon.

“The less people we have to deal with, the better.  Angela may be inside.”  I started walking towards the warehouse.

“If she isn’t, we’re going to have to kill people who have nothing to do with this in order to make sure nobody knows we were here.”  Stefano followed behind me.

“I don’t have any problem killing members of the Indonesian Crime Syndicate.”  I said angrily as we got to the side door and gently slid it open.

We weaved our way through the maze of boxes and crates after we were inside.  Most of them looked to be empty, or full of goods that were no longer moving very well on the open market.  It was the kind of stuff people who ran drugs loved to smuggle it in.  I could hear voices as we got towards the center of the warehouse, but I didn’t recognize them.  They were muffled by the boxes between us.  Stefano pointed at his eyes and then pointed ahead.  I saw a crack between two stacks of boxes and we moved as quietly as we could towards it.  When I peered through them, rage ignited within me.  Angela was naked, with her hands tied over her.  A man I didn’t recognize had pliers, twisting her flesh.  Don Abrami was looking at her with a smile on his face.  I saw nothing but red as I jumped up, knocking over a stack of boxes in the process.  Stefano tried to stop me, but I was coursing with adrenaline and the pain had evaporated.

“Someone is here.”  Don Abrami pulled his gun from his pants and moved behind Angela.

“I thought you said this place was secure.”  The man I didn’t recognize turned towards me as I emerged from the corridor of boxes.  He stepped behind Angela and Don Abrami.

“Braden!?”  Don Abrami’s face tightened to rage.

“Braden!”  Angela screamed and a look of joy swept over her tear stained face.

“One step closer and you will watch her die.”  Don Abrami put a gun to Angela’s face, keeping himself hidden behind her.

“It’s over Don Abrami.”  Stefano emerged from the boxes with his gun drawn.  “We know everything.”

“Stefano?”  Don Abrami stared at him.  “Braden I get, he’s all hung up on this bitch, but you would betray the Family?”

“You betrayed the Family!”  I said angrily.

“The only thing I’ve done is what was necessary to keep this Family together.”  Don Abrami looked over at Stefano.  “You understand that, don’t you?”

“What I understand is that you lied to us in order to get what you wanted and my sister is dead because of you.”  Stefano moved his gun, looking for an opening to fire.

“Okay, I’ll admit… That was a mistake.  Let me fix it.”  Don Abrami peeked out from behind Angela.  “Kill Braden and you can sit at my table.  I’ll give you your own territory, made men answering to you, and you’ll be next in line to be the Don of the Abrami family—the Moretti family.”

“You don’t understand a damn thing about me if you think I would betray everything and everyone I’ve ever loved for power.”  Stefano shook his head.

“Fine…”  Don Abrami pushed Angela to the side and then gunfire erupted from the end of his pistol.

“Stefano!”  I yelled as I watched him take multiple slugs.

“As for you, Braden.  I already know your weakness.”  Don Abrami turned his gun towards Angela again and wrapped his arms around her waist.  “Drop your gun, or I kill her.”

I looked over at Stefano who was on the ground with several splotches of blood around his midsection.  He was breathing, but he didn’t look like he was in good shape.  There was no way that I could open fire on Don Abrami without him.  Angela’s eyes were filled with terror.  She had already been tortured, albeit quite mild considering what I knew about the evil Indonesian hiding behind Don Abrami.  There was no way I could get a clear shot at either of them with Don Abrami swinging Angela like a pendulum in front of me.  Dropping my gun meant the end of us both, but if I didn’t drop it, he would put a bullet through her and use her body as a shield to protect the two of them.  I knew I had no other choice, so I extended my arm and let my gun fall to the ground.  I dropped my shoulders in defeat.

“I’m sorry, Angela.”  I said as I took a deep breath.

“Ah you’re a fool, Braden.  You could have had everything, but now you’ll just watch the rest of your world crumble.”  Don Abrami turned his gun away from Angela and leveled it on me.