Chapter 4

"As soon as we have the chance, we'll go online," I told him secretly, and he nodded.

We went to the workshop and I noticed that new clients arrived. There were about seven or eight. Arnold and Thomas were in front of them, but they didn't seem friendly. I ignored them and carefully placed the canister on Arnold's table.

"Cleopatra?"

Oh no. No no no.

I had my back turned and Angie was in front of me, biting her lip trying to hide her smile and she didn't hide her surprise.

"Tell me it's not who I think," I lamented. I thought we were rid of him. Angie nodded and I cursed.

I turned around and saw him, he was there with that smile of his. I frowned looking at the boy who had scratched my arm and after several washes you could still see his number written on my skin.

- Frankenstein?

ARIA

"It's good to see you again, girls.

There's that word again.

"What the hell are you doing here?" I didn't even have tact. He put a hand on her chest pretending to be offended.

“Do you know each other?” Thomas asks.

- I did not say.

"Yes," he said with a big smile, "not that I care, but what are you girls doing here?" He - looks around and approaches us -. Where is he?” “I knew he was referring to the courier—they should have called me if they didn't find him.

“Yes we did,” Angie says. She points to Thomas behind him.

"Nah, are you the postman, Napolitana?" she laughs.

"He's a messenger and Napoli," he growls. What do you want Hayes?

Angie looked at me just as surprised as me.

— Do you know each other? I asked for both of them.

"No," Thomas answers immediately.

"Yes," says the other. We did a job together.

— It was my job and you got involved.

— We all know that I saved your skin, Napolitana.

While they were verbally arguing, Arnold approaches us and leads us to the door of the house.

— Stay inside, I heard about them, they are not good people.

"We know," says Angie amused, "he's the one who had to deliver Thomas to us."

- Them? Why?

— We don't know, we have no idea who they are, our grandmother left us with them.

- How weird.

We entered the house and stayed in the living room.

"What is he doing here?" I ask curiously.

“It's an auto shop, Aria. They come to fix cars.

How stupid.

We stay in the house all day. Arnold came in and out, sometimes amused and other times insulting. We asked him if we could go out but he always said no. Were these men going to stay that long?

Annoyed, Thomas walks in, checks one of the living room library drawers.

"What's going on out there?" I wanted to know.

— That stupid has annoyed me — he turns with a wire and a clamp, leans against the library —. He told me that he was with you at the shooting at his grandparents' house, is that true?

— Yes, he and his friends helped us escape.

He frowns.

"What?" Angie asks.

— They don't usually do favors, much less of that kind.

— And what do they do?

— Hayes and his gang tend to handle other kinds of packages.

- What other guy?

- Humans.

— Human trafficking?

— I would call it kidnapping.

- Oh, my God.

Thomas left with the things he had come for. I looked at Angie.

"We're safe here, right?"

— I don't know — at this point I don't know who I'm safe with and who I'm not with.

A phone began to ring. I got up and looked around us, there was no phone. Angie gets up and walks down the hallway of the house, I followed her. Until we stopped in front of a door. We tried to open it but it was locked.

"I'll go get Arnold," I told him. She nods and goes back into the room.

I entered the garage and saw that Thomas and Frankenstein were arguing while working on a car, while Arnold was with two other guys in another car.

— Arnold — I called him and everyone turned to see me except Arnold — I said Arnold.

"What's wrong?" He turns around thanks to one of the boys who was with him.

— A phone is ringing.

Clean your hands with a tissue. He motions for me to come closer.

— You became a good helper, little one. You have the smallest hand of us, you could look for a screw that we dropped - she points me inside the engine. I managed to see the screw and yes, the hole was narrow.

He leaves me with them and jogs off to answer the phone.

"Do I have the face of a mechanic?" I murmured to myself. The boys laughed when they heard me.

I put my hand in the hole but it was quite far away so I had to lean over.

"We saved your life and we don't even know your name, ironic, right?" says one of them. He almost reached the bolt.

"Aria." I extend my free hand to them.

"Trevor." The tall blonde takes my hand.

— Nathan — then the other.

I got to the screw and pulled it out. I gave them to him and saw that my arm had been left with a little black oil. Diug.

"Here." Trevor hands me a white handkerchief and I wiped myself up, even though it was a bit sticky.

— With which Aria, huh?

I turned at his voice. She cleaned her hands with a handkerchief like me.

"Frankenstein?" I raised an eyebrow. He smirks and looks away.

- Ryder Hayes - extends his hand to me.

I look at Thomas, hesitating to accept her hand, he says it's dangerous, and for some reason I trust him. Still, I sighed and held out mine. But when we were about to greet each other, Arnold left the house scared.

I approached him.

— Arnold? — Angie also comes out, she was confused — Are you okay?

— On the phone... it was, it was a modified voice — he took a breath — he said that I gave him the girls and that he would pay me very well... I need money, Aria, keeping a mechanic isn't easy — he picks up a bar of his table.

I was there when I took a step back.

"Arnold, what the hell?" Thomas approaches me.

— Please, Thom, you know how much car repairs cost. Are you going to tell me you guys aren't doing the same thing?” He points to Thomas and the other guys “I bet you guys got paid to take them to Thomas too,” he tells Ryder and his group, his fists clenching. He looks at Angie and me. I'm sorry girls.

He tries to get closer to Angie who was closer to him. Thomas was faster and tackled him. I ran to Angie and grabbed her hand. The other boys approached Arnold.

I looked back and saw that no one was blocking our way to flee. I got Angie out of that place, regardless of the yelling the rest of us gave us so we wouldn't run away. I'm not crazy for one more second with these people who just want to take advantage of us to get money.

There were a couple of guys from Ryder's group, but they didn't know what was going on so they didn't stop us.

I crossed the street with Angie by the hand and we turned to see how everyone, including Arnold, began to come out to look for us.

"Please come back here," Thomas calls us.

— Come on girl, don't make it more difficult! — that idiot Frankenstein.

I raised my middle finger at them and pulled my sister. They started yelling at us to come back.

When we get to the corner, a white van pulls up right in front of us. Armed men come out of it. We both scream in fear as the men roughly throw us into the truck without even allowing us to react to run away, and it moves forward.

Everything went so fast. A huge man took Angie by the neck and put a handkerchief on her nose, she got dizzy and I tried to move her away from him. I kicked him but the other one pointed his gun at me.

— Cooperate.

I raised my hands. Angie fell asleep on my lap. The van slammed to a stop and he almost fell over. I tried to open the door to escape when the other grabbed my arms. I wrestled with him until he managed to get the handkerchief up my nose. I put up with the repair, I didn't want to faint too because that would complicate everything.

The door was flung open and I saw that it was this Ryder Hayes, aka Frankenstein. He shot the first guy and then I heard gunshots in the driver and passenger.

I guess I don't know how to hold my breath, as I started to feel dizzy. Ryder hit the guy and he tried to shoot him but he nimbly dodged and ended up shooting him in the wrist where the bandana was. So he released it and me too.

I crawled over to Angie and shook her. She was very dizzy.

— Angie, wake up, Angie!

I held on to the seats so as not to fall. Ryder approaches me.

"Take it out," I told him.

"Are you okay?" she carries my sister in her arms. I nodded.

He went down first and I noticed Thomas come running. They passed Angie from arm to arm.

“Are you okay, Aria?” Thomas asks me.

— Yes, I'm just... —I tried to get out of the truck but I staggered — dizzy — Ryder holds my arm but I immediately take it off — I can.

— As you say — I could see his blurred smile. She lets go of me and crosses her arms in front of me.

I tried downloading and did it successfully. But I get more dizzy.

"Frankenstein..." I fell on him and his laugh was the last thing I heard.

•••

I woke up and had to massage my head from the dizziness it gave me.

I opened my eyes and found myself in space, I was on Arnold's sofa bed. I jumped up and noticed that everyone was in the room.

— Good night, sunny — says the retarded Ryder —, you're finally awake.

I looked out the window, it was night.

"Here." Thomas hands me a cup of tea. I look at him naive.

"Put the tea up your ass," I pushed him.

— Uff, do you say your sister's name with that little mouth, girl? — and the other continues with his jokes.

I grabbed the pillow where my head was resting and threw it at him.

- I'm not a girl!

— Oops, the girl got angry.

I show him my middle finger.

"Where is my sister?" I jumped up when I didn't find her in the room.

"Calm down, he's in the bathroom," says Arnold. He was tied to a chair hand and foot.

- Let's go.

I started to leave the room but Trevor, if I believe it was Trevor, blocked my way.

- Move on.

"I'm sorry, but you can't go.

- Yes I can. Angie! Let's go!” he yelled over his shoulder, “get moving blondie.

Look over my shoulder. I turn and see Ryder shake his head. So Trevor didn't move from his spot. If she weren't so small she would have knocked him down.

"Bastard," I whispered to him.

"What's wrong?" Angie comes down the hall.

"Angie, we're leaving.

- Than? Why?

She's still asleep right?

"Because yes!" I yelled hysterically.

"Okay," he answers obediently.

“Stay there, Angie,” Thomas orders.

"Don't talk to my sister" I threaten him with my finger.

“Sorry, girls,” Arnold begins, “I need the money.

— Well, you know what — I turned around very annoyed — I also need money because I'm not rich either, I need to get out of here, I need to go home and above all I need to go back to my daily life, but still I'm not selling people to get what I want. I love. And that is just what all of you are doing.

They stay silent. I turn and walk past Trevor who doesn't try to stop me.

"I'm sorry, Angela," he tells my sister.

“I made you my special lasagna, Arnold. Fuck off.

We both locked ourselves in the room we occupied.

"We're going to leave here, right?" she tells me enthusiastically.

"Of course, I won't let those guys keep making money with us."

I opened the closet and took out the jackets that Martha had lent us. She got ready while I checked the window, she was stuck.

— I remember that Arnold said that the motorcycle that was ready is on the side of the workshop. Do you know how to drive one of those?

— No, not one of those, and you?

“No, I don't even know how to drive, Aria.

- We'll take a taxi.

- We do not have money.

- We will walk.

- All night?

"Have you got a better idea, smartass?"

— No — he scratches his head — but I don't want to be here any longer.

- Nor I. We'll go out when they're sleeping.

That's how it went. We stayed up until midnight listening to how they talked in the living room. Will the gang never leave?

Another hour passed and he can't stop thinking about who the people were who wanted to kidnap us. Probably, they were the same ones that attacked my grandmother's house a few days ago and that did not leave me alone. They already knew we were here.