Chapter 6

Clover’s POV

How I’m still alive is a surprise even to myself.

I don’t think I believe the things I have witnessed from the moment I drove him bleeding inside my ice cream truck. It’s like I fell into another dimension somewhere in between and have been living some action-thriller nonsense since. 

All I could remember was plunging in the water, my lungs constricting, and the feeling of being at death’s door while I held onto the dashboard with my dear life. I also heard the car thrum and vibrate.

Through it all, Uno didn’t flinch. I looked at the way he kept his hands on the steering wheel intently. The car’s headlights shone in the black water. I swallowed my screams. 

‘I don't want to die. I don't want to die. I don't want to die,’ I kept chanting in my head.

Then I saw a jagged opening… the water shifted, a strong current pulled us forward. After that, we broke through the surface of a vast cavern. 

The car screeched and drifted off the hidden dock before it halted and the vehicle hissed. Windows opened a fraction with secret drain vents in the car’s floor unlatching to release the water inside. 

The purge lasted for a few seconds before the windows clicked again and the engine purred back to life like nothing happened.

“Oh my—” I coughed hard and gasped for air, shivering because of the cold. 

What in the world of super tech and spies is this?! You’ve got to be kidding me!

“Is this hell?” I talked out loud, still out of it. I finally glanced at him again and said, “You drove me to hell didn’t you?”

That’s when I saw how the place was dark, but it was obvious that this cavern was an entrance to some secret place, definitely their group’s headquarters. 

“We’re not quite there yet,” he simply answered me.

I had barely recovered when he shifted the gear again and drove forward. I realized that the cavern leads to a tunnel, an underwater passage that twisted through the seabed. It clicked for me right then, why he’s not a tiny bit afraid. 

Who would even think something like this is possible?!

“If I wasn’t crazy earlier, I think I am now,” I mumbled as I watched the way we drove through the tunnel at top speed.

This car is not normal. He is not normal. Nothing about this is normal!

Suddenly the piles of bills I left on my kitchen table seemed to be a miniscule problem compared to this. I just want to go back home and delete these from my memories.

Because it doesn't take a genius to understand that the more I learn about his world, the more I dig a deeper grave for myself.

Uno glanced at me and finally replied, “Whether this is hell or not depends on what I decide for you.”

Great. His nth threat of the day… and it hasn’t been hours since we actually met each other! This man has some serious issues that I’d rather he doesn't take out on me.

Out of all people, why did I have to cross paths with someone as ruthless as him?

I bit my lip and just attempted to catch my breath. “So you have a mafia cave,” I pointed out, more to myself. 

At this point silence would just further drive me to madness while I try to wrap my head in the present.

On the other hand, it does make sense. No wonder the police cannot catch his group and why they are feared so much. With access to facilities and tech like this? Yeah, they are too dangerous for our small town.

Minutes after, I started seeing light.

Not the light of afterlife (although that might have been a more merciful outcome) but the exit of the tunnel. I felt the car moving in an upward slope, it ironically was similar to ascending to heaven.

In reality, it’s the opposite fate for me.

“Where are you taking me?” I still asked despite my nerves.

Perhaps because everything feels surreal that I can speak my mind. Plunging into the ocean and heading to my potential death shook my head enough to be just the level of unhinged who would tiptoe on thin ice and start a conversation with him.

Still, Uno is uncooperative. He doesn’t say a word. I sighed. 

“And you say I was kidnapping you yet here you are… you’re the one who’s truly abducting me,” I whispered before turning to my side of the window.

I gasped at the vision. The tunnel leads to a lagoon with roof yawning wide enough to reveal the sky and the view of the other side—an island lush, untamed, ringed with jagged cliffs. There were structures and watchtowers at the heart of it.

This is what a den is to him?! This is an entire territory! He was definitely understating things.

“Are you sure we’re not dead yet and this isn’t purgatory or something? I have an inkling that with you around, this is definitely not heaven.” I mouthed off while my eyes never left the view. 

Uno took a turn with the car, onto a stone ramp leading up from the lagoon and heading to the side of a cliff. The incline widened into a bridge of sorts, arched across a chasm that opened into a hidden valley beyond while he was driving at full speed. 

The island plateau stretched out. In some other circumstances, I would say it was breathtaking scenery.

“Maybe this really is the afterlife,” I added. Humor has been my favorite coping mechanism since day one.

However, Uno doesn't seem to appreciate it. “Do you ever shut up?” He grits, annoyed. 

And perhaps it’s a bad idea to piss him off right now but he’s gonna harm me either way so might as well.

“When I’m being held captive, threatened, and kidnapped like this?” I looked at him sharply. “No, I don’t think I can keep quiet.”

Suddenly, he swerves into the garage as we arrive at the stronghold. He hits the brakes.

“Well we ought to do something about that,” he said after finally stopping the car. Uno leaned to me, ripping from his shirt with haste and ease to tie it around my mouth.

Just like that, he gets out of the car and pulls me out too. He dragged me to enter the building.

It was a mix of a mansion and facility inside.

With one scan of my gaze in our surroundings, I noticed the cameras at every corner. Not to mention that his men are probably here too. I can’t even run away from an injured guy like him so it’s definitely out of my choices to escape in this situation.

We turned around a couple of hallways before we stopped by a metal door. He pressed his thumb on a security panel beside it before it automatically opened.

Uno pushed me inside.

“Wai—” My words were muffled by the cloth in my mouth. I stumbled on the cold ground.

I stared at his silhouette standing over me from the entrance.

“Behave here,” he says firmly. “I’ll be back to deal with you soon.”

Those were his last words as he loudly slammed the door shut.

That lunatic really left and imprisoned me here after everything!

I wanted to be mad. I wanted to yell. I wanted to run and leave this place… but I couldn't.

Because once I was in solitude and the shadows, I broke down crying. The adrenaline and strength left my body. I curled myself into a ball before I started sobbing.

God or whoever is out there… please let this torment end.