ONE | Kidnapped!

“For God’s sake! Leave me alone!” screamed Zarina as she was involuntarily dragged out of her room.

Tears rolled down her swollen, red eyes as she struggled against the unknown. The fierce hour of midnight saw her being pulled out of ‘Sapphire Aurora’, a lavish and luxurious hotel in Venice, by a tall male captor with broad shoulders and a husky build.

Her free hand struggled to free the other, which was firmly grasped in a firm grasp, unwilling to let go.

The hotel wasn’t exceptionally crowded that night, but there were a few vacationers checking in and out. The workers remained still and looked around with empty looks, but no one had the courage to raise a finger to help the unfortunate girl. The survival instinct clamped their lips and shut off their conscience, as if everything happening in front of them wasn’t there.

“Please! Let go of me.” her voice quivered, body trembling with fear. “Somebody, Please!…Please!!… HELP ME!” she cried out for help, looking around at the people, silently watching and ignoring her plight at the same time.

As the man dragged her away, her dress fluttered behind her. Her hair flew frantically given that she never had the opportunity to tie it up before this brutish man barged into her room and yanked her out. Her sharp nails bit into his flesh, but it did nothing to slow him down.

Vector only kept walking, forcing the girl along with him and discarding all of her attempts to flee. His tanned face remained cold, focused and ready for a kill if he had to.

Exiting the hotel, Vector slightly slowed down his pace.

The cold wind slapped Zarina’s exposed skin, sending shivers down her spine. Her face drained out of colour, however, when she saw three long black cars parked neatly and waiting on the porch, outside the hotel. Four men wearing black suits and glares were looking in her direction with stoic and rigid faces, emotionless and expressionless, but everyone had a cold, calculating look in their eyes. For some odd reason, she knew they were waiting for her, to deliver her like a piece of lost property.

A sudden spike in adrenaline surged through her veins, and she panicked, knowing what was coming next. Her fight-or-flight hormones seemed to kick in and she started pulling herself backwards, planting her feet on the ground firmly and tugging at her arms. It was a now-or-never situation for her, and she was ready to risk everything.

“No no no no no no no…Please! please! Please! Let me go. Please!” she cried out with huge sobs and gasps erupting from her lips while scratching at Vector’s hand. His grip, however, was firm as stone.

Her vulnerable cries melted the heart in the distance. A stranger, in his early forties, was standing on the porch, waiting for his car. When he heard the shouts and cries of the young lady, his brows furrowed and his instincts told him to make it his duty to try and save her. She was crying, screaming and begging to the man, clutching her hand with an iron grip and it was obvious she was being held against her wish.

Seeing the girl in such a situation, sudden anger boiled in the stranger and he couldn’t stop his steps from advancing toward them. All fear was crushed by his determination to stop this disgusting man.

“Hey, you!” the stranger called, “Leave the girl right now, and get outta here!” he demanded, pointing at Zarina and looking at Vector. Zarina shot him a grateful glance, yet her face was still twisted with sorrow. She hoped all this was just a misunderstanding, and the aged man would help her out of this mess.

But it didn’t seem like that at all. In fact, as she watched them, she saw irritation flash across Vector’s steel-gazed face as he did not like this man’s interference. Vector noticed him from the corner of his eye and simply scrunched up his nose in annoyance. He used his free hand, moving it to the back of his waist. His coat flew in the air with a slight movement.

The next thing Zarina saw was a gun in his hand. He didn’t think twice before pointing it at the stranger without sparing him a single glance.

Vector was the most dangerous and trustworthy liege of his ‘Boss’ and needed no specific orders to get rid of anyone who dared to cross his path. It was simple, he knew how to do his job and he did it well. One wouldn’t be as close to The Boss if he weren’t as skilled as Vector was.

“No!” she whisper-shouted in shock and agony. Her eyes grew wide and her lips parted in surprise as her body shivered. She gulped down the saliva, taking in her first encounter with a gun. Though she always enjoyed watching James Bond playing with those things, right now, it only made her sweat cold.

The man stopped dead in his tracks. He looked at Vector for a minute. He couldn’t believe his eyes. Is it a joke? He thought. How could someone dare to point a gun in a public place like this?

He was taken aback for a second, but wasn’t the one to be afraid and back off. It must be a ruse, right? No one would dare shoot a gun in public, or at least that’s what the man thought as he took one more tentative step forward, thinking Vector wouldn’t do anything foolish in front of a posh hotel like this.

Unfortunately, that mistake cost him his life. A wisp of smoke escaped Vector’s gun, following the loud bang moments before. The man, a stranger who had been brave enough to try and help, lay on the concrete ground. Blood gushed out of his chest and his soul was on the verge of leaving his body. The colour drained from the corpse as it lay there, lifeless.

Zarina was shocked. Her mouth fell open, and her eyes went as wide as was humanly possible. Whatever had just happened had been enough to freeze every cell in her body.

Vector still hadn’t ceased dragging her. Even though his pace had slowed down because of the small ‘inconvenience’.

Zarina glanced back at the blood-soaked man. She just couldn’t believe an actual human being was shot dead in front of her. Was that because he tried to help her? She started feeling a pang of guilt and the dry sobs just racked out of her body even harder.

How can someone be so ruthless? She thought miserably to herself, not having enough courage to speak out to Vector, not with the gun in his hand.

“Pin-point shot! Are you kidding me? You gotta teach me that!” laughed Marcus, one of the four men in a black suit with a wide, unsympathetic grin stretching his lips as he opened the car’s door for Vector to push Zarina in.

“Clean the mess! I’m driving to the mansion.” Vector said with a straight face and dead-serious tone, ignoring Marcus’s compliment completely.

“Uhh, yeah, no problem,” Marcus replied, his smile faltering slightly.

Whatever happened next was completely a blur for Zarina. She never registered being pushed into the car, nor did she realize the door of the car closing on her, or the engine roaring to life. Her eyes were still glued to the dead saviour.

She felt a pang of something. That something was tearing her apart, eating her from the inside. Her cheeks were wet and her lips and throat were dry. She was looking no less than death itself, pale yet beautiful.

As the car moved, she watched as the hotel started getting smaller. Sitting inside, in the plush seats of the car, she was too shaken up to move or struggle at this point. Her whole body and mind were numb, gone too far to feel anything.

Thank God, breathing was an involuntary function. If it were left up to her, she would have forgotten to breathe. She couldn’t stop blaming herself for what had happened. She knew it wasn’t her fault, not entirely, but the grief kept swelling up her heart, the weight crushing what was left of her self-confidence.

The last thing she remembered before her exhausted body shut down on itself, was cursing her fate for involving her somewhere she didn’t belong, in this dangerous game of the unknown.