CHAPTER 16

BIANCA'S POV

When I opened my eyes to see the 4 men around me, I screamed in horror. So it wasn't a dream? It was real. Indeed, I had been kidnapped last night. I looked all over my body to make sure I was in one piece, and that these rugged looking men had done nothing to me.

"Madame, you could make things easier by remaining quiet please." One of the men spoke to me, and I found myself calmly nodding at his requests. For all I knew, I was alone with them on this.... on this.... I suddenly looked around the room to see that it no longer looked like the bus they had thrown me into last night. This looked like a plane.

Bit by bit, I started recalling all that happened the previous night. I hadn't stopped yelling and screaming..... suddenly I felt a stronghold on me, I couldn't breathe anymore. It was as if they had been trying to suffocate me. Slowly, it made sense. I finally figured out what had they done to me, because I had passed out. They had made me inhale something that was definitely the reason I lost consciousness until now. I was scared, terrified, and ready to do whatever they ask me to do, just so they didn't hurt me. I rested my head on the headrest of my seat, as I waited for us to get to wherever our destination was. I was definitely going to ask questions, but not now.

We were on air for some more minutes, before we finally landed at a reserved space. I personally thought that looked like a secluded spot in an airport. They all stepped out of our carriage that really turned out to be a plane, urging me to follow suit. I finally got out to meet a sleek black car opened, and waiting for me to get into it. There was a driver already settled in, waiting for me to hop in.

"Go on in." One of the men said, and I simply nodded, doing as he requested. Two of them joined the car I sat in, while the other two disappeared off to God knows where. I could care less at that point. All I really cared about was keeping my head attached to my neck for as long as possible, until I could find a way out of this crazy mess.

All through the trip... scratch that. I wouldn't call it 'trip'. A trip was enjoyable, I guess. All through the movement to the next location, I was lost in my thoughts. I wondered if my Papa and Mama had already gotten news of my disappearance by now. How about my boss? Was he doing anything to help my predicament? I asked myself these questions, still not believing that all of these things had really taken place between last night and this morning. I was still hopeful this was all but a nightmare. I remained lost in thoughts until we drove into a very beautiful space. The place looked like an island. The car came to a stop and the men alighted, making me follow suite. That was when I had noticed the car behind us. The two other men had been following us behind.

Seeing as they had brought me to such a beautiful and serene island, I couldn't help but wonder if I was going to die here. For a moment, I thought it wasn't that bad, because a lot of people were killed in the woods, desert...., name it. There were a lot of horrible places to die. The question I hadn't stopped asking myself, was what I may have done wrong, to warrant being punished this way. I didn't know or get mixed with a lot of people, which minimized my chances of stepping on anyone's toes. Or wait a minute... did any of these have to do with Ricardo? I wouldn't say Ricardo and I were enemies. I wouldn't even say we had a beef. But then, he was the only one I had anything close to a misunderstanding with. If it was indeed Ricardo, was Laura safe as well? I was still in my train of thoughts when I was taken into one of the few houses I could spot on the island. Inside the house, we walked passed the living room and got into one of the bedrooms, where I was asked to have a bath. Not wanting them to get pissed, I nodded and did as they had asked. While in the bathroom, the soap had fallen a lot more than a few times, because of how bad I shivered with fear. I literally rushed through my business in the bathroom. When I was done bathing, I walked back to the room to see I was the only one there. A part of my mind had wanted to run me to off, but the other part warned me against it.

This environment was clearly unfamiliar. I didn't know my way around, so how could I manage escaping? More so, if I did and was caught, they'd probably punish me severely. Shaking my head against the idea, I wrapped the towel I had found in the bathroom more tightly around my body, before sitting at the edge of the bed. Suddenly, I wondered if they had kidnapped me, expecting a ransom to be paid for my release. Maybe seeing me in the venue of such a business conference, may have made them believe I was either a rich heiress, or businesswoman. I sighed for the hundredth time, feeling exhaustion weigh heavily on me. I thought I slept through the night? Why did I still feel weak? I waited for a few more minutes for the men who had captured me to come, but no one was forth coming, so I decided to take a quick nap. I don't think I had gone far into my nap, when I felt a tap on my shoulder. Quickly opening my eyes, I saw one of the men who had taken me.

"Sorry. I was too tired." I explained, praying I hadn't pissed him off. God! I knew I couldn't survive here for an extra day. I needed a saviour of some sort. What was really going on? I guess that was what made me go crazy. The fact that I couldn't tell what exactly was going on. If I knew what the case was, then I think my mind would have been better prepared for it. But this was different. I just had to accept whatever they threw at me, with open arms or not. Either ways, I'd have to accept it.

"You should wear this." Was all he said, pointing to the other side of large bed. I looked to where he pointed, and was suprised to see a whilt silk gown, and what looked like a flower crown. Was this some sort of sick joke?!! What the hell was happening?

"P..pl..please..." I managed to speak up. My voice sounding much more weaker than it did in my head. "What is going on? Who are you people, and why have you taken me?"

"You would get your answers in a little while madame. Just put on the dress first." His voice sounded gruff and impatient at the end, so I remained quiet and stretch my hand to the clothe.

Seeing I had reach out for the dress, he excused himself and walked out of the room. It felt crazy doing everything I was doing, but nonetheless, I found myself putting on the dress. It was a plain white gown, with a small breast cup, and corset. Thankfully, it had a zipper, not loops. So I easily wore it and put the flower crown on my..... I looked at the wig that was still on my head and sighed. Maybe they had mistakenly abducted me in place of the rich heiress. That was a great certainty. We had both worn the same dress yesterday. If I was right in any way, then the first step to my freedom would be to pull off this God forsaken wig that made me feel so less of myself last night. At remembering the events that played out last night, I sighed again and shook my head in disbelief. The next thing I did was to pull and toss the wig on the bed. I was still trying to place the flower crown on my hair when a blonde lady burst into the room.

"W..who are you?" I found myself falling back to the bed, on my butt.

"My name is Eleanor. Madame Alexa has asked me to help you. I can see you already helped yourself with your dress. You look splendid."

"Eleanor." I muttered her name, and she gave a smile. The girl seemed friendly and approachable, so I decided she'd be the best person to ask whatever I wanted to ask. "Eleanor." I quickly stood from the bed and rushed over to her, holding her hands in mine. "Please I need you to tell me what's going on? Why am I here?"

"It's nothing to worry yourself about, miss. Just be calm and do as I ask. It would all be over before you know it." She gave a wide smile, but it suddenly didn't look beautiful to me anymore. Weirdly, it looked evil. Mockful. Was my mind beginning to play games with me? I heard her clearly state that it would be over before I knew it. Were they really going to kill me?!

"Sit." She instructed, and I did as she said, my hands shivering against each other. She gently pulled the flower crown that was still in my hand, and got busy fixing it on my hair. "Close your eyes." She instructed, and I did. What I hadn't seen coming, was the material that covered a better part of my face. Why was she blindfolding me?! It was then that I tried to struggle, but her calm voice stilled me. "Shhh.... Be calm, remember?" She asked, and I nodded frantically. I have no idea what other thing she put on my hair or face. All I knew was that another clothe brushed across my face. "Stand up and walk with me."

Doing as she asked, she held my hand and led me out of the room, to God knows where. We had walked for sometime, when I started feeling the sand underneath the my feet. That was true. I wasn't even wearing any footwear. Suddenly, she let go off my hand, and instructed me to keep moving ahead. Were they going to drown me? Was this some kind of superstitious belief, where they were required to sacrifice young virgins? My fear only increased, and my hands shook more. I didn't realize I had stopped walking, until I felt a nudge behind me. Suddenly, I started hearing wedding sounds, and released a low gasp. What was happening? I had read a few stories where a lady was kidnapped and forcefully made to marry a stranger. Did those kinds of things really happen? I started walking again, though in slow steps. After I had walked for sometime, the sounds suddenly stopped, and I couldn't help but feel some kind of tension in the atmosphere. I had a a few low grunts, and it made me want to shrivel up in fear.

"Is everything okay? Why are you frowning?" It had been a whisper, but I heard it. It was a lady's voice, but didn't sound familiar at all. The accent was different as well. It definitely wasn't the other lady that had blindfolded me. That one's voice sounded chirpy. The next second, I felt something being yanked of my hair and suddenly, the feeling of the clothe over my face was gone. Badly wanting to see what was happening around me, I put my hand to the back of my hair where the blindfold had been tied, and pulled it off in one swift move. The brightness of the morning attacked my eyes, making me quickly look down. After feeling my eyes adjust to the light, I looked up at the figure who had been standing in front of me and I swear, I felt like I would lose consciousness the next minute. What the fuck was happening?

.

.

"What the fuck are you trying to tell me Massimo?!" His yells were distant, but I could still clearly make out the things he said. Same way I couldn't forget the look of shock on his face when he had seen me. He looked shocked, disappointed, clearly angry. It was at that moment that I felt the tears get released from my eyes. Throughout my journey to this island, all I have felt was fear. If not for anything, I was glad I could finally feel an emotion different from fear. It was relief. It hadn't taken me long to realize what had happened here. This was probably the suprise meant for miss Francesca. I had been taken by mistake. At that moment, being mistaken for miss Francesca was honestly the best thing I could think of. It was better than being chosen to die. My major relief was the fact that I was sure no one was going to hurt me.

I zoned back into the present, as I watched Manuel Russo bark out orders from afar. I had only ever seen the comported and smart Manuel. This was the first time I was seeing an angry Manuel. He look appealing all the same. Though he would have been less appealing if his anger was directed towards me. I remained there as I silently watched him make several calls, walking to and fro the space where he stood. After what seemed like forever, he finally put his phone back in his pocket, and walked towards where I quietly sat. When he got to me, he just stood, probably at loss for words. I focused my eyes on my nails, sincerely too angry to even say a word. It was now I was finally able to arrange my thoughts and manage my emotions. I felt angry beyond words. Come to think of it, didn't they have miss Francesca's pictures? This was the kind of situation that someone would hear and call 'unrealistic'. It really was! Was this man trying to tell me that he had flown me across countries under the excuse of mistaken identity? Save for the identical hair and dress, I looked nothing like miss Francesca. I wanted to scream in his face, but nothing was forthcoming. Finally, I was able to say something, but not without the hot tears that accompanied the words.

"Do you know the emotional and mental turmoil your men put me through?" My voice was shaky, as tears flowed down my face, but I could care less. At that moment, he wasn't 'Manuel Russo' to me, but a man who had wronged me. I had expected a lot of things, but not him looking away. It only provoked me that the man didn't even feel a tiny bit sorry for his actions. I waited for him to say something, but he didn't utter a word until I was done crying. The moment I cleaned off my tears, he spoke.

"My apologies, miss Brenda. You should have some rest, while I work on your flight back to Milan." Was this man kidding me? Was this man being serious right now?!!

"Your apologies??!" He hadn't even sounded a bit remorseful! "And my name is not Brenda! It's Bianca!!" I yelled at the top of my lungs as I stood up from the flower bed I sat on, and walked past him, making my way to God knows where. I didn't know where I was going, but I was sure I needed to be away from this man. He was infuriating!

I kept walking until I got to where I could see water. It was a beach. The swash of the waves called to me, and I found myself squatting on the sand, crying. Crying?!?! Crying again?! What was this?

"Bianca what is wrong with you??!! Are you are cry baby now?! Aren't you tough and strong?!! What's all these?" I berated myself, and slowly my cries died down. "But I thought I was gonna die. I nearly died before they could even kill me themselves." I answered my own questions. Slowly, another bout of tears started making its way out of my eyes, but this time it came with laughter. "I nearly died!!!" I yelled out again, laughing at the top of my lungs. I don't know how long I laughed for, before completely falling to the sand, thinking about my family, and eventually dozing off.

By late afternoon, I woke up, wondering how possible it had been for me to have slept for so long outside, under the sun. But to be fair, the sun wasn't scorching. Feeling kinda hungry, I tried making my way back to the beach houses, but ended up getting lost in some kind of garden. Deciding to explore the large island, I kept walking along until I found my way out of the garden. Slowly, the sun was setting, and I was yet to find my way back. Deciding to go back through the same way I came, I found myself back at the Garden. This was become frustrating.

I went out through the other entrance of the garden, and began walking along sandy paths. By that time, dusk had fallen and the hunger for food had long vanished. All that was on my mind was getting back to the beach house. Oh Bianca! You're better off never angry. See where my anger has brought me now.

"Hello!!! Anyone around?!!" I yelled countless times, but couldn't hear anyone respond to me. Suddenly the pang of hunger hit once more, and I found myself weakly settling on the sandy ground again. Now, the sand were no longer warm. They were not cold either, but not warm. I sighed, wondering if Manuel and his men had already forgotten that I existed. Maybe I was going to die on this island after all. What I hadn't imagined was for the island to be so big. After sitting on the sand for some time, I found my back hitting the sand again, before surrendering to my exhaustion and laying down. It hadn't taken me long before sleep took over.

In my dream I saw the beach at night, under the sky and moonlight. It was a beautiful sight. I also saw a familiar looking man who walked up to my lying figure and stroked my hair.

"Biancaaa...." He sighed softly. "I really do hope you forgive me." He whispered, before scooping me off the ground and walking away with me in his arms, into the dark of the night. Was I still dreaming, or was this real? I guess the former was the case. It could only be a dream.