3. Nothing to save

ISLA

~•~

I woke up in a very bright room and it took a while for me to adjust to the light.

When I opened my eyes, I saw that my arm was bandaged. It still hurt but it was nothing compared to the splitting headache I was currently experiencing.

As though it was expected, I saw a pack of painkillers on the nightstand, along with a jug of water and I wasted no time in taking two of the pills.

As I tried to stand up, I realized my clothes had been changed. I was putting on a shirt which was two times my size and a pair of shorts which would have been falling off of me if not for the drawstrings, but that was the least of my problems.

I didn’t know what the time was or what day it was, but I knew the past events weren’t a dream. They were real as hell. I rushed out of bed and just as I opened the door, I bumped into the man who opened the gate for me last night.

“Where are you going?” His voice was deep and heavy with an accent, as though it was meant to intimidate me. It did.

I took a step back, cowering instinctively. “I’m l-loo-looking f-for–“

“Lo Lo looking f-for—“ he mocked me, cutting me off. “You were quite bold yesterday, demanding to see the boss, weren’t you?”

My head snapped up at the information. “It’s a new day already? What time is it?”

“Go back to bed.” He instructed.

My eyebrows furrowed. Go back to bed? Why would I? I just woke up. My family was in danger before I got here. It was a new day, which meant a lot had happened already. I had a lot of questions. I couldn’t just go back to bed. “I want to see him,” I demanded.

“Go back to bed.” He repeated. “Or I’ll have to help you and I won’t be polite with it.”

My heart stopped for a second. That was a threat. Did I bet on the wrong person? Was it incredibly foolish of me to come to the very person whose name I heard last night? Was he going to lock me up and kill me too? Was he really the cause of my father’s death?

I held the man’s gaze, trying to see if I could see his intentions in his eyes. Was he ordered to kill me? Was he ordered to lock me up?

“Don’t try to do anything stupid.” He warned me. “You wouldn’t be able to get past this door even if you tried.”

I bit down on my bottom lip. He was right. I wouldn’t be able to leave even if I wanted to. He was almost twice my size. If he wasn’t able to hold me back, then the gun tucked in his belt would definitely do the job. I had fucked up by coming here by myself. I couldn’t make any more rash decisions.

Holding back whatever I had to say, I turned around and went back to bed. I sat on it and stared at him expectantly.

He just turned around and left, but didn’t close the door. I had the strongest urge to run but I had already been warned. Besides, if he left the door wide open, it meant he wasn’t scared I’d escape.

I bit my fingers nervously, wondering what the hell Lorenzo was going to do to me now. Was my brother safe? Did my mother and brother manage to escape like me? There were so many things I wanted to ask but I knew I had to ask him to his face. None of his men would answer my questions. I bet they would all be as difficult as the asshole who just scolded me.

Lost in my thoughts, I didn’t realize someone had come into the room until they dropped a tray on the nightstand. I jumped slightly before realizing they were just bringing me food.

“Sorry for startling you.” The young boy who had come in with the tray apologized. “You were deep in thought.” I stared at him blankly. “Have some food. You’ve been sleeping all day.”

“What’s the time?”

He shrugged, even if I was certain he knew.

I let out a frustrated breath, lying back on the bed. What was Lorenzo up to and what did he tell his people? Why were they all ignoring me?

As he left, I stared at the tray of food with anger. I was hungry but I didn’t dare touch the food. What if he had poisoned it? What if it was his sick way of removing me from this world? I had heard a lot about his cruel ways but I didn’t think he would be that bad since my brother was friends with him.

I stared at the food until I fell back asleep.

The next time I woke up, I felt a presence in the room.

Lorenzo was sitting on the couch opposite the bed, staring at me.

“L-Lorenzo.” I gasped, surprised by his presence. He arched an eyebrow at me and my cheeks flushed in embarrassment. We weren’t close enough for me to refer to him by his first name. “Mr. Russo.”

He still didn’t respond.

“How’s my family? Is my brother okay?” I took the risk to ask.

“And I’d know, how?” It was the first time I heard him speak. I always stayed inside the car when he spoke with my brother and never got to hear his voice. His voice was deep and even more intimidating than the previous man's. He spoke calmly and slowly as if he was making sure the other person understood him properly.

“I came to you for help last night!”

“And fainted before you got a word out.” He shrugged nonchalantly. “I cannot translate exactly what that means, my bad.”

My cheeks got even redder. Was he messing with me? He knew exactly what I was talking about. He had to know! Those men said they were sent by him. Even if they weren’t, he knew everything that was happening around him. I was certain of that. I’d heard too many rumors about him. I wanted to accuse him of killing my father but I wasn’t stupid enough to do that. That would never end well. “Please help me.” His stare was blank. “Please, Mr. Russo. Help me for my brother’s sake. He’s in danger.” I begged, deluding myself that my brother was still fine after several hours. He had blood coming out of his mouth the last time I saw him. If he were still alive, that would be a miracle.

“Your brother is nothing to me, Isla.”

I reeled back at those words. “What? But you– both of you–“

“We're acquaintances.” He cut in. “No one I’d go out of my way for.”

Indeed, the rumors were true. This man was cruel. I could feel my eyes watering already and I didn’t have to think twice about it as I got down from the bed and knelt before him. “Please, Lorenzo. Just help me. Help my family. You’re the only one who can help us right now. Please.”

I didn’t know what was so funny but Lorenzo chuckled. “Surely, you can do better than that.”

This man wasn’t just cruel. He was sick. Was he that happy to see me beg? It didn't matter though. “I’ll do anything,” I uttered without a second thought and I wasn’t kidding. I would do anything he wanted if he could help me. “I’ll do whatever you want, please. Just save my family.”

“Anything, huh?”

I nodded desperately, not caring how dangerous my words were. “Anything, Mr. Rossi.”

Lorenzo was quiet for a short while as he stared at me and the way his eyes traveled across my form made my skin crawl. Did he… want to…

He was a sick man!

“You’re in luck.” He finally spoke. “You don’t have to resort to that.”

“What?” My heart skipped. “What do you mean?”

“Your family is dead. There’s nothing to save.”