4, The Velky family

The man was clearly expecting Emma to answer. She nodded without meeting his eyes. 

“And your name is?” he asked.

“Emma,” she told him in a thin voice.

“Emma Cobler?” he wanted to know. Her name had never sounded so melodic before. It surprised her. She almost forgot to nod. 

“My name is Bane Velky,” he introduced himself, holding out a hand. 

Emma’s eyes grew bigger as he heard the name. Oh no, not that, anything but that, she thought. 

“You have heard of me,” he smiled. He sounded satisfied. 

Emma nodded. Everyone that lived in the city knew the name Velky. It was the largest mafia group in the state with its centre in the city. And Bane Velky was the head of the family, the don, the big boss, the huge honcho, the Al Capone of the modern world. Emma felt her panicked brain spin out of control. 

“Calm down, angel,” Bane told her and placed his hand on her shoulder. 

His thumb went down in front of her throat. If he squeezed, she would struggle to breathe, but somehow his hand calmed her mind. 

“That’s a good girl. You and I need to have a talk,” he told her. 

Emma’s mind objected to being called a girl. It irritated her, even though she was scared. 

“Who hit you?” he asked. 

Bane moved his hand to tilt her head to the side so he could look at her cheek and then at her lip.

“Mr Tiny,” Emma said before she could stop herself. 

She cursed her wondering thoughts. She needed to stay focused. But she was tired and scared. Bane let out a burst of rumbling laughter. Even in her hyper state, Emma registered the sexiness in the sound. Her stomach clenched at the sight of a dimple in Bane’s cheek. The man was pure, undiluted sexiness on a pair of legs. 

“Mr Tiny, huh? I like the name,” he smiled at her. 

Then his eyes grew darker and his mood shifted to serious. There was an edge to him. He was giving Emma whiplash with his mood shifts. 

“He will pay for that. We don’t hurt women,” he told her in a dark voice. 

Emma felt like snorting and laughing out loud at his statement. Who did he think he was fooling? She had seen her aunt beaten, gagged and bound, Emma herself had been beaten, threatened and kidnapped, all in one evening. She had never been this terrified in her life and he was standing there telling her they didn’t hurt women. 

“You don’t believe me?” he asked, sounding amused. 

Emma wondered how he seemed to read her mind. It was unsettling and made her feel even more exposed and vulnerable. She shrugged. 

“Let’s go somewhere a little more relaxing,” he told her and placed a hand on her waist to make her leave her corner. 

Emma’s fear spiked again, and she struggled against his grip. 

“Emma, I won’t hurt you. But we need to talk. You can come with me voluntarily, or you can come kicking and screaming over my shoulder. That might actually be more fun,” he smirked at her. 

Emma’s heart raced. She didn’t like either of the options. Emma knew this was a dangerous man that was capable of doing bad things. She had seen the consequences of him and his gang in the E.R. She reluctantly moved forward, hesitantly walking past him towards the door.

“Spoilsport,” he whispered in her ear, making her jump. He chuckled and placed a hand on the lower of her back to guide her. 

They walked the opposite way in the white corridor from where Emma had entered. She guessed they were heading deeper into the building. The bass of the music became louder as they got closer to the door at the end of the hallway. 

Bane unlocked the door and opened it. Emma was hit by a wall of sound and light and people. The club was full of all three. The strobe lights flashed, the music was loud in the speakers, and the people were like a compact mass. She stood there in the doorway, just looking at it all. 

Knowing who the man at her side was, she doubted she could expect help from anyone in this place. She didn’t think she could even ask someone for help, knowing that they would probably die on the spot. 

“Move,” Bane urged her on.

She had no other choice than to do as he said. She started moving through the crowd. They seemed to separate when they saw Bane coming. It was like he was Moses, parting the sea. 

He steered her with the small movements of his body behind hers. Emma had never met someone like this man before. He made her terrified and excited at the same time. She hated him for it. 

He led her to another door that he used his card and access code to open. Behind it was a stair. Emma didn’t need Bane to tell her to climb the steps. They ended up on a small ledge with two doors opposite each other. 

Bane guided her toward the left one and unlocked it before letting her go inside. Emma ended up in an office. The music could barely be heard. There was a large window to Emma’s left. It looked out over the nightclub and Emma could see they were on the third floor. 

In front of the large window, there was what looked like a mix of a modern art piece and a desk. It had an obelisk-shaped piece that had been laid on its side in black marble. On a ninety-degree angle from it, there was a tabletop in black marble, held up at the other end by a sphere of brass. 

On the inner wall, there were two black leather couches and two armchairs. Under the coffee table that stood between the couches, there was what looked like a delightfully soft, creme-coloured rug. 

On the wall next to the door there was a bookcase with a built-in bar and on the other side of it, another door.

“Have a seat,” Bane told Emma and made a gesture towards the couches. 

Emma reluctantly walked over to them. She sat on an armchair. She hoped that the engulfing fatigue she felt wouldn’t win and make her drift off in the incredibly comfortable armchair. 

“Do you want something to drink?” he asked as he poured what looked like whiskey into a glass. 

“No thank you,” Emma said. She was already tired and full of adrenaline. Emma didn’t need to add alcohol to the mix. She needed the few functioning parts of her brain that were left. 

“Water?” he asked.

Emma hesitated. She really wanted some water. Spending an evening crying and shouting really did a number on the throat. But she wondered if she could trust that he wouldn’t mix anything in the water. 

On the other hand, he had no need to drug her. The thought of her being able to fight the giant man off almost made her laugh. 

“Yes please,” she said. He looked at her with an amused face before opening a cabinet that apparently held a mini fridge. 

Bane joined her, handing her a bottle of cold water. 

“Thank you,” she said as he sat down on the coffee table in front of her.

“Are you always this polite?” he asked.

“I have never been kidnapped before. I’m not up to speed on the social protocol. But I would think that avoiding agitating the kidnapper is a wise move,” Emma answered and could have bitten her own tongue off. 

She badly needed to fix her brain-mouth filter. She opened the bottle of water and drank half of it in one swipe as Bane chuckled.

“That’s why I need to buy a new bill counter?” he asked. 

“That was different. They were going to…” her voice trailed off. Emma couldn’t get the word rape past her lips. She didn’t want to admit how close she had been. 

A frown appeared on Bane’s face. It made him look hard and dangerous. Emma tensed up and looked away. 

“Your family owes me a lot of money, Emma,” he told her. 

“No, my uncle owes you money. At least you say he does,” Emma corrected him. 

“Are you calling me a liar?” Bane asked. There was an edge of steel in his voice. 

“No, I’m just saying I know nothing about this,” Emma gulped. 

“Your uncle has a taste for poker. Unfortunately, he isn’t good at it. The regular casinos have long since barred him from playing, so he has been a regular at my place,” Bane told her.

That had a ring of truth. Emma knew her uncle had had a problem with poker in the past. But he had said he stopped playing. For some reason, she believed the man sitting in front of her. That meant her uncle had lied to her.

“And you just let him keep playing?” she asked. 

“Angel, I’m not running a charity or daycare. If the visitor wants to play cards, who am I to stop them?” he smiled.

“But the other casinos barred him because he is a degenerate gambler,” Emma objected. That had been the right thing to do in her mind. 

“In my world, there are no rules except for mine. And you should know that my rules only ever work in my favour,” he told her.

“So your men took me as payment? You are planning to sell my body to pay off his debt?” Emma’s voice trembled as she asked the question.