Fifty-Nine
How could her life change in a short time? A few hours before, Rebeka was just getting off work at the restaurant. She was about to her car when two men approached her from the bushes. There was no time to scream before they put a black hood over her face and carried her off.
“What are you doing?” she screamed, hitting and kicking any target she could.
“Shh. Shut the fuck up, and we won’t hurt you.”
“Who the fuck are you?”
She heard a door open, and then they lifted her into what she guessed was a trunk. Before she could move, it slammed shut.
She immediately pulled off the hood and kicked at the tail lights. It was something she’d heard about before. Get the lights out, and then stick your hand out as far as it would go and hope someone behind them would notice. There was no time to finish before they stopped and got out of the car.
Her hands came up when the trunk opened, and the street light blinded her for a second. A scream tore from her mouth when they lifted her out. Each had an arm, and they dragged her into the back of a building.
“Fuck,” one of the men cursed when she kicked his shin.
They shook her every time she tried to scream or fight them.
A man who stood by a door opened it, and the two men pulled her into a large room with several tables and a few dozen men playing cards.
“This way,” one of the men said and pulled her over to one of the tables.
“Here she is, boss.”
Every man in the room stared at her. Her fear was at such a level that she felt bile climb in her throat.
“Why am I here?” she asked.
One of the men spoke, the one she least wanted to deal with because his eyes were dead and cold, and she saw no remorse for her. “You’re here because I wanted to know what I would win. I can’t take something home I can’t stand to look at.”
“Who are you?”
“Victor Marino.”
She tried to think about if she knew him or not. “We’ve never met.”
“No, doll.”
“Tell me why I’m here?”
“I already told you,” Victor said. “I wanted to know what I’m going to win.”
“I don’t understand.”
The man pointed across the table at a slightly hidden person behind another guy. Rebeka stepped to the side and was shocked when she saw her cousin, Troy.
“Troy, what’s going on?”
Troy moved from behind the guy and cleared his throat. “We’ve been playing this game for a while, and I finally have a great hand, Bek. I can’t let this go.”
If she felt sick before, now she felt like her world had exploded. “You put me up for a bet?”
“You’re the only thing I had left,” Troy said.
“I’m a human being, you bastard. How can you treat me, the one person in your life that cared about you, like this?”
“If you saw my hand…”
She turned back to Victor. “Do whatever you want with him, but I’m leaving.” The men instantly grabbed her.
Victor grinned. “The fuck you are. Let’s finish this hand.”
A few men put down their cards. She watched Troy lay him down with a grin. When it got to Victor, she knew from the look on his face that Troy had lost. They’d never know if the bastard cheated, but she guessed he had, and there was nothing they could do about it.
She watched the blood fade from her cousin’s face when he saw Victor’s cards.
“Take her,” Victor said. “Keep her at our warehouse. I’ll be there shortly.”
Troy stood. “Wait, can’t we do something else?”
She looked at her cousin with tears rolling down her face. “Thank you, Troy. You just ruined my life. Did you ever think about what this guy would do to me?”
“I’m sorry.”
She shook her head. “I don’t want your apology. I never want to see you again. But then again, I’ll probably be dead soon.”
The two men led her off.
“Wait,” Troy yelled.
They put her in the back seat with one of them that watched her like a hawk.
She looked at him. “Do you guys have no remorse or heart?”
Neither said anything, so she turned to look out the window. She had no idea where they were when they stopped by a dull gray warehouse, pulled her out of the backseat, and took her into the building. The huge room had a kitchen and several sofas and chairs off to the side. They didn’t stop but dragged her down a hallway and into a bare room.
They pushed her in, closed the door, and locked it. She took a few moments to try to calm down before looking around for anything she could use to defend herself. When she couldn’t find anything but dust, she looked for a way to escape. She turned toward the small window high up on the wall.
Even if she could reach it, it was too small for her to fit through.
Rebeka sat on the dirty floor, wrapped her arms around her bent legs, rested her head on her knees, and let the tears fall.
An hour later, Rebeka heard several cars pull up and then men’s voices. She stood and pressed herself against the wall farthest from the door when she heard someone coming down the hallway and unlocking the door.
One guy opened the door, and Victor walked in with a big grin on his face.
“There’s my girl,” he said.
“Victor, you don’t want to do this. People at work will put out a missing person report and many people saw what happened. They’ll know you had something to do with my disappearance.”
His grin got bigger. “I don’t want you to worry your pretty little head.”Content protected by Nôv/el(D)rama.Org.
She gritted her teeth. The look in his eyes scared the shit out of her.
“I want to see what’s mine. Undress.”
Her stomach twisted, and her heart pulsed against her ribs. “No.”
“If you don’t do it, these guys would love to get their hands on you.”
Rebeka looked at the four guys standing behind Victor with smiles on their faces.
“Now!” Victor barked.
She slipped off her shoes and then started to unbutton her blouse, set that on her shoes, and then pulled her pants off. She stood in front of them with her hands, hiding as much of her body as she could.
God, how am I going to survive this?
“Fucking gorgeous.” Victor looked over his shoulder at his men. “What do you think, guys?”
“Fucking hot,” one said.
“For being such good soldiers, I’m going to give her to you for a few hours after I’m done with her the first time.”
The men hooted and laughed.
He turned back to look at her. “And then I’ll take her back and finish her.”
The grin on his face was so evil that she knew there was no humanity or remorse in this man. She stiffened when he stepped toward her and then exhaled when he stopped.
His phone rang in his pocket. “Fuck.” He pulled it out and answered it. “Hey.” He listened. “Right now?”… “I’m in the middle of something.” … “Fuck, fine. I’ll be right there.” He stuffed his phone back into his pocket and took a few steps toward her. She twisted her head to the side when he tried to touch it.
“Get used to the idea of my hands all over you, cunt.” He stopped at the door. “I’ll be back soon.” He looked at one of his men. “Take her clothing and burn it. She’ll never need it again.”
“You got it, boss.”
The door slammed shut, and she stared at it for what felt like hours. One thought filled her head, and she was about to lose it and start screaming, and she didn’t think she’d ever be able to stop. She knew that in the next few hours, she was going to get gang raped, and there was nothing she could do about it, all for a bet.
She hoped her fucking bastard of a cousin would rot in hell because of this. She knew he felt bad because her uncle, his father, had been abusive toward him, and she’d tried to do whatever she could to help him.
God, she’d done so much for him. She let him live with her rent-free and paid all the bills. When he needed something, she did her best to get it. When he needed to talk, she was there.
After everything she’d done for him, he set her up to be raped and killed. Was there anyone in the world she’d ever be able to trust? Hell, it didn’t matter. Her life was over.
She slid down to sit, wrapped her arms around her legs, and sobbed. There would never be a chance at a husband or children or owning her own house. God, she had so many dreams that would never happen. She’d be lucky to live another day.
One thought raced through her head. She’d rather be dead than have those men touch her. Now, she just had to figure out a way to do it. Slitting her wrists was the one method that was viable for her situation. She looked around the room and saw absolutely nothing.
Rebeka had no idea how much time had passed before she heard guns and shouting. The door to the room was kicked in. A scream tore from her throat as a man she didn’t know came to her and pulled her to her feet.
“Let’s get you out of here.”
“Who are you?”
“We’ll talk later,” he said. “We need to get you to safety.”
She fought as he pulled her out into an alley. His grip was one she knew she’d never be able to break.
“Please.”
He ignored her, and he hurried them along.
She bit back a scream when a man stepped out in front of them and pointed a gun at them.
“Give me the cunt,” he said.
The man holding her arm said something and then shot the man. She heard the sound, and a neat little hole appeared on the guy’s forehead before he fell forward.
There was no way she could have stopped the scream from bursting from her.
“Easy, baby. You’re going to be just fine.”
“Who are you?”
Her stomach dropped when he told her he was from one of the mafia families in the city and was brothers with another more powerful one.
God, she thought things couldn’t have gotten any worse. Was she wrong? Was she better off with the man? There was nothing she could do about it, but this would give her a chance to find a way to escape.
She felt a sharp sting on her foot as they ran down the dirty, smelly alley but didn’t think anything of it. The terror inside of her made it impossible for her to feel anything else.
When they got to a group of expensive black cars, the man pushed her into the back of one.
Then he turned his back, and she tried the door handle to see if it would open, but it was locked.
She didn’t have time to find the lock before he slid in beside her. When he placed a sweatshirt around her to conceal her body and keep her warm, she thought this guy might be better than the last one. Or he could be setting her up. She didn’t think she’d be able to trust anyone ever again.
Time would tell.