JOHN PAUL

I haven't slept at all. I can't ignore the unsettling, panic feeling I have as I stare up at the ceiling. Something isn't right; I feel it deep within me. I bring my hands up to my face and then up to my hair, tugging at it.

It's not the fucking guilt or shame I feel after what I did. It's something else, something terrible...worse.

After I stormed out of here, I called fucking Victoria to bring her into this fucked up plan to push Charmaine away. I wasn't surprised when she agreed to meet up with me. I was banking on the certainty that she would be easy to persuade.

Little did I know, we would run into them at the damn diner before I had a chance to explain to Victoria what was going on.

However, I had to take advantage of the moment while I could, or so I thought.

The look on Charmaine's face torments me as she saw me walking up to them but more so when she saw Victoria was with me.

Hearing the distressed and anxious voices of Joey, Enzo, and Annalisa calling out her name while I was kissing Victoria, tore at me.

I shoved Victoria away and froze when I saw Charmaine lying on the asphalt. I had rushed over to her, couldn't believe how pale she looked; a lump lodged in my throat while our friends hovered over her, protectively, blocking me from her.

The look of terror, when her eyes met mine after she came to, sliced through my heart as well as how she backed away—literally crawled away, in fear.

I went too far. I knew I had, but it hit me like a punch in the gut right then.

Annalisa insisted on taking her to the hospital; the knot on the side of her head was growing steadily in size.

When I heard Enzo mention she had a concussion and would need to be awakened at night, my mind immediately went to the night after the gala, where she did the same for me; the night she told me she loved me for the first time. I could see her blinking away tears, and I knew she remembered the same thing.

I watched as they guided her towards the car and drove away to take her home. I told Victoria I didn't need her help anymore, and I would be going home, and she could do whatever the hell she wanted. She slapped me, calling me a list of colorful names, but I didn't give a shit.

Nothing hurt me more than knowing the pain I caused Charmaine. But I kept telling myself it was necessary. She'd be leaving the next day—today. She needed to go and not come back to this place, even if it killed me in the process.

When I came home, I found the ring I gave her on my nightstand. Someone placed it in front of a framed, recent picture of us.

I held the ring in my fingers for a long time, just staring at it, remembering that night so clearly and how excited she was and how happy she made me when she said yes. It now seems like a dream.

I went to check on her in the middle of the night and found her bed empty. I know I'm fucking shameless for even going to her room, but I just couldn't resist not seeing her.

Only she wasn't there; I can only assume she stayed with Annalisa last night.

Joey is fucking ghosting me, too.

I sent him messages last night asking how she was, and I sent him a couple more early this morning when I was tossing and turning, but he hasn't responded once.

The awful things I said to her and her desperation to keep me from leaving run through my mind on auto-repeat. Her eyes were pleading with me, fucking begging me to stop, to listen. And then the look of complete disappointment on Carmela's face just added to the whole fucking mess I made.

I groan as I sit up; I have to get up, it's nearly three in the afternoon, and I need a shower.

As I stand under the scalding water, I contemplate my dark future, wishing the hot water will burn away, the awful feeling of shame I feel laying thick over me.

Once I'm dressed, I make my way to the kitchen and come face to face with a still furious Carmela. She ignores my greeting, and I'm sure, if she weren't prepping for dinner—she'd leave the room to not be around me. I sit at the counter, shamefaced.

Santino comes in cheerfully whistling until he sees me, ceasing his whistling. "Aw JP, come on. It's not like you're never going to see your principessa, ever again. She told me a couple of weeks ago; you were leaving to go be with her; she was so excited about it."

The self-inflicted knife in my heart twists painfully. Carmela looks at me, narrowing her eyes at me.

Santino notices the tension quickly. "Did I miss something?"

Before I can answer, Timo rushes in quickly. "John Paul, have you heard from Charmaine." I quickly glance at Carmela; her hardened face looks back at me, raising an eyebrow.

I shake my head in response.

Timo's eyebrows crease together. "You two are constantly texting, nonstop even when you're in the same house."

I clear my throat before I respond. "I don't want to smother her before she leaves." I see Carmela shake her head behind Timo, and she clicks her tongue. I don't know if Timo heard, but he raises his eyebrow at me.

"What about Joey?"

"I don't text Joey that often."

I watch as his jaw muscles twitch violently.

"I mean, have you heard from him, John Paul?" Timo grits out through his teeth.

"Um, no."

He groans, cursing, and runs his hands through his hair. "Something's wrong." He says quietly, and my heart starts racing, and that same feeling I've had nagging at me returns.

"Joey hasn't checked in, and although he's known for being a chooch, he doesn't mess around when he's on duty. The last we heard from him was early this morning, but he's missed two check-ins and isn't responding."

We hear a commotion coming from the foyer, and we all rush out towards it. We come to a stop when we see several men restraining a furious Enzo. He looks over at us; his eyes are dark with anger as he struggles against the men holding him.

"Something happened; I can't reach Stella!" He yells at us. "Togli le tue fottute mani da me!" (Get your fucking hands off me)

His face is red and contorted in anger, and I know he's close to losing control; he's fighting to keep. Timo must see it as well as he orders the men to let him go.

Enzo shakes them off angrily, straightening his clothes as he makes his way over to us. "I know she didn't stay here last night." He glances at me. "But I hadn't heard from her since the morning when I checked to see how she was feeling after last night. We were supposed to meet up before her flight, but she stopped responding, and so did Joey."

"What happened last night?" Timo asks, confused.

Shit.

Enzo looks back at him, confused than at me, before understanding comes across his face. "Stella fainted, outside the diner we ate at, hitting her head hard, on the asphalt."

"What?" Timo exclaims. "Why did she faint?"

"JP can tell you why," Enzo replies calmly.

Before I can answer, David comes running down the hall, appearing flustered and flushed. "We tracked hers and Joey's phones, along with the SUV they were in; her phone was here, charging on her nightstand; she must have forgotten it. But..." He pauses, swallowing.

"But what, David?!" Timo shouts impatiently, making David jump.

"Tony and the men he took with him this morning sent pictures of the car..." He holds his iPad towards Timo. We gather around Timo as he scrolls through the pictures.

My heart stops as I take in the images of the SUV they had taken; the car is smashed, laying on its side and scorched.

"Dio mio! No!" Carmela exclaims and starts sobbing, bringing a hand over her mouth and tears falling down her face.

Enzo grabs the iPad, and I'm surprised Timo doesn't lash out at him.

Enzo zooms in close and looks at several different angles of all the pictures.

"She wasn't in there. None of them were." He says. "There's a chance she's still alive."

"How the fuck do you know that?" I ask him.

But he ignores me, turning away from us as he pulls out his phone; he starts speaking in Italian quickly, asking for someone's number.

He pulls out another phone and enters the number, and hangs up the first phone as he holds the other phone to his ear, switching to Spanish.

"Was Joey's phone traced to the SUV, or is there another location?" Enzo turns to ask David.

David tells him he traced Joey's phone somewhere near Queens.

"I will find her; send the info to this number." Speaking to Timo and David. He holds one of the phones out to David to type in the number on his iPad and starts to walk out.

"Hold on." He looks down at my hand on his shoulder. His eyes are a raging fire as he looks up at me.

"Get your fucking hand off of me if you want to keep it." He smacks my hand off of him.

"I'm coming with you."

"Like hell, you are, stronzo! (Asshole)" Enzo growls at me.

I step up to him just as angry, more so at myself than anything. "Look, you can beat the shit out of me or fucking kill me if you want, but not until after we find her," I tell him. He looks at me for a moment before exhaling a low breath and cursing.

"Fine, but you keep your fucking mouth shut, or I will kill you before you even know what hit you; which will only fucking piss me off since that will take all the pleasure out of killing you slowly and watching you die in excruciating pain, after what you did to Stella." He seethes.

Timo walks up to us. "JP, you call me and update me on what you find, and we are talking later." His voice is low and ominous. I incline my head in response.

It looks like I'm dead either way, but all that matters right now is finding Charmaine and our friends.

<><><><>

STELLA/CHARMAINE

"Char!"

"Charmaine, wake up!"

I wake up gasping, breathing heavily.

A part of me wishing, the nightmare I just woke up from, was my reality, instead of what I'm actually waking up to; I never thought I'd say that after having a nightmare.

My arms and wrists ache from the angle they've been tied to and the position I was laying in. The blindfold over my eyes has shifted so I can look out from underneath, but it does no good as I open one of my eyes to complete darkness.

The cold, unforgiving cement floor is rough on my face, arms, and my legs. I shiver slightly, wishing I had pants on at least instead of the damn summer dress I was in.

But it's not like I knew I'd be kidnapped by a psycho bitch, who I had considered a friend at one point. The silver lining—if there is one—is I decided to wear my white keds, so my feet aren't exactly freezing.

I think of poor Annalisa in the flip-flops she is wearing; her poor toes must be frozen.

"Anna?"

I move to sit up, and after a few unsuccessful attempts I finally, manage to sit up.

The zip ties have dug into the skin of my wrists; I wince as I try to change the angle of my hands, and a searing pain shoots through both my wrists.

"Yeah, I'm here." I hear her next to me.

I hear her groan to the left of me, and I turn my head in that direction. My stomach growls and my thoughts turn to chip; the nausea has been worse with a few rations of food they give us.

I try not to get emotional and focus on finding Annalisa as I scoot myself over to where I think she is. As I move across the floor, I hit something, move my knees in that direction, and feel her cold feet against my legs.

Her feet move against me and withdraw as the sound of her jeans scrape against the floor; she moves to sit next to me, and I hear her hiss; the ties have made her skin raw on her wrists as well.

"How long do you think it's been, Char?" She whispers; she tries to hide the shakiness of her voice.

I move over to her and lean my head towards her, finding her shoulder. She rests her head on mine. "I'm not sure; I think a few days, maybe four... they'll be coming in soon to give us their version of breakfast."

The single slice of bread and small sips of water they've been giving us is the only thing I look forward to when the door opens.

"They're keeping us in the dark to disorient us," I inform her, remembering some of the things my dad had taught me. I don't want to tell her I think they're giving us little food to weaken us for whatever they're planning to do with us.

They've kept their interactions limited with us, except when they bring water or the bread and the bathroom breaks. I've started dreading the bathroom breaks because of how raw the skin around my hands is.

The last two times, the skin has broken and bled when they cut and put the ties back on.

"Do you think anyone's coming?" Annalisa's breath hitches. I don't want to start crying because I'm trying to be strong for both of us.

"Enzo will," I say as confidently as I can.

He has to.

"We were supposed to meet up with him that same day they took us, remember? And you and Joey would have been expected back, so everyone should at least know something's wrong." JP's face flashes in my mind, and I swallow the lump in my throat as Annalisa speaks.

"They left your new phone in the car when they switched out cars. They took mine and Joey's phones, my guests, so they can't trace them, right? "She sighs. "how will they even know where we are."

"I" m not sure, but I know Enzo won't stop until he finds us." I try to reassure her. "Anna, I'm so sorry. I'm so sorry you're here with me, like this." I bite my lip to keep from crying.

"Don't do that, Charmaine. You can't keep apologizing for what is happening around you." She scolds me.

"How are you feeling? Is chip making you sick?" She asks in an attempt to change the subject.

I shake my head, but then remember she can't see me. "I'm nauseous. The little food they're giving us isn't making it better, and I feel fatigued."

"You have been sleeping a lot. That's why I woke you up. I just get worried about you and chip." She tells me. "Where do you think they have Joey?"

"I don't know. I still can't believe Sofia and Jimmy are working together." I say bitterly.

"Do you think they're going to tell us what they want?" Annalisa asks me.

I don't get a chance to answer because we're both startled and shriek when loud, repetitive banging against the walls around us starts. It stops after a few minutes, and the door screeches open, letting light into the room.

"Rise and shine, ladies!"

Jimmy.

The lights flip on, and my uncovered eye shuts tightly against the harsh bright light. I turn my head to save my sight from being affected by what it was already exposed to.

"Uh oh." Jimmy tsk's. "Let's fix that, Stella. We can't have your knowing eyes wandering around, now can we?"

He adjusts the rag over my eyes and tightens it, making my head jerk back as he secures a knot behind my head. He pats my head when he's done. "There we go."

"Alright, things are about to get crazy. Are you guys ready for some fun?" He asks us excitedly. I can practically see the evil glint and smile on his face through the blindfold over my eyes.

"First, we're gonna get you, ladies, cleaned up. Want to make a good impression on the boss, now don't we? Y'all are starting to smell a little ripe." He chuckles lowly.

"Why are you doing this, Jimmy?" I ask.

A loud, agonizing scream rips through the air, and my head snaps towards the awful sound.

Joey.

"What are you doing to Joey?" I demand, angrily and I hear Annalisa begin to cry quietly. A second scream reaches us, and I flinch, my heart hurting for my friend.

"Jimmy, listen. Please let Joey and Annalisa go. It's me that you want. They have nothing to do with whatever is going on. Please!"

Another scream.

Jimmy laughs. "It's always the big guys who can't handle the pain, the most. The self-proclaimed badasses. Doesn't sound so tough now, does he?"

"Leave him alone! Please, don't do this!" I scream at Jimmy. Annalisa is now sobbing next to me.

"What are you doing to him?" I demand angrily.

His mouth grazes my ear as he speaks right next to me, and I cringe, bringing my shoulder up to my ear to keep him from doing that again.

"Now, where's the fun in ruining the surprise. I mean, I could tell you, but wouldn't it be more fun for you to experience it for yourselves?"

The sound of more footsteps reaches my ears. My heart is pounding in my chest, and then I hear some grunting and cursing. Annalisa cries out.

"Don't touch me! Char!"

"Let her go!" I yell out. "Annalisa!"

But then I'm yanked up, off the ground. I feel rough hands on my legs as I'm lifted onto someone's shoulder and carried out of the room, I assume.

We're taken to a bathroom, where we are stripped of our clothes and forced to shower while we have guards watching us. The bathroom is bare; there isn't even a mirror or window.

We are only given underwear to put on and long shirts that are like gowns to wear. Then, they blindfold us again and tie our hands before we are corralled through what seems like several hallways and then a set of stairs going down.

I'm sat down hard on a chair, and since they took my shoes away, I can feel something similar to plastic underneath my feet.

That can't be good.

I immediately get up even though I can't see anything with the damn cover over my eyes, and I feel hands grip my shoulders, but I still kick and knee out blindly.

"Tie her up!"

I keep kicking, and I connect with someone's groin. I hear someone curse loudly before I feel the sting of a slap across my face causing me to fall onto my knees.

I'm quickly pulled up again and slammed onto the chair; then, my arms are pulled up harshly, making me cry out as they position them behind the back of the chair. My legs are being tied to the legs of the chair now.

The blindfold is pulled off my eyes, and I blink, taking in my surroundings. We're in another cement room. No windows, just a brown metal door with a small window. We must be in a basement.

I look over and see Annalisa next to me, she looks at me, and I know the fear in her eyes.

I see two men standing near the door, speaking to Jimmy in low voices. The door swings open, and Sofia saunters in, and she's followed by another man, wearing an eye patch, and then his uncovered eye meets my horrified stare.

"Buongiorno, puttana." He grins at me. "Happy to see me again?"

It's the man who attacked me in Atlantic City. The memories of the way he touched me and talked to me come flooding back.

A table is carried in, with all kinds of metal instruments, knives, and mallet-looking type tools on it; my heart is racing as it's positioned next to the wall, nearest me.

Sofia claps her hands together. "Alright, friends, let's get the party started, shall we?"

~~~~~~~~~

Well, there it is. The end of the first book.

If you want to continue on this journey with Stella, JP and the others check out the sequel Conseguenze, you can find it in my profile.

Thank you to all the readers and comments, you're all amazing!

Xoxo LJ Rae 💋