THE CAPTURED

I'm always ready to take a life again
You know I'll ride again
It's all the same

***

CHAPTER LIII

*****

I HAD WOKEN up a few hours later, my eyes slowly peeling open as I looked at my surroundings in confusion. I wasn't sure where I was, but how I had gotten there was still a clear memory in my head. The place I was in was extremely dark, making it difficult for me to fully gauge my surroundings but from the feelings all over my body, I could make out that I had been tightly bound to a chair.

Binding me against the spine of the chair so I could barely even squirm in place was an extremely thick rope that had been wound around my multiple times to the point where breathing no longer felt natural. My hands had been zip-tied together behind my back and then reinforced with a thick wounding of the same rope and my ankles had also been zip-tied to each front leg of the chair. Over my mouth was a thick strip of duct tape, preventing me from making a sound and also worrying me about when it was going to be ripped from me. I didn't know much, but I knew that whoever was behind this didn't want me escaping at all.

Of course, that wasn't going to stop me. I struggled against my restraints, trying to find any possible way for me to get out of them, yet all seemed futile. I had no sharp object at hand and even the edges of the chair I had been bound to had been rounded. For a full minute, I had let my struggling come to a halt before, suddenly, I had wiggled violently in the chair again. To my relief, it occurred to me that the chair hadn't been bolted to the ground so theoretically I could move the chair with me to any direction or even possibly break it to free myself.

I braced my barefoot against the ground, ready to begin shuffling away from my current position when the creaky sound of a heavy door swinging open had echoed into the silence, making me halt in my actions. A feminine chuckle had followed the sound before a light bulb that had happened to be hanging right over my head had flickered on, making grit my teeth in irritation as I squinted my eyes shut.

“You're so pathetic,” Lola's familiar voice had laughed, making my eyes shoot open a second time that day as I immediately shifted my gaze to where she stood with a satisfied smirk on her lips. As if she had won. “Why do you look shocked to see? Weren't you the one that brought yourself here?” she asked as she walked closer to me, making me squint my eyes at her because it was the only thing I could do at the moment.

If I could talk, I would've asked her if the hair on her head was real or wig.

“I guess we're not in the talking mood today?” she said, feigning sadness before her usual ugly little sadistic smile had showed on her face again. “Oh wait, I must've forgotten.”

Before I could even brace myself for what was about to happen, she had already grabbed one end of the tape covering my mouth and ripped it off me, making me grimace at the sting that had followed afterwards. In the moment I had finally clocked the fact that I was free to speak, a wave of different insults had hit me yet there was only one thing I could actually make my main priority.

“Where's Daniel and Mateo?” I asked, making her role her eyes as she stepped away from me, as if I was being unreasonable for questioning the whereabouts of my family.

“And if told you they were still here?” she questioned as her lips raised up in a slight smirk. “What if I told you that they were being tortured in the other room as we speak? You gave yourself up and risked your life for nothing,” she sneered to which I only rolled my eyes in disbelief, making her chuckle. “You think I'm lying to you, don't you?”

Before I could answer her, a third voice had joined the conversation and confirmed all of my suspicions of Lola's lies. “Lolita, how about we don't give her a heart attack, no? After all, we would prefer she remain complacent with us,” the unfamiliar voice said as a tall, dark-skinned man with very short hair walked into the room with an expensive looking grey suit on. He wasn't old, but he wasn't young either. He seemed almost to be in his fifties. Behind him, a much younger black boy of the same complexion followed, yet they looked vastly different to each other. They seemed not to be related. “Making an enemy out of my only niece is not the way I would like to go about this,” the man spoke again, making me furrow my brows in confusion. Who was his niece? Lola? Because it certainly couldn't have been me. He turned to me and gave me a reassuring smile. “I'm a man of my word, Araceli, I can assure you that your son and Daniel are, by now, at their home. I expect for Lucien to take care of them now.”

“Niece?” was all I said, not acknowledging the last thing he said to me and instead inquiring about the thing that seemed to play most on my mind. Again, who was his niece here because it definitely couldn't be me. I didn't know this man.

Yet, he seemed to think otherwise.

“I'm Frederick. Your mother's brother,” he said, making me furrow my eyebrows and shake my head in denial. “I'm your uncle.” He must be a very bad liar.

“My mother doesn't have male siblings,” I stated factually but he only smirked and shook his head as if he knew something I didn't. At this point, I was absolutely sure he did. I just wanted to refuse he knew what he was talking about.

“I regret to tell you that she does,” he said before pausing as if considering something before choosing to add to his words which only furthered my confusion. “At least, your real mother does. She has three other brothers in fact.”

I narrowed my eyes at him, wanting to pick apart what he meant by "real mother", but I figured that it was mostly only bait he had thrown at me. If he wanted to tell me, he would.

“And what does that have to do with me?” I asked instead. “Why am I here? Why did you bring me here?”

“Let's just say...” he began before pausing as if thinking of how to phrase his next words, “you have something that belongs to me,” he finally said, making me narrow my eyes at his vagueness.

“I don't even know you.”

“No, you don't,” he agreed, “but I know you. As a matter of fact, a lot of people here know you, Araceli. And we see you as a very important person to us.”

“You tie and lock up your very important people in your basement?” I asked sarcastically, tilting my head to the side as if I was genuinely curious to hear his answer. He laughed and shook his head.

“Not all of them, no,” he admitted, “but your case is more... peculiar, we'll say.”

I let out an exasperated sigh as I dug my fingernails into the palm of my hands in frustration. “It's like the more you speak, the less you actually say,” I muttered through clenched teeth as I barely contained my anger. “Why the fuck am I here?”

“Maybe if you shut the fuck up, he would tell you,” Lola cut in from the side, making me snap my gaze towards her but before I could fix her with an appropriate response, Frederick had raised his hands in an effort to silence her before crouching in front of me.

He took a hold of my face, digging his fingers into my cheeks as his next words left his mouth with a lot more venom than I was accustomed to hearing. “There were five Costillo heirs,” he began much to my confusion. “Four of them were boys, the oldest heir being a boy too. Only one had been a girl and had been our father's favourite. Because of that, he had willed everything to her. The companies, the money, the house but most importantly, the cartel,” he hissed, his eyes narrowed in on me with noticeable hatred brewing in them. “That stupid little bitch had fallen in love with your idiotic father and had you, then died, so now who's the heiress to all that wealth and power?” he asked, making my eyes widen the second his words had started making sense in my head, making him nod his head almost as if in response to me. “Yeah, now she gets it,” he said sarcastically as he rolled his eyes before standing up straight and turning away from me. “Stupid bitch.”

“What are you going to do?” I asked, wanting to find out how the planned to acquire the assets I supposedly had even though I found it hard to believe that I was in ownership of all he said I was. If he had just peacefully asked me to sign everything off to him, I probably would have. That was how disconnected from this whole thing I was. I wanted nothing to do with it.

“The initial plan had been to kill you but then you went and complicated everything by giving the Reyes an heir,” he said, making my eyes widen again in shock but I couldn't help but draw notice to the fact that this meant yet again that it was Mateo that preserved my life. “We want little to do with the Reyes and I must admit that if it wasn't for Lucien's co-operation, your son would've been dead by now,” he said much to my horror, but he instead continued speaking as if he hadn't said the most horrendous thing I had ever heard in my life. “But since he willingly brought you to us in exchange for his grandson, we decided to spare the child.” He watched me carefully for my reaction, but I only kept a cold, neutral face, wanting to show him that his words had no effect on me. Honestly, hurting Mateo would have been the worst mistake he would've ever made in his entire life. I was already unhinged; only God knew what I would do if someone killed my son.

He chuckled at my indifference and instead beckoned for the boy that had come in behind him to step by his side. “Leon,” he said acknowledgingly as he put his hand on the boys shoulder once he was finally beside him. “This man will be your husband by next week,” he said much to my shock but only breezed past that fact like it mattered very little. “Then, you'll officially be a Costillo affiliate and the Reyes will have no claim over you or any of your assets when we kill you.”

I remained quiet for a couple seconds after he had stopped talking, my eyes narrowed as I stared intensely at him before asking, “and you think I'm going to agree to this?”

“Who said you have a choice?” he asked, an amused smirk playing on his lips as if something was inherently funny before he turned to Leon and nodded. “We should head up now. Ricardo would be waiting for us,” he said, making to exit the disgusting basement yet Leon made no move to go with him just yet.

“Leave me with her for a couple minutes,” he had requested, making Frederick raise a surprised eyebrow before a knowing smirk came across his face.

“I'll give you the hour if you need it. Just make sure to tie her back up when you're done” he winked disgustingly, before turning to Lola and extending his hand out to her. “Will you accompany me then?”

A smile had come across her face as she delicately took his hands and made her way towards the door with him, but before they were completely out of sight, she turned to me with a smirk and spoke. “Maybe if you behave yourself, we'll feed you tonight.”

Before I could even think of a response to her, she had already gone, leaving me alone with Leon and the guard who stood at attention by the door, making sure nobody came in and that I didn't go out.

Leon had kept is dark eyes trained on me for longer than I would've liked which had only prompted me to return his stare in defiance. He narrowed his eyes as he watched, as if analysing me before letting a low chuckle slip past his lips; breaking his stare. For a while, there was only silence between us until the sound of his footsteps coming closer to me had filled the air.

“You know I've met you before,” he said, his voice coming out softer than I had anticipated as he came to a halt right in front of me and crouched down to my level. “You don't remember though. You must've been around four or five when we met.” His hand came to gently caress my cheek but I had only moved my face out of his hold, making him let out a small breath of laughter. “My father was someone you should know,” he continued despite my reluctance to listen. “He was a close friend of your mother until your murderous boyfriend killed him.”

My eyes widened in shock once I had finally realised the man he was talking about; the man he had claimed to be his father. Isaac.

I was in some deep shit.

“Isaac,” I murmured under my breath, making the corners of his lips lift up into a knowing smirk.

“Bingo.”

“You're his son?” I asked, making him roll his eyes at me.

“Did I not just say I was?”

“Okay then...” I muttered, tilting my head to the side as I considered what to do next with this morsel of information before I finally decided on just adding more fuel to the fire. I suppose I liked the way it burnt. “Let's give credit where credit is due okay? My murderous boyfriend did not kill your dad.”

“Did he not?” he asked me, raising a surprised eyebrow to which I leaned in and nodded my head with a knowing smirk of my own stretching across my lips.

“He didn't,” I confirmed, “I did.” I watched his features carefully, noting the way his jaw clenched and his eyes only seemed to fill with more hatred for me at my confession. “Sure, Daniel put the power in my hands but I took that power and used it to make sure that Isaac ended up exactly where he belonged; burning in hell. I could help you find the body; of course I know exactly where we kept it but you know, time changes a corpse so he may no longer be recognisable.” Leon gritted his teeth, his eyes staring at me with fury as he clenched his fists in a bid to contain his anger but of course I wasn't going to let him have that. “Of course you probably could still salvage some teeth though. Maybe a bone if yu really try but—”

“Shut up!”

“Oh, I'm sorry. I was under the impression you were enjoying this bonding session we were having over your father's death and burial. I didn't know it made you uncomfortable,” I said feigning remorse before a smile spread over my lips as I finally decided to rub the last bit of salt into his gaping wound. “Just goes to show that we shouldn't be letting children into adult affairs. You should probably go back to your room and continue playing with your toys.”

He had barely given me time to finish my sentence before he slapped me so hard, my chair had tilted over. I had tried to brace myself, but nothing could've ever prepared me for the moment I had finally fell onto the floor sideways with me still tied to it. My left arm had essentially been crushed from the impact but the rope around my torso seemed almost looser; as if it was coming apart.

It made me realise that I had hit the ground do hard that the chair had fractured in some spots under my weight, making it easier to wriggle my hands and, hopefully with enough elbow grease, free myself

“You seem not to understand,” he said as he stared down at me, seemingly admiring his work without realising just how much liberties he had given me. To my disgust, he had placed his foit on the side of my face, pressing me imnto the ground as he essentially stepped on me. “You are my toy now.”

“I'm scared, Leon. Oh, im terrified. You've really spooked me,” I said sarcastically, feigning fear as I struggled to pull my hands through my restraints in the background. “Boy, oh boy do I wonder what a prepubescent teenage boy could ever do to me. Oh wow.”

“Prepubescent?” he repeated after me, a smirk stretching across as his face as he looked at me. Slowly, he took his foot off my face and crouched down to my level where he took my face in his hands, gripping me so hard, I had to grimace in pain. “You want to know what this prepubescent teenage boy can do to you?”

“Leon—” I tried to say, obviously pretending to be afraid so it would egg him on to continue. I knew people like him and I knew what they thrived off of. They lived off fear. Other people's fear. It made them feel powerful.

I wanted to make him feel powerful. I wanted to make him feel confident and cocky. I wanted to inflate his ego so he would make a grave mistake.

“How about I show you just what I can do to you, huh?” He smirked as he stood up and turned his attention towards the guard by the door. I took that opportunity to put more vigor into pulling my hand out now that he wasn't closely watching me. “Alfonso,” he said to which the guard had responded with acknowledgement, “call your friends. Tell them I have a woman here waiting for them.”

“Yes, boss,” Alfonso said before walking away probably to go retrieve his friends, the pig.

“Now, personally I won't touch you. Trash isn't really my taste,” he said as he stared down at me with so much disgust. “But I know people who'll be happy to break you in Aracelia—Araceli,” he corrected himself briskly, “I'll only stand at the side and watch you break.”

“At least help me up,” I begged, looking up at him with pleading eyes as he smirked down at me, amused. “Please.”

He considered it for a second, his hand fiddling with the gold ring on his middle finger until suddenly, with on strong swoop, he had lifted me back up and sat me upright. That had set my plan into motion.

With not a second left to spare, I had laughed my forehead into his nose, making him groan and back away as blood began to pour, staining his white dress shirt. I had used the distraction to my advantage, putting all my will and strength into one final tugst my restraints until my hands had finally slipped out,making a breath of relief rush out of my chest.

“What the—”

Before he could even fully understand what was going on, I had picked up the chair and launched it right against his face, making him fall to the floor as I continued to beat him with the chair until it had completely fallen apart. Instead of stopping there, I had got on top of him before grabbing his head and slamming it into the floor a couple times.

“Don't you ever put your fucking disgusting fucking foot on my face ever again, fucktart,” I had muttered with every hit until I had decided to let him go and admire my work.

He was still alive thank god. I did want him to die a more brutal death, but his face was bloodied and bruised and I couldn't help but smile at the morbidity of my next joke.

“Now you're unrecognisable,” I said as I picked up the rope and started tying him up. “Just like your dad.”

In his disoriented state, he had tried to reach for his gun but I had quickly snatched it out from his hand and threw him onto the floor with swift movements. He let out a pained groan and spread out onto the floor, his eyes drooping shut even though I could tell he was fighting passing out.

“I'm not strong,” I said, my voice now holding the condescending tone as I wipes the crocodile tears from my face before straddling him. “You and I both know this. But, I can make just about anything my weapon and when I have a weapon,” I smiled as the gun in my back pocket before going back to tying him up, “you know I'm fucking lethal.”

I knew my knots weren't secure enough to have him restricted for long, but they would suffice. I didn't have much time until Alfonso returned with his groupies and I wasn't in the mood to deal with them right now.

I stood up, ready to walk away and leave him there when the sound of his voice had made me come to a halt.

“You're... dad,” he struggled ro say, his voice coming out strained as he forced himself to speak through the pain. “He's alive somewhere here.” I immediately turned around at his words, my eyes narrowing in on him and my stance defensive as I let the silence urge him to continue. He looked up at me, a bloody grin stretching across his bruised face. “Untie me and I'll take you straight to where he is.”

“You know, I like your idea but let me do you one better,” I said in a fake cheerful voice as if we were just two college kids bouncing ideas off each other for a group project. “You tell me where exactly Raymundo is and I'll let you live long enough to try escape and find help.” He stared at me blankly, silently telling me that he was going to do no such thing which had only made my smile grow wider. “Oh, you don't like my idea? How about now?” I asked as I took out his gun, aimed exactly at his thogh and shot the bullet into him without a single moment's hesitation, making him cry out in agony as he writhed on the floor in pain in front of me. “Do you want to cooperate now? Or maybe you'd like your other leg to match. I do like a bit of symmetry myself.”

“Down the hallway,” he said through gritted teeth, his eyes squeezed shut as he tried to breathe through the pain without crying like the little bitch we all knew he was, “there's a set of stairs. Go down them and he'll be there.“

I let a smile stretch across my face as I patted his head like a dog and let my voice take on a more patronising tone as if I was speaking to a child... or a dog really. ”Good boy.“

In response, he had spat at me which only made me tsk at him as I used a small bit of his shirt to wipe it away. Instead of punishing him, I had instead only taken any remaining weapons I could find in the room before making my way out the cell to look for dad.

Before I completely disappeared, a gave him a cheeky wink and spoke. ”I hope this walls are sound proof, “ I said asi patted the walls, ”or else the while estate is going to be hearing what you get up to in that little orgy you planned. Enjoy!“

Then, I had left to look for my father. Again.

*****

MERRY CHRISTMAS EVERYONE!! I hope you guys have/had a great day!

Here's a chapter! I wish I could say its a gift but it's just a regular chapter lol. How are yall feeling about it?

I know a few of you are waiting for me to complete this book so you can binge read. If you saw my last announcement then you know, there's only two more chapters left of this book. I tried to stretch the last chapter out but I couldn't. There's next chapter, there's a chapter after that one and then if I'm feeling like it, there's an epilogue. I hope to actually post all of this in January because if you follow may page closely, you may have noticed that I uploaded an authors note to Saving Emyra.

Well that's because the first chapter is going up on January 1st. Yup, Saving Emyra is going to be my main focus for 2023 so I really want to get this story finished fast.

I would recommend you go and read Saving Emyra btw. I know a lot of people don't like Morgan or Derek but I can assure you, their point of view makes a lot more sense and is more justified in their book. Like if you read it, you'll actually be routing for them and hoping Danny dies so I really do recommend you read it.

Now that's all I have to say. Always feel free to leave a message, I'll respond. Follow my Instagram please! It's clarewrites_ (yes with the underscore) and have a great day/night.

And if you saw any grammar/spelling mistakes, no you didn't!