My knees collapsed as the pain from the electric current came at me in waves. I expected my wrist to get tugged and steeled myself for another agonizing torment but none came. Someone had loosened the chain keeping me upright and I accordingly crumpled on the floor. My muscles were still paralyzed due to the current that ran amuck throughout my body.

I held on to the sliver of consciousness I still had, though it was futile to ward off the disorientation the clouded my senses.

The next lucid moment, I felt someone remove the cuffs. The spike, the bane of my existence, slid out of my wrists after one quick painful wrench.

A part of me was relieved that the cuffs from hell were no longer on my wrists. But I had spent enough time here to know that Ran was one deluded psychotic dork who would not allow such reprieve unless he was getting something out of it.

Panic arose as I thought of the possible games which Ran wanted to play this time. I was aware that I needed to regain my mobility as quickly as possible.

I willed my limbs to move and was met with pairs of heavy lead as they refused to heed my commands. I was too darn weak.

"So couz, how long will it take you to track us?" Ran's mocking question was drowned against Gio's heavy, threatening silence.

"Very well, this is what we'll do," Ran continued. I'll keep the lines open, as long as she remains conscious. How about that? Aren't I generous?"

As long as I stay conscious?

My eyes shot up to Gio's. The emotions written on his eyes were difficult to read. What was apparent, however, was the hard set of his jaw and the cold steel gaze he pinned Ran with. Ran's mind games were getting on Gio's nerves, although he concealed it well.

"Stop with the games, Ran." Gio's cold voice reverberated across the room. "She has nothing to do with whatever goes between us."

Ran snickered. "You think I'm using her to get back at you?" I thought you're better than that, couz, really."

Silence.

"Do you even know what she is?" Musa continued, mockingly.

Silence stretched longer, warped by the tensed atmosphere clinging to every corner of the room. With a strained heave, I pushed my leaden limbs to their limits and got myself into a sitting position using my elbows as leverage since the slightest pressure on my wrist would cause pain to wreck my body anew.

"I'm bored, that's what I am." My hoarse voice broke the silence. I couldn't let Ran push Gio any further. If it was a game he wanted, then I would give him that.

"Let's do whatever is in that lump you call a head," I chided as I got up on my wobbly knees. Nausea greeted me like an old friend the moment I planted my feet on the hard concrete. Sheer doggedness kept me standing up.

I lifted my eyes and met Gio's and saw concern mingling with the stifled rage burning behind his eyes. He was worried about me. I smiled at him, weakly.

Stay conscious. How hard could that be, right?

Ran signaled to his men and Cruz stepped into my line of vision. He cracked his knuckles. I would have loved to do the same, if only I could move my arms properly. I put my arms behind my back since I doubted Cruz would have some shame and not target them. He snorted at my action.

"I'll break your fucking arms. If that's the last thing I'd ever do," I said, sneering at him with all the malicious intent I could muster.

Cruz laughed. He laughed so hard he nearly toppled over as he clutched his stomach. Even the minions behind him were chuckling. I didn't know I was a comedian.

"Tough talk, bitch," Cruz said after recovering from my hilarity. The sadistic glint was back in his eyes. He advanced at me with big easy strides and charged.

With my arms still behind my back, I moved sideways to evade his attack. He followed it with a swing of his arms aimed for my torso. With a twirl, I raised my knee to my chest and blocked his fist with my calf. The force, however, sent me backward several steps.

The little exertion I did had me panting for breath. The room zoomed in and out of focus for a bit while I tried to regain my breath. The next moment, Cruz was charging again with a kick to my head. I ducked, moving on reflex. He only missed me by a hair's breadth. I rolled out of his reach. In the next second, however, his hand clutched the scruff of my neck and I was unceremoniously hurled against the wall. My back collided against the hard concrete with a loud thud. Stars exploded inside my head.

I felt my consciousness seep out little by little as my body fell to the floor.

I can't. Not yet.

I thrusted my hand forward to halt my fall. The resulting pain managed to jolt my senses awake enough to evade Cruz's swinging arms.

I managed to get myself in a crouching position. With a spurt of energy, I leaped, and with quick aerial rotations to drive force into my attack, my feet connected against Cruz's crotch, solar plexus, and neck in quick succession. He stumbled back as I landed on my feet. I would have wanted to follow-up my blows with another, but my feet wobbled and I had to steady myself.

So fucking tired.

Cruz recovered his composure pretty quickly, although the pain was written in his eyes which, at the moment, was shooting daggers at me.

"You little bitch!" he spat.

"You're one to talk." I held out my hand in front of my face, with my pointer finger and thumb indicating a measurement of about an inch. This infuriated Cruz more. A lot more.

He charged like a bull. I steadied my stance, my focus zeroing on Cruz, creating almost like a slow-motion concentration. When he was almost in front of me, I arched my leg way above my head and slammed it down against the back of his neck in one solid downward kick. The blow sent him down face first where he met the force of my other leg as I twisted for another kick. He accordingly fell on the floor. I stepped on his hand with my one foot and kicked his elbow in. The satisfying sound of bones cracking echoed amidst his fiendish howl and the astonished gasps of his comrades.

I was far from done.

My next kick found his shoulder joint. Agonized cries once again greeted my ears. I leaped back to appreciate my work of art.

Cruz's teeth were gritted together as he suppressed more cries escaping from his throat. His face was contorted in pain.

"You!"

"Yes?" I replied, mockingly. "Shall we move on to your next arm?" I said as the room began to spin once more. I stole a quick glance at Ran who seemed amused by our display. On Gio's face remained a stoic mask.

How much longer, Gio? My eyes practically pleaded. I was functioning on borrowed strength. I was pushing way past my body's limit.

"I will kill you, bitch!"

My attention was once again drawn to Cruz. He stood up, his left arm lying limply on the side.

"So eager to lose the other arm too?" I sneered, my confident tone not quite mirroring how my body was feeling. Anytime now, I would collapse. My vision had lost its edge as the room continued its made-up rotation in my mind.

Cruz knew my state. Despite his pain, he managed a sly grin. He was aware he still had the upper hand in this fight. He charged once again, his good arm coming straight for me which I was not able to evade in time. The blow landed on my chest and I felt several ribs cracked. Another punch connected with my gut. I spat blood. Next thing I know, I was airborne, my head colliding against something hard. I collapsed on the floor with a thread of lucidity, barely aware of the rampaging one-handed man that was my handiwork.

The next moment he was on top of me, pinning my chest on the concrete floor with his weight as his legs straddled me. A heavy blow met my face, followed by another and another.

The blows receded just when I was on the brink of unconsciousness. I looked up just in time to see the wicked smirk plastered on Cruz's face.

"I'll break your fucking arm," I said, almost a whisper. I drove the metal spike which they use on me into his other shoulder joint and thrust upward, breaking bones and ligaments in the process. The movement gave me insane pain but Cruz's tormented screams were worth it. I pushed him away as I rolled and crouched. I could no longer muster the energy to stand.

I looked at Gio once again. Can I?

He gave the slightest nod.

I returned it with a weak smile.

I let the darkness that I had been warding off to claim my mind, but not before I sent the spike flying into Ran's direction with the last of my remaining strength.

A spurt of blood splattered across the screen. Only Ran's quick movement prevented the spike from embedding itself into his face. Instead, it left a deep gash on his left cheek, right below his eye. The offending spike bounced off the screen just as Ran whirled sideways, and rolled on the floor leaving a cracked screen. Ran's fists trembled at being clenched so tightly.

"You're despicable, Ran." Gio's voice cut through Ran's stunned state. He faced Gio fully through the cracked screen.

"Right, couz? It's utterly despicable to hurt a woman, isn't it?" Ran barely contained the venom coating his loaded words. Another mocking grin formed on his bloodied face, "Have you tracked us yet?"

The screen turned off.

Gio slammed his fist hard against the table. The search area etched on the screen before him has zoomed in considerably but it was still a good 150 square kilometers--the size of a town.

"Anton." Gio turned to his secretary.

"I'm on it. But what is keeping them from transferring her somewhere else?"

"Nothing. So you better hurry." Gio was aware that Musa would not take such risk without thinking ahead. He was confident in playing his game because he had planned for another transfer.

Anton gulped and nodded. He was about to leave when Gio's words stopped him. "Are they here?"

"Y-yes. They have just been brought here."

"Good." Gio briskly walked away from the screen where he was transfixed for the good part of the day.

"Gio, they are innocent."

Gio stopped just as he was about to step out of the door. For a while, silence laid claim of the room.

"So is she, Anton," Gio said, as he went out leaving a sighing secretary behind.

Gio hurried down the staircase once more, not even bothering with the elevator this time. His mad dash brought him inside his intended part of the building in record time. Whimpers greeted him as he opened the door.

"Please, please, don't hurt them," Ramirez burst out while struggling against his bonds; the chair he was sitting on was rocking back and forth in sync with his frantic movements.

"I haven't done anything to them. Yet." Gio faced the one-way mirror separating Ramirez from his wife and two daughters. He had ordered his men to take them under the guise of an offer of employment and put them in the next room where Ramirez can see them. The three figures in the next room huddled close together, painfully unaware of the struggle happening just on the other side of the room. Ramirez's wife, a woman of average build and hair in a lazy bun, wrapped each of her daughters in her arms. The last time Gion checked on them, the girls--identical twins--amused one another by playing rock, paper, and scissors.

"Please, I'm begging you. Don't hurt them! Do whatever you want with me!"

Gio trained his deadly gaze on Ramirez. "Whatever they'll do to her, I'll do to them."

Ramirez blanched. His panicked eyes trained on Gio's face pleaded for mercy. He had none to give. If at all, he had to mentally restrain himself from hurting them irreparably. He knew he had to maintain his cool. He had to play his cards right. Although the sight of his bloodied wife made it almost impossible to keep a straight thought.

"Ramirez..." Gio growled low, menacing. "You're one wrong answer away from losing your family."

"Please! I'm begging! Musa would kill us all if--"

"Ran doesn't have you or your family! I do!" Gio roared, drowning Ramirez's further protests.

Gio pressed a button. "Bring the wife here."

"No. No, please." The panic in Ramirez's pleading became more apparent. From the glass mirror, he saw two of Gio's men, one of which was Edison, fetch his wife. Moments later, the woman was escorted into the room. A look of puzzlement was instantly etched on her face as her eyes landed on her restrained husband.

"Mar?" Ramirez's wife hesitantly called his name in an unspoken inquiry.

"Please, let her go," Ramirez begged.

"What's going on?" his wife asked. She backed up a few steps, only to be shoved back in. One of Gio's men forced her to kneel in front of Ramirez. Tears began their descent from her eyes as her hands were tied behind her back.

"What's going on, Mar? W-why are you tied? Who are they?" she said, panic slowly seeping into her features as she weakly struggled against the ropes.

"Hazel. I'm sorry, I--"

"What would it be, Ramirez?" Gio's cold, menacing voice exacerbated the already wrought tension filling the room. Hazel kept her inquiring eyes on her husband, as if refusing to acknowledge the other people in the room would negate her situation.

"Please, don't hurt her. I don't know--"

A heavy blow, delivered by Edison, landed on Ramirez's face. Blood poured out from his broken lips.

"Don't hurt him!" Hazel frantically struggled from the man holding her down. "Mar, just give them what they want!"

"I can't---"

Another blow.

"Please, Musa---"

Another blow, followed by several others accosted Ramirez. His wife's pleas for mercy reverberated across the room.

"My patience is running thin." Gio took the gun on Edison's waistband, strode where Hazel was and pushed her head down with the gun at the back of her head.

"Last question, Ramirez. Answer it wrong and you'll lose your wife. And I'm telling you now, if anything happens to my wife, your two daughters will pay for your silence." Gio's low, steady delivery contrasted sharply with the shaky pleas of the woman he was holding at gunpoint.

"Where is she, Ramirez?"

"Please, I really don't--" The sudden steel manifesting on Gio's eyes made Ramirez flinch. He saw him press the gun harder against his wife's head. Gio pressed the trigger.

"No!"

Click.

Silence pervaded the room followed by the tearful cries of Ramirez's wife. Gio released the magazine and inspected it. With an irritated huff, he handed it to Edison.

"Load it up!" he barked.

Edison hastily complied, inserting a full magazine clip into the compartment. Gio once again pressed the barrel against Hazel's head. He didn't even look at Ramirez as his finger tightened around the trigger.

"I'll tell you! I'll tell you! Stop, please!"

Gio restrained himself just in time but did not remove the gun from the woman's head. He trained his steeled gaze on Ramirez. "You better give us something useful." Gio pressed the barrel of the gun harder against the woman's head. "Where is she?"

"Musa...h-he will deliver her to Hugo--"

"Where?!" Gio roared.

The woman visibly flinched. The weight of her cries laid heavily upon the dreadful atmosphere inside the room.

On the other side, the twins were playing tag, completely oblivious to the grim situation their parents were in.

"In the auction! They will auction her off!"

Another blow. This time, by Gio himself. His free hand gripped Ramirez by the neck and squeezed. "I asked where! Where is she?!"

"I-I don't know. P-Please, I don't know. If...If I knew, I'd--I'd tell you." Ramirez sputtered and coughed, trying to breathe despite Gio's punishing grip on his neck. "Th--that's all I know. P--Please."

Gio fingers tightened around Ramirez's neck that his face turned red then blue, after several more seconds of Gio's ministrations.

"Don't hurt him, please. He is all we have!" the woman cried out. "Please."

Gio abruptly released his grip on Ramirez's neck. "Remember. If something happens to my wife, you'll see your family die one by one."

Gio turned around without another word and stormed outside the room, barking out orders to his men.

When I came to, I was immersed in a tub of cold water, being bathed by two girls. The soap stung my open wounds, evoking an involuntarily hiss from me. I struggled against the hands holding my body but my leaden limbs didn't have the strength to push them away.

"Oh, the slut is awake," one of them said. "She must have pissed them so bad to end up like this."

"They said she is someone important," chirped in the other one.

"Psh. They all think they are important at first." She put her hands on my back to push me up. "Get going."

Slowly, I tried to haul myself up. The girl--a pink-streaked blonde-haired girl of heavy built--must have run out of patience at my slow movements because she unceremoniously pushed me up and out of the tub that I nearly tripped and fell facedown.

"Tsk. Don't ruin your face more. We only have so much concealer!" the other girl piped in. She had black hair and was of smaller built than the blonde girl. I was put in a robe and shoved out of the room.

"Let me go," I said, my voice hoarser than I remembered it to be. The two women only snickered.

"You should feel grateful. You're getting someone rich at least. Not all girls have that privilege," the black-haired girl lead me through a series of passageways. It was familiar. I had been here before. Slowly, I walked, my knees wobbling at the effort. The least exertion caused my muscles to throb in painful spasms. I was already panting at the effort even though we had not really gone far. I was just so fucking weak, tired, and hurting.

I spotted some of Musa's men along the way. I vaguely noticed that some of them could still communicate through radio. If that was the case...

My eyes darted from one girl to another. They walked beside me, each taking an arm, and making sure I stayed somewhat upright. After several more steps, my knees collapsed as my vision dimmed, sending the two women down with me.

"Ouch!" the dark-haired one grumbled as she tried to hoist me up.

"Get up!" the other shouted at me as she struggled to stay upright.

Meanwhile, my hands did what they were trained to do before I lost  consciousness once again.

"I have contacted Michael," Anton reported to his boss. The only acknowledgment he got from Gio was a slight nod of his head. Gio had been awfully quiet since his last visit to Ramirez.

"How is the search?"

Anton gulped. "They found one of Musa's hide-outs but it was already abandoned. Our men are trying to find leads--"

Anton flinched when Gio punched the nearby wall hard that it shook at the impact.

"Have you stationed men in Hugo's possible bases?" Gio asked through gritted teeth.

"Y-Yes."

Gio took several deep breaths in an effort to calm himself. After a while, he turned to his desk and took a paper with a list of names. "Station men on these residences too. If any of these men get out of their house for any reason at all, report it immediately to me."

"Why?"

Anton was met by Gio's hard glare. "These men are those I could name at the top of my head who would participate in scummy transactions like human trafficking. There's a high possibility that they will be at the auction."

Gio's phone beeped with an incoming message. It was from an encrypted number.

I have a surprise for you downstairs, couz.

Gio was out of the room in mere seconds, followed by Anton. Both raced down the stairs. They were met halfway by Gio's men, one of whom was carrying a sealed box.

"Sir. We found this on the ground floor," the one with the box stated.

Almost hesitantly, Gio reached for the parcel. He wondered what Ran was playing this time. His breathing hitched, he turned his back to his men, not wanting them to see vulnerability in him.

Slowly, he opened it and was met with bloodied clothes. Rei's.

On top of the pile was a letter. It reads:

Something to remember your wife with.

You can meet her for the last time in three days, 6:00 p. m. Bring lots of cash. *wink*

Your loving cousin,

Ran

Gio crushed the letter in his hands so hard, his nails dug into the flesh of his palms.

"Gio, does this mean the auction is in three days?" Anton inquired, stress apparent in his voice.

After a long while, Gio answered, "No. It means the auction is happening today."

Dread washed over everyone's features at the realization of the urgency they were caught in. No one was able to utter a word.

Inside the unmanned room, the tracer beeped for several seconds before stillness claimed the room once again.

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