CHAPTER SEVEN

Jamie's phone rang again for the umpteenth time that evening, he eyed the annoying piece of technology and considered smashing the device on the floor but instead he picked it up.

"Yes, John!"

"Boss…eh…there is a problem…"

"No shit, you mind telling me what that problem is?"

"Phoebe's house was hit, she is gone but her friends are still there, alive but unconscious."

"What! How did that happen? Where were Lucas and Joseph when this happened? Their only job was to make sure nothing happened to them, goddamnit!"

"Boss, they attacked in numbers, they were able to take some down. Joseph is severely injured; we've taken him to the hospital with the girls."

Jamie sprang from his chair and began to pace the office. This was what he had been trying to avoid by staying away from Phoebe for the last few weeks, and yet here he was…

Jamie had too many enemies who hated him and wanted his power and territory so he couldn't say for sure who would put a hit on his Phoebe. As though Heavens heard his prayer for answers, his phone began to ring and it was an unknown number. He knew that these were the people that abducted Phoebe. He angrily grabbed the phone from the table and answered the call.

"Who the fuck is this and where is Phoebe!?" The man on the other end of the line just laughed, like Jamie was child's play.

"You will do yourself good to watch your tone with me, boy. Shouting won't get you Phoebe but doing what we say will."

Jamie walked out of his office with the phone in his hand in search of Kieran, he found him in the cells, questioning one of their prisoners. He waved him over and they walked back to his office and Kieran closed the door after making sure there was no one close enough to eavesdrop.

"What do you want?"

"Ah, there you are. I was beginning to think you weren't in the mood to negotiate."

"What the fuck do you want!?" The man laughed again, Jamie was beginning to think he was having too much fun with this and he wasn't liking it one bit.

"Bad-tempered, just like your father."

"I swear to God if you don't get straight to the point right now I'll…"

"…you'll do nothing, boy! You forget that I'm the one calling the shots. You won't do anything apart from what I tell you to do…or else, your lady love gets it."

Jamie took a deep breath, meanwhile, Kieran had already gotten to work and had taken out the laptop hidden in Jamie's office and began trying to trace the call. Jamie glanced back at him every few seconds to ascertain that it was working.

"Okay. What do you want?"

"Good. I hear you have a new shipment coming in, guns and drugs. First, I want that shipment…"

"What!? No!"

"No, no, no, you forget that you don't have a choice here, Mr. Watson, that you don't have a choice here. I get my shipment or the girl dies."

The shipment in question was worth $140,000,000, a lot of money was invested and if he was to give it away, it could take him more than a decade to recover, and there's also the fact that he would be left vulnerable. That meant he would lose territory and power because he won't be able to fight back. He would lose men too; they are family but they have a family to feed too. But, Phoebe…

"Okay. You release Phoebe in exchange for the shipment."

"Yes. On my honor."

"You have no honor."

"I know you're trying to trace this call so, I'll leave you with a little warning. If I see men crawling this place or its environs, I can't guarantee her life after that. I tend to be trigger happy when I'm not in a very good mood." And then the line went dead.

Jamie sat down in his chair and buried his head in his hands. He knew that to retrieve Phoebe would require careful planning and manipulation because even if he handed the shipment over to them, that wouldn't guarantee her safety. There was no honor among thieves.

"Kieran…"

"Um…I…I didn't get it. The call ended too soon."

Jamie quietly raised his head and looked at his underboss who was beginning to sweat around the collar. Jamie was his friend but he knew how he felt about Phoebe and it would be very wise if no one pushed his buttons.

"What did you say?"

"But I have some good news. I wasn't able to get the exact location but I was able to narrow it down to a certain area."

"And…"

"They're in Queens."

"Is that all you got?"

"Yes, unfortunately. All we have to do is get foot soldiers in Queens to tear the place down."

"Yes, but make sure they are very discreet, we don't want to tip him off. Tell them, all they do is go around on foot and report what they hear, no fights and no guns. If he realizes that we are looking for him despite his warnings, Phoebe might be in danger."

"Got it."

"And make sure that her friends are brought straight here once they recover. We don't want him going after them too."

"Got it. I almost forgot to tell you…"

"What?"

"Phoebe's parents. You were right. Her father was…still is the right-hand man of Michael's father."

"So, do you think it was him who kidnapped Phoebe? She's his underboss' daughter."

Kieran just shrugged and stood from the couch in the office, he had a lot of work to do. Phoebe must be recovered and with all limbs intact or Jamie will tear him limb from limb.

"I'll get back and make all necessary arrangements. And Jamie?"

"Yes."

"Please, take care. We'll get her back." Jamie simply nodded and watched as Kieran left his office and closed the door behind him.

***

Phoebe couldn't understand why she was been held hostage, no one has said a word to her. She had a long chain strapped to her ankle, she could move around her cell and even go as far as the gate, but only just enough to press her face against it. Phoebe tried to be positive about the situation but anxiety and worry were eating at her, worry for what happened to her friends if they were still alive. So far, Phoebe had counted up to two weeks that she had been locked up. Two weeks from when she woke up, she couldn't say what she was injected with and how long she had been out.

Phoebe sat up and waited as she heard footsteps on the cobbled floor coming closer to her, it was time for her breakfast. If she could call it that, she was always fed with days-old bread and water twice a day, but she ate it with vigor and tried to refrain from fighting or arguing. She knew if the time and opportunity came for her to make a run for it, she would need all of her energy.

But things were quite different this morning, a completely different person brought her breakfast. He was dressed in a very nice suit and had a cowboy hat on and was accompanied by two men and a young woman.

The cell gates were opened and the man came in. One of his followers dropped a high back chair and he sat down, depositing the tray in front of me. He waved his hand and they all left the call, though the lady showed a bit of hesitation. He waited till the gates closed and we could no longer hear their footsteps.

"Eat up, you'll need your strength."

Phoebe eyed the food and then the man, she opened the food slowly and dropped the cover next to the tray. Her mouth watered instantly at the sight of the steamy plate of spaghetti and tomato sauce with chicken. And of course, water. The first thought that came to her mind was that the food was poisoned because she couldn't understand why they brought her this. She didn't even understand what she was doing here in the first place. As though the man could read her thoughts, he picked up the fork and stabbed the spaghetti, bringing the fork to his mouth, chewed and swallowed, opening his mouth for her to see.

"See, not poisoned." Phoebe took the fork from him, brought the tray into her lap, and dug in, the food didn't just look good, it was very tasty too. A bit spicy but better than anything they've fed her so far. She was so invested in the meal that she forgot about her companion. He just watched her eat.

Phoebe slowed down and remembered where she was when she had gone halfway with the food and had assuaged some of her hunger.

"I don't what he sees in you?" That stopped Phoebe, she put the fork down and drank some water, almost choking on it.

"Who are you talking about?"

"Jamie Watson. Your lover."

"He's not me…what does he have to do with this? What am I doing here?" He completely ignored her and continued talking.

"You know I never saw Jamie as someone who would ever want to settle. I mean, the boy wiggled his way away from marriage to my daughter. A union that would have given him more money, more territory, and more power. But then, he decided to go for you…I'm insulted."

The way his face morphed from passive to aggressive made Phoebe begin to reconsider the wisdom in eating the food. She carefully took it off her lap and dropped it on the floor. Moving farther away from him to the edge of the bed. That action didn't go unnoticed by her captor.

"Oh, don't worry. I'm not going to hurt you; I can't say the same for my daughter though. She's wanted to tear your flesh from your bones since she spotted you with Watson."

"I don't understand. Why? Were they together?"

"In a way, yes. Watson was to marry my daughter; it was going to be an alliance and he went along with it. When Nikki turned 21, the courtship began, she blasted off to her friends that she was marrying the most elusive and eligible bachelor in the country. She was the envy of everyone, she wasn't even married to him yet and we began getting deals left and right, we began to rise in power…"

The man laughed a burst of humorless laughter and readjusted himself in his chair.

"…then all of a sudden, he just pulled out. Said he wasn't interested in the deal any longer. My Nikki was ridiculed, I was ridiculed. Everyone laughed at us, we lost respect, we lost honor!"

Phoebe could feel his temper rising, but why did it bother him so much. She didn't see anything wrong with what Jamie did. Maybe, he found that he didn't love her. Breaking off the marriage is better than having to live trapped in a loveless and miserable marriage. But then, she dares not to tell him that.

"Why was the deal so important to you? Couldn't you just find someone else to 'partner' with?" He sighed and looked at her as though she was lost.

"The deal would give me free access for me to transport my drugs to other countries by water without meeting any resistance from anybody, as Watson is more like the owner of the port. No one would question me, not even government officials."

"What do you mean drugs? You run a pharmaceutical company?"

The man looked genuinely shocked for a second before he threw his head back and laughed so loudly that it sent guards running to her cell, they looked and were confused when they didn't locate any immediate danger. He simply waved them off when they tried to inquire of him if everything was alright.

"Phoebe, what do you think your dear Jamie does for a living?"

Phoebe opened her mouth to answer and realized that she didn't know what he did. Maybe he's a business tycoon, that Aston Martin didn't buy itself.

"I…I don't know…"

"Well, then, thank goodness that you gave me to fill you in. Pay attention." He readjusted in his seat again, this time joining his palms together and placing his elbows on his knees.

"You see, my darling Phoebe…Jamie Watson is a bad, bad man. He comes from a long line of bad, bad guys, and his sons will be bad guys too because the legacy must live on. Your sweetheart is mafia, he's not just mafia, he's the head of the mafia."

Phoebe didn't want to believe her ears were hearing. He couldn't possibly be, right?

"And do you know what happens in the mafia, they buy and sell everything. Everything. From drugs to tech and from guns to military hardware…and even as far as buying and selling of people. Especially women…and do you know what they do, they are used as sex objects"

Phoebe couldn't believe her ears. He couldn't possibly be telling the truth. Jamie wasn't that type of person. Right?

"I don't understand…"

"I know it's a little hard to digest but that is usually the reality with cold, hard truths."

"Okay, if Jamie is…um…who you say he is, what has that got to do with me?"

"You are a weak link, dear. There is a reason why most unions in the mafia are arranged, it ensures there is not going to be a love match and strengthens alliances. But you…that foolish boy has fallen in love with you. That is a weakness, a weakness I am going to exploit to the fullest. I hope you don't mind."

He threw his head back and laughed as though he just told the funniest joke in the whole world, but the joke's on him because the joke was lost on his only audience.

"You…still haven't answered me. What does this have to do with me? Besides, he doesn't love me, you got that part wrong."

"Love is an emotion that makes you weak and clouds your senses. That is what is happening with Jamie, he's going crazy wondering where you are and if you're hurt. He's agreed to hand over a shipment worth hundreds of millions of dollars just to get you back."

"I…"

"You don't worry, we won't be hurting you…yet. We still need you alive, once we get the shipment, his empire would be on the verge of crumbling, and your death would be the icing on the cake. He would be very weak and then I can take over his empire."

Bile rose in Phoebe as he laughed, she felt as though the food was going to come back up. She had no idea what fucked up life Jamie was living and she didn't care who he had offended in the past. What she knew was that she needed to get away from there as soon as possible.

There were a lot of things she wanted to do in life. Been used as bait for someone's vendetta didn't fit anywhere in her plans.