The Prison Ship

The Prison Ship
Isabella's POV

The needle went into my arm before I could fight back.

Vincent Senior's men had grabbed me the moment I walked into the old mansion. I should have known it was a trap, but I was too desperate to save Tony to think clearly.

"Don't worry," Vincent Senior said as the drug made me sleepy. "This won't hurt the baby."

The baby. Even drugged and captured, I put my hands on my stomach to protect the life growing inside me.

Everything went black.

When I woke up, I was on a boat. The floor was moving back and forth, and I could hear water splashing against the walls.

"Isabella?" a weak voice called out.

I looked around and saw my father sitting in a corner. He looked terrible. His face was thin and his eyes were empty, like he couldn't think straight.

"Papa!" I crawled over to him and hugged him tight.

"My princess," he whispered. "I thought I would never see you again."

"I'm here now," I said. "I'm going to get us out of here."

But even as I said it, I could feel something was wrong. My father's hug didn't feel right. He seemed confused and distant.

"Papa, are you okay?" I asked.

"Sometimes I remember things," he said slowly. "Sometimes I don't. The medicine they give us makes everything fuzzy."

Medicine. Vincent Senior was drugging the prisoners to keep them weak and confused.

"What medicine?" I asked.

My father pointed to a man in a white coat who was walking around the room with a tray of pills.

"Twice a day," my father said. "If we don't take the pills, they don't give us food."

I looked around the room and saw other prisoners. Some I recognized, some I didn't. All of them looked sick and weak.

"How long have you been here?" I asked my father.

"Days. Weeks. I can't remember," he said.

That's when I heard a voice I didn't expect.

"Isabella Russo."

I turned around and saw an older man sitting near the window. He looked like Tony, but with gray hair and sad eyes.

"Who are you?" I asked.

"My name is Antonio Moretti," he said. "But everyone called me Little Tony."

"Moretti?" I said. "Are you related to Tony?"

"I'm his uncle," the man said. "Marco's younger brother."

I was confused. "But Tony said his uncle Salvatore was dead. And Marco never mentioned another brother."

"Because Marco doesn't know I'm alive," Antonio said. "Vincent Senior told him I died in a car accident twenty years ago."

"But you're here."

"I've been Vincent Senior's prisoner for twenty years," Antonio said bitterly. "He keeps me alive because I know too much about his crimes."

"What crimes?"

Antonio looked around to make sure the guards weren't listening, then whispered, "Vincent Senior killed my father. Tony's real grandfather."

My heart stopped. "What do you mean, real grandfather?"

"The man Tony thinks is his grandfather - Marco's father - died thirty years ago," Antonio explained. "Vincent Senior murdered him and took his place."

This was getting more confusing. "How could he take someone's place?"

"Plastic surgery. New identity. Vincent Senior has been pretending to be Marco's father for thirty years," Antonio said. "Marco never knew his real father was dead."

I felt sick to my stomach. "So Vincent Senior has been controlling Tony's family his whole life."

"Controlling and destroying," Antonio said. "He's the one who really started the war between your families. He wanted both sides weak so he could take over everything."

"Does Marco know the truth?" I asked.

"Marco suspects something now," Antonio said. "That's why Vincent Senior had him captured too."

"Marco is here?"

Antonio pointed to another part of the room. "Over there. But the drugs have made him very sick."

I looked and saw a man lying on a bed. He looked like an older version of Tony, but his breathing was shallow and his skin was pale.

"Is he dying?" I asked.

"The mind control drugs are poison if you take them too long," Antonio said. "Vincent Senior doesn't care. He just wants to keep us quiet until he doesn't need us anymore."

I put my hand on my stomach again. "What about my baby? Will the drugs hurt my baby?"

"Vincent Senior won't let them give you the full dose," Antonio said. "He wants the baby healthy. But he'll give you just enough to keep you from fighting back."

That's when the man in the white coat came over to us.

"Time for medicine," he said, holding out pills.

"I won't take them," I said.

"Then you don't eat," the man said simply.

I looked at my father, who was already swallowing his pills. He was too weak to fight anymore.

"Please," I begged the man. "I'm pregnant. These drugs could hurt my baby."

"The drugs won't hurt the baby," the man said. "But starving will."

I realized I had no choice. If I didn't eat, my baby would die. If I took the drugs, I would become too weak to escape.

"I'll take half," I said.

"You'll take what you're given," the man replied.

That's when Antonio did something brave. He knocked the pills out of the man's hand, sending them flying across the room.

"Run, Isabella!" Antonio yelled.

But there was nowhere to run. We were on a ship in the middle of the ocean.

The guards came running over, shouting and pushing Antonio to the ground.

"That's enough medicine for today," one of the guards said. "The old man just cost everyone their pills."

The other prisoners started complaining, but they were too weak to fight.

As the guards walked away, Antonio whispered to me, "Tonight, when they think we're sleeping, we're getting out of here."

"How?" I asked.

"I've been working on the lock to that door for months," Antonio said, pointing to a metal door at the end of the room. "It leads to the upper deck."

"What good does that do? We're still on a ship."

"There are lifeboats," Antonio said. "And I think help is coming."

"What do you mean?"

Antonio pulled a small radio from under his shirt. "I've been listening to their communications. Someone is attacking Vincent Senior's other locations tonight."

"Who?"

"I think it's your boyfriend and his resistance friends," Antonio said with a small smile.

Hope filled my heart for the first time in hours. "Tony's alive?"

"Very alive. And very angry," Antonio said. "The guards are scared. They keep talking about coordinated attacks all over the city."

That's when I heard something that made my blood freeze.

An alarm was going off somewhere on the ship.

"What's that?" I asked.

Antonio's face went white. "That's the emergency alarm."

"Emergency?"

"Something's wrong with the ship," he said.

The floor was starting to tilt to one side. Water was beginning to seep under the door.

"We're sinking," Antonio said.

My father looked up with confused eyes. "What's happening?"

"Papa, we have to get out of here," I said, helping him stand up.

But as I stood up, I felt something terrible.

A sharp pain in my stomach.

Then another one.

Then another one.

"No," I whispered. "Not now."

Antonio looked at me with worried eyes. "Isabella, what's wrong?"

Another pain hit me, stronger than the others. I doubled over, unable to breathe.

"The baby," I gasped. "The baby is coming."

The ship was sinking, the guards were panicking, and I was going into labor in the middle of the ocean.

Antonio grabbed my arm. "How far along are you?"

"Seven months," I said through the pain. "It's too early."

"We have to get you off this ship," Antonio said.

But the water was rising faster now. It was already up to our ankles.

"The door!" my father said, pointing to the exit. "It's locked!"

Antonio ran to the door and started working on the lock with a piece of metal he had hidden. His hands were shaking as the water got higher.

"Hurry!" I yelled, as another contraction hit me.

The other prisoners were waking up, realizing what was happening. Some were too drugged to understand. Others were screaming in panic.

"Got it!" Antonio said as the lock clicked open.

But when he opened the door, water poured in like a waterfall.

"The upper deck is flooded too," he said grimly.

We were trapped in a sinking ship, and my baby was trying to be born.

"There!" my father said, pointing up. "A window!"

High above us was a small window that wasn't underwater yet.

"I can't climb up there," I said, holding my stomach as another contraction hit.

"You have to try," Antonio said. "It's our only chance."

He helped boost me toward the window, but I was too weak from the labor pains.

"I can't make it," I said.

That's when we heard voices from outside the window.

"Isabella! Are you in there?"

It was Tony's voice.

"Tony!" I screamed. "Help us!"

I could see his face at the window. He looked desperate and scared.

"Hold on!" he yelled. "I'm coming!"

But the water was rising too fast. In a few minutes, we would all be underwater.

Another contraction hit me, the strongest one yet.

"The baby's coming now," I gasped.

Antonio looked at Tony through the window. "You have to choose! Save Isabella or save the others!"

"I'm saving everyone!" Tony yelled back.

But even as he said it, I could see the ship was sinking too fast.

There wasn't enough time to save all of us.

And my baby was being born into the most dangerous moment of our lives.

The water reached my waist just as I felt the baby's head crowning.

"Isabella!" Tony screamed from outside.

That's when I realized the most terrifying truth of all.

Even if Tony saved me, my baby was being born underwater.

And babies can't breathe underwater.