CHAPTER TWENTY-NINE

After changing my pad, I step out of the bathroom and walk to the bed where Franky is lying down. James wasn't cruel enough not to offer me pads after he caused my miscarriage. I sit on the small chair beside the bed and take Franky's hand in mine. It's been a few hours since the doctor came to patch her wounds. He said she would survive, and all she needed was a lot of rest. I am just praying she can get some rest while we are held here.

Franky moves in the bed and pushes her dress up, exposing her legs. I bite my lips to muff the wail about to rip out of me as I see the bandages between her legs. Franky was raped and tortured. They are slash marks on her thighs. I can only imagine the horror she faced while I was being beaten. I feel so guilty for what happened to Franky. If she didn't follow me to the Bahamas, none of this would have happened to her. I am to blame for the hell my sister went through.

I snap out of my thoughts when the door in the room opens behind me. I turn around to see one of James's goons. Thank God, I was worried James might have come to take me to kill Thomas. Even though I don't know how he is going to make me do it, I am still worried he might come any time and ask me to do it.

"Come with me," the man says,

"Where?" I ask, wondering if another torture session is about to begin. Maybe James would finish the job this time, and I can finally find peace.

"No asking of questions" The man walks towards me and grabs me by the arm. His nails dig into my skin as he holds me tight and drags me down the hallway. I can bet a bruise is forming with how tight he grabs my arm.

We walk down the corridor and take the stairs up. We step into a beautiful house. The walls are painted white with stunning gold designs decorating them. The white marble floor is designed with a lovely flower in the center of the foyer above a gorgeous chandelier. Where we just walked out from must have been the basement. We pass a two-way staircase with a beautiful black banister and golden handle. We walk to the left and stop in front of a door. James stands in front of the door.

"Here you go, boss" The man releases his hold on my arm. I rub the spot where he held. A bruise formed as I guessed it would

"You can go" James turns to the door and knocks on it. I wonder what we are doing here.

"Come in," A deep husky voice speaks from inside the room.

James turns the doorknob and walks inside the room. I follow him inside, guessing that's what I am supposed to do. James stands in front of me as we step inside, so I can't see the person who let us into his office.

"Here she is, sir," James says to the man before him. He steps to the side, revealing me to the man in the room. My breath gets caught in my throat as I take in the man before me. He is a handsome man. His jet-black hair is jelled back, giving me a clearer view of his face. I watch his well-defined jaw move as he chews his steak meat. His long fingers decorated with skull tattoos drop the fork and knife on the table. He wipes his perfect size pink lips and leads back against his chair. His beautiful green eyes rank over my body, and anger fills his eyes as he looks at me.

He stands up from his chair and walks toward James and me. In a blink of an eye, I see James on the floor. He was just standing beside me, but the next thing I knew, he was on the ground. The man I am yet to know his name tackled him to the ground.

"How many times have I told you not to get lost while torturing people," The man says in a deep Mexican accent, kicking James hard in the belly as he lies on the floor. I hear James's ribs crack as the man digs his shoes into James's stomach. He doesn't stop there and begins to step on James. He also kicks his face, breaking James's nose and giving him a busted lip. I turn away from them as blood begins to decorate the floor. I don't pity James, but I can't watch him get tortured either. He deserves every kick this man throws at him.

"I am sorry, sir, I promise I won't do it again," James pleads.

"Get up" The man roars at James. James quickly stands up from the floor. He holds his stomach as he stands. He has a black eye, and his nose is bleeding. I don't need to check under his shirt to know he has a massive bruise on his ribs. The man connects his forehead with James and begins to pat James's cheek. He presses his palm hard into James's face. James's face is red and bruised. He looks like he is being suffocated.

"Don't injure our goods beyond fixing; if you do that, they will be harder to sell" He slaps James as he says every word. "Do you understand?" He screams into James's face.

"Yes, I do, sir, I understand," James replies quickly.

"Good, now get out of my sight" He releases James's face and walks back to stand in front of me.

"I apologize for that," He removes a handkerchief from the breast pocket of his suit jacket and wipes the blood from James's face that touched his hand. "Let me introduce myself" "I am Rafael Gomez" He puts out his hand that still has some of James's blood on it for me to shake. I don't shake his hand and just stare at it.

"Oh, sorry, there is still some blood there" He withdraws his hand and cleans the remaining blood off it.

"Why am I here?" I ask the one question that has been bugging my mind since the second we walked into this office.

"Why are you here, you ask" He places his hand on his chin and pretends to be thinking about it. "It's simple; I want to make Thomas Costanzo pay for what he did."

"I am of no value to Thomas" don't these people know that Thomas hates me. Hurting me as they have would do nothing to Thomas.

"You see, that's where you are wrong, honey. Thomas is probably going mad right now because of the video of James torturing you" he closes his eyes and releases a deep sigh, "I can imagine how furious he would be. It would be a sight to behold" He opens back his eyes, and I can see the happy glint in them. He must be glad that Thomas would be furious because they hurt me, but I don't think he would.

"Thomas doesn't care about me. Hurting me won't do anything to him"

"Wrong again, but as we are talking about Thomas. James tells me you offered to kill him for me."

I swallow hard before speaking, "Yes,"

"That's good to hear; there is nothing sweeter than watching someone getting killed by their lover. Brings me a lot of joy" he smiles at me.

"How do you plan for me to kill him?" If they could kill Thomas themselves, they won't be asking me to do it, but I am sure they have a plan for how I will.

"When the time is right, you will know; for now, you can leave."

"Alright," I walk towards the door to leave.

As one of the goons walks me back to the basement, I can't help but think about how Franky and I will die here. These people have made a big mistake by kidnapping me to hurt Thomas. I believe they didn't do their research on Thomas well because if they did, they wouldn't have chosen to kidnap me. I am the last person on this earth that Thomas would care about. Thomas hates me more than anything in this world. They think making him watch a video of me getting tortured will make him furious; if only they knew it won't. Thomas does not give two shits about me, and I am going to die. I think that's even better for me. I am exhausted and wish it could come to an end. My life has only been filled with pain. First, under the hands of James, then Thomas, and now James again. God, please, when will it end because I am tired? I am drained, lord. I need it to end. I need peace, lord.

***

Thomas

Thomas removes the safety from his gun and fires at his target. He continues firing until he empties all the bullets in his gun on the wall across the room. Thomas was pissed because two weeks had passed since he got that horrible video of Melina. It's been two weeks since she was kidnapped by the Mexican cartel. He was angry that they still couldn't get any leads on where they were holding her. Thomas needed to find Melina. He needed her more than anything in the world right now.

After his conversation with his mom the other day, he did some digging to find out if everything his mother told him that day was true, and surprisingly it was. Thomas was shocked to find out that Melina was actually pregnant and had lost the baby because of James. The hospital records say she said she fell down the stairs, but the wounds on her body did not match. Also, many things Melina did a week before he transferred the money to James make sense now.

A week before she betrayed him, she asked him if she could move to Sicily and live with him. Thomas wasn't ready to take that step with her, so he declined. If only he knew she asked because she wanted to get away from James. He would have let her come to live with him in Sicily. She also asked him what he thought about children. He told her he wanted children, but not at the moment. He can bet it must have made it harder for her to tell him she was pregnant. He wished she had told him about James, but he understands why she didn't. She didn't know who he really was. James was more dangerous to her, so she didn't tell him to protect him. Thomas can bet the loss of their baby must have scared her more and pushed her to betray him. Thomas couldn't believe James was so heartless he would beat a pregnant woman because of money.

It also makes sense now why Melina claimed she wasn't in love with James and trying to protect him by not disclosing his whereabouts. Thomas could not imagine how she felt during that time. He is the reason for all her suffering. She only helped James because she thought he could hurt him, and in the end, he hurt her. Thomas was full of regret, and that's why he needed to find Melina. He needed to apologize and beg her forgiveness for all the pain he caused her. She doesn't deserve any of the horrible things that have been happening to her. Even now, Melina was suffering because of him. The Mexican cartel kidnapped her to hurt him, which worked because Thomas was pained. The video of Melina getting beaten up to the point that she lost their baby broke his heart and made him furious because he felt it was his fault.

If Thomas wasn't at war with Rafael, Melina wouldn't be suffering right now. His baby would be alive, and none of this would be happening. Thomas felt like he was the cause of Melina's entire problems. He doesn't even think he deserves her love. That's if she still loves him after everything he did to her these past few months. Thomas felt like he only brought doom to Melina's life. He wished there was a way he could change that. He would do it in a heartbeat.

Thomas also figured out that Melina ran away because she was pregnant and ended up kidnapped by the Mexican cartel. He knows he must have made her believe he would ask her to abort the baby, so she must have run away to protect their child. Unfortunately, it made her accessible to his enemy, and now their baby is gone forever. Thomas was furious with the way everything was going. He needed to find Melina and fix everything. He owed her that.