Chapter 37 At The Enemy's Mercy
‘It’s a miracle that Placebo didn’t kill you or kidnap you’
Quisito’s words rang in her ears as she stared at the mouth of the gun that was pointed at her chest. Placebo was the worst enemy and now she knew why. When they first met at the restroom of the auction house, he had manipulated her to go against Quisito, but he crookedly hid the information that he was her father’s arch enemy.
Her throat dried up as she felt the room spin out of control because based on the explosive sounds that came from down stairs, the mansion had already become a battle zone. Like always, she hoped that Quisito would swoop in and save her, but that had a very less probability of happening because she watched him leave the mansion half an hour ago. And besides, he must have been informed about the attack by now.
But where was he?
Why hasn’t he come yet?
“TAKE HER” Placebo’s command whipped through the tensed air, making fear prick her skin as her nails dug onto the counter top.
Kate wanted to sprint out of the room and get away from him as fast as possible, but even before she could make a move, two men who stood behind Placebo marched forth and grabbed her from both sides. After arming himself with another weapon, Placebo turned and walked out of the room after signaling his men to follow.
“LET GO OF ME!!!” Kate screamed as fear rattled her chest, her hands burning under the clasp of strange men. They tried to pull her out behind Placebo, but she kept on struggling and kicking her legs in the air, simultaneously shouting to leave her.
This enraged Placebo and in the blink of an eye, he stormed back into the room and halted in front of her. One of his hands shot up to grab her jaw so tightly that she thought it would break.
“Stop it if you don’t want me to shoot you and drag you out like a wounded animal...” he sneered at her face. Kate’s body went completely lax when she felt the heavy barrel of his cold gun on her thigh. One click, and she would be in unimaginable amount of pain.
Satisfactory smirk spread across his face when he watched her come to terms with his words. Tears welled up in her eyes when he let go of her jaw with a jerk and a warning glare. She stayed still and allowed the men to carry her downstairs, with Placebo leading the way.
With horror, her eyes took in the demolished condition of the mansion once they reached the ground floor. The whole place looked like it had been hit by a tornado.
But that wasn’t all.
Bodies were scattered across the floor, crimson blood spilled and smeared over where ever she looked. Kate never had an aversion towards blood, but the sight was so gruesome that she had to try very hard not to puke down last night’s dinner on herself.
The fight was still going on, but it was obvious that Quisito’s men were fighting a losing battle. A few of them tried to rescue her, only to be shot down mercilessly by Placebo who walked ahead triumphantly.
Once they reached outside the mansion, a car pulled up and Placebo opened the back door. Kate wanted to beg for mercy one more time, and just as she was about to open her mouth, the men who held her threw her inside the car and closed the door with a loud bang. Kate was all alone in the back seat, with the partition in the middle pulled up.
Sick fear pumped through her veins when she felt the car’s engine roar to life and instinctively, she reached for the door handles. Unfortunately, as expected, they were locked. Her shoulders slumped and she breathed in short gasps as she watched them moving further and further away from her sweet home...
At the Airport...
“How was the cruise?” Quisito asked Winston after they got into the backseat of his car.
“It was the best! I never thought I could enjoy water this much. It was indeed a relaxing experience. Thank you for arranging it” Winston replied while patting on Quisito’s shoulder in an appreciating way.
“The pleasure was all mine sir” Quisito smiled back.
“So...um...about Kate –” Quisito began, but Winston interrupted when he heard his phone chime with a call from an unknown number.
“Excuse me...I think I should take this...”
“Of course, please do...” Quisito gestured politely before turning his attention outside the car window.
Winston was about to attend the call but suddenly, it ended. The next second, a message popped up on his screen, which was sent from the same number. Frowning, he clicked on it and the image enclosed inside the message filled his phone screen.
Quisito was observing the scenery that ran past the car, when he felt Winston grabbing his hand with unexpected tightness. Immediately his head whipped to the side, only to see Winston breathing heavily while clutching his chest.
“WINSTON ?!” he called out in alert when he realized that Kate’s father was having a stroke.
“Drive to the hospital and use the VIP sirens. NOW!” Quisito yelled at the driver, who instantly obeyed his master. And soon, they were flying through the road that was cleared for them because of the blaring sirens.
“Winston, just hold on; You will be okay...” Quisito assured as he held Winston’s trembling body.
“M-My daughter...” Winston gasped out, squeezing Quisito’s arm tighter.
“What...what happened to her?” He asked back in panic, his brows drawn together in confusion. Because the last time he saw her, everything was as okay.
“S-she...she’s gone. P-Please...s-save her...” Winston managed to mutter before completely going unconscious.
The Don still had no clue on what was going on and so he reached for his own phone to double check that everything was fine.
He had business empire that was spread across more than five continents and got phone calls every now and then. So, before arriving at the airport, Quisito decided to put his phone on vibration mode out of respect towards Winston, who was a senior leader. But this time, accidentally, he put the phone on silent mode. And he realized that it was a grave mistake when he saw that he had more than 100 missed calls and 70 messages. Even during the busiest day, he barely got 30 calls in half an hour.
Sensing that something must be wrong, he was about to dial the number of someone from his gang, but before he could click the call button, he got an incoming call from one of his men.
“Hello?” that was all Quisito had to ask because immediately, he was filled in with the incidents that took place at the mansion. But the moment his mind registered the fact that Kate was taken as hostage, the device slipped from his hand and hit the floor of the car.
“DAMN IT!” growling out a curse, he reached for Winston’s phone because he was sure that whatever was in it, was the reason for his stroke. The phone was placed screen down on the other side, next to the door. When Quisito reached over Winston and flipped the phone, his heart nearly collapsed at the sight.
It was a selfie sent by Placebo with an eerie grin plastered across his face, with Kate in the background. She was sitting on the floor with hands and legs tied. Her eyes were swollen with tears, her face tired and her hair disheveled due to struggle. The thing that got his blood boiling was the droplets of blood that was splattered across the blue frock that she wore.
Quisito wanted to crush or break something to vent out the anger he felt at that moment, but he tried to stay calm. In the mafia, I was advised that one should never act out of emotions. It was dangerous and could cause unfathomable damage. Leaning back in his seat, Quisito closed his eyes and brought up one of his hands and gripped the temples of his head. Staying like that, he took three deep breaths to calm himself, before bending down and picking his phone that he dropped.
Quisito then made more than eight important calls to diffuse the situation, until the car came to a stop near the largest hospital in town. By that time, the doctors and nurses were already waiting for them in front of the hospital. All of them helped Quisito in transferring Winston to a stretcher and hurried the patient towards the OT.
“Winston, I promise you on my blood that I will bring your daughter back, alive” the Don squeezed Winston’s hand in assurance, before letting the doctors slide his unconscious body inside the operation room.
“BOSS...”
One of Quisito’s men called him from behind in the hospital corridor and when he turned, fire blazed in his eyes. He was determined to bring her back, even if he has to walk through hell, barefoot.
At Placebo’s place...
Normally, captives were kept in a dark room, illuminated with nothing but a light bulb. But there, she was kept in a well-lit room, somewhere in the basement. She was made to sit on the white tiled floor, leaning against a wall. Kate’s legs were tied together. Her hands too, were bound and placed on her lap. The rough ropes were trussed so tight that it was digging into her soft flesh.
Placebo was unmistakably a sadist and she got a taste of his inhuman behavior when they arrived at his place ten minutes ago. At the entrance, Placebo yanked her out of the car like an animal and pulled her towards his building.
But before they got inside, his hands reached under her skirt, making her face go pale because she thought he was going to grope her in open space; But he had something else in his cruel mind.
He slid the sharp edge of his knife on her unblemished thigh, just above her knee. She cried out in pain when blood gushed out of the line shaped wound. An excruciating amount agony spread through her nerves. After that, he made her walk down fifteen flights of stairs with the throbbing pain, causing droplets of blood to scatter across her beautiful dress.