Chapter 39 When Hope Is Lost
Kate bit her lip and frantically shook her head from side to side, silently begging for the man’s mercy when he dropped his belt on the cold floor.
He was about to undo his pants too, when suddenly, an explosion shook the building, forcing Placebo stop whatever he was doing and turn his attention to the locked room of the door.
He was expecting a fight, but he wasn’t expecting it to occur anytime soon. According to his calculation, he still had a good two hours.
Another explosion pulled at the foundations of the building and Kate trembled violently at its impact. She had no idea what was going on, but Placebo did.
It was the explosions caused from bombs that were dropped from airborne helicopters.
He didn’t have any helicopters...
Then, who was doing it?
The bravado face Placebo had a few minutes ago vanished into thin air. He looked more tensed than ever because he was the one on whose command the army had to launch the attack, but now it seemed like the rift has already begun, without his permission.
Placebo rounded the table and grabbed a rifle from the edge when he heard a knock on the room’s door. After hurriedly loading the weapon, he pointed it at the door and walked towards it with calculative steps. He was in arm length distance with the door when the person from the other side swung it open.
Placebo’s finger grazed on the trigger, ready to gun down the intruder but his shoulders relaxed when he saw that it was one of his own men. Breathing out a sigh mixed relief and frustration, he lowered the weapon and that is when he noticed that the man was severely injured.
He was also armed, but had cuts across his face and all over his body. Men of mafia were supposed to hold up a brave façade, even at the worst times, but the man was trembling like a leaf, fear swirling in his eyes.
“‘Ndrangheta (Italian mafia) is here...” the man spoke while coughing as he braced a hand on his quivering chest.
“WHAT THE FUK ARE THEY DOING IN RUSSIA?!” Placebo screeched, the weapon shaking in his arms.
“They are helping Don Quisito...” the man replied, leaning against the doorframe for support.
When Placebo digested the information that was thrown at him, his whole body went pale. His pupils dilated with terror as he realized that he had clearly underestimated his opponent.
“Arghhh...Why would they help him?” Placebo growled as he raked his fingers through his hair.
It was a known fact that the Italian and the Russian mafia has been at war since the beginning of time. There was absolutely no way the Italian mafia would help Quisito, unless he was one of them.
None of it made any sense to Placebo and he pulled at hairs with enough force to make himself wince.
“THAT FUKER...” Placebo grunted and kicked the ground in frustration. Unable to contain his anger, he grabbed the edge of the table and knocked it down, sending the contents on its top shattering across the white floor.
He had patiently waited years for such a day, where he wanted to watch Quisito beg for his mercy, but now he was the one who was going to rub his nose on the Don’s shoes. Placebo did not have a plan B, so he decided to escape the place as fast as possible.
Turning his gaze to Kate, he contemplated whether to use her as a human shield or not. He would have considered that as an option if she didn’t look extremely tired. The girl visibly had a little strength to hold herself up and all she would do is slow him down. And besides, based on the scandalous things he had done to the Italian mafia in the past, they would shoot him down even if he masks himself behind her.
“We need to get out of here” Placebo said to the staggering man at the door, before walking over to collect the rest of the weapons from a shelf in the farthest corner of the room.
“What about her?” the man asked, nodding his chin towards the girl on the floor who looked like a thrown away ragdoll. Placebo was heartless, but the man was a little sympathetic.
“Forget about her. She’ll probably end up dead when the building collapses” Placebo scoffed nonchalantly and stormed out of the room with a handful of weapons.
Kate just sat there and watched them leave, startled and scared by the intensity of his cruel words. Quisito must have reached there, but it would take him forever to reach her because the building had almost 60 floors.
She was going to die young and alone...
Fortunately, the men had left the door ajar and it gave her a flicker of hope. If she could get herself free from the ropes, there was a good chance that she could survive. With a little vigor, she twisted her hands and legs, trying to make a little slack through the ropes so that she can slip her limbs free. But other than scarring her pale skin further, Kate didn’t accomplish anything.
Tears pooled in her eyes as she desperately tried to get herself free from the stubborn binds, even though she knew that it was impossible. A series of earsplitting explosions on the outside rattled the room in which she sat. She looked up when she heard a breaking sound above her head and to her horror, she saw that a chunk of ceiling had separated with a huge crack. It eventually detached and plummeted towards her.
“No no no no...aaahh...” with a scream she slithered to a side hastily, a second before the concrete piece fell on the spot she sat.
The dust from the collision filled the room and she coughed incessantly with teary eyes. A trail of fire slowly made its way into the room through the open door, making her chest seize with fear. Panic filled her veins as she saw the embers greedily crawling towards the farthest corner of the room, thanks to the scotch from the shattered glass bottle that Placebo broke when he upturned the table.
Driven by the extreme need to survive, she pulled at her ties on arms and legs but unfortunately, nothing budged. While sobbing and wheezing on the smoke-filled atmosphere, she watched the wooden window frames contact the yellow flames.
The fire and heat engulfed the three sides of the room, rising very high and almost touching the ceiling. The hungry embers were now closing in on her from all possible sides as the spot she sat was the only space left to burn.
Slowly...the realization hit her like a ton of bricks – This was it. She was going to die. Even though she wanted to cry her heart out, she hushed herself from whimpering because she was tired and spent. Her eyes were devoid of any more tears. All that was left for her to feel was the sweet release of death.
Kate’s mind began flashing images of her father and all the time they have spent together. A sad smile touched her lips when she realized that her father was going to miss her the most; And she didn’t even get to say a proper goodbye.
Soon, the face of another beautiful human being drifted into her mind. The one whose face she had only seen in photographs. Her mother. She had olive green eyes, dark brown hair and an infectious smile. She had always wanted to know more about her mother, and now, she was going to meet her in person, in heaven.
But the image of the person that popped into her head next made her heart squeeze painfully in her chest. It was none other than Quisito. May be, it was due to the distress of dying, because many agonizing questions speared into her conscience.
‘Did he actually love me or was he just acting like he did, because he wanted me to warm his bed willingly?’
‘If he did love me, was it too hard for him to just admit it?’
‘How difficult was it for him to say “l love you”?’
‘Why would he even love a bratty teenager like me when he could easily get a million women to sleep with him?’
The more she thought about his intentions, the more depressed she became; Because she did not want to die without knowing whether he truly loved her or not. Her little heart throbbed with the pain of rejection and doubt as she acknowledged the sad fact that she was indeed going to die with a broken heart.
Kate coughed louder as smoke filled her lungs, choking her from the inside. With all hope lost, she could have laid down and waited for death to pounce on her, but she was not ready to do it. She wasn’t going to die like a coward. She was Winston’s daughter, and she wanted to hold up her father’s legacy. If she was going to surrender to death, then she was going to do it by staring her fate in the eye.
So, despite the swirling tension in the room that had now become a furnace, Kate forced her eyes to stay open and watched the out-of-control fire inching towards her petite frame like hands of abysmal death.
“KATE...”
Out of nowhere, she heard her name being called. Of course, she could also be hallucinating; She recalled reading somewhere that people imagine all kinds of crazy things when they are about to die. Kate was about to ignore it, but the sound came again.
She turned her gaze towards the origin of the voice and squinted her eyes. She was expecting to see God but, to her surprise, it was the silhouette of a human being.
“KATE YOU IN HERE?”
The voice spoke again. She wanted to open her mouth and shout ‘yes’ desperately, but her throat was parched. But the man present there spotted her. He hurried over to Kate, the flames having no effect on his giant form.