That same night.
I was sitting inside of the room on the bed, looking out the window as he talked to one of his men. I tried my best to fight and jump off the boat, but he locked me inside of the bedroom. I was beyond terrified of what he was planning on doing and where he was taking me, and I still had no clue who he was or what he wanted with me. I saw them stop talking and he came back down to the lower deck and I heard the lock turn before he stepped inside.
“Please let me go,” I said as I wiped the tears from my cheek.
“You’re really a fabulous actress, Miss Chambers. Bravo,” he replied and grinned.
I scooted back further as he stepped further into the room. One of his men stood behind him with a gun.
“I have some food for you.”
“I'm not hungry,” I responded.
“Do you want to go home? See your family and Joaquin?” he asked.
I nodded yes before verbally responding, “I do.”
“Then follow my instructions,” he replied then turned to walk out.
“Then I can go home?” I asked as I followed behind.
“Maybe,” he answered and sat down at the table and picked up the napkin, placing it on his lap. He had a candlelight dinner with two plates that held steamed vegetables, baked salmon, oysters, and pasta with cut up lobster.
“Why are you doing this?” I questioned, lowered down in the chair.
“He took something from me.”
“Who?” I inquired.
“Ghost,” he spat, with a hard grimace.
“Who’s Ghost?” I inquired.
“You have no clue, do you?”
“No dammit and I want to get out of here!” I shouted, and tried to stand up. The man with the gun pushed me back in the seat.
He flicked his hand and the guy with the gun nodded and walked out of the room.
“Joaquin Ghost Fuertes is a dangerous man, Sofia.”
A chill went down my spine.
“Who are you?” I asked.
He smirked.
“Ciro Vitale,” he responded as he reached his hand out for me to shake.
“Why are you doing this to me?”
“Joaquin killed my niece, Queen Vitale,” he replied.
“That has nothing to do with me,” I said.
“It has everything to do with you, because Ghost decided to kill the daughter of a Cartel Boss,” Ciro spoke.
“I don’t know anything about that.”
“Eat, we can finish our talk tomorrow,” Ciro stated.
“Are you going to kill me?” I queried, gripping the knife beside me. His eyes darted to my hand and smirked.
“I wouldn’t do anything stupid if I were you. A lot of sharks in these waters,” he responded as he cut into his meal.
“I can pay you. Please, I have money, if I go missing a lot of people will worry.”
“That’s what I plan on,” he said, sneering.
“If Joaquin or Ghost is the person you say is so crazy to kill the daughter of a mobster what do you think he will do if something happens to me?”
“While he’s distracted by you missing? A few friends of mine will take what’s owed to them,” Ciro explained. I jumped up, raised the knife under his chin and he grinned as I glared at him.
“Have your men turn around and take me back.”
“Don’t worry, Sofia, we’re not leaving the country,” Ciro said as he grasped my wrist, twisted it around and almost broke it making me drop the knife as I screamed.
“You little bitch!” Ciro yelled.
“Please, let me go,” I cried out.
“I should punish you for that move, but I won’t this time. I have plans for Joaquin and they include you.”
“Ciro turn on the news.” His henchman marched inside, picked up the remote and turned on the tv.
“We have some reports that Sofia Chambers is missing,” the Channel 5 news anchor announced.
“That’s right, Elizabeth, so far we have Celebrity Gossip magazine reporting. We still have not confirmed,” Jonathan, the second news anchor reporter, replied.
“Good,” Ciro said.
“Good! I’m all over the news and probably social media. I demand to be sent home,” I shouted, and he backhanded me.
“Take her to the bedroom,” Ciro said.
“No, let me go. Get your fucking hands-” He pointed the gun in my face.
“My men will treat you with respect on my orders or they can treat you like the whore that you are, Miss Chambers,” Ciro seethed as he sparked up the cigar he’d taken out of his pocket.
“Move,” his man said and pushed me forward to the bedroom.
“Can I get the food?” I asked, hearing my stomach growling.
“No,” the guy blurted out with a raspy voice.
I crawled on top of the bed and curled my legs up to my chest, and cried to myself as I felt the boat stop. All of a sudden I heard gunfire and yelling from up top.
“Go grab her now!” Ciro shouted.
Pop! Pop!
“OMG!” I screamed as the bullets went back and forth, hitting the window of the room I was in. The door burst open and two of his men came in and dragged me out.
“Let me go.”
“Hurry up,” yelled the shorter guy wearing a military vest, dark boots, and a patch over his eye.
“She’s acting like a bitch,” the taller one stated as he gripped my arm tighter and pulled me out of bed.
“I can walk,” I said, stumbling to get up right.
Finally, he let me go and shoved me to keep me walking forward.
The shorter man with the hard glare, souless eyes from out on the lower deck, stood talking with another gunman. I could hear Ciro on top barking orders. Gunfire was still going off as I looked out further and saw a smaller boat. I squinted my eyes, but it was hard to tell who was on the other boat and if they were here to save me.
“Take her to the boat,” Ciro commanded as he continued firing shots. I was still wearing my dress and heels without a jacket, but I’d rather die trying to get away than stay with these men. We continued down the right side of the boat and I saw another one with a gun holding a guy and wearing a life vest.
“Get in,” the guy with the eye patch told me.
I looked down then up into his eyes and behind me. Thinking this was my only chance, I decided to shove him away and run further to the edge of the back of the boat near the engine and I jumped off as I felt the sting from a bullet then the cold freezing temperatures of the sea as I plunged beneath the water.
“Ahhh!!” I felt a sense of relief as my eyes slowly narrowed. I thought I saw a light shining, and a part of me was trying to will myself to start swimming. The wound in my side was something I’d never felt before and all of a sudden, I drifted off as the currents pulled me below.
One day later.
I felt whispering around me and heard crying. It sounded like my mom and dad, but they were back home. I wanted to wake up, but my body was weighing heavy, like something was sitting on my chest. I prayed that wherever I was, it was away from those men and they’d never find me again. The way Ciro spat Joaquin’s name and how he killed his niece, and having that burden of wanting to save myself and warn him was too much to bear. Hearing gunshots over and over again and the cold icy water where I almost drowned caused my body to heat up again.
“Doctor, is she all right?” I heard a voice say.
All of a sudden the beeping noises became elevated.
“Sofia, we need you to calm down.”
My eyes felt like they were moving at a rapid pace.
“Let me go!” I screamed.
“Sofia, you’re safe, sweetie.”
“No, he’s going to kill me,” I yelled.
A soft gentle voice said, “Doctor do something.”
“Nurse, give her a sedative to calm her down. Let her get some rest,” the doctor spoke and I drifted back into that dark place. Eased into a deep sleep, like a movie replaying, I watched myself in slow motion jumping into the water and felt the sting of the bullet hit me.
Two days later I slowly opened my eyes and glanced around the room. I lifted my hand to check my side still feeling the pain from the gunshot. The room was white, more than likely I’m in the hospital and still in America since the tv was running an entertainment show about me.
“Where am I?” I questioned. My mom jumped up and came to my bedside, caressed my cheek.
“You're awake, thank God.”
“Where am I?” I asked again.
“You're in the hospital, baby. Your father and I have been here every day,” Mom said.
“How long have I been sleeping?”
“Three days,” Mom replied.
She picked up the jug of water and poured some in a cup.
“Here drink this,” she said.
“Mmmm…thanks,” I said and gave her the cup back to place on the food tray.
“We thought we lost you for a moment,” Mom said as she kissed my cheek.
“What did the doctor say and where is Dad?”
“The doctor is checking your test results and Dad went to the cafeteria for food.”
“How did you find me?”
The second I spoke those words the door opened, and I smelled that same cologne that had taken over my mind and body since the first time we met at Antonio’s.
“I was hoping you’d be awake,” Joaquin stated as he stalked to the edge of the bed. He ran a hand across my foot. He didn’t look like the clean cut Joaquin I was used to being around in suits and all clean shaven. Instead, he stood before me, slightly disheveled with a beard and mustache.
“What happened to me?” I questioned him and he darted his eyes toward my mother.
“We can talk about that later,” Joaquin stated.
“No, I want to talk about it now!” I demanded, and the heart monitor started beeping.
“Sofia, relax, baby. Your blood pressure will go up and they’ll put you back to sleep,” Mom explained.
“I need to talk to Joaquin, can you give us a minute?” I looked up, and she nodded in answer.
She went over to pick up her purse and walked out of the room as Gael held the door open. Joaquin's entire demeanor was off and I felt somewhere in my gut that he was lying and probably hiding more secrets. I was very aware of who he was when I agreed to go out with him, but he promised to keep me protected and now I was sitting in a hospital bed with a gunshot wound and three days missing from my life.
“I need to know everything that happened,” I said.
“Sofia, you're safe. That’s what matters,” he replied in his thick accent.
“Gael, can you leave us alone please?” I continued glaring at Joaquin as Gael stared between us.
“I’ll be right outside,” Gael said and turned to walk out. Joaquin came around from the end of the bed to the top and bent down to kiss me on the lips and I moved my head out of the way.
“Don’t do this,” Joaquin said.
“You need to explain to me how I ended up getting kidnapped by some maniac and then woke up here in a hospital bed.”
“Did he touch you?” Joaquin questioned, trying to change the subject.
I felt myself starting to get frustrated and heated. I drew the covers close to my neck and laid my head back on the pillow and closed my eyes for a moment to recall the events on the boat.
“Tell me what’s going on, Joaquin. If you want this to work.” I pointed between us and his brows narrowed in slits.
“If!” he arrogantly chuckled.
“I just want the truth,” I spat, pushed his hands off my leg. He sighed and bobbed his head up and down, grasped my hand and sat on the corner of the bed and stared into my eyes.
“Are you going to sit there and stare at me or tell me the truth?”
The way his eyes bore into me I felt something was missing. He knew more than he was willing to tell me and in a weird way it was probably best that I didn’t know anything for my own protection. But if I decided to continue dating him, then all of our cards needed to be on the table.