The Dark Room

Martina fell to her knees and began to weep, she couldn’t believe her ears.

“Caterina.” She mumbled in tears. Alberto knelt in front of her and pulled her into a hug trying to console her.

“We will rescue Caterina, I promise you, Martina,” Alberto said and Martina jerked his hands off him.

“How?! How are you doing to save her? Stop promising me okay! It’s game over! You can’t do anything now Alberto!” Martina cried seriously and Greta felt so bad.

“I am the cause of all these.” She thought. She walked up to Martina and stood in front of her.

“I’ll go to him. I’ll tell him to release Caterina, she has nothing to do with these. It’s me he wants.” Greta told and Martina shook her head standing to her feet.

“No! That isn’t going to work. I don’t even think he wants you anymore, your Dad and Matteo must have heard about all these already and they would be looking for you already. He has gotten what he wants and even more. He wants me now Greta, you going won’t change anything.” Martina explained and Greta shook her head.

“I don’t care. I am the reason all these started in the very first place. I’ll call my Dad and Matteo, they will help out.” Greta assured.

“And if it gets bloody? What’s going to happen, hun? He is going to kill her, and kill you and still come after me.” Martina replied and Greta sighed.

“So what do you think?” She asked looking at Alberto and Martina at the same time.

“I’ll go,” Martina stated and Alberto’s eyes widened.

“That is never going to happen! You are going to die, Martina!” He yelled in disagreement.

“What’s my use of being alive when Caterina is gone? She is the only family I have! I would sacrifice my life to keep her living. She is still a very young girl Alberto, I wouldn’t let her stay with Roberto another hour without being there with her. I can feel she is so scared right now.” Martina muttered in terror.

She picked up her phone before they could stop her and she called Caterina’s line again. She began to pace in the living room waiting for Roberto to pick up.

Someone answered the phone making her stop abruptly.

“Tell me where you are… I’ll meet you there as soon,” Martina uttered before Roberto could talk.

“I’ll send you the address now.” She heard someone else reply. She quickly hung up and looked at Alberto who stared at her equally.

“Someone else answered the phone.” She made known and Alberto sighed. He brushed his hair backward with his hand tiredly.

He wasn’t thinking straight anymore, he was sweaty and too scared to think. He opened his mouth to speak when his phone began to ring.

They all looked at his phone that was on the center table like it was Roberto calling. He reached for his phone and when he saw who was calling he let out a sigh.

“It is Lucia.” He uttered and they let out a sigh of relief. He dipped the phone into his pocket and let it keep ringing.

“Why aren’t you answering it? She must be worried about you. It’s late.” Martina said looking at him and he shook his head.

“I’ll send her a text instead. This is a very urgent issue Martina, a life and death situation.” Alberto stated.

“You still need to check up on her. Hopefully, Roberto hasn’t gotten to her too because he is never predictable.” Greta added and Alberto clenched his jaw.

He pulled out his phone, this time it had stopped ringing. He put a call across to her immediately and stamped his feet on the floor waiting for her to respond.

She finally answered the phone and the first thing he heard was the cry of his baby boy.

“Alberto, are you still at the office? It’s very late and I’m beginning to worry.” She told tiredly.

“I’m still pretty Lucia, an issue came up. But don’t worry, I’ll be home soon. Please don’t wait up okay? Kiss my lovelies goodnight.” He said to her and she hung up the call.

“He sent the address already, I’ll leave now,” Martina said picking up her car keys from the couch. Greta rushed to the couch and carried their bags.

“I’m going with you and you can’t stop me. Don’t try talking me out of this or you would be delayed.” Greta said and Martina nodded in agreement.

“I’m going too,” Alberto said and they both looked at him.

“No!” They both chorused and Alberto creased his brows.

“What? You can’t tell me what to do!” He responded and Martina nodded.

“Oh yes, we can. You have a wife and kids Alberto. If anything happens to us what of Lucia? And your Babies? The best you can do for us is to stay put okay? Pulling the police into this is going to worsen the case. Let me handle this, I promised I would right?” Martina stated and Alberto began to breathe hard. He didn’t know what to say to her anymore, but he was so scared Roberto was going to kill her.

“What if he kills you? I would never forgive myself for dragging you into this mess.” Alberto spoke in regret.

“He wouldn’t. Maybe he would eventually but it wouldn’t be so fast, I have been an ass to him and he wouldn’t want to get rid of me so easily. Go to your wife Alberto, when Caterina comes back she will come to you and you will help me keep an eye on her.” Martina informed trying to hold back the tears that threatened to roll down her eyes.

He nodded and they both hugged each other tightly. He wasn’t aware when a tear rolled down his left eye, he shut his eyes clenching his jaw.

“Stay alive Martina… Please. I don’t want to lose you.” He said and she nodded. Before she could move away, Alberto’s lips touched her and he kissed her so passionately.

The kiss caught Martina off guard, but she didn’t think twice before she reciprocated. “This could be the last time I’ll ever see him.”

“I love you, Martina.” He mumbled in tears hugging her again.

“We need to go guys… Roberto isn’t the patient type.” Greta said and Martina let go of Alberto slowly.

“I’ll rescue you. I promise.” Alberto voiced and Martina gave him a nod as she walked to the door.

“Help me lock up, the key is right there on the table.” She told and he bobbed watching her leave with Greta.

He walked to the door and watched them as they both got into the car. Martina started the engine, and she drove out of the compound without thinking twice.

Alberto’s feet weakened as he watched her leave and he couldn’t do anything about it. He hurriedly picked up his phone and called the station.

As he called and waited for their response, he began to think of ways to follow her without being noticed.

Martina made sure she didn’t show him the address because she knew he would come no matter what, he had to think of another way.

The then remembered he once stored the plate number of Martina’s car on his phone for security reasons the second day she came to visit him at the office. He put his phone on speaker and began to look for it on his phone.

The station finally answered and it was the exact time he found the plate number.

“I need you to track this car right now and send me the tracks… AB 254 GD. I need the tracks right now.” He instructed. He hung up the call and also picked up his car keys, he didn’t forget to take Martina’s house key too.

He locked the door and hit the road afterward.

***

Martina drove at a speed she had never driven in her entire existence. She kept checking her phone from time to time to see if she was going to receive a call or message.

“Have you called Pablo?” Greta asked and Martina’s eyes widened.

“Oh God, Pablo was with her. How did I forget that? I should call him… Do you think it’s a good idea? He must be with Roberto too. Because he would never let Roberto get to Caterina so easily. Maybe he is in Roberto’s custody too.” Martina gabbed.

“You should call him to clear your thoughts, Martina. Maybe he escaped and he would have some useful information.” Greta suggested and Martina nodded.

She handled the steering with her left hand and she reached for her phone using her right hand. She passed it to Greta and without saying anything to her Greta knew what she wanted her to do.

She searched for Pablo’s phone number and dialed it. She helped Martina connect her phone to the car speaker and they both waited for it to connect, but instead, it kept going into voicemail.

“Now his line isn’t connecting too,” Martina uttered in frustration hitting the steering with her right hand.

“Please stay calm Martina; this wouldn’t help.” Greta bid and Martina nodded. She couldn’t keep still as she drove, she ran her palm over her mouth trying to keep her shit together.

“We are almost there,” Greta said looking at the phone and Martina nodded. They were drawing close to a Heliport and this got them confused.

“I wasn’t expecting it to be a building or warehouse… like in the movies.” Greta voiced out and Martina bit her lower lip nervously.

“What on Earth is this f**ker planning?” Martina mumbled as they drew closer and closer to the port.

They finally got to the place and Martina reduced her driving pace. She dimmed her car headlights and they both looked around.

They couldn’t see anything, Martina was about to pick up her phone to call the number again when the lights came on all of a sudden.

It shone directly on their faces and they had to cover their eyes with their arms. They tried seeing through the lights but they could see nothing, the lights were too bright, and they came from all angles.

Suddenly, they heard someone knock on the window of the car making them jump in fright.

Greta looked at Martina and Martina exhaled lowering the window of the car. She opened her mouth to talk when all of a sudden they hit their heads with the back of their guns and they fell unconscious.

***

Roberto stood in front of his pool with his tobacco in his hand, he took puffs from it occasionally. As he stood, he began to evaluate and calculate how to go about his money with Lorenzo Ferrari.

Greco ran to where he stood and stood behind him with a phone in his hand.

“Mr. Lorenzo on the phone boss,” Greco informed and Roberto smirked. He took the phone from Greco, and Greco moved away.

“Where is my daughter Mr. Roberto?” Lorenzo asked in rage.

“That isn’t a pleasant way to start a conversation, Lorenzo Ferrari,” Roberto replied in calmness. He had never been so calm his whole life.

“How dare you! After what I did for your father and his business? You dare take it out on me like this?” Lorenzo further ranted and Roberto heard glass crashing.

“You should take it easy. The drama is yet to begin Mr. Lorenzo. I am not my father, and if my father ever talked about me to you, then he must have mentioned that I hate people yelling over the phone. Let’s meet up and talk this out like the gentlemen we are.” Roberto told and Lorenzo gave no reply.

“I am in Berlin as we speak. We would talk tomorrow at noon, I’ll tell you where we should meet up… one more thing, I stick to the time. You stay one minute late and your precious Greta is gone.” Roberto threatened.

He hung up the call without giving Lorenzo the chance to talk. He raised the phone, and Greco rushed to get it.

Before Greco moved away, he saw Bruno walk in and he quickly stepped away from Roberto so that Bruno could talk to him.

“We’re back boss. We have the two ladies.” Bruno made it known and Roberto let out an evil grin again.

“Things keep getting interesting.” He thought and turned to look at Bruno.

He walked into the mansion, and Greco and Bruno followed behind him. He walked to the living room with his hands in his pockets.

He saw them laying on the floor with bags on their heads. He signaled them to remove the bag from their heads as soon as he got closer.

They removed the bags from their faces and he squatted and stared at their faces which had bloodstains on them.

“Take her to one of the rooms, we need her perfectly fine for tomorrow’s meeting,” Roberto uttered and one of his men carried Greta in his hand and walked away with her.

He stared at Martina for some minutes before standing on his feet.

“Lock her up in the darkroom.” He said without remorse and walked away