44

I woke up gasping for breath and immediately felt so much pain in my side that I wanted to scream out loud, but the thick tape over my mouth stopped me.

Then, as I turned my panicked eyes straight ahead of me, I saw Keeva, Rian, and Odran sitting next to each other on a couch, tied just as much as I was.

What the fuck was that shit...

I tried desperately to shake the chair I was tied to, hearing Keeva sobbing bitterly and nearly breaking on it. I couldn't look at her again because it hurt too much, so instead I looked around the room, which looked like a modern furnished office.

"Ohhh, the guest of honor is awake. What a miracle, Fiore grabbed my attention and my eyes swept over to him with a hateful glare. He was leaning in a brown suit against the doorway, apparently dazzling himself with it, all of us trapped here and played provocatively with the pistol in his hand while I heard the screams of a woman from the hallway behind him and wanted to jump up, but he immediately came towards me and pressed the barrel of the pistol into my wound, so that I contorted pain made noises and couldn't stop the tears that pooled in my eyes.

Odran desperately tried to kick Fiore, but Fiore suddenly pointed his weapon at his head with a smile, which made Odran just glare at him, but gave up fighting for the time being.

"Has everyone calmed down now?" Fiore asked calmly and then squatted on the floor in front of Rian to be the only one of us to remove the tape from his mouth.

He either knew that Rian was the quietest of us, or he knew that Rian was in charge... I didn't know and my mind was really slow anyway...

"So what do we do now?" Fiore asked my brother with a grin, whereupon Rian glanced at Keeva next to him, who was choking on her sobs and shaking all over. I knew how strong she actually was, but she wasn't suffering because of herself, it was because of Esme.

"Do what you want with me, but let my wife and daughter go," Rian growled and immediately Fiore laughed out loud and got up to walk thoughtfully through the office.

"Your wife might really be the only one who'll get out of here alive. Maybe that's at least a small consolation for you, dear Rian Gallagher," Fiore explained with a touch of arrogance in his voice and then looked at him seriously again. "But since Mandy never wanted children, I guess I'll prefer to keep your daughter with us. Don't worry, she'll love me as a daddy. All children do."

Before Rian could even react to Fiore's words, Odran suddenly jumped up in rage and made for Fiore, but without even batting an eyelash, Fiore simply shot his foot, which made my eyes widen in shock. while Keeva made those agonized noises again.

Rian, full of adrenaline, yelled at Odran to calm down and sit back down, but Odran stood like a rock and glared at Fiore with not the slightest spark of fear in his eyes.

"It's hard to believe that he's not in charge. He's got more balls than the two of you together," Fiore said amusedly, running towards Odran to push his shoulder back onto the sofa. "But now the fun is over. After all, I have to make my wife happy," he continued and suddenly looked so deeply into my eyes that his crazy look went through marrow and leg.

"She likes bondage, maybe you should know that. Oh yeah," he whispered, coming so close to me that I could feel his warm breath on my forehead and an uncomfortable shiver ran down my spine. "If you hear her scream please remember how I'm moving so deep inside her that I'm almost tearing her tiny body apart."

I frantically yanked at my bonds behind my back, but all I could do was watch him laugh out loud and leave the room, leaving nothing behind but the sheer desperation and unbridled hatred that gripped my heart so hard that I was about to just collapse unconscious.

"We have to keep calm," Rian suddenly said in a trembling voice and in return Keeva slammed her head against the side of his face, causing him to stare at her in disbelief while she stared at him like she was about to wring his neck. But I had to agree with her actions. Keeping calm might work in politics, but that wouldn't do us any good here. I also believed that Rian was just staying calm so as not to endanger his daughter, so I could understand him, but I couldn't even think of waiting here in peace for anything now.

I looked around hopelessly and heard screams again from behind the locked door, making me hop all the way to the desk with the chair under my ass.

"Senan!" Rian admonished me and glared at me. "Sit back! When he comes back! What do you think he'll do to Esme!"

Yes and what was he doing to Mandy!!!

I didn't listen to what he said at all. While I understood his fears as a father, I had promised Mandy I would protect her and I was ashamed enough to hear her screams and not be able to do anything.

When I got to the desk, I turned around so that I could open the drawer with my hands behind my back and tried to feel something with my fingertips, but I just got hold of papers.

Odran suddenly got up too, despite Rian's warning, and hobbled over to me to give me a fleeting nod before he looked over my shoulder at the drawer and his eyes suddenly widened.

He nodded to his right, so I held my breath and looked at him, moving my hands slightly in his indicated direction, suddenly grabbing something hard and cold. With trembling hands I took the scissors and closed the drawer while Odran watched excitedly as I tried to untie my bonds.

I knew how impatient he was and that he might tear the whole house apart once he was free and that's exactly what I wanted.

Fiore would not survive this time...