The Ruthless Mafia Accidental Captive: Chapters 1–5

“Hey bestie, I just arrived at the airport and got cleared, I wanted to let you know, just so that you won’t be worried.”

Nora moved her phone from one hand to the other as she collected her luggage and started moving out of the busy airport, there were so many people around as it was the holiday season, people were either returning home for the holidays or going on vacation, but she wasn’t one of them though, she wasn’t here for a vacation but for work, in fact, she couldn’t remember the last time she has had a vacation, that was years ago. Not like she didn’t want a vacation but she was too busy setting herself up career-wise to think about a vacation.

“Baby, have fun and make sure to grab your Italian man, I heard they are mostly hot men and they are rich too, put those good looks of yours to use, I want Christmas baby news, wedding news, and more,”

Roseline, her best friend babbled on chattily, Nora rolled her eyes, the last thing on her mind now is finding a man, the last man she swore was her forever love showed her just how delusional she was and since last year, she swore off relationships and anything that has to do with the opposite sex, the only time she had interactions with them was when it was unavoidable, like her workplace, when she went shopping and others.

“I know you just rolled your eye but I think it is time you get over Caleb, mudafucker already moved on, you should too,”

Rose went on. It wasn’t the first time Rose has told her to move on from Caleb. The truth is, she already moved on. She just didn’t have the time for a new man. She had no interest either.

“Rose, I am not holding on to that, I am just too busy right now career-wise to care about the opposite sex, once I finish with this project, I am pursuing my Ph.D., I got no time for your silly man talks, let’s keep it cute bestie, I love you, and I think I found my ride,”

Nora said, even though she hasn’t seen anyone the lab had said they will send, she was in Italy for a research purpose and she would probably spend all the time here in the laboratory, not that she minds, she loves her job as a research scientist, it was time-consuming and requires a lot of brainstorming and no sleep but it was what she signed up for and what she came to Italy to do, for the next one month and two weeks, she would be stuck in the laboratory doing what she loves and finding out new things, the thought of it already made her so excited.

“Call me every day, at least get fucked, you are twenty-nine and needs to have a sex life again,”

Rose yelled over the phone. Nora didn’t even know she hasn’t ended the call yet. Way to remind her that she hasn’t been getting some since she broke up with Caleb, she didn’t want to think about the reason she never wanted to let a man close ever.

“I will call you every day, bye, I love you,”

She let out and hung up before her bestie could say more. She dumped her phone in her mini bag and dragged her luggage with her, looking around for the person the laboratory had said they will send, she didn’t know the person, obviously, this was her first time in Italy.

Getting this job had not been easy, she had to prove herself to her superior that she was ready to take on overseas projects, she had almost given up but thankfully, the mail landed on the night of her twenty-nine birthday which was two months ago, she spent the whole of May and a portion of June planning this trip and now that she was here, she couldn’t wait to discover new things. Working as a research scientist was everything and getting a job in a country she has always wanted to visit was the icing on top of an already sweet cake.

She saw someone who she assumed was the person that was there to pick her up and walked towards the person, she smiled and waved just to be sure, the man didn’t smile back but he did walk towards her and took her bag from her, she had a weird feeling about his behavior but just shrugged it off and assumed he wasn’t the friendly type, not everyone was friendly and she was one of those unfriendly people which explains why she only has one friend and why she is not close to anyone in her extended family, not like they give a fuck about her, her mom and dad died four years ago and being an only child, she was left on her own, at least she was already independent before they passed. She already moved out of their family house and was living on her own when her parents died. She did move back into the house after their funeral because she just couldn’t let the house be abandoned or left unused.

Nora shook her head to clear off the thoughts of her parents, she was sure they were happy where ever they are, they were soulmates who spent a happy long life together and also passed away almost at the same time, only a month apart. Her parents adopted her when she was five and they were in their fifties, she spent twenty long happy years with them and they gave her the best of everything they could offer and till the end of time, she would be grateful to them. If they hadn’t taken her out of the foster system, she didn’t know what would have become of her.

“Enough,”

She mentally scolded herself as she hurried up after the man who was walking very fast without even looking back to make sure she was following behind him. His level of unfriendliness was a higher grade than hers. At least she said hi to people she newly meets and tries to keep a smile on her face when people approach or talk to her. This was different, Nora couldn’t help measuring his shoulders with her eyes as she walked behind him. He had wide shoulders which fitted his big and muscular body. She stopped checking him out when her eyes went to his butt.

“Wow, a limo?”

Nora asked when she saw the car that was waiting for them. She didn’t know what she had been expecting but a limousine was beyond anything that she would have imagined. She has only ever ridden in a limo once in her life and that was for prom. Her dad had gone out of his way to make the day special for her and she could still remember how she felt till this day.

“Get in,”

The unfriendly man stated in a rather harsh and heavily accented voice that almost made Nora change her mind about getting in the car, she didn’t like the energy that the man was giving at all but against her will and resolve and yelling at her overthinking side who was telling her not to get in the car, she entered the car and the door closed almost immediately.

“Don’t fucking overthink this Nora, he is just doing his job,”

Nora scolded herself as she brought her phone out of her bag and call the research center just to be sure she was on the right ride. She should have done it before she got in.

“Way to go girl, you are already in the car, why didn’t you think of calling before getting in?”

The annoying tiny voice in her head which becomes louder when she over thinks scolded. Nora rolled her eyes. She just knew when she was overthinking and she knew the same voice would mock her for overthinking once she arrives at the hotel she was supposed to be using safely. On second thought, she kept her phone back in her bag and rested her head on the car seat, she had a long flight and couldn’t wait to be at the hotel, she would have a long warm bath and then order the most expensive meal on the menu, she could already picture herself enjoying her time in the hotel before she would move to the research center, she is expected to arrive there the day after tomorrow. The music playing inside the vehicle was boring. No, it had nothing to do with the fact that it was being sung in a foreign language, she listens to music from different languages but the song was just bad and it was off-putting. She couldn’t stand it and had to say something for her peace of mind.

“Can you turn down the music please, it doesn’t sound good,”

She told the man who was seated in the huge vehicle with her, he glared at her and didn’t even react.

“Don’t you understand English? Turn. It. Off.”

She let out making sure to make hand gestures just in case he doesn’t really understand English but why would the research center send a non-English speaking person to come get her when they know she only knows how to speak in English, it was weird but he did signal for the one driving to turn off the music.

Nora looked out of the car window as it zoomed out of the airport, Italy was a beautiful country and she read a lot about the country in the past few months leading to her getting the offer. She wasn’t here to explore but if she does have the time, she would do a little of that, her phone started ringing and she lifted her bag to pick it up, it was the number of the person whom she has been in contact with since last week, the one who told her they will send someone to come pick her up. The one she had been about to call but changed her mind.

“Maybe he is calling to know if I already got picked,”

She let out as she took the call.

“Hey, Elio,”

Nora said with a smile waiting to hear the heavily accented Italian voice of Elio whom she has been in contact with a good number of times since last week.

“Hey, Nora, where are you?”

He asked.

“I am in the car going to the hotel,”

Nora, from the corner of her eyes, could see the big unfriendly guy making a call too, he had a stone-hard face, she ignored him and listened to Elio.

“What? Which car?”

Elio asked which got Nora on alert. He shouldn’t be asking her which car when he was the one that sent the car to her.

“What do you mean which car? The one you sent, of course, a Limousine,”

Nora stated.

“No, that’s not the car we sent, why didn’t you call me before getting in? get down from that car right now, my people are still at the airport waiting to pick you up. They called me that you haven’t shown up, it was taking longer and we assumed your flight got delayed. I decided to call you to find out where you are. You shouldn’t be in that car, get off now,”

Elio stated. Nora tried to laugh off what he was saying, maybe he was joking or maybe he got it wrong because there was no way this wasn’t the car she was met to go into, she turned to the unfriendly man with the phone still in her ears, he was frowning at her and gesturing for her to give him the phone, her heart skipped multiple beats, she could barely hear what Elio was saying over the phone.

“Can you hear me, Nora?”

Elio echoed over the phone but Nora had her eyes on the big man who was moving closer to her, he looked so scary right now. She looked around for a way to escape but realized she was trapped. There was no way out unless she can open the door and jump out of the vehicle while it was still moving.

“Elio, please help me, please you have to help me,”

She managed to say before the phone was snatched from her hands, she let out a scream and tried to get out of the moving car but the big man stopped her and passed something over her nose, she struggled to break free from him but whatever he had over her face made her feel dizzy and before long she lost the battle and gave up. The last thing she remembered was being pushed back to her seat.

Nora opened her eyes and everywhere was dark, she couldn’t see anything. Her head hurt and she felt restricted. She tried to shake off the feeling she was having and tried to get herself off what she thought was a nightmare but no matter how she tried, it just didn’t work. It felt so real, like she was really being restricted. Slowly, her body started waking up and she realized she was indeed being tied to something and the banging of her head wasn’t an imagination.

“Oh god no,”

She cried softly when she remembered what had happened before she passed out, that man, she hadn’t been overthinking when she thought he was bad. She should have listened to her guts when it told her not to get in the damn car.

Nora forced her eyes open again and pain shot through her. She tried to adjust to the darkness but she couldn’t see anything. She was practically blind without her glasses anyway and they were not on her anymore, she couldn’t feel them.

Nora knew she was in big trouble and it would only take a miracle for her to be found, she was alone in a foreign land and somewhere she didn’t know with a man whose face she cannot remember fully. She didn’t need a prophet to tell her that she was in big trouble and that there might be no way out of there. She was going to die in a foreign and the only person who would truly mourn her passing would not be able to find her body. The tarot reader had been right when she had told her that doom was ahead of her. She had brushed it off and now she wished she didn’t. Maybe if she had taken it seriously, she wouldn't have continued her plans to come to Italy and she wouldn't be here right now, chained to a chair in a dark room.

“Please save me,”

She cried as the pain in her head spread to other parts of her body. She tried to move but she was tied too tight she couldn’t even move. She was getting used to the dark, the place she was in looked like some kind of dump or maybe a room in an abandoned house, she couldn’t quite tell and she also couldn’t tell why she was there. She hasn’t been up to anything bad. She couldn’t remember having any enemy that might have had her in mind. Not to mention this was her first time in Italy and she wasn’t even here to do anything dangerous that might have led to her being kidnapped so whoever is doing this to her must think she is some kind of rich foreigner and wanted to get some cash out of her. If only they know.

She heard someone unlock the door to the place she was in and her heart beat increased in fear. It didn’t take long for the shadow of a huge figure to appear in the room bringing some light with him. He switched on the light in the room and she had to close her eyes as the sudden light almost blinded her.

“You are finally awake, good,”

Nora heard him say. She opened her eyes slowly to see who was talking but her vision was blurry and she couldn’t make out if it was the man that had kidnapped her from the airport or if it was someone else. His accent wasn’t as much as it was at the airport so she assumed it was someone else.

“Who are you and why did you bring me here? What do you want from me? I am not rich. You won’t get any money from me,”

Nora cried out. If they brought her here because they thought she was rich, they were about to be very disappointed because all she had to her name was the house her parents left for her and her old SUV that she has been using since she was twenty-one. She was sure if she sold it, it wouldn't be worth much. Yes, her job pays her but she had to pay for all her degrees too so that’s where all her money went and her other savings were for emergencies but not big enough for a ransom. If she was here because of money, they just caught the wrong person.

“Hello, why am I here? Let me go please,”

She let out when the person that walked into the room didn’t say any other words.

“We will or we might not, depending on what the boss wants and how well you cooperate,”

She saw the face of the person talking and her heart sank in fear, he was hideous and huge. He looked everything like a hardened criminal and the gun he held further proved the kind of person he was. She knew then and there that the chances of her getting out of there alive were next to none.

“What do you want? Money? I don’t have money? I am just a foreigner here in Italy for a couple of months. I am not a rich woman, just let me go,”

Nora let out even while knowing he wasn’t going to listen to her. The door opened again and another man entered. She recognized him almost immediately. He was the one that had kidnapped her from the airport. With the way he looked, how could she have thought it was safe to get into a vehicle with him when normally, she would avoid anyone that so much as looked like they could hurt a fly, why did she have to let her guard down in a foreign country and how would she be able to get herself out of this mess?

The two men ignored her and were talking to each other, two more men walked in and they started speaking in Italian. She couldn’t get anything they were saying but by their body language, she knew she was in big trouble.

“So? You are the one that messed everything up?”

One of the last two men that walked in asked, walking towards her. He looked not much different from the rest but his body was leaner compared to the other three and he was the only one not holding a gun.

“What did I do?”

She recoiled in fear as he got close to her. He smelled of alcohol and cigars. She turned her face away from him but he didn’t let her as he forced her to look at him by placing his hand on her chin and turning her face to him, she lowered her eyes in fear when their eyes met, and his gaze held pure hate for her and she just couldn’t get why, they literally have never met before. Why would he look at her like that when she doesn’t even know who he was?

“You little witch, you thought you could get away forever? It might have taken so long but it is time,”

He let out and the smell of cigarette and alcohol hit her again.

“I don’t know what you are talking about,”

Nora said, which turned out to be a big mistake on her side because the most painful slap landed on her cheek. She saw stars and felt her face heat up, she let out a painful yell.

“You don’t know what I am talking about? Do you think you can fool me? Fuck you,”

He yelled and slapped again. If she thought the first slap was painful, nothing prepared her for the next or the one that came after. She has never been beaten before her whole life. She was shielded by her parents so this all felt like a new experience that she wanted to be over.

“You thought you would hide after what you did to our boss, you did such atrocities and still had the mind to return to Italy, you thought you were untouchable right? Now you are going to die by our hands, the boss will see to it that all of your kinds are gone,”

He let out. Each of his words was accompanied with slaps.

“Let me go, I don’t know what you are talking about, I am innocent,”

She cried out. The pain from the slaps she received made her head cloudy. Why couldn’t they just believe what she was saying? Why did they think she had something against their boss and who was the fucking boss that wanted her dead for something she didn’t know? She couldn’t recur getting on anyone’s bad side. She had no enemy, at least that’s what she thought.

“Shut up liar, We know who you are and you better start talking because if the boss comes to you himself, he would do worse than we have done,”

One of the men said and slapped her again.

“I said I don’t know what you are talking about. Why don’t you believe me? I am a foreigner and this is my first time in Italy, I don’t even know who your boss is and what I have done to be treated like this, just let me go,”

Nora cried. She couldn’t take the pain anymore. The men were not nice at all and they certainly had no respect for women. Who in his right senses would hit a woman not to talk of a harmless and fragile woman like herself? She did nothing to deserve this.

“Foreigner, yes you are. We all know that but this being your first time here? You are such a liar and to think you hide such lies and deceit in this small frame of yours to deceive everyone! We know who you are a witch and you will tell us where your master is or you will be dead when the boss returns,”

The other man let out. He was even more vile than the first man as he grabbed her hair and yanked at it heartlessly. Nora felt like her brain was being pulled out of her skull. She let out a pained filled yell begging to be let go but the cruel men refused to listen to her. As she pleaded to be let go, they continued to hit her even more. She could taste her blood and knew her face would probably be bruised up so badly. It was clear that they were not after money. They wanted her to confess to something that she had no idea about and they were not even ready to listen to her.

“Start talking, do you enjoy being in pain?”

The big man asked. Nora could barely see anything as tears and pain blinded her eyes.

“I said that I don’t know what you want from me, I don’t know what you are talking about,”

She cried out with all her strength, breathing heavily with each breath being laced with so much pain. She knew she wasn’t going to survive it. These men didn’t look like they had any sympathy in them and they were going to kill her. She felt wronged. She didn’t deserve this when she hasn’t done anything to them. They refuse to believe her.

“Get the hot seat, I think she will start talking when she is on it,”

One of them voiced. Nora didn’t know what the hot seat was but she was sure it would be hell for her, she shook her head, begging to be let go.

“I didn’t do anything wrong, just let me go please,”

She pleaded. Her throat hurt so bad. every part of her body hurt.

“Call the boss and tell him she is refusing to talk, he will decide which way to go,”

Another voice said. Nora tried to open her eyes but had to shut them again as tears clouded them, she blinked to clear it out but it was no use when she just kept crying. She knew there was no way out of there but she hoped a miracle would happen because she was just too young to die and not die, she was too young to die unjustly.

Luca's phone buzzed in his pocket as he got out of his car, he had just arrived in Italy from Spain and wasn’t in a hurry to do anything just yet, he had plans and he was sure they were finally going to push through after two years of setbacks. Days ago, he found out the bitch who took out his family would be coming back to the country and if everything goes as planned then he could finally get even and he had no plans of showing mercy.

“Hello?”

He called out as he walked towards the elevator.

“Boss, we have been trying to reach you, we finally got her,”

Nicho's voice echoed over the phone. Luca knew who he was referring to, the wench who had caused him so much, he knew she was going to be in Italy even though he had first thought it was another bait but it was confirmed and he had sent his men to lay ambush, he didn’t expect them to have caught her just yet with how good she has been hiding for years.

“Where?”

“We got her at the airport, it was pretty easy, we brought her back to the warehouse and have been here all morning,”

Nicho disclosed. Of course, they couldn’t reach him, he had been on air.

“Good, You know what to do,”

He let out. He was sure his men knew what to do, they already made him proud by getting her as soon as she got into Italy again after two years of hiding away from him.

“Yes, boss,”

“Has she name-dropped anyone yet?”

Luca asked as he walked into his office with his phone in one hand and cigarette in another. He needed the names of the people he would be taking out and needed them real, quick. He should be done with it already but it was taking too long, it has been over two years since the incident that took his beloved family and until now, he hasn’t been able to avenge their death just because the culprit had been good at leaving no traces. Not anymore though. He finally caught one of them. The main reason for his family’s untimely passing. His wife, their beloved son, and his aged mom all died in one day while he was on a damn plane, the thought of how they must have been waiting for him to rescue them still haunts him to this day. He hadn’t been the best husband nor had he been the best father or son. It was after he got back and met their remains waiting for him that he realized just how valuable they had been to him. He knew he messed up by always being away from home. Had he been home that day two years ago, they would still be with him.

“Boss, she is not talking, we have tried everything,”

Nicho told him. he thought Nicho was the one for the job because he was one of his top men, the best or so he thought because why is he unable to make one small woman confess to the people that sent her to take out his family? It wasn’t such a hard task that he needed to do by himself.

“What have you done that she isn’t speaking?”

He questioned as she put out his cigarette as he suddenly wasn’t feeling it.

“All our usual, she is a hard one boss, she bleeds yet she is not saying anything,”

Nicho informed. He hated to go down there and do the job himself but that seemed to be the case now.

“I am coming over, if she doesn’t start talking before I get there, I will make her talk by myself.”

He spat out and ended the call. Not the witch trying to pretend to be innocent. Maybe his men were not torturing her well. Maybe they have gone soft because if they were doing it well, she would have outed those that paid her to take out his family. He turned around and walked out of his office even though he barely got there, he had nothing to do right now. The most important reason why he still existed was to get the people who ruined his family and that was what he was going to do. He never used to let women get hurt, he always protected them and shielded them even those who were not his family and that was the problem. If he had not been so kind to that breed, his men would not have let that witch into his mansion while he was away and his family would still have been here. Now he didn’t care about anyone and would treat her just like the criminal that she was. There was no way she would walk away alive too, he would get all the information he needed and kill her in the same cruel way she had taken out his family.

The drive to the place where she was held didn’t take long and he got out of the car as soon as it stopped moving.

“Welcome boss,”

The men at the entrance greeted but he ignored their greetings.

“Take me to her,”

He let out and they obeyed. Two years, it took him two years to finally find her and now he was close to getting revenge for his family, each step that brought him closer to where she is brought him closer to making those that killed his people pay. He heard her cries of pain as he got closer and it was like music to his ears. With that kind of cry, it would not be long until she folds and gives him the names of those that sent her.

“I don’t know anything,”

She cried when he walked him.

“Nicho? I will take it from here,”

Luca let out as he walked in. his men saw him and gave way, he walked forward to where the witch was chained. She looked really beaten up and he couldn’t even recognize her face, not like he knew her face all that well, he only ever saw her in a photo the day she had arrived at his mansion pretending to be a stranded foreigner. His mom is the kind-hearted woman she had let her in and when they called him to ask for permission, he requested for a photo of her to be sent which they did he had taken one look at her and decided to help her, his biggest mistake. She fooled him with her small and fragile frame. Right now, if he didn’t know who she was and just how dangerous she could be, he would have freed her thinking she was innocent.

“You witch, you thought you could hide from me forever? I will make you pay for everything you did to my family,”

He spat out and she started crying louder and begging to be let go. He didn’t even touch her yet. She had no idea what he was capable of and he was ready to show her just what he can do.