TAINTED LOVE ▸ BILLY RUSSO

chapter eight - old friends

It had been over a year since everything happened. Billy didn't stop looking for me. Every place I turned there was someone there to kill me.

Juliet and Eve were hiding, I didn't know where. They would find me when the noise calmed down, but it was taking some time.

My mother kept stealing for the looks of it, and I? I was doing the same thing I've been doing. Getting my revenge.

Every time I got one of theirs, they would get closer to finding me.

To make things better now I had Homeland Security on my ass again. Dinah Madani and her partner, Sam Stein. Awful name if you're asking me.

For the first time in the last two months, I left the theater, walking to the closest grocery covering myself as best as I could.

I enter the store and put as much food in the basket as I can.

"Good morning, sweetie." The old lady who worked there says.

She always says it and I never reply. Too worried if Billy sees me talking to her will kill her to get to me.

"You should open up a bit." She says kindly.

"I'm fine. Thanks." I replied coldly, handing her some money to pay for the food. "Keep the change."

I walk away, the bags in my hands were heavy but I couldn't stop. I enter the theater and put the bags down.

"Fuck." I muttered looking at my red hands and taking the jacket I had on covering most of me.

I grab the bags to take them to the kitchen and when I put them on top of the counter I feel a hand on my neck, pulling me against someone's front.

"Hello, Darling." Billy says in my ear while squeezing my throat. "Miss me?"

"Stop it, you might get me to like it." I hit him with my elbow, causing him to let me go. "I suppose you're here to kill me." I go back to my bags. "Just get it over it."

"I'm not here to kill you." He says and I chuckle. "Rawlins wants you alive."

"Rawlins, yeah, right. I forgot you were his bitch for a second." I say as I take the food from the bags and put them in the fridge.

"I'm not his bitch."

"Whatever you like to tell yourself." I keep doing my thing, "You know he's gonna sell you out as soon as you're no longer useful, right?" I finally looked at him.

Billy doesn't reply, making me scoff at him. "You're just gonna stand there?"

"I'm taking you to Rawlins and then you're gonna tell us where your friends are."

"I don't know where they are." I reply. "You do know what he's gonna do to me once he gets me right?" I look at him and he swallows hard. "You do." I nod. "I really broke your heart, didn't I?"

"I'm doing my job. You better than anyone should know that." He repeats what I said when we last met.

"Touché."

"I'm gonna need to force you out or you're coming on your own?" He asks coldly and I get closer to him.

While he's busy looking at my mouth, I punch him in the face, before I'm able to do anything else, he grabs my arms and twists it behind me.

"First option it is."

"Figured if I'm gonna get kidnapped might as well have some fun with it, right?" I groan as he keeps my arm twisted.

When he finally lets go of me, he pushes me in front of him, placing his gun on the end of my back.

"Why don't you do it yourself, uhm?" I ask and he looks at me confused. "Kill me, Billy." I almost beg. "You really gonna let Rawlins do whatever the hell he wants with me?"

"Shut up, Stacy."

"We're on a real name basis now. Glad we moved past the whole Scarlet thing-" I'm stopped by him pushing me against the closest wall.

"I swear to God...." He threatens.

"What you gonna do? Kill me? You would be doing me a favor." I say harshly. "C'mon Billy. I betrayed you. I played you. You're pathetic-"

"You didn't kill me." He bursts out. "In the meeting, you could have killed me but you didn't. Why?"

"Fuck off, Billy." I roll my eyes at him.

"Answer me, Stacy."

"Why is it so hard for you to get into that head that someone can actually give a shit about you?" I push him away from me.

He doesn't reply, instead, he puts his gun close to my body again.

"Get in the car." He orders and I take a deep breath before doing what he told me to.

He zips ties my wrists behind my back, each one of my feet to the support of the car stools, and blindfolds me so that I couldn't see where they were.

"You're boring." I throw my head back.

"You didn't use to think that." He smirks from the front seat.

When he finally stops the car, I didn't know how long it had been. The only thing I knew was that as soon as he took me out of the car, someone hit me in the head making me pass out.