Love Thy Enemy

Chapter 9: War

I feel myself move, but it is only a dream.

I hear the gunshots. This is only a dream.

I feel water dripping on my face

I feel the hot breath of a man in my ear.

I wake up.

What I would give to let all of this be a dream

"She is awake!" I open my eyes, although I wish I could have remained in that darkness of the night, distant and cherished by a blanket of nothingness. A man takes both my hands and drags my body to a tree. We are in the middle of a forest, ten men, or maybe more, are stomping around marching to someone's rhythm.

"Where am I?" I ask one of them after he is done hauling me around like a ragdoll. He throws a blanket on top of me, and then ties my hands together behind the tree. When he is finished he jogs away with ease. I look down at myself and realize I am wearing only a pair of boxers and Valentino's t-shirt. Panic begins creeping in, what the hell happened? These are not Locals, they look more like mercenaries or bandits. They are dressed in military gear but they are clearly not soldiers. It's raining. More gunshots go off somewhere in the forest, but I don't see death. My heart beats senselessly. They don't want to kill me, not yet anyways. I have to escape but the ropes are tight, digging and cutting at my skin when I move.

A man comes near me. He leans down so that he can study my features while twirling a strand of my black hair around his dirty finger. I can't see his face, but the coldness in his voice reminds me of the man whose arms I just left.

"When I look at you I don't see my brother's killer." He mumbles to himself. The man in front of me is Giovanni, Francesco's brother.

"Looks can be deceiving" I admit, understanding his confusion. I know what the death of someone you love can do to a person. I know how confusing it can be when the person who took something from you is the same person you can't stop thinking about.

"Very" Giovanni nods, raking my body with his eyes. The blanket has moved, exposing one of my naked legs and my chest. I squirm and try to cover up. No way any man is ever going to touch me again. He snaps his eyes back to my face.

"It's true. I killed him, along with three others." I admit shamelessly.

"Do you know who I am?"

"Yes." I don't show Giovanni fear, because if he wanted me dead, I would already be dead. Which means there is something about me that makes him hesitate.

"You and I are nothing alike, you whore!" I break eye contact, I hate that insult.

"What do you want?" He gives me a crooked smile, making me rear back against the tree.

"You see, the Locals have something I want" he doesn't have to elaborate. Giovanni isn't just Francesco's brother, he is the leader of the gang entering the South through Northern mafia relations. The same gang that made a move on the Locals five months ago, just before my mother was shot on that boat. Giovanni crouches lower, coming so close that if my hands were free they would be wrapped around his neck. Instead I spit in his face. He whips it off with the back of his hand.

"I wouldn't be such a bitch if I were you. After all, I do have you wrapped tightly around a tree, nearly naked, in the middle of nowhere" he whispers, dragging his finger up my thigh. Instead of bothering to scream or asking for help, I rear back my leg and kick him in the face. Hard. He falls back with a grunt.

"Bitch!"

"Cut the shit, asshole. Why am I here? What do you want?" With one hand on his bleeding nose, he uses the other to pull out a gun from behind him and points it at my head.