The Kingpin

•19•

  Amelia

  Strong hands gripped Amelia's arms and ripped her from where she lay tangled up with Rafael. She opens her mouth to scream but is immediately muffled by the attacker's now free hand.

  Her body thrashed as she tried to fight against the men she couldn't see but they carried her all the way down the stairs and out of his house.

The next time Amelia opens her eyes, her surroundings are pitch black and her wrists sting with the forming rope burns. She screams now, the only word that comes to mind.

"Help!" It's a broken cry next, "Please, I'll do whatever you want. I'm sorry!"

  A man stands before her with a face that she knew was scarier than Rafael's. She had never known someone else could be like him until his lips curled into a snarl.

  "Hey, princess. This is gonna be really simple if you cooperate." His voice was deep, accented.

  Had the blood not been pumping so hard in her ears, she would've heard the way the "th" wasn't really pronounced, and rather rushed over. She would've known it was an Italian man who had snatched her from what was becoming her favorite place to be.

  "What the hell do you want?" She spat at him, all teeth and glare.

  He responded with a dark chuckle before taking a few steps toward her. Her hands were tied up and hanging from the ceiling, leaving her legs to just barely brush against the concrete floor.

  "I want to take care of unfinished business but unfortunately, I'm simply here as a favor to a mutual friend of ours."

"What the fuck are you talking about? Unfinished business, mutual friend?"

The man took a few steps forward, crowding her space as she failed to shrink away from him. Amelia gritted her teeth and tried to ignore that he smelled of a cologne she absolutely hated.

He brought his lips close to her ear to say, "Well, darling, I killed your mom all those years ago. And you were supposed to go with her."

                                       ••••

Rafael

  He woke with a start, chest pounding as he seemed to catapult up in the bed. His hand immediately reached out for her; what he would never admit is that he could sense when she was or wasn't in bed.

  Rafa forced himself up and walked to the master bathroom only to find it empty. He then made his way downstairs, assuming she was in the kitchen. She sometimes needed a 2 am nightcap and he would never argue that it defeated the purpose.

  When she wasn't sitting on the counter with crossed legs, he grew a bit panicked and decided to go back upstairs. Something had to have happened.

  Her side of the bed was a different kind of mess and her shoes were still by the end of the mattress.

  He called Emmi almost immediately after and sat himself back down as his vision became blurry.

  "Did Amelia say anything to you?" Rafael rattled off a dozen questions in his mind but settled on that one aloud before Emmanuel could even say hello.

  "What? Casal, it's like 4 in the fuckin' morning. Are you on a high again?"

  "No, shit-" He dragged a hand through his hair and clenched his teeth before trying again. "Amelia is gone. Something happened."

  "What do you mean she's gone? She could've just went back to her place."

  "But she wouldn't." He tried to explain without getting angry. "She wouldn't just leave! Her shoes are still here."