Eliana:

I glanced up as Alessio's face froze impassively. Leonardo's read as shock for a moment, but Angelo, standing back in his corner of the room, let a smile briefly pull at his lips. The silence hung incredibly heavy as no one could decide who would speak first, but Leonardo finally gave in, "What do you mean?"

"At first I thought that they'd gotten the wrong person, or that there was some convoluted scheme from the break in at the coffee shop that led to it..... But they were asking why my boss was in Greece and then they mentioned Russia. It didn't take much more than an intuitive jump."

"Do you know anything else about them? Did they say more?" Leonardo was speaking slowly and carefully, Alessio and Angelo behind him staring silently.

Something flickered in my mind, "Scarlette knew more about them that I did. She said they were they were Russian... part of the mob? Mafia? Gang? Whatever you want to call it."

"Who's Scarlette?" Alessio's question jarred me slightly, I had expected that he would stay silent a little longer.

"She was down in the basement with me after a few days. At least I think it was a few, I couldn't really keep track of time. Sometimes she'd talk to me or try to keep me awake, but I can't really remember many of the details."

"Did she say why she was there?"

I closed my eyes and laid my forehead on the counter while I tried to rack my brain for details that were rather fuzzy. The pain was a dull throb but I was lucky that it wasn't much more than that. I sighed and mumbled, "She was someone's fiance, but I think..... Maybe more like a slave? She said that someone bought her, but I can't remember the name. If I heard it, I would probably recognize it."

I heard a new voice, realizing that it was the first time I heard Angelo speak, but it was quiet, like he was speaking only to be heard by Alessio who stood next to him. "So we were right, Niklov is definitely participating in some form of human trafficking."

The cool marble against my face was extremely relaxing, but his comment made me snap my gaze back at the two of them. "That was his name. Scarlette's fiance."

"How old was she?" Leonardo asked.

"A couple of years older than me, maybe? Twenty-five, maybe twenty-six at most?"

Angelo grimaced, "That's on par with his previous relationships."

"Wait, how old is he?"

"Late 60s, but he still won't relinquish any control."

"You're rivals, I'm assuming? Competing... groups?" I asked all of them with the most nondescript expression that I could manage. I couldn't bring myself to use one of the other words, mafia or mob or anything of the like. I wasn't sure of their differences and using them at all, even though I was sure of what these men did, felt odd and outlandish.

The three men stared at me, Angelo impassively, Alessio cautiously, and Leonardo with surprise. I merely raised my eyebrows in response, "Like I said, I'm not oblivious. It's what you do, isn't it?"

Leonardo whipped back to face Alessio, as did Angelo, but the man whose reaction I really cared about was staring at me with a clenched jaw. It wasn't anger, it was something else mixed together into something that simmered right below the surface. He gave me an imperceptible nod, so small that I almost missed it.

I brushed it off, both knowing that there were more iminent problems and that it wouldn't be long before medication would make me feel sluggish again. I was more curious about who the Russians were, "Have they done much human trafficking in the past? Has he bought all of his wives?"

Tension in the room was palpable but Leonardo sighed and rubbed his face, "We can't be sure when it started, but long enough ago that other branches have started to pay attention."

"So it's not normal for.... These types of groups to do this?"

Angelo's answer came quickest this time, forceful and ready, "No. These groups don't cross that line, we have more respect for ourselves and each other than that. Human trafficking is off limits for anyone in the respectable ranks of what we do."

"Won't he have to step down soon due to his age? Whoever takes over for him might have the sense to stop it, or at least might be talked out of it." I glanced at them hopefully, but all I got were grimaces in response.

"It might be possible to influence the next person, turf wars and general disputes aren't good for anyone involved. From recent information, we know that his planned successor is much younger and I get the impression that many people within his ranks disagree with the choices he's making," Leonardo explained.

"But they say nothing?"

"I doubt any of his own men have found the courage to do so, he's gotten more vicious over the years." This time it was Angelo that answered, but he paused and then narrowed his eyes pointedly at me. "Which makes me question how a supposedly mundane civilian managed to elude the Russian's grasp."

Alessio, who had been passively watching with a tight lipped expression, suddenly slammed his mug of coffee onto the counter at the thinly veiled accusation. His glare would have scared me if I was on the receiving end of it, but Angelo didn't flinch.

Leonardo hissed at him, "Well it's not as though she escaped unscathed. She was a dead woman walking when she got here."

"I'm allowed to be suspicious of anyone I would like, especially when our men are being shot and put in the hospital."

I interjected before a full fight could break out. I was grateful for their defense of my character and trust in me, but it was also clear that Angelo was just cautious, and from the sound of it, he had a right to be. "It's fine, I understand. I had to get creative with my plan, and then I started walking until I recognized where I was. This was the closest place that I thought I could make it to, I knew I wouldn't get much further."

Alessio seemed to think that was a sufficient answer, as did Leonardo, but Alessio was still unsatisfied, "You outsmarted an entire sect of the Russian mob?"

I stared down at my hands, with my bruised and dislocated fingers that were starting to throb despite pain medication, "To be fair, I had a few days to plan. They had been in and out for a while, there wasn't a consistent routine to what they were doing to me.... I don't remember much of what they did, really. I knew they would be coming back soon and I knew that if I was there much longer I wouldn't make it out alive. There were two of them that came into the.... Cell. I choked one until he was unconscious with my legs, I was hanging from the ceiling by my wrists. The other one I caved his nose in.... I thought he was unconscious but honestly it might have killed him."

Angleo raised his eyebrows in surprise but I brought my gaze back down and gently rubbed my hands together, trying to rid myself of the feelings while I recounted them. "I managed to get some blood on my hands and pulled as hard as I could. It dislocated my thumbs I think ... but when I was free, I realized that I if I could set off the fire alarm, it would probably trigger the emergency system to open the doors. Scarlette had seen more of the building and it sounded modern enough. They'd been giving her water bottles, so I used one of those, one of my guard's glasses, and a pack of cigarettes to create enough smoke. After that.... Scarlette gave me her shoes and jacket, she told me which way to run. Everything else is just a blur, I feel like I blacked out for most of it and I'm not entirely sure how I got here."

I looked up at my audience, but their expressions did not disappoint. Leonardo seemed shocked, Angelo seemed slightly skeptical but almost impressed, and Alessio's expression gave me a warm feeling, but took me a moment to decipher. It was pride.

Another man that I had yet to meet stepped into the kitchen and nodded at Alessio, "Sir, there is a meeting with some of the capos in your office, would you like to postpone?"

Alessio glanced at me with hesitation, but I nodded with a tired grin, "Dont' worry about me, that sounds much more important."

"I'll make sure that she gets back to her room alright," Angelo stated, leaving little room for discussion. "This meeting can't be put off again, go ahead and I'll join later once I make sure she's had enough to eat."

Leonardo seemed unsure, but it was clear that this meeting was important and shouldn't be put off again, so I nodded encouragingly. The two hurried out of the room in response, leaving me alone with arguably the most terrifying man I had ever seen. I doubted that Angelo ever smiled at all, but I still didn't get a gut feeling of danger from him.

"You know, I'm not terribly hungry. If you wouldn't mind just pointing me in the right direction, I could find my way back to the room and you could join your meeting. I'd hate for you to miss it on my account."

He looked at me skeptically, "Alessio would be very upset if I didn't ensure that you made it there comfortably.... Or that I left you alone so that you could make a run for it."

"There's no worry of that," laughed, slowly putting pressure on my feet so that I could stand from the chair. "I can barely walk as it is, I couldn't even if I wanted to."

He stared at me for a moment, making up his mind, but eventually it seemed as though he settled on believing me. "Should I get the doctor to check in?"

"No, I'm fine. I've had worse than this before."

Angelo chuckled at first, then seemed to catch the hint of truth in my tone. His brow furrowed but I didn't give him the chance to say anything more, as I started shuffling towards the hallway. It took me a moment, but the pain was flaring up and I needed to take a moment and pause. I leaned against the wall, glancing up at Alessio, "I really don't want you to feel like you have to wait for me, this may take me a few more minutes than I expected and you're missing your meeting."

"I'd rather make sure that you get there comfortably."

He tentatively set a hand on my elbow, obviously trying to supply some sort of support so that I didn't keep stumbling, but also attempting to be respectful and keep his distance. It was almost laughable how he seemed so out of his comfort zone, but I had to internally applaud his effort. I knew how much courage it took to do something like that.

I leaned into his strong but gentle grip, thankful that it took some of the pressure off my feet but trying to keep my mind off of the pain that was starting to make itself known. "May I ask why you're doing this for me?"

I wasn't sure that he was going to answer the question at all, but eventually he spoke. "You bore torture for Alessio. I'm sure that you understood who they were asking about relatively early, and I'm sure that they wanted you to give up our whereabouts and compromise information that would give us up, yet you didn't give in. They could've killed you just for an extremely loose connection to us, and you held out against them even though you owe us nothing. I know what they do to people to get information from them, because I've done it as well."

He hesitated, trying to see if I would react or become scared at his confession, but I was careful not to let anything appear on my face as I stared forward and focused on not letting my legs give out. "That's how I also know that you lied about not remembering what they did to you, and how bad it was. You couldn't have blocked it all out completely, but you've been either downplaying it or directly lying. I think that if any of us could see more skin than you're showing right now, there would be a lot more bruises and stitches and scars than you're letting on. Leonardo may not suspect anything, and Alessio might have an inkling that you're underplaying it, but I can tell just from your gait."

At that point, I had completely stopped trying to walk and was leaning against a wall, facing him while he stared me down with his strict gaze. I felt as though all the blood must have left my face, but he continued nonetheless. "It's much worse than you're letting on, isn't it, Eliana? They did much more than slightly cut up your feet for you to need this much medication. Much worse things happened to you wherever you were, and you never gave us up."

Angelo took a step back so that he wasn't crowding my space as tightly, "So, I'm going to ask you again, would you like me to call the doctor to your room? He's already in the building and on our payroll. I won't even say anything to the others if you do, it's only us in this hallway and I have no one to confide in anyways. This has nothing to do with weakness or strength or independence, it's about making sure that you're getting the best care possible and utilizing every research to make you as comfortable as we can."

I couldn't avoid his gaze, and I had the feeling that he would see through any sort of lie I might try to spin. "I.... I think it would be a good idea for me to check in with a doctor. Thank you, Angelo."

He nodded, not quite smiling all of the way, but almost allowing the side of his mouth to pull into a grin. "Alright, let's get you back to your room and then I'll go get him."

It took a few more moments of stumbling and deep breathing to get me there, at which point Angelo helped me up onto the bed where I waited for him to return with the doctor. Whatever medication I had been given before was obviously wearing off, and by the time they returned, I was laying on my back trying not to move.

After staring at the doctor in confusion, I finally remembered where I had seen him before. He was from the hospital that Ezrah had ended up in, he had been very kind to both of us. I gave him the best smile that I could manage and he stepped a little bit closer, "How are you feeling today, Ms. North?"

"A little sore and achy." I was trying to keep my heart rate down down in the presence of a doctor. They tended to make me nervous, but it wasn't as bad as being in a real hospital.

He clicked a pen light and raised it to my eye level, but when he reached to touch my face and his fingers grazed my black eye, I flinched back. "I'm sorry, I didn't realize the medication had worn off so much. Could I see how you're healing under your shirt?"

I nodded, for the first time wondering who had changed me into these leggings and loose shirt. I could feel the tightness of a sports bra, so I didn't mind at all. I had forgotten that Angelo was in the room until he hesitated, "Would you like me to leave, Eliana?"

"You don't have to unless you want to make it to your meeting."

"Well," He chuckled. "No one was allowed in the room when the doctor was stitching you up, I wouldn't mind being able to report to Alessio how long you'll need to be on rest."

The doctor chose that moment to raise my shirt, and I heard Angelo swear under his breath. I glanced down at the hands pressing on my stomach, and the pools of dark blue, purple, and yellow that covered my ribcage.

"Ms. North, before I give you any more medication, I need you to tell me what hurts the most."

I nodded, closing my eyes because this was too similar to another experience that I had buried much farther down in my memory. I didn't want to focus on anything but the pain. Most of it was manageable until he pressed on my lower right ribs and an involuntary whimper forced its way up my throat. I managed to turn it into a cough, which hurt my chest, but I had a feeling that it wasn't the most convincing thing for everyone else in the room.

"Yeah, that hurt more than the others."

"I was worried about that the most. You've got a couple fractured ribs on this side, and some deep bone bruising in other parts of your body. I'm pretty sure that you've had multiple concussions over the last week or so, but most of your real fractures and breaks are in smaller parts of your body, toes and fingers mostly. Any deep cuts I already stitched up, including the one.... On your back. Do you remember getting it?"

A shiver racked my spine, "I remember the pain."

"It was much larger than I usually see," He sighed and pulled up a chair next me, placing himself between me and Angelo, who was leaning against the door. "That was a nasty one, worse than even some of the other ones that I've stitched up for these men before. I'm sorry, but there's no way it won't scar, even stitching it up."

"I'm not so worried about that. I've got other scars, it just adds to the collection."

I was trying to be lighthearted about the whole thing, but he frowned, "It covers almost your entire back."

"I know the drill with stitches. I'll try not to bend or do anything to pull them."

"Have you had any internal injuries before? Any scar tissue on organs?"

"Maybe, I've been in a few nasty incidents before, but the medical attention that I got for them was.... Not the best."

"I only ask because you've got some scars that seem to be long healed, and I want to make sure there's not something in your medical history that I should know about."

There was a hesitation in my voice, and I knew that they could hear it loud and clear. I didn't know what I could say without giving up a past that could connect me to a death and probably get me arrested. "Nothing serious. Barfight type stuff, you know?"

My eyes flickered to Angelo, and based on his narrowed eyes, he didn't believe me in the slightest. The doctor pulled me attention back, "The burns on your chest and back are fresh...."

"Yeah, one of them smoked. He didn't like using an ashtray."

"I should warn you as well that your nose might not heal straight, it's rather badly broken."

"Alright."

"As far as medication goes, I can give you something to dull this, but if I give you the safest maximum dose, you'll be rather disoriented. You'll need to stay in bed for a while, and I'd recommend against hard foods and rich ones that might make you sick. Bed rest is imperative, I don't want you walking around anymore. It's the same medication I gave you after you first got here and I had to do some surgery, it knocked you out for a couple of days."

I nodded, "That's fine by me, I wouldn't mind being asleep for a while."

"Alright, take these four pills," He handed me a small cup, "And I'll be in to check on you every once in a while. I'm going to use a heart monitor as well, I'll be back with the equipment in a few minutes."

The doctor stepped out of the room, leaving Angelo and I alone. I avoided his gaze and threw back the pills and water, hoping that it kicked in soon. "Eliana..... May I say, you're handling this all rather well."

I tried to laugh it off, "What should my reaction be? There's no point in panicking, what's done is done, the best that I can do is heal."

"Not only that, but you obviously know what we do, you may have permanent damage to your body, and you've said nothing in complaint.... And you lied to the doctor."

"I...."

He held up his hand to stop me, "It may not have been an obvious lie, but you at least lied by omission when he asked you about past injuries. I'm not going to say anything to anyone, and I don't think that you're doing it for a malicious reason, but the people around here are perceptive. They might catch on if you're trying to hide something."

"Thank you," I sighed, leaning back into my pillows. I was starting to feel slightly sleepy, but I knew that he was right. "Don't feel like you have to stay for any of this, I'll probably be out in the next couple of minutes. Have fun at your meeting, I