Chapter 27 song quote:

"You don't own me.
I am not one of your many toys.
You don't own me."

_________________________
HARLOW

I was uncontrollably sobbing. It had been about two weeks and a half and I was still in this hell hole.

I kept count of the days since my abduction, by creating tally marks on the wall of my broken down bedroom with a small piece of dry tar I found.

I was repeating two numbers in my head. 23 and 11. And those numbers get bigger almost everyday.

23 and 11.

23 and 11.

23 and 11.

"He raped me 11 times." I whispered shakily to myself. "And whipped me 23 times."

I was heavily shaking. Sometimes I could control it and sometimes I couldn't.

Now, I got scared with every little sound. I was scared he would come to try to kiss me again, and if I refused he would inject that stuff into me and rape me while I was paralyzed.

The only good thing was that I remembered to take the pill this month. But in a few days, it should wear off. So I have to get out of here before I get pregnant. I have a special pill created by the Institution. I can't have any regular birth control because of the experiments they did on me. The pill I have only works for 30 days, then I have to take it again every month. My 30 days are up in approximately 4 days.

Cristiano should know this. He retrieved and gave me the pills. So he has four days to find me.

****

CRISTIANO

"The pill." I whispered in alarm.

I was in the middle of a business meeting about the possible islands she could be on. I stood up abruptly and everyone looked at me in alarm and Zach cut off what he was saying, turning towards me away from the chalkboard.

"What?"

"The pill."

"What damn pill?"

"T-the birth control pill, the-the special one! We have four days to find Harlow or else she'll be pregnant with another man's baby." The thought of it made my left eye twitch and my jaw clench.

Zach choked on air. "Why the fuck did you wait to tell us now?!"

"I just remem--" I was cut off by my father. "How do you know Harlow and Petrov are--"

"Because that's just the kind of dick bastard he is!" I ran out of the room and back with the bottle, putting it in his face.

He squinted his eyes, forgetting his reading glasses were on the crown of his head, reading the print. "Oh. Yeah we have four days to find my daughter in law."

"Exactly." I mumbled, sitting back down in my seat.

"Okay, we have it down to four possible islands. Hawaii is possible because of its beautiful looks and exotic feel. Francisco could have chosen this place because of the fact that he knew Harlow treated Italy like she was going to an amazing exotic place like Hawaii. So he could've brought her there so she'd feel the same way there." Zach explained.

Eli stood up, approaching the board. "Second and third possible islands. Trinidad and Tobago. It is two islands to be specific but it is possible she's there, because like Hawaii, it's a very beautiful place. It's also inconspicuous because if you think of an island someone could be held captive at, you don't think off the top of your head 'Trinidad and Tobago'. He'd know we'd probably overlook it."

Impatiently, I stood up walking towards the board. "Or it's Sicilia. Yup, it's definitely Sicilia, let's go!"

"You do not have any reasoning for Sicilia! You can't just--"

"No, wait. That does make a lot more sense, despite your poor reasoning. We can't just do it your way and barge in there, though. We need to plan it out. But quickly. Eli, walk us through it." My father said, cutting off Zach.

I groaned. We basically rule the criminal world. I think we can do whatever the hell we want.

I plopped into my seat and impatiently waited for Eli to talk about the stupid plan.

"We'll look for any abandoned, any remotely dark and shady places. Like a warehouse, because 69% of the time, people who are kidnapped and taken to a warehouse of some sort--"

"Or, we can look for any warehouse with a Russian or Slovenian around it. And once we find that, we sneak in SWAT team style and shoot up the place." I cut him off.

"Cristiano since you're so impatient, we'll just go ahead and use the plan we've already made, and we'll make the process extra slow." My father stood up, straightening his tie. "We start the mission tomorrow morning. Get some sleep because no one's drinking coffee in the morning."

Everyone groaned. "How the hell do you expect men in their early twenties to mid forties to just wake up early and not drink coffee? Padre, you can't even go a morning without coffee."

"I'm the Capo. I do get coffee." He yelled, walking out and down the hall.

"You won't be in a few months." I mumbled.

When I get married, that's when he retires and I become Capo. I'll be the boss of the entire Italian Mafia. When I'm engaged, the deal is sealed.

I walked out and to my bedroom. As soon as I opened the door, my mood dropped completely. Everything reminded me of her. The room smelled of vanilla and my cologne. Harlow and I.

I took off my suit jacket long with my tie, unbuttoning the first few buttons of my white shirt. I collapsed on the bed, laying down on my back, and sighed rubbing my hands on my face.

It's been two and a half weeks. It took us that long to find her.

I sighed again, not being able to relax, and stood up pacing around the room.

I can't help but think about what he could be doing to her. I read about the whip punishments in her report. Harlow's a fighter, you can't touch her unless you want your ass kicked. So I'm imagining that she's tried to fight him at least four times. Four times fifty lashes is two hundred lashes.

I swear to God, the amount of times he hurt her and touched her, that's the amount of times I will shoot and punch him.

If he's hurt my angel, he'll regret it.

****

HARLOW

25 and 13. I've been raped 13 times and whipped 25 times now. I was whipped two more times in sets of fifty because I accidentally scratched him when he drugged me, and I kicked him when I recovered. It was a muscle spasm, I couldn't control it. Muscle spasms happen while a person recovers from temporary paralysis. They move, but they don't feel the movement. So it can't be controlled. I got fifty more lashes for nothing.

He had just finished feeding me some cold Chinese food, which was old and tasted gross, and locked me in my crappy 'room', where I'm supposed to sleep. He took off all of my restraints so now I'm free. But not really. I can't leave my room. I couldn't if I tried. All the whipping has made my body weak, also by the drugs. He said I should be more comfortable to sleep now.

Like I can sleep after everything that's happened. I haven't slept a wink in the past two and a half weeks, so why should I try now?

He came into the room and grabbed the syringe out of the drawer. "I've decided I need your love again, princess." He seethed through gritted teeth. What's wrong with him?

"No." I said, then instantly covered my mouth. Shit.

He turned around. "What did you say?"

I shook my head, but again, my mouth thought otherwise. "I said, no."

I walked over with syringe and grabbed my arm tight enough to leave a bruise. I snatched the syringe from his hand and jabbed it onto the wall, causing it to break.

I looked back at his face that was now full of rage. He slapped me hard in the face and I was angry now. I gathered up all my strength. I'm fighting today.

I kicked his stomach, and he stumbled back. I stood up and sent a roundhouse kick to his side, sending him fumbling into the wall.

I ran and jumped on his back, wrapping my arms around his neck to choke him. I smiled when he started coughing profusely, but frowned when he ran backwards into the wall, causing my back to slam hard onto the wall and I groaned, falling off his back.

He turned around and picked me up, wrapping a hand around my neck, pinning me to the wall. "I'm the master. You are the slave. I have to make sure you never forget that."

I screamed when I felt a sharp pain in the inside of my upper thigh. A knife.

He dragged the tip of the knife down my leg to my knee, making a big, long, deep cut on the inside of my thigh.

He grabbed my hair threw me back on the bed and my head hit the headboard. He chuckled darkly. "You are nothing but a fake bitch. You make people think you're so strong, but really, all it takes is a little pain to break you." He spat.

He walked out and slammed the door, leaving me bleeding and bloody.

I found the shirt I was wearing and ripped it into one long piece of fabric and wrapped it incredibly tight around my leg, covering the cut completely to stop the bleeding.

Laying on my side, I peeled back the corner of the fitted sheet and reached inside the hole in the mattress, pulling out my heart necklace.

I clutched it tightly in my hands and sobbed quietly, the pain not being bearable anymore.

"Please, someone help me." I whispered shakily.

****

"Angel?"

I instantly shot up, my eyes wide. "Cristiano?" I breathed, tears falling from my eyes.
"I-I'm in here! Help me!"

I heard rattling from the door. I wanted to roll my eyes and say 'it's locked, dumbass', but I was too weak for that.

I heard a gunshot and the door was broken down. He came rushing over to me and engulfed me in a hug, kissing my forehead.

The tears were falling quicker. "Shh, baby. I'm here now, don't cry." He whispered, tucking my hair behind my ear. "Please, please don't cry, angel."

"He--he r-raped me." I hiccuped.

"Shh, don't talk. I'll handle him. I'll make him regret he ever touched you. I'm here for you. He will not get away with it."

"You're not there for her. Hell, if you were, you'd have gotten here sooner. You don't love her so what's the point?" Francisco crossed his arm furious in the doorway.

My eyes widened and I squeezed him tighter. "Shut the fuck up, you don't know what you're talking about." He hissed.

"Really? Well then go ahead Cristiano. Tell her you love her."

I looked up at him and he avoided my gaze. "I-I don't." My heart shattered.

"Exactly." Francisco said and I heard a gun cock.

We both looked at him and he was pointing a gun at us. Cristiano reached for his gun but it was too late.

Cristiano fell over and I shrieked, leaning over him and grabbing his hand. "No!"

I looked at the blood dripping bullet hole that was right in the center of his forehead and covered my mouth with sobs.

Francisco walked closer and shot him three more times in the chest, although he was already dead.

"Now, we can be together." He grinned.

I shot up, drenched in sweat and breathing heavily. I sighed, thank God it was a dream. How I managed to sleep is beyond me.

"Oh God." I breathed, pulling my knees to my chest, rocking a little. I heard the doorknob rattling and I quickly put my heart necklace back in the hiding spot inside the mattress.

The door opened, but it wasn't him.

"What do you want, Natasha? Why are you even here? Shouldn't you be making moves on my boyfriend, he's alone now."

She rolled her eyes, and closed the door, locking it.

She walked towards me and I backed up a little when she sat on the bed. "Here." She said, almost at a whisper.

She held in her hand, my CAT beeper. I took it from her. "Are you shitting me? Why are you giving me this?"

"Look, I'm sorry. When I held you at knifepoint, I was just following my brothers orders." Her eyes started to water. "I-I'm scared of him. Of what he'd do to me if I didn't obey him. He killed our parents, I can only imagine what he'd do to me. I'm sorry. I'm giving you this so Cristiano will find you, and take him down once and for all. Please, trust me." She wiped her tears, still keeping her voice at a whisper.

I furrowed my eyebrows. I feel like this is complete bullshit. Almost like she can read minds, she adds on. "I'm not shitting you." She said with slight curt.

"Okay. Thanks I guess..." I narrowed my eyes and she stood up. "I'm sorry." She mouthed and sent a hard slap to my face.

I huffed, about to hit her back but she ran out when her name was called. "Bitch had the audacity..." I trailed off, shaking my head.

I pressed the button in morse code happily, knowing I was saved.

****

CRISTIANO

I heard a knock at my office door and Rocco's head popped through. "Sir, we got a hit."

My eyes widened and I bolted out of my office and into the kitchen, where everybody always meet.

"It's morse code from the CAT beeper." Eli said, writing something down. He sighed, tapping his pen on the table.

"Well what is it?" I asked, furrowing my brows.

"She's beeping too fast, I can't understand." He took my beeper and beeped a message. "Slow down."

The beeping got ridiculously slower. "Now she's mocking us." I couldn't help but smile. That's my girl.

Eli continued to write. "H. E. L. P. I. M. I. N. S. I. C. I. L. Y. I. T. S. D. A. R. K. 1. 3. 5. 0. 9. B. N. E. E. D. G. E. L. A. T. O."

I nodded. "Help, I'm in Sicily. It's dark. 13509B. Need gelato." I rolled my eyes at the last part. "What's 13509B?"

"I don't know, I'm guessing it's an address of some sort." Eli said.

"Well then we know exactly where she is. We'll be prepared tomorrow. Everyone good job, get some rest." My father nodded.

I headed to my room and watched TV until the next morning.

I can't sleep now.

___________________________________

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- COA