Chapter 2

 The car came to an abrupt stop, which knocked me out of my sleep. I was in the backseat for God knows how long. I knew the guys were talking, especially when they put the radio up really loud so I couldn’t hear what they were saying.

 I tried to calm myself and relax as “Faint” by Linkin Park filled the car. It was one of my favorite songs for sure, but it just wasn’t doing the trick. I was too scared. I didn’t even know how long I had been back there. The time had just seemed to go by so slowly. 5 minutes felt like an hour.

 The ignition was turned off and the doors of the car flew open. They were coming for me and the tears welled up in my eyes. I didn’t know what these men wanted from me. I didn’t have anything to give them.

 The back door of the van flew open and I squinted my eyes to adjust to the light. Wherever the hell we were, it was a lot warmer than I remembered and it was non-stop sunshine.

 “Get out.” A man with an Irish accent called to me. I could see him clutching something in his hand. It was a gun.

 I knew I couldn’t mess around; I slowly climbed out of the van, trying to hold back to tears that were ready to fall.

 “We’re gonna have some lunch…If you try any funny stuff don’t think any of us won’t kill you.” Another man said to me, I recognized his voice and froze. He was the one that spoke so horribly inside the store.

 I just nodded and headed into a small, run down diner with them. The very Southern waitress greeted us with a “Hey There Y’all!”

 Where the fuck was I?!

 We sat down in a booth and the three men all began talking. I just sat there and stared down at the placemat on the table. I was so afraid to even breathe. I knew these guys were serious, especially since one of them shot my brother.

 “Excuse me… I need to use the bathroom…”

 They HAD to let me go to the bathroom. They weren’t going to make me pee right there at the table right?

 “Fine. J, go with her and watch her.” The Irish man said to the curly headed man across from me.

The both of us got up and walked to the dirty bathroom. He even followed me in. I walked into the stall and shut the door lightly.

I gave myself a minute to regain composer on myself. This couldn’t be happening to me. This just seemed like something that happens in a Lifetime movie, not in real life and definitely not to me.

I went about my business and came out of the bathroom and washed my hands. The J guy was staring at me as I washed my hands and dried them off. I couldn’t help but feel awkward in front of this man. He looked like he wanted to say something to me.

I turned away from him and threw the paper towel into the wastebasket. Still I felt his eyes on me. So I turned around and glared at him.

“Listen, J.” I said sarcastically, mocking his name. “You must be having so much fun kidnapping me and staring at me like I’m a fucking piece of meat. But I’d appreciate it if you stopped and possibly let me go the fuck home.” I tried to walk past him but he grabbed me and looked straight into my eyes. I turned my head away from him quickly as his soft soothing voice filled my ears.

“Please… Don’t act like that in front of the other guys. I won’t hurt you, but they will…”

“And why won’t you hurt me?” I shot back at him, my head turning to look him in the face.

I didn’t notice it before, but he was gorgeous. Definitely the best-looking man I’d ever laid eyes on. He had these beautiful crystal blue eyes that someone could get lost in.

My heart rate increased as he held onto my arm and licked his bottom lip. God he was so sexy…

“I don’t know… I just won’t hurt you…I can promise you that. And my name is Justin…”

“I’m Natalia.” I replied to him, not able to take my eyes off him.

What the fuck was I doing? I was lusting for one of my fucking kidnappers. That was crazy. I couldn’t believe how stupid I was acting, and it didn’t matter that he was being really nice to me, he helped kidnap me, and that’s just not okay.

I finally pushed away from his embrace and walked back to the table where the rest of the kidnappers were sitting. I would eventually come to know that they were Tommy and JC. The Irish man was Tommy and JC was the dark haired psycho. I was so afraid of that guy. Especially since I pieced together that he was the one who spoke so roughly to me during the robbery and most likely shot my brother.

“Took ya long enough…” Tommy growled as I resumed my seat and my staring position at the placemat. “So what will you be eating, little lady?”

“I’m not hungry.” I replied to him and turned my head to stare out the window.

“Listen, we’re not stopping again for a long time, so I think it’s best if you eat something.”

 “I’ll eat when I go home.” I crossed my arms and pouted slightly.

 “If you think you’re upsetting us by starving yourself you’re wrong. We don’t really give a fuck if you eat or not, hell it’d be a lot cheaper.” JC hissed and I just sighed.

 “Just have them wrap up something. She’ll be hungry later.” Justin said as he sat back down at the table. I rolled my eyes at his assumption. Yeah, he spoke like he knew me so well. He knew shit about me and it made my blood boil.

 How could I go from hating him, to liking him, to hating him again?

 I definitely needed to find a way home. 
 

**

 I watched the guys eat and then they switched to a new car, a black Hummer.

 But I was starting to get confused. These guys didn’t seem really poor, they had nice cars, nice clothes… But why did they hold up my Uncles store? They couldn’t have gotten much from a measly little Grocery Store. The most they could have gotten was a few hundreds. Why rob him?

 They sat me in the back next to Justin. I spent most of the ride staring out the window. The guys refused to talk much around me, so I figured the only way to get the dirt out of them was the play that I was asleep.

 It was easy enough; I closed my eyes but stayed attentive to the sounds.

 “Boss, what are we going to do with the broad?” JC’s voice was the first I heard that mentioned business. Great. Keep going boys, keep it coming.

 “Well she just came into our laps by mistake and we didn’t get all the money from Eduardo, so this little bitch is gonna be our pawn. Until Eduardo pays back the money he owes, his niece is gonna be staying with us.” Tommy responded, he was obviously the leader of something really big. This wasn’t just some little robbery; this had to be like drug dealers or assassins of something.  I tried not to let the shocked emotion show on my face.

 This was because Eduardo was into some bad stuff. That didn’t seem like my Uncle. He was a family man and provided well for my Aunt Ramona and my three cousins. This just didn’t seem right.

 “Just don’t hurt the girl…” Justin said and I heard JC chuckle.

 “I can promise you that I won’t kill her, but if the bitch decides to try and cause trouble, she will be punished severely.” Tommy replied to Justin. I nervously sat there, knowing now that Justin was really only trying to protect me when he told me to be careful.

 I kept my eyes closed and really did drift off to sleep this time. I knew that as soon as we reached our destination, I was in for hell.

**

 “Wake up.” Justin shook me lightly and I opened my eyes.

We were parked in front of a beautiful mansion with a stunning flower garden surrounding it. This place was almost surreal. My mouth was dropped as I looked around, spotting a far away tennis court.

I turned and looked at Justin who was smiling at me. I smiled back at him and pulled my brown hair out of the ponytail.

“Where are we?”

“Tommy’s Place… Nice right?”

“Better than nice…” I replied and stepped out of the car.  I almost got dizzy at how beautiful the whole vicinity was. There was just so much to see and I couldn’t make myself look away.

“Come on, you’ll have plenty of time to look around… let me show you where you’re going to be staying.” Justin said and I just nodded.

The weather was warm out; there was even a slight breeze. I then realized it was January. I didn’t understand, where the hell were we?! Mexico maybe? But how the hell were we there in such a short period of time? There were so many questions that I needed and wanted to know, but no one wanted to tell me a thing.

I bit at my now chapped lip and followed him inside the “Palace”. What I didn’t understand was why they were keeping me in such a nice place, and not having me somewhere… well more like a prison.

I mean I was their prisoner, why weren’t they treating me that way?

I headed up a beautiful spiral staircase with Justin. The house was luxurious and beautifully decorated. These guys were definitely rich. Maybe they were Mafia?

Justin pushed open the doors that beheld the room I was going to be staying in. There was a King-Sized canopy bed with Cherry-Oak furniture filling the room.

There was a vanity too! I always wanted a vanity… but just not in these conditions. I stopped myself from getting too excited and turned and saw a balcony. It was huge, almost the size of my room at home.

“Oh my…”

“I’m guessing that means you like it?” Justin grinned at me. I rolled my eyes.

“It’s fine, it would be a lot nicer if I wasn’t kidnapped and being held against my wishes.” I retorted and walked to the marble fireplace.

What the hell did they need a fireplace for in heat like this?

“Where are we?” I finally turned around and stared Justin right in the face. He looked away from me and sighed.

“Florida… that’s all I can say.”

“Oh God…” I gnawed at my nail, knowing there was no way at all for me to get home. I had no money, no phone… nothing. I was trapped until my Uncle Eduardo decided to repay these men. “Fine then, if you’re done talking to me… Get out. I want to be alone.”

He sighed for a moment and then looked at me for a moment, his eyes taking in all of me.

“Fine, but remember what I said… Do everything they ask you, Natalia. Please…”

“I still don’t understand why you care so much.” I put my hands on my hips and stared at him.

“I don’t know even know why…” He turned and smiled a little. “See you later…”

Then he left and I was a lone. I tried to unlock the door and get out, but I couldn’t get out. I threw my pillow across the room and finally started to break down and cry on the bed.