Found in Darkness

Chapter 9

FEDERICO 

"Who the hell are you?" The piece of shit, who threw Elenora into the van like a sack of potatoes, questions.

"Trust me. You don't want to know who I am," I state, maintaining a deadly calm. Elenora struggles to sit up, and all she manages to do is jerk her body. She angles her head to look at me, her eyes scrunch, appearing to focus on what she's seeing.

"Look, we don't want any trouble, these girls got hammered and we were just going to take them back to their homes," Douche number two states.

"Please." A hoarse whisper from Elenora has the men looking into the van.

"Is that right?" I focus my attention back on the fucking assholes. "Because that sounded a lot like a cry for help."

"They're fine. They just need to sleep it off."

"Sleep what off exactly?" I cock my gun, before I hold it down at my side.

"Whoa, whoa, look, it's just a Xanax cocktail. No big deal," Douche number one informs me.

"Boss, we found the driver tied up. The other girl is okay, but she's panicking not knowing where her sisters are," Mostro reports.

We all focus back on the girls in the van when the girl next to Elenora stirs and moans. "Cl-cla-clara." Elenora struggles to speak.

Clara groans again then her eyes flicker open and she blinks. Her eyes widen as she moves her head around and then she sits up with a start. "Nora! Nora! Can you hear me?" Her hands move up to Elenora's face, tapping her. I try not to get worried at the blank, despondent look in Elenora's eyes.

Clara turns over and tries to shake Jackie awake, too, but she's completely out.

"Nora," Clara focuses on Elenora again. The dim light enhances the tears brimming in her eyes. "Can you talk to me, Nora, please? Are you okay?"

Elenora attempts to move her arms but only small jerking movements follow then she whimpers. Whatever they gave her has completely incapacitated her. The two men in front of me eye one another before making a run for it.

I grab the one closest to me before he escapes and duck when he swings a punch back at me. Mostro goes after the one who ran in the opposite direction and tackles him to the ground. Grunts and groans follow as Mostro punches the asshole.

I grab the guy I have by the collar and pistol whip him. He staggers back and I holster my gun to punch him, but he blocks one of my punches and hits me in the stomach. We trade blows before I pull my gun again and his eyes widen. "Oh, god, please don't kill me, please!"

I lean down. "I'm not your god."

I pull the trigger hitting him in between the eyes. Elenora's phone case is sticking out of his front pocket and I take it out.

"It's okay, Nora. We're okay, we're safe now. Rico's here," Clara explains, trying to reassure her friend.

Next, Jackie groans and moans. It doesn't look like she can move either as she stares up at the ceiling of the van and begins whimpering. Clara moves over to her and tells her everything is fine.

"Nora! Jackie!" The other sister rushes over to the van and skids to a stop. Her eyes widen at the sight of the dead man on the ground and then she watches Mostro knock out the other asshole before she looks back in the van.

"Clara, what happened?" Her chest rises and falls; the fear in her voice is palpable.

Clara snaps out of the dazed look on her face, tearing her eyes away from the men on the ground before she glances at Luna then focuses on the men again. "Those assholes drugged them. I tried to stop them from taking Nora, but one of them must have knocked me out and when I woke up we were in here. Rico stopped them though. Where's Carlo?"