Their Hidden Treasure

Chapter 42

Sophia’s POV

My head was throbbing.

I groaned and tried to move my arms. Something was stopping me.

I furrowed my eyebrows and tried to open my eyes. My eyelids were too heavy and everything hurt.

What the hell happened to me? Was I sick? Where was I? Why couldn’t I move my arms?

“Good morning,” I heard a familiar voice. “Did you miss me?”

I was confused. Did I miss who? The voice sounded so familiar, but I couldn’t remember who it belonged to.

I felt someone’s lips on my cheek.

“Come on,” he said. “Open your eyes. I can’t wait for you to see me.”

I gulped and forced my eyes to open. I was confused and curious. Who was that? Who…

No.

No, no, no, no.

He grinned widely and leaned closer to me.

“Oh, I have missed you so fucking much,” he said, taking a deep breath and closing his eyes. “We have so much to catch up on. I can’t want, Sophia. I simply can’t wait.”

My heart was going to give out. I couldn't breathe.

No. It wasn’t possible. It had to be a nightmare.

I shut my eyes tightly, praying I would wake up next to Alex. I had to wake up next to him. He had to pull me into a hug and tell me it was a nightmare. He had to kiss my temple and tell me that everything would be okay. He had to be right next to me when I opened my eyes again.

“Oh, come on, Sophia,” he said and my stomach twisted. “Open your eyes. Didn’t you miss me too?”

I shut them even tighter.

“Wake up, wake up, wake up,” I started mumbling and rocking back and forth.

He just laughed.

“This isn’t a dream, Sophia,” he said and I shook my head violently.

It was a dream. It was a nightmare. I was asleep and I would wake up in my brother’s arms.

“Wake me up, Alex, please,” I mumbled, clenching my fists and trying to lift my arms.

He laughed even harder.

“Oh, Sophia,” he said. “He can’t wake you up. He isn’t here. You will never see him again.”

My heart broke into a million tiny pieces.

“Thank God for that,” another familiar voice said. “I never wanted my sons involved with her. She is a filthy bastard.”

I stopped rocking and opened my eyes slowly. I looked to my right and saw Mrs. Ferrara standing close by.

Every piece of hope I had that this was a nightmare disappeared in that second. I remembered everything.

We were in a kitchen. We started making pancakes. Luke was with us. He said that he was going to go find the others and he left. She hit me over the head with something hard and that was the last thing I remembered before waking up here.

It really wasn’t a nightmare. It was reality. James was really running his hand up and down my thigh. Mrs. Ferrara was really smirking at me. Elizabeth was really standing next to her with a wide grin on her face.

It was all a reality and I felt my entire body give up. If my heart could have shut down on its own it would have. If I could stop breathing on my own I would have. I would never survive this. I didn’t want to survive this.

“She is really beautiful, isn’t she?” an unfamiliar male voice said. “A beautiful mixture of her mother and her father. A true Caruso-Ferrara woman.”

I didn’t care who it was. I didn’t even look at him. I went numb. My body, my mind, and my heart went completely numb. It was a familiar feeling. It was the only thing I felt in the first 17 years of my life.

“Well, she is as ugly as her mother was,” Mrs. Ferrara said.

“Oh, Natalia,” the unknown man laughed. “Don’t be such a bitch. I know that her mother fucker your husband and had a child with him, but you have to admit that she was a true beauty.”

I heard footsteps approaching me and he stopped in front of me.

“Just like her daughter is right now,” he said, grinning widely.

I didn’t react. I didn’t even acknowledge him. I felt numbness taking over me completely. I couldn’t even feel James’ lips on my shoulder or his fingers on my lower belly. I went to a place I’ve known for 17 years and I knew I would never leave it again.

The man crouched in front of me and caressed my cheek. I would have flinched if I wasn’t completely numb.

“Hello, Sophia,” he said. “My name is Michael Dawson and I wanted to meet you for so long.”

His name sounded familiar, but I didn’t care why. I wasn’t even there anymore. I could hear everything that was going on around me. I could see it all. But I couldn’t feel anything, I wasn’t there. I couldn’t be there.

“You are gorgeous, you know that?” he said, his smile widening. “I can see now why James is so obsessed with you. There is a lot to like.”

“Oh, she is perfect,” James said, placing a kiss behind my ear. “She is a perfect little punching bag and a perfect little fuck toy to play with.”

I was pretty sure that my stomach turned. I was pretty sure that bile was burning the back of my throat. I couldn’t be completely sure of it, though. The numbness was holding me in a tight grip and I was thankful for it.

“Oh, I would love to try her out,” the man in front of me said. “But I promised my wife that I wasn’t going to do that. She lost a man to a Caruso woman once. She can’t go through that again.”

He looked at Mrs. Ferrara and grinned.

“Am I right, my love?” he asked and I heard her sigh.

“You touch her and I will kill you, Michael,” she said. “We had a deal.”

He lifted his hands like he was surrendering and stood up.

“Don’t worry, my love,” he said, laughing. “She belongs to James.”

James chuckled and squeezed my thigh.

“Yes, she does,” he said, leaning in a placing a kiss on the side of my lips.

“Oh, one more thing,” the man said, looking back at me. “Your brothers will never find you, Sophia. I don’t want to be cruel so I am trying to let you know that you have nothing to hope for. Hope can be a bitch so I am being kind by telling you the truth.”

He smiled at me and approached Mrs. Ferrara.

“Don’t kill her immediately, James,” he said as he opened the steel door. “I want to take some nice pictures so I can send them to her brothers. Let’s keep her alive for that, shall we?”

“Oh, don’t worry about that, Mike,” James said. “I want to enjoy her. I will never kill her.”

He caressed my cheek and I closed my eyes.

He might never kill me, but I would. I would kill myself as soon as I got the chance and no one would stop me this time.