Silence in New York - Book One

~Chapter 37~

The moment Salvatore had pressed the buzzer and the door automatically opened without as much as an acknowledgement from Adriana, he knew something was definitely wrong. It was the middle of the night and she hadn't even asked who she was letting in the building? He had pushed the door open to make sure the automatic lock system didn't kick in then retrieved Luca from the car to join him. It was better to be safe than sorry.
The pair quietly made their way up the stairs and leaned against Adriana's front door listening in. It was quiet. Too quiet. A few minutes went by and still nothing. It wasn't difficult to hear Adriana's muffled sounds when she finally made herself know. The scrapping of something across the floor was the final straw for the guys on the other side of the door as they withdrew their guns and kicked the door open.

"Jesus fũcking Christ!" Salvatore was on the floor with Adriana pulling the tape from her mouth hastily as she cried out. He watched her in a panic sucking in large amounts of air into her lungs. He worked quickly with Luca untying her wrists and ankles from the ropes as she thrashed against the restraints making the rope dig into her skin cutting and burning her. "Calm down Adriana please" Salvatore begged, "you're hurting yourself. I've got you." She continued to struggle against them, it was clear she was in shock and hadn't even noticed who they were or the fact that they were here to help.

As Luca released the last rope from her ankle, Salvatore scooped Adriana up into his arms holding her still against his chest for a few minutes. She trembled against him as he soothed her with his voice. "Shhh. It's ok."

Salvatore took the bottled water from Luca who had disappeared into the kitchen to retrieve it. "Go outside to the payphone and give Stefano a call, we need him here. When you're done call Francesco, tell him no visitors tonight" Luca nodded at the instructions leaving the apartment quickly.

Salvatore remained on the floor with Adriana stroking her hair as she continued to tremble. Finally she looked up at him. "Hey" he tried his best to smile at her reassuringly but truth be told, he was furious. He hadn't had to deal with a situation quite like this one before. This is why I'm better off alone. He thought to himself angrily. He tilted her face up by the chin to examine her. She looked a mess. Her cheek red from what looked like a smack across the face, a spot above her left eyebrow was split and slightly bleeding. "Jesus Christ" Salvatore murmured tracing her injuries with the pad of his thumb, "what the fũck happened to you?"

"I tried to get away" Adriana finally broke her silence, "he grabbed my leg and tripped me" she touched the split on her eyebrow and winced a little. I must look like hell. She was suddenly self-conscious. Immediately she remembered the zipper on her jeans was still down. Instinctively her hands moved to the zip quickly pulling it up, Salvatore immediately noticing. His eyes burning with fury.

"What the fũck did he do?" He hadn't meant to sound so aggressive, but he wasn't one to come with a filter. "Did he touch you? Did he fũcking touch you?" His words repeating with anger. "I'll fũcking kill him again!"

"No. He threatened to, that's when I tried to run" she explained. "Again?" her voice showing her confusion, "where is he?" She attempted to turn her head to look behind her but was stopped by Salvatore's hands. He held her face to him steadily.

"No baby," he kissed her forehead holding her gaze. "Don't turn around."

She tried to turn around once again, "Salvo please" she begged as he continued to stop her.

"I don't want you to see him" he warned.

The front door opened and the pair looked over to see Luca and Stefano entering with various materials such as plastic, bin bags, bleach, mops, duct tape and a hand held power saw. Adriana's eyes widened at the sight. "No no no" she repeated over and over again not taking much time to put together what was happening in her apartment.