Chapter 1
“Colin, Thomas, come in here, it’s the police!” James yelled, somewhat in panic, mostly in distinct fear of the worst. Elizabeth rushed to the front door, her interest peaked, alongside her husband.
“What’s the matter?, What’s going on?” They all asked in unison.
“There’s been an accident. Your son Nicolas has been shot, and he’s in the hospital,” replied the police officer.
“Oh GOD, this can’t be happening!” Elizabeth said, gasping for air that seemed to be on break, at the moment. Her feeling of interest, quickly turning into worry and fear for her son’s life.
“Is he alive?” Colin, questioned.
“Yes, but he’s in critical condition. He’s heading into surgery as we speak.”
Elizabeth’s eyes grew faint, her hands stiffened, and her body gave out. Falling onto the beautifully paved marble floor, she was caught by Thomas.
“Wait, what about the woman. The woman who was in the car with him?” said Colin.
“I’m sorry?” the officer, with a face of confusion, continued.. “but there was no female found at the scene of the crime. The other officer, puzzled by the new information interrupted, “Your saying that there was another person in the car with your brother? A female he was traveling with?”
Until now, the officers had seen no other person at the scene. To their knowledge, Nicolas was only person in the vehicle at the time of the incident.
“Yes,” Colin hesitated, “Féria Akhan.”
“Well..” the officer commented, “unless we are dealing with a possible kidnapping, no female was found at the location.”
Elizabeth, still leaning on Thomas, started crying. Colin, James and Thomas grabbed their coats, and dashed out the door in a hurry to view the condition of their brother. While they all hurried out the door in a rush, Elizabeth remained stuck. Her mind racing on the outcome of the injuries of her son; Thomas next to her.
Arriving at the hospital, James attitude was peremptory. “How many assailants were there?” he inquired, pacing the hospital floor, pondering the “five w’s,” in his head.
“As far as we can tell, there were at least five or six. Four of them are dead. We’re still trying to piece everything together. In the next couple of hours, we’ll have the ballistics report, until then we don’t know the full details, all but that it was a bloody battle,” explained the officer.
Nayah looked at her presumably little sister. Even with the bruises, she was pretty, and comely like their mother was.
A mother that never looked back, she reminded herself: a mother that left her behind while she remarried. Treating her, as though she never existed.
Well now, her little sister was going to know exactly what it felt like to not exist at all. She would keep her away from the world; down here, locked away in this dark prison.
Even the wealthy James Fitzpatrick wouldn’t be able to find her in this world, thousands of miles away from the safety of their little “protected,”world.
Here, her little sister would stay amongst the undesirables of society, the thieves, the sex traffickers of exotic looking animals and young girls.
Maybe, just maybe, she would even think of giving her to the house of Remka, where every night she’ll have to service at least half a dozen men. She doubted that after this, any man would ever want her.
Taking a last long look behind her as she left the room, she called instructions to the two guards outside the door. “Watch her, make sure she doesn’t attempt to leave here, and tell Anna to prepare something for her to eat when she wakes up!” “I don’t want her to starve to death, and most of all, no one outside of Ana, you guys, or myself are allowed in this room, no exception.” “Are we clear?” she asked.
The two guards nodded their heads in a robotic-like manner, as she glared at them. Walking away, she took a few steps towards another door that led to a long hallway in the back of an old abandoned building.
Slowly, Ria awakened to the darkness, opening her eyes a few blinks at a time. The room was unrecognizable, wet with smells of stale air and urine. She felt the need to puke and tried to keep it down, but couldn’t. She ended up throwing up the remnants of her last meal.
She feebly attempted to loosen her hands from the ropes so she could wipe her mouth, but the more she wiggled, the more the wire tightened around her wrist, cutting deeper into her skin.
Tired and now attempting to fend off the most horrible headache in ages, she gave up and instead concentrated on her environment.
The place looked and smelt as though it had housed wet animals. The windows were covered up, there was one ceiling fan that barely oscillated at all, and looked as though it was ready to detach itself from the ceiling.
She tried moving her chair to the door, so that she could hear what was going on outside. The idea became an impossible task, and Féria abandoned it, as quickly as it came to her.
Where was she, and what the hell was she doing here?” she then thought, “Nick, oh my god, oh my god,”she whispered to herself. She suddenly remembered that they were attacked on their way back to the hotel, and before she passed out, all she heard were gunshots.
She began to cry out loudly, screaming his name. She cried so hard and for such a long time, that her throat became sore and dry. With her head slumped forward in defeat, she felt herself passing out again; this time the headache that she had been trying to keep at bay, claimed her.
