Chapter 2[Ghost From The Past]

Athena

I woke up sandwiched between two huge men. “What the fuck is going on?” I yelled but no response.

“If it’s money y'all want, you’ve got the wrong girl, cause the only family I got is a dead bit broke”

Okay, that’s a lie, Sophie's mom, my mom is filthy rich. She got a lot of money from the divorce from her ex-husband and invested it in pretty much everything and now she's a very successful businesswoman but let's hope they don't know that.

No reaction from them

Hold on, are they deaf? 

‘Oh no, do they know that I was lying? I don’t think am being kidnapped for ransom. Was I being taken by human traffickers? Were they going to sell my organs? Or worse, was I going to be sold into prostitution? Hell no, I would rather be sold piece by piece.’

At this point, I was so frigging scared, my thoughts were running a thousand miles per second but I tried to calm myself down and think less negatively.

Maybe this was Dylan’s twisted way of being romantic, or maybe Sophie was playing a Valentine’s Day prank on me, anything to keep me from shitting myself.

The car came to a halt in front of a huge mansion that was heavily guarded and it made me remember the place I hated the most in the world, the place I once referred to as home and then it became just a house and then a nightmare I just wanted to forget.

I have no idea why this house reminded me of my old house but whatever the reason, I hated it already.

One of the men grabbed me and dragged me out of the van.

“Get your filthy hands off me” I yelled as I was being pulled into the mansion but they didn’t stop. Now am convinced these guys are deaf.

They led me to the living room and shoved me onto one of the couches, what's more, they left, without a word.

'Perfect'

Ten minutes later, still nothing. Just me and this awful but pretty sure ridiculously expensive painting staring at each other. With every second I spend here, I pray to the heavens that this is just some random kidnapping and that they'll let me go after getting the ransom and I can go back to my normal life.  Just then a thick, familiar voice called from behind.

"Isabelle" My heart skipped two beats and I knew I was so not going back to my normal life.

I was met face-to-face with my greatest nightmare and at that moment I just wanted to die.

“Romano,” I hissed.

Seeing him again made me feel a strong wave of anger, pain, disgust, and above all else, fear. I didn’t know what to do or think, I was just frozen in place.

“Come sei stato? mia cara figliastra?” he said as he closed the gap between us.

“How have you been my dear stepdaughter?”

He placed his rough hands on both sides of my face and placed a kiss on both sides of my cheek.

The strong stench of cigars and whiskey seeping from him hit my nostrils and I wanted to puke but for some reason, I couldn't move. I guess my brain was still trying to figure out if this was a dream or if my life was really over.

“Come, come mio caro, have a sit. Join me for dinner.” He said in his deep Italian accent as he led me to the dining room like he didn’t just kidnap me. “I hope my men weren't too rough with you. If they were, allow me to apologize on their behalf.” He said after he made me sit next to him.

“What the fuck do you want from me?” I finally gathered the courage to speak after a lifetime of silence.

“Oh come now, that is no way to talk to your stepfather, and besides we’ll have plenty of time to talk about what I want. Don’t you want to maybe catch up first? ”

“We have absolutely nothing to talk about,” I said between my teeth. He left his sit and stood behind me and placed his hands on my shoulder, I was livid but I sat still.

“I know that ever since your mother died you’ve hated me, heck, you hated me even before your mother died but know this” his hands moved from my shoulder to my neck, and his mouth moved closer to my ear and he whispered “I don’t care” His grip tightened around my neck and I was finding it hard to breathe.

“You thought you could hide from me? Huh? Isabelle or is it Athena now?”

I struggled to turn my head to face him and said between my teeth “I wasn’t hiding” My eyes were already burning with tears. He let go of my neck and I started coughing profusely. He let out a throaty laugh that grossed me out.

“Ah, still feisty, just like your mother. Although I was able to tame your mother, you, not quite. You ran away before I was able to” he went back to his seat and resumed his dinner. "The car crash thing really threw me off your scent"

Car crash? What's he talking about?

“I’m giving you to a friend of mine as collateral for something I am getting from him,” he said causally. I was still trying to figure out if he had just spoken in English when he spoke again.

“You asked what I wanted from you, that is what I want from you. It’s just for eight months, you should be fine.”

I laughed. And laughed and laughed, until my stomach hurt. “I didn’t know the mafia is now into comedy. Oh, that was funny, you almost had me.”

Romano also started laughing and that had me worried. “Oh but am not joking, mio caro” He had a smug look on his face. “I’m delivering you tonight so, eat”

“So I’m being sold?” I uttered in disbelieve

“No, you are going to be my collateral” He replied.

“What’s the difference? Huh? What am I? A goat? I'm not doing it” Yeah, I was fazed a while ago, and yeah this motherfucker scares the shit out of me but I'm not going to let him intimidate me like he did all does years ago.

“You are whatever I saw you are and right now I say you are my collateral” He barked

"So I missed a date for this...I don't even know what to call this"

"For the next eight months, you'll be missing more than a date," He said as ate another spoonful of his food.

One of his men entered the room and whispered something in his ear. I spotted the man's gun as he bent over and without even thinking, I pulled the gun from his waistband and pointed it at Romano. His man looked shocked but the fucker the gun was pointed at wasn't even fazed. His next words made my heart stop beating.

"Put the gun down or Sophie is dead," He said

Knowing Romano is not the kind to bluff, I dropped the gun and Romano's man picked it up quickly.

"Now have a seat and EAT," he said with a more stern tone

I stared at the Seafood Risotto in front of me, It made me think of my dad, he made the best Seafood Risotto on the planet.

“That’s still your favorite, right?” he asked

“Well I haven’t had a decent one ever since my dad died” I had a taste of the meal “And this one’s no different”

Thankfully, Romano did not utter a word for the rest of the dinner.

After we had dinner, I was taken to a room, and it looked like Romano hadn’t lost his taste in huge tacky houses. On the bed was a beautiful dress. I am certain Romano didn’t pick this dress.

It was a sexy brown off-shoulder short gown with a front knot. Am being sold but at least am being sold in style.

“I can’t believe I’m doing this,” I said to myself. I took a quick shower and got ready.

I got into the living room and just when I thought nothing more could surprise me, what happened next shocked me.

“Get in” One of the men commanded. It was a frigging human-size gift box. What in the actual fuck?

Yup, He's still a psycho

I was about to speak when Romano interrupted “Shut up and just obey whatever order they give you”

For Sophie, Mom, and everyone I love I clipped my lips shut and got in the damn gift box upset. It was bad enough that I was being sold, now am going to be delivered like a frigging object.

The lid was closed and the only source of light was from the holes on the sides that were supposed to be the handle.

“This is just ridiculous,” I mumbled.

I sat in the box for a while, and something popped into my head. I kicked the lid open and stood up abstractly

“Before I agree to this...madness, am gonna need some assurance that you won’t harm my friends,” Romano said nothing and just stared and me.

“Well?”

“I give you my word” He simply said.

I scoffed “Your word means nothing to me”

“So what do you want then?”

“A blood oath,” I said with all the confidence in the word.

“What,” He said and started laughing together with his men, it was my turn to join the laugh. I laughed with them till they stopped and then I stopped as well and returned to my resting bitch face.

"Oh, you are serious," Romano asked and I was pissed.

I stepped out of the box to look less ridiculous and boy that was no easy feat to pull.

“I need a pen, paper, and a safety pin.” He signaled one of his men to get it.

The man came back with what I asked for and I wrote something down. After I was done writing, I impaled myself with the safety pin. I winced at the pain because hey, am human. Blood trickled from my thumb and I used it to sign the agreement.

I passed the paper to Romano, he read and scoffed but he signed. He didn’t even wince when he impaled himself, well I’m not surprised, he’s not human.

The Agreement

I Athena Valerio hereby agree to be Romano Abruzzese’s collateral for eight months on the condition that the latter stay away from Sophie and Aurora Cellario and Dylan Rodriguez and his family.

Should Romano Abruzzese breach this agreement, Romano Abruzzese shall be put to DEATH.

__________________      ____________________

Athena                           Romano

“Is that all?” Romano asked me as he handed the paper back to me.

“Yes,” I collected the paper from him, folded it, and put it inside my bra. I walked confidently back into the box, the lid was closed and I sat inside the box awaiting my fate for the next eight months.