My side door was ripped open a second later and the light blinded me. I closed my eyes and braced my body for the unknown. Instant death, maybe? But that seemed too easy. Too painless. I knew it was all too simple. I still couldn't hear anything but faint ringing. I felt a big hand grab my arm, and it yanked me away from Enzo.

"ENZO!" I screamed, scared that he was going to die.

"Shut the fuck up!" The person with the big hand holding my arm yelled. My arm twisted painfully and I cried out. I tried to detect the accent, but couldn't. My mind was way too hazy.

"Shut her up, and shove the bitch in the trunk." We gotta go before the others wake up. Russian, maybe?

"Please-" I screamed.

"Oh jeez, she's annoying," I heard a thickly accented voice grumble. He twisted me around in his hold as I tried t fight back, but it was practically useless. His face was mean and ugly. I couldn't react fast enough when his fist reeled back and swung forward. He punched me with such force my vision instantly went black. I felt a cloth press down on my face and my mouth filled with a bitter-sour taste.

"Enzo," I whimpered as I fell into the darkness.

I felt my body being jostled around over and over. I tried to open my eyes but they felt too heavy.

It felt like I was stuck in my own head for hours.

My throat was dry and my tongue felt like it didn't belong in my own mouth. I tried to open my eyes again.

I was surprised when there was no light around me. When my eyes finally peeled back all the way, I looked around trying to remember where I was or how I got there. There was some cloudy liquid on the floor next to my feet, which were now bare. Wherever I was, the air smelled sour and pungent. It was a bad sign. It was too dark to see much of the room. No window. There was just a light bulb hanging from the ceiling on a wire, it was dim and looked like it would shut any minute.

My thoughts rushed back into my head with slow waves.

Puerto Rico. Plane. Told Enzo I loved him. In car with Enzo. Car hit us. Enzo told me he loved me. Enzo bleeding. Ears ringing. Enzo sleeping. An arm pulling me away. Fuck. This was bad. My memoried slapped me in the face, reminding me how big of a pile of shit I was in.

I cried, afraid for Enzo. What if he is dead. He looked so pale. He bled so much. He was so unresponsive. Where was Alessio? Or Stefano? Or Dante? Were they alive? Did they help Enzo? Were any of them alive?

My mind kept throwing all these questions into the air that I didn't know the answer to. It was frustrating and terrifying all at the same time. I screamed, not sure how else to express the fear I had. I didn't want to think Enzo was dead. But he more than likely was.

My head was throbbing with pain. Probably from the punch or the drugs that they used to knock me out. They. Who the fuck even were "they"?! I didn't know who kidnapped me. But I knew it wasn't a family friend taking me on a vacation. This room, no cell, was dirty. It was dirtier than where Stefano tortured people, that was for sure. I couldn't figure out if that was a good thing or a bad thing. Possibly, too dirty to be a torturing room; but dirty enough that I knew I was in a shitload of danger.

I closed my eyes and screamed again. This time with rage. Rage for the people who took me. Rage for what might have happened to Enzo because of them. I screamed as long as I could until my lungs burned.

A door on the wall I was facing swung open. It was still pretty dark in the room. Maybe it was nighttime.

"Fuck you," I screamed at the figure standing in the doorway.

"Fuck you, you fucking asshole," I continued. I couldn't see the face of the person. It just looked like a man in a suit.

"Who are you?" I yelled. I heard people speaking Russian from outside the room. I wished I understood them. Maybe the Russian Mob kidnapped me as an attack on Enzo. I wondered what that would mean for my future, or more the lack thereof.

"Tommaso Marino. Hello, my lovely Lilly."

"Marino?" What the fuck? I recognized a slight resemblance of features in the dim lighting.

"Yes, you know my nephews, Dante and Enzo. I am their uncle, their father's half brother." He also had a slight accent. But it was Italian, not Russian. The information had my mind was spiraling with explanations.

"Why am I here?"

"You are here because my nephew has taken quite a liking to you. Well both my nephews seem to care for you. But I knew Enzo has been fucking you. You only sleep in his room."

I watched him, inching as far away from him as I could. He acted calm and nice, but his words didn't match that, and his eyes told me everything I needed to know.

"That doesn't answer my question. Why and I here?" I repeated.

I was right about my intuitions. His hand snapped out fast, backhanding me like a whip. My head spun the other way and I felt dizzy, especially since the drugs were still not fully out of my system. I tasted metal in my mouth and knew I was bleeding.

"Look what you made me do," he sounded like he was disappointed in me. Holy hell, this man was a psychopath, and not in a hot way like Enzo. His hand reached out again, but this time stroked my face. He was crazy. I closed my eyes, wishing I was anywhere but there, with his hand on my cheek.

"You are here because you are his weakness. Enzo cares too much about you. You are my way of getting what is rightfully mine, Lilly."

"What is yours?"

"The mafia. His father should have given the mafia to me. But he gave it to his eldest son. Maybe because he was full blood. But he was stupid. He insulted me. The empire was supposed to be mine. He is too young. Then, Enzo gave me a low-level job. He doesn't know anything. It was supposed to be mine," he started getting worked up again. I flinched and closed my eyes again.

"You're right. You deserve it. It should be yours," I whispered, sensing he was unhinged and he was going to strike again soon if I didn't agree. I didn't actually agree with him. He needed to be in the looney bin. But, I knew what he wanted to hear.

"Yes, I know," he spoke half to me, half to himself.

I nodded and waited for any more information he might give me. Like why the Russians were involved if this was Italian business.

"I am going to offer you to Enzo, in exchange for the empire. In other words, his life for yours. If he refuses, you die. So, you better hope he agrees. Otherwise, I'm going to let the men use you till they are bored and then kill you. Don't worry though, I'll let you say goodbye in the end. I'll send Enzo videos of you being beaten and abused starting tomorrow. They'll get worse and worse until he agrees. Once he agrees and comes here I'll make him watch you be abused right before his eyes before I kill him. Then. I might not even let you go. Now that I'm thinking about it... " he paused like he was pondering his plan.

"Yes, I think I won't let you go. I will kill you too. There is no need in keeping promises to a dead man. Don't you agree?"

I was shaking. There seemed like no way out of this. Either I died and Enzo lived as long as Tomasso didn't find him and kill him, or he came sacrificed himself and I still died. Both options ended in way too much murder.

I thought about his brothers who would die for him, maybe they would all be safe. I didn't want to say it but Enzo might have been dead already. But then he would have no use for me at all. I would just be dead in the next few seconds. Clearly, if they were going through with this plan he was alive? I couldn't be sure. My brain kept replaying the car crash, trying to remember details about Enzo. I wanted him to be alive so badly it hurt my chest. I had no idea what was going on right now. He could have been in the hospital recovering for all I knew. Or in the morgue being mourned by his brothers. I started to cry again. Not because I was scared of what they would do to me in here, but of what was going on out there, everything I was blind and deaf to.