Voice of the Mafia

Chapter 21

I never left Boss's side, even when we were ushered onto a private air strip to the jet that awaited us. I had been given a pair of pants on the ride over and was more than grateful for that as we boarded I was met by excited arms from Lexi and Kaitlyn who had tears on their faces.

"We were so worried!" I felt my own tears as I held onto them with all I had. I had never realized just how much my friends meant to me than in a time I thought myself practically dead. They were my family. Even the J's were okay from taking on the forces of Mario's organization.

Boss went to the back room of the jet where Doctor Gaffigan ushered him into the room and closed the door. The guys took the seats in the back in front of the door and let us girls hug before tending to their wounds.

"Sophie, who are all these guys and why are you hurt?" I sat them down and glanced back to the door Boss had gone through wondering if I should go in as well. I figured that the doctor would need time to get to work on patching Boss up and that he would be in no mood for a plus one as he was in a great deal of pain.

"I think it's time I tell you both what my job actually is." And while the plane took off and we started flying back home I told them about everything from the first time I met Boss to what I actually did for work, including the side work for the man himself. I explained that the J's were my friends as well and that I had gotten to know them over the past two years. At the mention of their names, they all stood and introduced themselves, the girls taking a liking to their features.

"-and I didn't want you guys to know any of this because if you were to know then you would be threatened into joining as well. I wanted to protect you from things like this," I gestured to myself, " ever happening." I took stock of my injuries and found that besides my eyes that my arms were littered with bruises from where I was kicked or held too tightly, my legs similar to my arms and my midsection had much larger patches of bruises from even more hits either with fists or feet.

"What did happen? Your hair was cut and you are very hurt. You should go back to that doctor lady too." I reached back and fiddled with the remnants of my once beautiful hair.

"I don't think I will ever be able to tell you. I will say that we will never have to deal with that again and that we should move on." Josh leaned from his seat behind Jesse and said,

"As we all should. No need to dwell on it now Seraphine." With a shake of my head and a soft smile I addressed all of the J's.

"Call me Sophie guys. There is no need for my stage name anymore." Every one of the J's remained stone faced as they all shook their heads back.

"No way that's happening, little bird. Real name or not, you are our sister and therefore will be called by the name you were given." Jonah sometimes made little sense but at this moment he did. And I couldn't have thanked all of them more for saving me from the living hell I had been in.

After two hours in to our trip back home, Doctor Gaffigan opened the door.

"Seraphine, time for me to check you as well. Come on in." I stood and made my way into the room that looked more like a comfortable medical wing than a bedroom. Boss laid on one side of the bed, his shirt and vest removed to reveal his chest and bandages that now wrapped around his midsection. His eyes were closed but I didn't take it as a sign that he was asleep.

"Please allow me to make sure that you were not harmed any further Miss Black." She had closed the door behind her and with slow and careful movements helped me onto the bed after she had me remove my few pieces of clothing I had on. She didn't touch the bruises, though numerable they were but made sure that they didn't show internal bleeding. As she moved further down my body I felt hesitation at having her look down there or touch me. I didn't want anyone to ever touch me again.

"Does it hurt inside?" She gentle pressed on my abdomen and after a slight hiss from my lips she let up.

"A bit." She could see the signs of rape on me and I was so thankful that she didn't say anything about it. I could still feel the helplessness of it all as if I were still dreaming and would wake back up in that cold cell, another Brazilian man there to use my body as he saw fit.

"I will give you a cream for the pain and I must ask that you refrain from stressing your body for the next few weeks as you recover. No work. Either one of you," she said and I glanced over to see Boss looking at me from head to toe. Pain was evident in his eyes but shame was written all over him. I grabbed for the clothes I had worn and put them back on covering myself from the looks of pity for my body.

"Please remain in here and rest for a while Miss Black. I will be just outside if you need me. And please make sure he doesn't get up for a while yet." And with that she exited the room again, the door closing silently behind her. I sat back down on the king-size bed and wondered if I should lay down too.

"There is enough room. Go ahead and rest my little bird." I turned to face him and shook my head.

"Please call me by my name. I think I would like that more." His smile turned to a grimace as he winced at his side.

"Why did you rescue me when you could have gotten killed?" I finally did carefully lay down facing him so that I could continue speaking.

"When I had come back to my room empty, I knew that something was wrong. I deployed the six best fighters I had and got them here as fast as I could. But we had to make sure you were at Mario's estate let alone where in his estate you were. Once we had located you it was all a matter of getting you out. I just apologize that it had taken four days to do so. If I had gotten there sooner, then maybe you wouldn't be so-"

"Broken?" I offered. I felt broken as if I was no more than a Jenga tower being held up by a single block. My hair was gone. I was defiled. I was beaten until my cries were no more. Yet here I was, alive while Mario was dead by my hand.

"Not broken. I didn't have you trained by the best men I had just so you would be broken. All of my harsh punishments were to prepare you for the worst. And indeed the worst did happen, did it not?" I cast my gaze down to the grey sheets and I allowed for a few tears to flow from my eyes.

"It did. I don't know what day it started but once Mario had beaten me for information he let his men do what they wanted. I'm just glad the bastard got what he deserved." A prideful smile slid onto Boss's lips.

"That's my girl."