HIS CLAIM

80

Elsa

I felt like I was losing my sanity the longer we were locked up in this shit hole. My heart ached continually at the thought of Nicholas not being alive. The image of him being shot was playing over and over in my head, and no matter how hard I tried, tears threatened to fall.

I wrapped my arms around my knees, somehow trying to calm down my racing heart. Guilt was eating me alive. Maybe... if I had gone away, he would still be alive and he wouldn't have had to deal with all those problems I carried along with me. He wanted to make life easier for me. To make me happy. And he did. But in return, I placed all the burden on his shoulders, causing his death.

Was this how it really was going to end for us?

For him?

For me?

To lose the people I loved so dearly in a blink of an eye?

If he wasn't here with me, then I wouldn't want to live anymore. And maybe, just maybe, with a glimpse of hope still in my heart, I would be able to see him again in the next life.

"We have to do something..." My voice was barely audible. I sniffed and wiped the tears that had managed to escape. I stood up, my legs trembling a bit from being physically and mentally exhausted. The sedation left my body all messed up and my mind wasn't giving me a break with anything with thoughts running like crazy.

"I know, but what can we do?" Tessa sighed and got up as well. I could see she was drained as well, but we had to shove it all to the side and focus on getting out of here.

I looked around in the basement room we were in. There wasn't anything we could use to try and break out. And the door was being guarded from the other side.

"Wait, I have an idea." Tessa whispered and stepped closer to

"Maso is by the door. Maybe I can convince him to let us out to the bathroom?" She suggested, and I thought about it, assessing the possibilities.

"What makes you think you can convince him?" She drew her lower lip between her teeth before, hesitating a little before she spoke.

"He... kind of took care of me." I gave her a questionable look, waiting for her to elaborate.

"He was the only one who was kind to me and took me to get treated whenever I was beaten to the point I couldn't walk. I think, at some point, we may have had something going on but he stopped before it could turn into something more. Or maybe I read too much into it and confused his kindness for something more." Tessa sighed.

"I don't think so." I told her. Matthew was close to hitting her, but Maso didn't allow it and stopped him before he could.

"He still has a soft spot for now, but how big, I wouldn't know. Whatever it is, we have to take advantage of it and at least try to do something." I said.

"It's worth a try."

"Just one problem... We don't know how many are out there with Maso." If it was only Maso, we had a better chance of taking him down. But if there were more men guarding the door, our chances were slim. Even more so as we had nothing to defend ourselves with.

I let out a small gasp when I realized we were still wearing our hair accessories. It was not much but at least they were still somewhat sharp enough to stab someone if put enough force to it.

"Okay, this is what we're going to do." I lowered my voice to make sure no one would be able to hear me. I carefully explained what I had in mind to get out of here while mentally preparing myself actually to fight. This was not out in the training field with Logan and Giovanni. This was the real deal, and it had my stomach churning and my heart beating in nervousness.