A Course of Passion

9: Deals

"Sonny." I keep trying to wake him with my voice rising to different levels each time, "Dominick!" I finally shout out, tears still rolling down my face as I look to the ground with defeat filling my heart.

"Uh" I hear him stir next to me.

"Sonny." I whisper now, looking towards him. He mumbles something I can't understand, "what?" I ask a bit harshly.

He gets out louder this time, "call me Sonny, doll." I can imagine the smirk forming on his swollen lip.

"I hate you" I joke back to him, trying to hide my own pained chuckle. After a few minutes of silence, enough time for Sonny to come back to fully, I apologize to him, "I'm so sorry about all this. You didn't ask for any of this, you tried to warn me and I just didn't want to--"

He interrupts me, "hey, it's alright. There's no need to talk about this right now."

I shake my head, "yes, there is." I assure to him, "Sonny, I can't watch him kill you. I won't."

"Stop!" He yells a bit louder at me, "you're not going with him."

"I have to." I respond, not willing to risk his life, "if he really tried to make that deal with my father, then it was all on me that she died. He should have just let me go then." I say through my tears.

"You were 15, Maddison." He argues simply, "you're not going and that's final. Liv will realize I'm not at work and she'll come looking. They'll find us."

He tries to sound confident, but I can hear the worry in his voice, "Sonny" I sigh his name, still going to argue with him.

"No. I'm not discussing this with you Maddison. Even if you do decide to go, whose to say he won't kill me anyway, huh? Whose to say he won't kill you?" He questions.

I shake my head, "I don't know."

"Exactly, so we're going to stay strong, and wait for the team to get us. Alright?" He asks.

"Yea, alright." I return, hoping he can't catch on to the defeat in my voice. We sit in silence for a while, trying everything we can to get out of our ties, "since we have time, can I talk to you about why I left" I ask him.

"No, we'll have plenty of time for that later." He says through the grunts of trying to break free.

"Sonny, we have time now too. Please?" I plead to him. His head drops for a few seconds then looks to me with a nod, waiting for me to go on, "that night we fought, it brought back all these memories of my mom, of the night of the kidnapping. Things I've never shared with anyone that I thought was over. I pushed down those memories for so long, I never thought they'd resurface."

"I didn't mean to cause you any harm Madd--" He goes to apologize to me.

"Stop." I interrupt him from continuing, "you don't have to apologize for anything. I walked away because I was afraid of opening up, of letting things come into the open that I buried for so long. I'm sorry Sonny." I confess to him.

"It's alright, it's going to be alright." He assures me.

"I hope so." I sigh back.

The door to my apartment opens again and Doyle walks in with a large smile plastered onto his face, "alright my puppet, it has hit the 12 hour mark." He starts to walk towards us slowly, the knife in his hand stained with blood, "what's it gonna' be?"

"It's okay Maddison, it's going to be okay." Sonny mutters lowly to me.

"Is it?" Doyle asks wickedly.

"Go to hell!" I spit to Doyle, giving him my answer.

He laughs, finally reaching us and moving behind Sonny,"so, it's as easy as that for you?" He asks, putting the knife to his throat, "you're just going to let me kill him, even though I offered you a way out."

"It's alright Maddison, I'm alright." Sonny promises, his eyes trained on me, fighting the tears from falling onto his face.

"How do I know you'll let him go? How can I trust you won't just take me and kill him?" I ask with fear, knowing I couldn't watch Sonny die.

Sonny argues, "No! You're not going with him, they're coming for you Maddison. Please." He tries to stop me.

Doyle speaks at the same time, "I've always kept my promises. I'm here, aren't I?" He asks. I bite my lower lip, knowing what I'm about to do. "So, time is up, what's it gonna be Maddison?" He asks, placing the knife against his skin yet again.

"I love you." Sonny says, closing his eyes as if that's it.

I yell out, "Fine, deal! Leave him alone and I'll go with you willingly."

"What!? No!" Sonny screams at me, "don't do that Maddison, no!"

Doyle has removed the knife from his skin and has come over towards me, "I knew you'd see it my way. You're not as stupid as your dad is." He insults me as he cuts the ropes tying my hands. He then cuts the ties to my legs as Sonny keeps yelling at me to stop, to not take this deal, "let's go, we got a plane to catch." He pushes me forward.

"Can I say goodbye?" I ask him, hoping he'd be somewhat cocky enough to allow it.

He looks at me then to Sonny and says, "let's go" with a push forward towards the door. I look at Sonny, whose looking at me with sadness. I want to tell him I love him too, so he knows how I really feel, but I can't do that with Doyle here, with him pushing me away. I give one last glance behind me as I leave the apartment, saying a small prayer that they'll find me before it's too late. The last image in my head is of Sonny, his blue eyes pained with hurt and betrayal.