The Mafia's Doctor

<-38->

<-I-L-A-<<<
I cried myself asleep and I stayed in that state until I heard the door open and footsteps coming from the stairs. Painfully awakening, I saw an unfamiliar face.

"I'm going to untie your hands," he said. The man roughly grabbed at the ropes of my hands and started to untie them. "Do anything funny and you'll get it."

"Why? What's going on?" I asked, unable to comprehend what's going on from my exhaustion.

Instead of a reply that I was waiting for, the man let go of the rope. With his right hand, he slapped me. His force sent my view from straight ahead to the floor at my right. The quick movement sent pain up and down my neck and I groan in response.

"Don't talk unless I tell you to, you filthy bitch," he spat, "If I was Stollo, I wouldn't give an Il Bisbiglio food."

The sound of food made my stomach lurch. Mentally, I was hungry. Although, when considering the beat-up state I was in, I was sure that my body was going to reject solid foods.

The man finished untying my hands and arms, leaving the ropes at my chest, torso, legs, and feet strapped. He, then, left the basement.

I debated with myself. I would be crazy to give up an opportunity like this, but I'd be absolutely mad to try and attempt at an opportunity like this. If I was able to untie myself, where would I even go? How far will my body be able to take me? How many people are in this house that I'd have to go through? The odds were against me. Knowing my helpless place, I stayed still and waited for him to come back.

As he said, he came back with a plate and a bottle of water. On it was rice, chicken, and cooked vegetables. It was better than I expected, mushy, unrecognizable gray slime that I see on television. He set the plate on my bare lap and the water on the armrest part where I didn't have my arms on.

"Eat," he said, stepping back but staying to watch over me.

I twisted the cap off of the bottle and noticed that it has been already opened. I lifted the bottle to my lips and hesitated. I looked at the man in front of me who was watching my every move. I closed my eyes, prayed that this drink was not in any way poisoned, and drank it. At first, it was at tiny sips, then big gulps. I was dehydrated and the cooling water sent relief down my throat. The water filling my stomach made me long for actual food.

Giving no eating utensils, I picked at my chicken breast. It was still hot. Given that I was not having any breakfast food, I concluded that it must be noon.

I formed a ball of rice and placed it with the piece of chicken I've torn and brought it to my mouth. I chewed, forcing myself to go through the soreness of my jaw. Before the food even went down, it was bringing itself up again, along with bile and blood. I started coughing and spat out the

"Why did yo-" he angrily started his question.

"I-i can't eat," I said, jumping to explain myself. "I need something liquid. I think a rib of nine is broken an-"

For the second time, I was slapped and this time it was on the right side of my face.

"If Stollo gives you this, this is what you'll get. If Boss says you eat, you eat."

The man grabbed my hair and yanked it downwards, forcing me to look up.

"Ow!" I yelped. I felt pressure on my thighs and I could tell he was grabbing food from the plate with his free hand. He brought up the mix of chicken, rice, and vegetables against my closed lips.

"Open," he said, pulling harder at my hair.

<•••>

The man smirked and wiped his hands with my hair, leaving leftover food on my head.

I lifted my hands to wipe it off but he was quick to catch them. He forcefully brought them down to restrained them with ropes again.

"I'll be back with dinner," he said, walking away an empty water bottle and a polished plate he had made me licked clean.

He was finally gone and I couldn't hold in the food anymore. I turned my head to the side of me and emptied my stomach. By the time I was done, my throat was burning and my eyes began to droop. Then this sudden sleepiness took its toll on me.

>>>-M-A-T-T-E-O->

Aletta walked out of the room with everyone's eyes on her. Right as she disappeared from sight, everyone turned to look at me. Deciding on what to do next, the silence in the room became awkward with tension.

"Everyone, out," I said, choosing to just end the meeting here.

I sat down in one of the empty seats and waited for everyone to file out. Staying with me and sitting down were Adriano, Marcella, Giovanni, and Aiden. On the table space in front of me, my phone buzzed several times. I grabbed it and unlocked to see what an unknown number had sent me.

The first picture was hard to make out. It was taken in a dark room, the flash turned on only revealed a silhouette of a person slumped in a chair. The second photo was taken closer to the object. It was a woman wrapped in ropes to a chair, barely wearing any clothes with bruises and cuts running up and down her body. She appeared to be alseep, most of her unbrushed hair was covering her face. In the third picture, the woman was looking at the camera, squinting from the flash, looking as if she had woken up. Seeing the face of the women clearly in the last picture shook me. It was Ila.

I shot straight up from my chair on to my two feet. My friends around me flinched out of surprise.

"What?" Aiden asked.

"Get a fucking car, we are going to get Ila right now."

"What? Why?" Marcella questioned, getting out of her seat.

"Do you want to get her or not?"

"Did Stollo send you something? What does it say?" Marcella bugged, reaching for my phone.

"Nothing, I just made my mind on going to get her right now," I lied. My phone buzzed, in my hand, once more. It was a typed text from the same unknown number who had sent me the pictures. It read: I like the way she screams.

"Fucking bastard," I cursed.

<~>
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