Robin des Bois ✓

thirty-two. Captive

A key turned in the lock and the white door opened.

Dominic stood in the doorframe, smiling a disturbingly normal smile at me, as if we'd just ran into one another at the mall.

As if I wasn't sitting in an unknown apartment, tied up, having just woken up from a drug-induced slumber.

"Oh, you're awake," he said, and carefully closed the door behind him, locking it once more. I watched as he slipped the key into the pocket of his leather jacket and then looked up at his face, trying my best to look as neutral as possible.

If he'd drugged me and tied me up, God knew what else he was capable of doing.

He set a white plastic bag on the floor and leaned back against the door, watching me –was it fondness I saw in his face?

I tried to gulp, but my mouth was too dry. I tried to speak, but only a hoarse croak left my mouth.

He chuckled and bent down to pick something up from the bag at his feet.

It was a bottle of water. I felt a longing that I'd rarely –if ever –felt before, but my whole body tensed up when he started towards me.

"Relax. There's nothing in there, but water. I'm just gonna give you some water to drink."

He uncapped the bottle and raised the bottle to my lips. I eyed him, reticent, but my thirst made me open my mouth and empty the contents of it in about five rabid gulps.

"Good girl," said Dominic as he set the plastic bottle on the ground.

A disgusted shiver ran down my spine. I took a deep breath before simply asking. "Why?"

Dominic sighed, as if my question had tired him.

"Might as well explain." He appraised me for a moment. "It's the least I can do, I guess."

"Are you A.?" I asked, my eyes searching his face.

"Yes. Finally! I thought you'd never guess, Isis. I'm lucky Aidan is such an asshole, in the end. You were so obsessed with him being A. I could basically get away with anything, right under your nose." He lowered himself to the ground, sitting cross legged in front of me. "You know, initially, you weren't even part of the plan. None of this is really about you. But you just stepped right in the middle of it, and in some ways, you were like a godsend to me. You see, at that party, where you stole all that cocaine and that money, I was supposed to be doing the stealing. But you beat me to it."

"It was your house." I said, not understanding where he was going with all of it. "It was your father's money. Why would you need to steal it?"

"To finally prove, once and for all, that Gabriel is an incompetent bastard, and that he should have no part in my family's business. Initially, that's all I wanted to do. I organized that party even though Gabriel told me not to, because I knew that the merch and the money would be at my house that day. I wanted to show my father that Gabriel had let the money get stolen right under our noses and that I could go around selling his dope, in his territory, and Gabriel could do nothing about it. My father had gotten people killed for less. Respect means a lot in this business. If you don't have people's respect, it makes you seem weak. And my father hates looking weak."

I sat there silently, staring at him as I tried to digest his story. "But what do I have to do in all of this? You got the cocaine back from me. You didn't need to play those stupid games with me."

"You're kinda right. I didn't have to taunt you, I guess. But it was fun, seeing you panicking and running around like a headless chicken." He smiled up at me amusedly. "And then, it turned out that in the grander scheme of things, ten grands and the dope wasn't all that much. My father let Gabriel deal with it on his own. Didn't as much as raise his voice at him! I have to admit, I was disappointed. And Gabe seemed to find the whole thing funny. He barely even made any effort to try and catch me. When he let you tag along, I figured he actually enjoyed this. It wasn't hard to figure out that he was falling for you. And that you were head over heels for him. You nearly kissed the ground he walked on. It was kind of pathetic to watch. And then you got with Alexei, for God knows what, when we both know it was Gabe you wanted all along."

He leaned back, his hands braced against the floor, his dark eyes impenetrable as he looked at me with unhidden contempt. "I never understood what either of them saw in you. But anyway. I needed you to leave Alexei. I needed to push you along into the right direction. I needed Gabriel to care about you, because I needed to hit him where it hurts. And it turns out, you are it for Gabe. You're his Achille's heel. And now that I have you, I have him by the fucking balls. I'm pretty sure he'd do anything for you. Even admit to conspiring with some rival cartels. Make the ultimate sacrifice for you. His life for yours."

"Why the hell do you hate him so much? He's your brother!"

"He's not my brother!" For the first time, Dominic raised his voice, and the anger that flashed on his face made me recoil. He hadn't looked menacing up to this point, but now he looked at me with a barely contained rage. "He's not my brother," he repeated, his voice more controlled now. "I don't care that we share the same father. It should be me my father trusts with our business. Me, not some bastard he fathered with some random whore."

I felt insulted on Gabe's behalf, momentarily glad that he actually didn't share a father with this lunatic. I didn't bother correcting him –that might just be the thing that would push him over the precarious edge he was obviously walking.

"Your father's just trying to protect you," I said softly. "He wants you to live a normal life. He wants you to reap the benefits of Gabe's hard work, but without you ever having to get your hands dirty. If anything ever goes wrong, Gabriel will be the one to take the fall. Can't you see that?"

Dominic shook his head, his lip curled in disgust. "You don't understand, but then again, of course you wouldn't. This is supposed to be my legacy. I'm supposed to be the one my father trusts above everyone else. You have no idea what it's like, to live in the shadow of some bastard my father didn't even raise, to watch him take up more and more of the role I'm supposed to play. But it all ends today. You're my golden ticket, princess," he said, his voice mocking.

Dread rose in my throat.

"What do you mean?"

"A couple hours ago, I sent this text to Gabe." He pulled his phone out of his pocket, tapped the screen a couple of times and raised it to show me.

There was a picture of me, lying on my side on the couch I was now sitting on, my hair in a wild mess, my hands tied behind my back, obviously unconscious. There was a single text beneath the picture. Your princess could use a knight in shining armor right about now.

Gabe's answer was a simple "Where is she?".

"So what now? What do you want from him?"

"Simple. I want him out. I don't want him involved in our family's business anymore. By the end of the day, I will tell my father that he has been working with a rivaling cartel. And he won't deny it. Because if he does, I will have to hurt you."

"I think you overestimate how much Gabe cares about me," I said softly, my heart ponding frantically in my chest. I could see only one way that this would end –Gabe would most likely be killed for his betrayal.

And I could not let that happen. I felt a wave of fierce protectiveness wash over me, overwhelming the hatred that had been rising in me.

I acted on impulse. My body moved reflexively, adrenaline pumping through my veins.

I kicked out at him, and my bare foot met his face. I kicked again, my foot landing square in the middle of his chest and he fell back with a satisfying thump. I got to my feet and kicked him again, in the ribs –I had no plan, acting solely out of despair and rage. To my satisfaction, there was blood streaming out of Dominic's nose and he clutched at it, a sound resembling a whine coming from him.

I was about to give him another kick when his hand shot out and clasped around my ankle, his fingers sinking painfully into my flesh. He yanked –hard –and I toppled over, landing on my shoulder. Without my arms to brace my fall, I hit the ground with a teeth-rattling thud, and a flash of pain tore a hoarse scream from my mouth. Dominic climbed on top of me, and the rage I saw in his eyes told me that what I'd just done had been a mistake. He grabbed my ponytail close to its base in an iron fist and I let out another yelp of pain, before I started screaming for help.

He leaned in close, and the blood smeared over his face made him look grotesque. "You can scream all you want, you dumb bitch. No one can hear you."

He slammed my head against the floor once, and my vision blurred. I didn't have time to scream again before he did it again, and I felt myself falling once more, everything disappearing into a blissful darkness.