41. Chapter 41

41

I laria swore again as she tried to yank her wrists out of the zip tie. Her wrists were feeling raw, the zip tie cutting into her skin, and both arms were getting numb. Her legs were restless, and she kept bouncing them to find some relief.

She had no idea how long she'd been sitting there. It could have been thirty minutes or three hours. After Vincent dumped her in that chair, he hadn't come back. And she really needed to pee.

With her blindfold still on, she hadn't had the chance to look for weapons or escape routes. All she could do was keep her ears peeled. But all the sounds were distant, nothing and no one nearby for her to yell for help.

Ilaria was sure by now that Soren knew she was missing. She needed to get out of there before Soren decided to be the hero. She'd be damned if she was the reason Soren got hurt.

Again, she pulled her wrists apart, holding her breath and straining against the pain, struggling to snap the ties. She could feel blood rushing to her face. With a grunt, she gave up. It was no use. She wasn't getting out of these things.

"Hello!" If Vincent was going to leave her here, then she'd attract as much attention as possible. "Help me!"

She paused to listen for any footsteps nearby.

"Hello!" she called louder. "Anybody there?"

On and on Ilaria called out. Her voice got hoarse, her throat raw.

Suddenly, she heard the door yank open.

"Shut up!" Vincent hissed.

Ilaria knew she was in a pretty pathetic state if she was actually relieved that her uncle was back. She would never survive solitary confinement for any extended period of time.

"What took you so long?" She surprised even herself with the irritation she heard in her voice. "I have to use the toilet."

"I don't think so," Vincent said.

"Where the hell am I going to go?" she demanded. "If I run, you'll just shoot me in the back, anyway." Make him think he had the upper hand.

He went silent.

Ilaria still couldn't see his face with the blindfold on, but she interpreted hesitation in his silence. "If I pee where I'm sitting, you're just going to have to clean up after me," she pointed out.

"Fucking nuisance," he muttered.

She heard his footsteps walk toward her, and then the blindfold was wrenched off her face.

Ilaria blinked against the light, even though it was still fairly dim in the room. She immediately noted everything she could see. The room was not large, about ten by twelve feet. A small desk and file cabinet sat in the corner—on top of which was a case of bottled drinking water—but otherwise it was bare. The chair she was sitting on was in the middle of the room.

Her heart fell when her quick scan revealed no potential weapons. No scissors, no letter opener. Not even a pen she could use to stab out an eye.

"I need to use the bathroom right now." She tried to use a pitiful voice. "Please."

Grumbling, Vincent used a pocket knife to slice through the zip tie. She winced as she maneuvered her stiff shoulders and arms around, anticipating the pins and needles when feeling came back.

Vincent grabbed her by the elbow and steered her toward the door. Apparently, the bathrooms were located outside of this office. He pulled out his gun and pointed it at her. "Open the door slowly and walk to the right. I will shoot if you try to run."

Ilaria complied, at the moment not seeing an opportunity for escape. About twenty feet from the office door, she saw the door to the restroom. She reached for the door handle.

"In case you're wondering, there are no windows in there," Vincent sneered. "The only way out is through this door, and I'll be waiting. Now hurry up."

Ilaria quickly went into the restroom before he changed his mind, rushed into one of the two stalls, and let out a big sigh as she relieved herself.

Vincent banged on the door. "Hurry up or I'll come in and get you!"

"I'm still going!" she yelled back. She was going to take her time.

After she flushed, she scanned the bathroom as she washed her hands. Who keeps a restroom so bare?

As she dispensed a paper towel to dry her hands, a glint of metal in a corner caught her eye. She walked over to that corner and leaned in. It was a small metal screw, the kind with a flat, slotted head, thread, and most importantly, a sharp tip.

Ilaria's heart leapt. She picked up the screw and tucked it into her back jeans pocket—thank God she was wearing pants with back pockets.

Deciding she wasn't in any hurry to have her wrists bound again, she took her time surveying herself in the mirror.

I'm going to get out of here.

Vincent pounded on the door again. "I'm coming in," he growled.

She yanked the door open. "Geez, I'm right here."

He grabbed her arm again and pushed her back toward the door to the office. "Get back in there."

Ilaria slowly trudged, scanning the warehouse. This corner of the warehouse was dim and empty. The distant noises she had been hearing were not from machinery. It sounded like something one would hear in a laboratory—softer sounds of glass, metal, plastic, and some quiet beeps of electronic instruments. Which made sense given that Vincent was mixing chemical ingredients.

Unfortunately, everyone who worked in the warehouse was located on the other end behind a stand-up partition that blocked her view.

Ilaria briefly considered making a run for it but decided it would be a stupid move. She didn't think Vincent was that great of a shot, but even if she got away from him, he likely had guards outside with much bigger guns.

She'd go back into the room and be willingly tied up again. For now. Until she came up with a plan.

Vincent motioned her back to the chair.

"Can I have some water first?" she asked. She was going to stall as long as she could.

He sighed audibly but retrieved a bottle. He tossed the bottle to her while keeping his gun trained on her.

Ilaria opened the water and took long gulps, keeping her eyes on Vincent. "Thank you." She capped the bottle and put it on the floor next to the chair. "Why are you doing this?" she asked before he could tie her up again.

Vincent only looked at her. At first she thought he wasn't going to answer, but even he couldn't resist justifying his actions. "Cordelia's and Leo's deaths were not adequately redeemed. No one gave a shit. Not Galen, not Stefano. So now it's up to me."

"How is this going to do anything?" She watched him carefully. "It's not going to bring them back."

"I know that," he snapped. "But I'll at least have the satisfaction of knowing that justice was done." He looked at his watch, and he gave a vicious smile. "And justice should be served by now."

Dread pooled in her stomach. "What does that mean?"

"It means that Galen should have paid the price now." His eyes glowed. "He should be dead."

Fear gripped Ilaria's chest. "What did you do?"

"You sure are asking a lot of questions." But he seemed to want to boast about his exploits, so he kept talking. "He should be dead from an overdose of aestrium-x."

Ilaria gritted her teeth and forced herself to calm her breathing. She wanted to think that Galen was too smart for that, but she had also underestimated Vincent at every turn.

"And Soren should be on his way here now," Vincent added, grinning gleefully.

"If Galen's already dead, what do you need Soren for?"

"Why not?" Vincent shrugged. "If I can destroy the entire MacGregor organization, I will. Kill off the number one and number two. They won't be able to recover."

"Cordelia and Leo wouldn't have wanted you to do this."

His face tightened with anger, and he gripped the gun harder, still pointing it at her. "How would you know what they would have wanted?" he hissed. "They were my family. If anyone's going to speak for them, it's me."

"I miss them, too," she whispered.

Vincent pinched his lips together. "Yeah, well, good for you. But you made your choice when you decided to get into bed with the MacGregors."

Literally. This would be funny if her life, and Soren's, weren't in jeopardy.

"How long have you been doing this under Dad's nose?"

He chuckled. "Years. It's pretty ingenious, right? Stefano had no idea."

"Dad trusted you," she said, anger coloring her words.

"Well, I trusted him ," he shouted bitterly. "I trusted him to get justice for Cordelia and Leo, and he chose Galen over his own family."

"So was that the plan all along?" she asked. "Get this whole operation going and kill my parents, kill me, so you could take over the family organization?"

Vincent blinked. Then realization dawned on his face, and his eyes widened. "You think I killed your parents?"

"You killed them," she accused, "and you would have killed me if I'd been there. Because you wanted to be the head of this family all along."

He stared at her, incredulous. "What kind of bullshit has MacGregor been feeding you? Yes, I was planning to remove my brother as the head, but I didn't kill him. I wouldn't do that to my own brother."

Ilaria studied him, frowning. "You didn't hire that assassin?"

"No."

Ilaria's mind spun. Despite it all, she believed him. Vincent wasn't above secrets and betrayal, but he didn't kill her parents. "Then who killed them?" she said. "Galen wouldn't have."

"He did," Vincent declared. "So he got everything he deserved. Because he's dead now."

But anger still clawed her throat. "But you would stab your brother in the back and take over as the head of the family. What makes you any better than everything you're accusing Galen of? Betrayal is betrayal."

He glowered, face turning red. "I was doing it for the good of the family. Stefano was making decisions that weren't in the family's best interests. Namely, partnering with the MacGregors. He'd been making a mess of the business. Rose didn't think it was a good idea, either. She would have supported me taking over."

"Rose has already made her opinion clear," she said coldly. "But I'm not just going to step aside for you. Not while I'm alive."

"Well," he smirked. "I'm willing to consider negotiating. Your boyfriend's life in exchange for control of the family."

Ilaria stared at him, venom shooting from her gaze. "You're a fucking bastard."

Vincent laughed. "You have to be willing to make these kinds of trades to be the boss of a crime family." He moved behind her. "Now put your wrists together behind your back. You're going to sit tight while I wait for Soren outside."

She pinched her lips together but complied. He tied her wrists to the chair. Then he slammed the door on his way out.

Ilaria counted to twenty to make sure he wasn't going to turn around. Then she maneuvered her hands around so she could stick a finger into the back pocket of her jeans. She needed to get out of here before Soren showed up. There was no way she would allow it to come down to a choice between Soren's life or giving up control of the family business.

She grunted as she hooked her forefinger into her pocket. The screw kept slipping out of her grasp. She shifted her butt around and finally got her finger under the head of the screw. Then slowly eased it out, holding it between her thumb and forefinger.

She sighed with relief. Then, grasping the screw, she started to saw the sharp tip against the zip tie.