Chapter 3

I regain consciousness with an ache in my body and my neck is stiff. I groan as I try to stretch my joints but feel restrictions in my body.

I open my eyes to a dimly lit area and blink, trying to adjust to the dim lights. The whole place is too dim to make out. There is only a small window by the wall on my right, but it's barred down, letting only a few streams of sunlight into the room, facing me are stairs leading up.

I look down at my limbs and see that I've been bound to the chair with ropes. I try dragging my hands free but the rope bites into my skin. I struggle for a while then stop as the rope digs in tighter.

I sit there in confusion, wondering where I am and how long I have been tied up. As the sun sets, I cry to myself, thinking about how worried my parents are about not seeing me back home until sundown.

Just as I was about to force the restraints on my hands and feet again, the sound of keys rattling made me freeze. I hold my breath as the door atop the stairs opens up and I get momentarily blinded by the sudden light that comes through.

Just as I adjusted my eyes to the sudden light, slow, calculated footsteps came from the door, then the figure of a large man blocked the light passing through the door and covered my form in his shadow.

He stands by the doorway but I couldn't make out his facial features," Who are you and what am I doing here?!"I shout at his form but I'm just met with silence, just as I'm about the shout profanities at him, he comes down the steps calmly and stands in front of me.

My breath catches in my throat at the sight of the large man, he has sharp black eyes that pierce into one's soul, a chiseled jaw,  full lips with a beard framing them and his hairstyle is that of being cut short on the sides and a few inches longer at the front. He's a really attractive male but he stared at me like he'd crush me with his shoe and I don't recall knowing such a man.

Two burly men also come down from the stairs and close it behind them, plunging us into darkness momentarily before turning on the light for a single bulb above us.

Being surrounded by all these strangers, I feel the surge of panic start to bubble up within me as they surround me from all sides," answer me God damn it! Who the heck are you?!" I shout at them in panic and in a flash, the man on my left grabs my jaw harshly and forces my head upwards to stare at the man with the piercing dark eyes.

I take in sharp deep breaths to quell my rising panic attack, I couldn't afford to get a panic attack in front of these men.

The dark eyed man looks deeply at me," your a loud thing for someone powerless ", his deep voice sounds off in the enclosed space, he bends towards my face and studies me," you owe me a debt that is very much overdue so I decide to see to this matter myself" his breath fans my face as he speaks, a mix of tobacco and mint.

I stare at him with furrowed brows in confusion, I've never met this man before in my life so his talk of a debt is all new to me," What do you mean by debt? I don't even know you" I tell him as I watch his eyes. He raises one brow in silent amusement and takes a step back with a smirk on his face," Oh really? Want to play the innocent game with me, pretend you know nothing, quite original" he says mockingly as he takes slow, predatory steps around me," but no issues, let me play along and jog your memory shall we?" he asks while still circling round me," in 2015, Roman Alexe and his wife had a sudden decline from business that they tried to rise from, then all of a sudden got struck with the accident of their children which resulted in the demise of one and the long term hospitalisation of the other and with all those bills rounding up they had no way to go about it" he continues while I pale upon hearing his words,"how-how did-"," but then, left with no other option, they decided to steal from my shipment and stab me in the back" he interrupts me while still taking circles round me," nobody, will betray me and not get what's coming for them, hence why you're here", he finished and stops in front of me.

He stared at me with his cold, hard eyes at my pale self. The man holding my jaw lets go of my head with a shove making my hair stick to my sweaty, tear-stricken face. The hard-eyed man roughly grabs my hair by the roots and forces my face towards his," and now the option left is to pay me otherwise...." he leaves the statement hanging and draws out his gun from his back and grazes it at the side of my face.

The cold pistol is pressed to my forehead as the smirk falls from his face and he looks at me like a nuisance he would not be bothered to shoot right this instance," a life or two has to be traded for it" he pushes my head backward with the tip of his pistol and turns away towards the stairs," so now we play the waiting game, shake them up then we see what option they choose" he says without looking back and like a silent command, he's two men follow him up the steps and open the door for him," no, stop wait!!!!" I shout just as they slam the door behind them, plunging me into darkness.

Chapter 4

Locked. In the darkness. All one.

The sheer terror that courses through me is enough to spiral into a panic attack.

How long will they keep me, aside from my parents who would search for me I think while hyperventilating.

The sheer pressure of everything pressed down on me making it hard for me to breathe.

I practice my breathing exercises and go through my mantras that I was taught during my therapy session. I'm okay, everything will get better, not all is lost, but as I recite them in my mind I know that if I don't work fast that all will be lost.

I managed to stabilize myself and in the meantime, only one thought came to me....," I have to get myself out of here" I whispered to myself.

I calmly observe what little I can make of the space I'm locked in, apart from the single bulb, a window, and the door, there's nothing in the room that could help me.

My heart drops and I begin to feel hopeless.

After some hours of still silence and near madness, I hear some footsteps of men upstairs. It sounded like there was a group of men chatting about.

I heard a few yelling shouting drinks and guessed that they were drinking, then a plan struck me, dangerous but necessary.

I mentally give them about 45 minutes before I start shouting," Hey!!! Let me out of here!!! You don't know who you're messing with, I'll make you all pay!!!" I shout at the top of my lungs then hear sudden silence from above.

Now, I'm no one really but the goal is to anger them to at least send one down so that I could try and outsmart them in their drunken stupor. Not long after my shouts a large, heavily tattooed man bursts in through the door nearly knocking himself and the door down, he staggers down from the stairs, beer bottle in hand, and marches towards me.

He grabs my hair by the root, forcing my head up. A sharp pain spreads through my scalp and I hiss at the pain," you filthy little thing, who the heck do you think you are to be running your mouth while tied up huh" he mocks me while looking down at me, I sneer and muster up a false bravado," errand boys like you only do what your good for and run around doing the errands of other people, I laugh at your false display of power" I mock him and watch as fury blazes in his eyes, next thing I know I get slapped across the face hard, my head swerves to the right and I blood seeps into my mouth, smearing it with its metallic taste.

The man heaves with anger then all of a sudden looks at me with a look I can only describe as evil," Since you're so keen on showing us who you are, better to show off what you're made of to the rest of the fellas isn't that right?" He says as he walks around me and stops behind me, he drops his bottle at the side of the chair I'm tied to and moves to untie my hands.

Just as he frees my hands, I take advantage of his wobbly alcohol-induced movements and rush to grab the bottle on the floor and swing it to his head without missing a beat.

Cheers go off from above just as the bottle makes contact with his head, masking the sound of the bottle breaking. He falls to the floor with a thud and stares at his body, the sound of blood flowing through my ears and my heart still beats fast from the turn of events.

I rush to untie my legs quickly and get up from the chair taking a glance at the unconscious man on the floor I better make a run for it before he wakes up, by the looks of it may be out for the night but I can't bet on that I think to myself as I move to grab the walkie talkie in his back pocket, a large shard of glass from the broken bottle and slowly climb up the steps to the door.

I carefully peered out through the door and noticed that it was a long hallway and to my left was some sort of lounge where about 5 men surrounded by women were having drinks.

I observed to make sure they're well distracted then rush passed the door. I make hurried steps through the hallway while occasionally glancing back to make sure that I haven't been spotted yet and keep going.

Along the walls of the hallway were closed doors. I don't try to gamble with it about whether it's an exit or a room of sober men so I keep moving forward hoping that the corridor would lead to an opening.

Not long into my escape, the walkie-talkie comes to life ''all men within block C, the girl has escaped, move fast and catch her before she heads far" a male voice announces through the device.

Panic surged through me hearing that they know I'm gone and are looking for me so I bolt through the hallway.

The end of the hallway was just in sight when I could hear the murmur of voices behind me.

I dash towards the opening just as I hear a man shout "There she is, catch her!" I increase my speed upon hearing that.

I noticed that at the end of the hallway was a staircase leading down and I just prayed that it led to the exit.

I ran down the stairs and noticed that it was an open space with an open door showing land.

I run faster at the sight of freedom but before making it long, I got tackled to the floor on my left, knocking the items I held out of my hand, just before I could regain my bearings, I feel a sting on my neck and just before blacking out, I glance at the door once more, so close, then darkness.

Chapter 5

Pain. A feeling that has stuck with me for a while now.

I feel the drench of cold water being poured on me, jolting me awake. As I wake up I try to focus my vision then I notice the man that my family apparently owes money to, sitting in front of me cross legged with the tattooed man and another that I've not seen before, standing behind his back.

"Rise and shine red locks, how was your nap? I'm sure it was refreshing after such a night you had" the man sitting said looking at me with an unreadable expression," and hope that you're accustomed to your new settlement, since it seems the chair and ropes weren't quite working out" he finishes with a tilt of his head.

I glance to look at my hand, still slow in processing since I came to, my hair is sticking to my sweaty skin, I have a busted lip and a sprained ankle, and I see that this time I have been cuffed with metal chains attached to the wall. The chains are as short as 5 feet, restricting far movements. This time, instead of a chair, I sat on the floor propped against the wall at my back.

I regain a bit of my senses and start to comprehend what is going on. I stare at the man in front of me and glare at him," Who are you again, and what do you want from me?" I ask him, frustrated and alarmed at the change of situation.

We didn't even appear to be in the same place they kept me last time. This area has no windows, a table beside the man sitting down, security cameras facing both me and the door, it's bigger than the other holding room, and appears to have better supervision than the other. " Sorry for the late introduction, you don't know my name do you?" he asks, looking at me.

He gets up from his seat and takes a few steps towards me, but keeps a good distance between us," my name is Andrei, Andrei Ciobani" he states and he crouches down to my height," and you, VannaRae have to choose now what would work for you" he says as he gradually rises to his towering height.

I sit there, unable to comprehend what it is he is on about," how do you know my name?" I ask him as I move my arms in the chain constriction, to no use though, I stare at the man I tackled last time, noticing the sneer he looks down at me with," oh VannaRae, I know your whole family very well, which brings us back to the case of your betrayal" Andrei says, forcing my eyes away from the tatted man," how much do we owe you, I swear I will recover everything, i'll pay you your money for as long as it takes but please let me I go, I beg of you" I plead with him.

Andrei looks at me with cold, calculated eyes as he lowers himself back down in his seat, "How sure are you that you will pay me my money, how can I trust you won't run?" he asks me quizzically.

I stare at him and lean my body forward as much as the restrictions would let me," they are my family, I can't abandon them to suffer and they've lived here their whole lives and plan to do so, since you know my family, you would be able to track their movements, tell me how much it is" I state, looking him in the eye. No matter the amount, I have to get my family off the hook of this dangerous man.

He stared at me and gave me a cold, eerie smile that promised pain rather than relief," Oh VannaRae, the time for atonement has passed, the betrayal goes far beyond money" he finished with a cock of his head.

At that moment his phone dings on the table beside him and glancing at it, he turns to me with a smile on his face," Just the thing I was waiting for" he picks up the phone, taps a few things, and turns the phone towards me.

The sight on the screen makes me freeze in terror, my blood runs cold as fear courses through my body at the sight of my family and best friend, bound to chairs, blindfolded, tears gather in my eyes at the sight of gunmen pointing their guns at my loved ones, Jasmine shouts at the men in the room, stripped of her sight but not her strong will," you cowards!! You attack like scared little girls!! Untie us and face us like the men you pretend to be" Jas screams at their captors, she may be keeping a strong face but I know she's scared as well.

I stare at Andrei as the tears stream down my face," What is it you want you monster, I don't even know what business you're on about!" I yell at him, totally confused about the betrayal he speaks of. He looks me dead in the eye, and a flash of menace crosses his facial expression.

He walks towards me, closer then the first time he came to me, stands by the side of my thigh and crouched down to my eye level, he removed his gun from his back pocket and tilts my jaw with it then unlocks the safety from it," one should know not to cross the path that they can't return from, and your family has crossed me, so VannaRae, your left with only 2 options" he leaves his statement hanging and stretches his other hand towards his men, they put his phone in his hand then he continues," either I give the command now and they kill your family, or you hand yourself to me and marry me" he states while staring into my eyes like he can read my soul," and you have 5 seconds before I give the command " he finishes, my mind hurriedly runs through his threat.

My parents, Jas, I can't let anything happen to them "1" he starts his countdown, I can't bear to lose another family, another life gone and it would be my fault, I get drawn back to the present as he reaches 4, starts to dial a number before I intercepted him," I'll do it, I'll marry you so don't touch my family" I state as I bow my head, my heart shattering at my lost freedom.