End of Innocence
PROLOGUE
I stayed hidden, just as my mother and father instructed. When the first knock sounded from the front door, my entire body froze in fear. My parents had reminded me not to ask any questions, just do as I was told.
"Isabella, go upstairs! Hide in the linen closet. No one will find you, you'll be safe there. We love you. Now go," Father whispered in a hurried, clipped tenor.
I was an obedient daughter, and ran to where I was told. The walls were thin, and with the advantage of the acoustics in the house, I heard the entire event unfold below me.
"Swan, I believe you have some information for me, no?"
"I don't know what you're talking about Marcus." Father replied, calmly.
"I am not a patient man; we know you have information on Masen. If you just give us what we need, we'll leave quietly. If not," there was a lengthy pause, and anxiety boiled in the lower depths of my stomach; my pulse raced, "well, we'll start with your lovely bride here."
The mystery man spoke with a distinct, thick accent; one I could easily pick out.
"Who is Masen, are they talking about…?" I had thought to myself.
"Now, are you going to start talking, or am I going to make an example out of your wife?"
"You're making a very big mistake Marcus," I heard my father growl out.
Daddy never sounded more dangerous.
"Charlie, please give them what they want; think of Isabella." Mother was near hysterics, pleading with my father.
"Swan, I'm giving you one last chance."
"Marcus, if you touch Isabella, he will find you, and when he does, he will kill you. Make no mistake!"
"Search the place; she has to be here somewhere." The foreign man ignored my father's warning, and gave his orders.
My blood ran cold and the hair stood up on the back of my neck.
I heard doors being slammed, drawers being dumped; I just knew they would find me at any moment. I could hear my mother's screams from downstairs being muffled.
"Alright Swan, have it your way. Felix, Antonio take care of these two."
"Yes boss."
"Riley, I want her found, now."
"Yes boss."
I wrapped my arms around my body barely breathing, offering myself any comfort I could. Hoping they wouldn't find me. I stared into the black door praying, knowing what my fate was going to bring. In the next instant, I cried out as I was ripped out of my hiding spot. I felt a rough tugging on my hair as someone pulled me up. I screamed, kicked, and then bit the man, trying to escape his ironclad grasp.
"Ow, you little bitch. You'll pay for that."
He laughed, and I felt a hard smack fly across my face. The assault landed me in the front room.
"Careful Riley, the boss wouldn't want her marked up. She will bring a very good price. That one's feisty, but beautiful; she will do well at auction."
I felt the leader's eyes leer at me as he drank in my appearance.
I couldn't stand his lasciviousness and turned away, only to witness my parents lying in a pool of their own blood. Bullet holes in between their eyes.
I woke up gasping for air, hoping beyond hope it was all a nightmare. Knowing it wasn't.
My name is Isabella Marie Swan, and this is my story on how I was sold into the underworld of the Italian mafia.