Yes, really it's an update. I've been working on this chapter for a while and I'm still not sure about it. This is the chapter that (I don't know if all of you, but I )have been waiting for. So there's only three more chapters to go after this one... Hope you guys enjoy this. Please leave some feedback! Love you guys... oh and I almost forgot to wish you all a Happy New Years!
Chapter 22: Redemption
2:03 am
Tony Morales stepped out of the car, his two guards following his every move. He had owned the Negrita for over two years, but he hardly came to the place. Only big business dealings would bring him to the middle of nowhere at 2 in the morning. He smirked as he walked inside. But the minute that Elias, the manager of the brothel, had called to inform him of Steven Webber's presence he couldn't stay away. He loved to antagonize the poor white man, the face of disgust and hate was just too funny.
The minute he walked inside, everything stopped. The music still played, but the patrons and ladies all became quiet. He tilted his head as a signal for all of them to continue with their usual behavior. He made his way toward the back of the place where the office was located and asked his guards to stay at the door.
Elias was sitting behind the desk when his boss came in, swiftly he stood up and held his hand out.
"Buenas Noches." (Good Evening.)
"Where is the gringo?" Asked Tony ignoring the hand held out to him.
"Mr. Webber is upstairs."
"Who's with him?"
"A new one."
Tony's face became inquisitive. "A new one? Who hired a new girl without my permission?"
"I- I- I didn't hire them."
"Them. So there's more than one?"
"Two. They came in earlier. A Puerto Rican and a gringa. The wanted to work freelance for the night... I - I - "
"Shut up. You know how I operate and you know you did wrong. Don't ever disobey my rules. We'll have a little talk later, so you don't forget again. Which room?"
"Number three."
Without a second glance, he walked out of the room.
2:04 am
"He's inside." Will said putting aside the binoculars.
Jason turned off his phone and started preparations. "I have to move fast. Tito will bring Elizabeth out through the side door. You will take her to the nearest safe house. I think the one in the town of Cabo Rojo is operable. Tito will stay as backup and you'll guard Elizabeth until is safe to go back to San Juan."
"Consider it done."
"Turn around over there. I'm going in."
Jason checked his ammo and as soon as the car was in position he got out. He made his way closer to the bar moving with skill through the shadows.
Francis closed his cell and knelt down to help Eva.
"Elizabeth, we have to remove you from the premises. Tito will be here in two and he's going to take you to a safe place okay."
Francis finished tying up Steven and turned around. "Elizabeth, honey did you... Elizabeth?"
She wasn't in the room. Francis swore out laud. Elizabeth's agility to disappear out of sight without him noticing was a bad thing and it was starting to annoy him.
"Where is she?" Eva said looking around.
"I don't have a freaking idea. This is bad, Eva. Very bad."
"What's wrong?"
"Jason is about to break in. Tony Morales is on the premises."
"Elizabeth, por el amor de Dios." (For the love of God.) Eva's voice came out as a plea.
"Wait for Tito, he'll help you move..."
"I'm here. Where's Elizabeth? Will is waiting to take her." Tito barged in the room.
"Stay with Eva. And go straight to part two of the plan." Francis walked around Steven's body who was still down and took his Colt. "Be very careful and take care of her." He turned to Eva and sighed.
"Take care. And please find Elizabeth."
"I have no other choice. That girl means a lot to all of us. Follow Tito's orders and everything will be fine."
"I sure hope so." Eva took a step closer to Francis and kissed him on the lips. It was short but passion filled. "I love you."
"I love you too." Without glancing back Francis was out of the room.
2:10 am
Jason was inside and about to go up the stairs, when he heard Tony Morales speak. He was telling his men to watch out for anything suspicious. They were walking up the wooden stairs slowly. Jason kept hidden under them. The little shit was surely looking for Steven Webber. Jason felt a little less tense now that he knew his men had taken Elizabeth out of the way. With her safe, things were much easy.
The three men were in the upper level of the structure now, so Jason stepped out and decided to take the back stairs instead. After rounding the kitchen he found the stairs and studied the exists. A few steps up, he heard the stairs creak under a heavy foot. Someone was coming down and was trying to keep quiet. Jason stepped out of the way and pressed his back to the wall. His was gun up and his brow was starting to furrow at the recognition. Something had gone wrong with the plan.
Elizabeth walked slowly. She didn't know where she was going or even where she was. But she just wanted to disappear out of the face of the Earth. What more could happen to her? She had lived a thousand years in only eighteen.
She considered herself a good person. She had done a couple of questionable things, but teenagers did that. They wanted to be rebels. That was no reason for such a cruel punishment. She was crying, her eyes swollen and her body still trembling.
She ran her hands over her face and turned her head to look around. She saw the faint outline of the house as she walked away from it and in front of her trees. She needed to get as far away as possible. She couldn't take being near Steven one more second. She needed to disappear.
The thick vegetation started to make her movements slower. It came to her knees and between her boots and the dry land, she was getting tired. Elizabeth stood a second to gather up her bearings and breath deeply. She tried to calm her nerves and get clean air inside her lungs. She closed her eyes and it was then when she heard the footsteps. Her skin prickled and she opened her eyes with a start.
Her blue eyes searched around but it found nothing. Blue-black sky and a quarter moon illuminating part of the way. She rubbed her eyes and kept walking.
2:11 am
"There's no one here." The guard checked around.
"I can see that. Let's go downstairs. Maybe he finished already."
"Take your post. And keep your eyes open for anything unusual."
The gun was pointed directly at his head. The barrel right between his eyes. And he swore under his breath.
"What the fuck are you doing here?" His voice was down, but still forceful.
"I... I..."
"Talk." The simple word was a command.
"Put the gun down man."
"Francis..." The voice came out as a warning now.
"Things went wrong up there."
"Where is Elizabeth?"
Francis didn't answer.
"Caruso... where the fuck is she?"
"I don't know where she is."
"What do you mean you don't know where she is?"
"She gone, Jason. Elizabeth disappeared."
2:16 am
Elizabeth looked around and only saw trees, shadows and... Was that a house? She was biting her bottom lip in worry. But at the sight of the house she breathed a bit better. She had been walking for over half an hour. She kept walking toward the house glad she could get some help. Thinking things better she knew she had to contact Jason immediately.
As she got closer she noticed that the house seemed familiar. The faint sound of music started to fill her ears. Stopping in her tracks she realized something... she had been walking in circles around the Negrita.
"Oh God... Oh God... I have to get out of here."
Elizabeth started to freak out. The trembling came back and her breathing became erratic. She turned around and started to go the opposite way but before she could continue on, she was face to face with him.
"Well, well, well. Look at what we have here. The boss is going to be so happy when he knows what I found."
"What? Who are you?" Elizabeth stepped back.
The tall dark man stepped closer. "Don't even think so honey."
"I'm not your honey. Don't take a step closer or I'll scream."
"You do that honey. See if someone hears you."
The guard took her and she started to scream and kick, but there was no use. The man took her and placed her inside the car. There was no one around to notice her resistance.
2:13 am
Jason and Francis walked out of the Negrita without been spotted. They waited inside Francis car to regroup. Elizabeth was nowhere to be found.
"I'm going back in." Jason said desperately.
"We combed the place, twice. She's not inside." Francis said carefully.
"She has to be somewhere. She couldn't have vanish off the face of the Earth. I'm going back inside."
"Morales hasn't come out yet. You are risking it."
"I care shit about Morales. I need to find her." Jason spoke sharply.
He was about to get out of the car, but Francis stopped him. "Wait. I'll go inside. I'll be less obvious, cause I was already there. You wait here. You seem a bit edgy."
Jason didn't answer, he just looked at the older man his eyes cold and distant.
"Yeah... I get it. She matters too much. We'll find her. Stay here."
Francis disappeared inside the brothel and Jason dropped his head in his hands.
"Where are you?"
A couple of minutes later Jason heard a faint scream in the distance and turned around. One of Tony's guards was getting inside a black car. It still wasn't good. If that man found Elizabeth before he did...
The door to the Negrita opened and Tony Morales came out a triumphant and smug smile, he was closely followed by his other guard. Soon all of them were inside the black car and it was driving away.
Jason moved from to the driver's seat and turned the engine on. Something wasn't right. He looked up to the brothel and then back at the retreating form of the car.
He took of in reverse and soon a half turn had him going after Tony Morales.
2:22 am
Eva and Tito were sitting around the abandoned storage warehouse, waiting for news on the others. Eva sighed and Tito looked up to find her looking down.
"Estás bien?" (Are you okay?)
"No. I'm worried about Elizabeth."
"She should have stick to the plan. I mean what was so difficult about waiting in the next room until you have drugged the guy. We would have beaten him senseless until he agreed to the conditions Jason had drawn in the contract, signed and bye-bye Webbers. She would have been free of them for the rest of her life."
"I wish things were as simple as a three part plan. But this is her life we are talking about. She's just a kid and she had to stand there and listen to her brother say they hired a common thug to rape her and maybe kill her."
"Too bad we didn't do it a year ago." The low hatred filled voice made them both look up to find Steven awake.
"What did you say?" Eva spoke as she stood up.
"I said too bad, Morales didn't kill her a year ago. It had solved all our problems once and for all."
"You bastard. She's your sister for the love of God." She said standing taller.
"That point had me doubting for a while. But if she's vicious enough to send her mobster lover to kill me... life for life mine is first."
Steven was sitting in the middle of the room facing them. He was tied to the chair, unable to move. But completely capable of talking trash. Eva moved her head from side to side and walked closer.
"You are scum and you deserve everything that's going to happen to you."
"And who's going to kill me? A two cent whore?"
Tito was standing back getting really pissed but sure that Eva was more than capable of defending herself.
The Puerto Rican laughed hard, she threw her head back and when she recovered she slapped Steven with the back of her hand. The force of the blow had him turning his head to the side.
She took his chin in moved his head to face her. She was standing closer now. He was bleeding again. "That's just so you learn to talk to women."
He spat to the side the blood that was gushing from his broken lip.
"You better get use to the taste of blood, cause what's coming is nothing compared to that." Tito clarified from his place, his gun shining from his holster.
3: 09 am
Tony Morales smiled as he moved closer to the chair that harbored a tied up and blindfolded Elizabeth. She was waking up. The barn was abandoned and filthy with rubble. The faint smell of horses still remain. The Puerto Rican man was dressed in a silk dress shirt and slacks, but still wore a baseball cap sideways. He wore thick gold necklaces and diamond studs.
Elizabeth shook her head in hopes of reincorporating herself. It was then when she realized she was tied up. She spoke slowly, still groggy from the drug they had injected her.
"Help. Some... someone please...W-where am I?"
Tony smirked again. "Welcome to your nightmare." Elizabeth reacted at his voice. She sat up straight awareness running through her.
He walked around her and untied her blindfold. She blinked the shadows away and once she opened her eyes she wished she hadn't.
"So, we see each other again."
Elizabeth stared ahead not meeting his gaze. She tried to force her way out of the rope but only managed to splinter her skin.
"You'll only hurt yourself, Mami. I've made sure that you can't run away from me this time." He walked closer forcing her to meet his gaze, he grabbed her by her chin. "Today you will know a real man."
"Where is he? Running late and sent you in as an opening act?"
"As smart mouth as ever are we?" He said tightening his grip. "What nothing else to say?"
"Sick bastard. Feeling all tough having a woman defenseless. Let me go and then we'll see."
He dropped her face and walked backwards with a laugh. "I always admired your spirit. It'll be so much fun to crush it."
"What have I done to you?" She was thinking out loud, spoke in a murmur.
"What was that?"
"What have I done to you? Why do you want to hurt me?" She spoke more firmly.
"You want to know what have you done. The answer is simple. Nothing. Don't feel bad this isn't personal. A year ago, your father contacted me and offered me a lot of money to do a job. It was a easy, seduce his young daughter and rape her. I marked the territory, but then I realized how beautiful you were. When I met you it wasn't about the job anymore. You are a beautiful woman, Elizabeth Webber. That first attempt was busted by Morgan. It was such a coincidence... he's one of the enemies of my brother Carlos... But don't worry, Mami. No one is going to interrupt us tonight."
3:11 am
Jason was crouching behind the only standing piece of the fence that surrounded the barn. He had followed the car fairly distant and noticed them pulling up to the abandoned building. He left the car half a mile away and made the rest of the way by foot. Once he got close enough to the place everyone was already out of the car. Something still made him uneasy, but he still didn't know what it was.
He waited for an hour and still nothing. No one had gone in or out of the barn. He shook his head what was he doing here? Elizabeth was missing and all he was doing was wasting time. He grabbed his cell phone and tried with Francis again.
"Was about to call."
"Did you find her?"
"Not yet. But there was a man walking outside of the bar. He had taken a girl from the brothel and went out on a little expedition..."
"Francis, cut to the chase."
"So they are out there and he forgets to bring condoms, so he goes back to his car and on his way to the spot he had left his friend... he saw someone walking ahead."
"Does he has a description?"
"Short, wearing tight black leather. He thought it was one of the girls he had seeing inside, but it was dark outside and he had been drinking."
"Where did she go?"
"He thinks she was going around the bar. Maybe she was lost."
"What time?"
"Roughly 2:15 am."
"Fuck."
"What?"
"I heard a scream and then Morales got in his car and they drove away. He has Elizabeth."
"Where are you?" Francis asked Jason.
"Outskirts of town. Route 301. An abandoned barn, a mile in after the last exit."
"I'll get backup. We'll meet you there."
3:25 am
"Things can go two ways you see. The easy way and the hard way. It's up to you to decide." Tony Morales dropped down to his knees in front of Elizabeth and started to caress her cheek.
Elizabeth closed her eyes and tried to squirm away, but she found the resistance of the ties binding her to the chair. Everything about that night came crashing down on her.
He let out a cold laugh and Elizabeth felt her skin crawl. "Scream all you want little girl. No one is going to hear you. We're going to do this the easy way or the hard way."
He kept kissing her everywhere. His saliva was smearing her makeup everywhere. Elizabeth started to scream then. "STOP! LET GO OF ME! HELP!"
She was jerking around, but he moved the full weight of his body on top of her. When she tried to scratch his face with her nails, he grabbed both of her hands and put them over her head. Meanwhile his other hand was rummaging all over her body.
In the middle of nowhere, her voice was starting to come out in panic streaks. "NO! PLEASE, HELP!" She kept trying to move and when he kissed her lips again she bite him hard until blood dripped over her own.
"You bitch! I guess we're gonna have to do this my way."
It had to be a nightmare. It couldn't be about to happen again. He was right, this time Jason wasn't going to be able to stop him. A silent tear fell down her face.
He ran his tongue up her cheek and licked it dry. "Don't cry baby. This is going to be really good. You won't even remember Morgan after you had some of this."
"Get away from me."
Tony stood up. "You'll have to control that temper of yours. 'Cause I'm going to start to untie you." He bent and started with the ropes from her torso. "I'm going to do your legs now. But be very careful what you do. I have two guards ready to shoot if you try something funny."
"You won't kill me until you get what you want."
"A little sure of yourself are you?" He stood and gave a signal with his hand. Soon a shoot was fired. Elizabeth flinched. "That was just a little taste of what can happen. And don't be cocky, 'cause I still can get what I want afterwards. It'll be easier, you wouldn't put much resistance."
Elizabeth couldn't help the shiver that ran down her body. That thing standing over her was an animal. She had to think her movements better. She wasn't going to be a victim ever again.
He wrapped his arms around her and kissed her forehead. "You are safe now. I won't let him hurt you again. I promise."
Even though Jason wasn't there. She felt him deep in her heart. He was giving her strength.
"... I could see you were hurting. I could see it in your eyes. You felt alone and you wanted to fill that void inside of you, that nothingness with something..."
He had filled the nothingness inside her with love...
3:34 am
Jason heard the gunshot and his stood up abruptly. His gut clenched ashe moved silently closer to the barn. He saw one of the guards at the north door and the other at the south. The one in the south had been the one that had shoot. He was pointing the gun up. It was a warning shot. He had to move slowly and take their attention. Move them from their post and take them out.
3: 39 am
Tony had untied her legs and was running his dirty hands up her legs.
"You look hot dressed all in leather. I bet Morgan gets off on seeing you dressed like this. He doesn't have bad taste at all. The mix of a kid dressed as a vixen, those big red lips wrapped around his... does he like that?"
Elizabeth was feeling the vile in her throat. He was touching her and kissing her until he reached her hands. They were tied on the back, so he stood up and moved around her. As he grabbed te rope, he bent his head and was slathering her ears with his saliva.
Soon she was free of his hold. But remain sitting down. Slowly she moved her hands to the front and massaged them. A plan was taking form in her head. Faintly she remembered Eva's voice. "Girl remember the plan." And so she did.
Elizabeth dropped her hands to her legs. She felt her knee high boots and tried to even her breathing. She stood up and tried to run but Tony got her before she got to the door. He pressed his chest to her back. His hand on her throat.
"So, think you could out smart me, do you?"
She couldn't speak. Elizabeth started to fidget. Tony bit her ear hard and turned her around.
"Now you'll know what a real man feels like."
"You are a bastard. And you deserve what you get." She spat at him.
He kissed her hard on the mouth and bit hard on her lip making her bleed. Elizabeth fought his hold. But soon she made her resolve. Once she had him close enough she opened the switchblade she had in her hands. The one that Jason had given her and as he moved her closer she pushed it inside him.
"OWW! You bitch! I'm going to kill you." Tony was holding his side, but still pushed Elizabeth to the floor.
"NO!" She pushed him away but failed.
They both fell down. He was bleeding from his side. The blade fell from her hands and she tried to go for it, but he ram his fist in her face. He took her by her throat and placed his body over hers.
"You shouldn't have done it. Now you are going to die."
Elizabeth kicked and got him on his manhood with the stiletto of her boot. She crawled toward the blade and took it. But couldn't put much distance between them. He jumped her again.
"GET AWAY FROM ME!"
3:51 am
Jason heard her scream and turned around. He was about to barged inside when one of the guards came after him again. Jason turned around to face him and shot three times. The man dropped like a fly and soon Jason was running inside.
The image took him back to the night he had found her. Elizabeth was lying under Tony, squirming, trying to get away from him.
"AHH!" Tony screamed.
"Step away from her." Jason yelled, but still keeping his feelings under control.
The squirming stopped. Elizabeth stopped moving and so did Tony Morales. Jason moved closer, his gun drawn pointing at the back of the man.
"I said move it!" Jason repeated.
His voice brought her back to reality. She felt the limp body over her, her hand still clutching the blade inside him. Her hands covered in blood. She pushed him away from her. She needed to get away from him.
"Ja...Jason." Her voice was breaking.
He frowned. Tony Morales body rolled away from her and it was then that he saw the blood.
