Part 1
"You will do as you were ordered or suffer the consequences, bitch," Gregory threatened Penelope Garcia Rossi, slapping her on the cheek hard enough to cause the bones in her cheekbones to crack. Penelope didn't cry out, as she wouldn't give her captor the satisfaction of hearing her cry out in pain.
Penelope remembered exactly how she had been kidnapped by this man and his cohorts. She had been out getting her hair and nails done, alone for a change, as JJ and Emily had wanted to do something different.
It wasn't even that she was unaware of the fact that there was some Immortals who wanted for her talent with computers, but she had never believed that one of them would kidnap her from a public place, because they had to know the consequences of their actions. She knew her family would be hunting for her and with a lot of her and Dave's children being just as good on computers as she was they would find her soon. She didn't believe that Gregory was aware that there were other computer experts in the family, though if he had been thinking about it he would've realized that some of her children would likely have inherited her talent. She believed that Gregory was insane. She didn't think that her captor would be doing this if he was in his right mind. She believed that all Gregory cared about was money. She suspected that his mate had died either before they had met or after they had, but before he or she was Immortal.
She knew love could change a person, and if his mate hadn't died, but rejected him then that would be enough to drive some Immortals insane, as it had happened before.
"Think about what you're doing," Penelope begged, once her cheek had healed enough for her to talk without to much pain. "Do you really believe my family won't find me? Do you know what they'll do to you when they finally do."
"There's no way that Rossi needs three mates," Gregory said arrogantly. "They'll forget about you in time. Now, do as your ordered or you will regret it," Gregory said waving a knife at her threateningly.
"You really are that stupid then," Penelope said shaking her head at Gregory's arrogance. "You really believe that Dave won't look for me or at least won't find me then you really are as stupid as a troll."
Gregory glared at her for the insult and Penelope glared back defiantly, showing she was unafraid.
"Dave and the rest of my family will find me and they'll take you apart piece by piece and torture you for a very long time. It's not like Ilithyia doesn't expect an Immortal not to respond to such heinous crime as the kidnapping of another's mate. I'm sure you know this and yet, you really think you can get away with kidnapping another man's mate or human beings in general."
Penelope said nothing else, but simply shook her head at Gregory's arrogance and stupidity.
She had been kidnapped specifically to make Gregory a lot of money thanks to her hobby of changing backgrounds for her fellow Immortals, but then she got paid a great deal for her efforts. Then again, those Immortals were honest and would never consider going against the gods, Ilithyia most of all. Gregory, she suspected, had never been like that, even before he lost his mate. At the very least he had probably been incredibly arrogant. She was surprised that he hadn't committed some unforgivable crime in the eyes of the gods, especially Ilithyia, by now, as he really was that arrogant. There were certain crimes that would make you lose your Immortality and though there weren't many there were a few.
Gregory just expected her to put in a lot of effort to change backgrounds and then he was going to take all the money that she had earned. Changing backgrounds might have been easy for her, but that didn't mean that just anybody could do it. She'd always had been good on computers and she had hundreds of years of experience doing backgrounds for her own family as well as other Immortals who of course paid her well for her services. She had known that there was some Immortals who would like to use her talent for themselves and take the money she had earned, but she had never honestly believed that any of them would go through with some kind of kidnapping plot, which just showed how naïve she had been being. She had figured they would never carry out whatever plans they had because Dave was a powerful figure in the Immortal world, as he was one of the oldest that was still alive. Gregory, must have truly lost his mind, for him to do such a thing as kidnap another Immortal's mate for that brought down the wrath of the Gods and the others that he had somehow gotten to help him would share the same fate.
Penelope mentally shook her head but paid no attention to the man standing behind her. She knew arguing with Gregory or any of his man would just get her hurt so she would cooperate until Dave showed up along with as many members of the family as could be contacted on short notice.
When she had woken up Gregory had known immediately, which told her that she had been being monitored and came in. He had told her that if she wanted to eat she would obey whatever he told her to do. He had also said that she was his property now and he would beat her within an inch of her Immortal life unless she cooperated. Gregory seemed to believe that he could own human beings, but this wasn't the century where slaves were legal and she was sure that her captor knew that, unless he was as dumb as a bag of dirt clumps. She knew very well that slave trade still went on, though they were mostly shipped to foreign countries where slavery was acceptable and legal. Even though, this was centuries after the Civil War, that did not mean that some countries saw owning slaves as being wrong, though it was mostly third world countries.
When it looked as if she was cooperating Gregory relaxed as it appeared that she was following orders but really she was sending messages to her family. Gregory or his men didn't appear to know anything about computers or changing backgrounds, so it was relatively safe for her to do so. Well, actually, to be truthful, she was doing both. Gregory had given her a list of names of the Immortals that had paid him to change their backgrounds.
Gregory's attitude didn't startle her at all, so when he wandered away it didn't surprise her because she knew that he assumed that she would do exactly what he ordered if she didn't want to be beaten, her bones broken or for bruises to appear along her white skin. His sheer arrogance was appalling, but she was also grateful for it, because it was less likely he would discover what she was doing. Penelope had known that people could be extremely arrogant men in particular, but she had never encountered such a severe case of it before now. She knew that her mate could be arrogant in the extreme, but only when the situation required it as normally, he was very laidback and he was never arrogant with his family. No, she, JJ and Emily had been happy for many centuries.
She knew how her husband thought by now and he would've called on one of her children that was very good with computers just like she was. She couldn't believe that Gregory hadn't thought about the fact that she and her family would have known this was a possibility a long time ago and taken precautions. All of them had been aware for some time that there was some Immortals that would kidnap her, make her work for them, while the money for all her hard work would be stolen and added to her kidnappers accounts.
She knew very well that Gregory or any of his men and didn't give a damn about her or the fact that they were stealing from her. She knew she would be lucky if they fed her more then prison food and probably poor quality at that, as she couldn't see someone as arrogant as her captor wasting money on at least decent quality food for someone he didn't give a damn about. To him she was useful, but she knew he didn't care about her feelings, didn't care about her at all really. She knew very well that she had been kidnapped for the sole purpose of doing backgrounds for people who paid Gregory. She hoped that whoever Dave had gotten to help out would find her soon. Quite a few of her children had gotten her talent with electronics, but it would depend on who Dave could contact on short notice, as they were scattered all over the world.
She knew exactly how Dave, Emily and JJ would react, as soon as they found her and she didn't think Gregory realized what kind of the major mistake he had just made. If he really believed that Dave would take her kidnapping laying down or even JJ doing so for that matter than he was in for major wake-up call. Normally, she wasn't one for violence, but considering that she had been taken from her family by several men she would make an exception this time, so long as she didn't have to see it.
JJ and her were normally, the two most forgiving and gentle, but in this case Gregory was going regret the day he was ever born. She was sure Dave wouldn't mind if she stole every single penny that he had in his bank account or if she kicked him in the ribs a few times. She knew that by the time Dave and Emily were done with him and his minions they would no longer be alive. Murder or torture in most cases was forbidden by Ilithyia, but when it came to this type of situation she looked the other way when an Immortal broke one of her few strictures. Really, it was the only exception where torture was acceptable and it wasn't like this kind of situation popped up all that often, as most Immortals were pretty law abiding, but they also had their malcontents. Gregory would be lucky if Dave didn't torture him for months before finally letting him die. It was clear that Gregory was insane likely from losing his mate for some reason, as that was about the only reason she could thing of that would lead an Immortal down such a path.
Hours later when it was after 2 AM she was allowed to go back to her cell to sleep. She had been fed pig slop for dinner or at least that was what it tasted like and had no lunch so she suspected she'd be lucky to get two meals a day. The only reason for feeding her at all she suspected was so she didn't faint from hunger, even if starvation wouldn't kill her.
Penelope snorted in contempt in her thoughts knowing that she was being monitored. She tried to sleep but the mattress on the floor wasn't exactly the most comfortable, as it was full of lumps with not even a thin pillow. She couldn't believe that Gregory really thought that she wouldn't rebel as living like this was inhumane. She had been making a good living for herself long before she had met Dave and the others. Dave always treated her like a queen just like he did JJ and Emily. The food she had been fed for dinner wasn't even fit for pigs and the mattress on the floor of her cell wasn't even worth mentioning. She would think that Gregory would be intelligent enough to try to bribe her with a few creature comforts, decent food and a decent mattress at least. She knew that Gregory actually believed that she would obey him just because of his threats, which told her that he knew absolutely nothing about her or her family. She was actually surprised that he hadn't threatened any of her children who were all grown up and who could defend themselves quite well. Even if he did beat her she would heal within a few hours and the pain would go with it. She couldn't believe that Gregory thought she was so weak willed that she would just obey because of the threat of a few beatings. She had defensive skills of her own and she had knocked out several of Gregory's men before they had managed to take her and hit her with a tranquilizer.
She suspected that Gregory had been rather surprised she could defend herself, but then, he seemed to have a rather warped view of women. She and the other ladies were black belts in several different martial arts disciplines, though they didn't have to often have to use their skills.
She suspected that Gregory didn't think much of women in general, even though this was not the 17 or 1800s anymore or even in the 20th or 21st century where women still hadn't always been treated as equal. Where he had developed his attitude from Penelope didn't care, she just wanted to go home. She truly believed that even if she had been with JJ and Emily, Gregory's men still would've tried their best to kidnap her and knock out her two sisters in the process.
Finally, Penelope drifted off to sleep, though she tossed and turned on the uncomfortable mattress for the rest of the night.
~~~Dave, Emily, JJ and Penelope~~~
Nearly two weeks later
There was an explosion and Penelope looked up knowing exactly who it was that had caused it. She grinned, but said nothing while Gregory and his minions looked rather startled.
"What was that?" One of the men who Penelope had never learned the name of asked.
Penelope wanted to run towards the door, but she was chained to the her workstation so she tried to wait patiently for her family to appear. It didn't take long at all as just a few minutes later the double door burst open and a dozen people appeared.
"Rossi!" Gregory exclaimed in shock. "How the world did you find us?"
"That's for me to know and you not to discover," Dave said his face an expression of fury. "You know what would happen if you kidnapped the mate of another Immortal. I still can't believe that you actually did so, as you know the consequences of such actions. Did you really believe that we didn't know this happening was a possibility and prepared for it? A long time ago, actually, several centuries."
Gregory looked rather shocked, but then he brought forward an antique gun that was stashed in the back of his pants waistband and shot Rossi in the chest knowing it would at least slow him down. He was rather shocked when Rossi was still standing and there was no blood at all. All that happened was that Rossi had let out an umph and then straightened as if he had never been hit.
Rossi simply looked at him and chuckled darkly with a absolutely evil expression. "I told you we had prepared. Bulletproof vest. All you did was ruin a nice shirt, that my wives bought me."
Dave didn't give any orders simply gestured and the rest of the family came forward taking out the other men, while Dave took out Gregory with no trouble and took the gun away from him handing it over to one of his sons.
"Are you okay, sweetie?" Dave asked Penelope after walking over to her and kissing her gently immediately noticing her condition. He noticed the tiredness in her eyes, the fact she had lost considerable weight, her dirty clothes, which were the same clothes she had been kidnapped in nearly two weeks ago, her filthy hair and sweaty skin.
"I will be when we get out of here," Penelope said looking at Gregory in deep disgust. "This one had me working 18 hour days for very little food and what I was fed wasn't fit for the prison inmates or even for pigs or enough to keep a bird alive. He then made me sleep on a lumpy mattress with no pillow and beat me when I dared try to protest and even when I didn't. I tried to reason with him, which did no good as I'm sure you can guess. I believe he's quite insane. He was so sure that you would never find me that he figured he could treat me anyway he liked and I didn't bother to tell him that we had planned for this scenario a long time ago, as he wouldn't have listened. He has quite a twisted view of what women are capable of in this century, especially when protecting their lives from people like him. I think he was rather surprised when I took out two of his men, and nearly a third. I likely would've taken out the last one if he hadn't managed to get a strong tranquilizer in me. I'm sure he believed that the four men he brought with him would be more than enough to subdue a single woman."
Dave handed her the keys that he had taken from Gregory, who was being watched very carefully by several of the family, even though he was tied up in chains. Penelope had the chains off in just a few seconds and when she rose to her feet she kissed Dave again eagerly.
"Do you mind if I teach Gregory a lesson before you torture him for the next few days at least?" Penelope asked Dave who looked at her and nodded. Dave knew that his mate wanted to deal with Gregory herself to prove a point. If it hadn't been for the tranquilizer he had no doubt that she could have taken out all the men and Gregory himself.
"Release him," Dave ordered. Aaron looked at him and nodded.
No more than a minute later Gregory stood up free from the chains that had been holding him prisoner.
"You are a despicable, loathsome, arrogant, small minded, nasty, little man and you deserve the torture that's coming your way," Penelope said with anger and absolute loathing in her voice, as she landed blow after blow. Gregory didn't even have a chance to defend himself and soon he was on the floor groaning in pain with multiple broken bones. "How could you believe that slavery is the right way to go in this century of many wonders? How could you be so arrogant to assume that Dave and my family wouldn't be able to find me in this era of technology? You believed you could steal my hard earned money, that you could force me to do backgrounds for anybody that paid you instead of being honest? There are other ways to earn money, but you'd rather steal someone else's, force them to work for you while stealing all the money that should've been theirs. You are a disgusting, perverted little man and I hope that Dave doesn't end your misery quickly and normally, I wouldn't wish that that fate on anyone."
"You go mom," Penelope heard Harper cheer, causing Penelope to smile a little.
"You thought you could beat me to get me to obey, but not only did I prove I'm more intelligent, I definitely proved I'm a better person than you and you're disgusting, loathsome thugs, you shit. You made me live like a pig, no decent food, no decent place to sleep and you wouldn't even let me take a shower. You expected me to live in the clothes you kidnapped me in and intended for me to be your slave for the rest of my Immortal life. I wonder what you would've done when I started stinking, because I couldn't get clean? Like I would really take a shower with one of your men standing outside the door, as I would be too afraid of being raped. Hell! You barely let me go to the bathroom, which is a normal, everyday function, you bastard. I certainly would have stunk up the place if I had to go in my underwear constantly, as I can only hold it for so long after all," Penelope said in such a tone of loathing and disgust that Gregory and his thugs looked shocked, though none of the rest of the family did. "It doesn't matter because soon you will be very dead and I will not stop Dave from exacting his revenge. You seem to really believe I would obey you, without trying my best to get in contact with my family. You and your thugs are so computer illiterate you didn't realize what I was doing."
"Yeah, it would've been smart to have at least one person that was good at computers," Brooke commented, as she stared down at Gregory with an expression of intense loathing.
"I suppose I'm lucky that he didn't think he needed one, as he thought he could intimidate me into doing what he wanted, which just proves what an idiot he is," Penelope said giving Gregory a final kick in the side, making him grunt in pain. Everybody heard his ribs cracking, but even Penelope ignored the sound. "It's clear you didn't make any plans for me to have different clothes or to be able to take a shower. You didn't think about anything that a human needs. Plenty of fluids, a place to get clean and use the bathroom, adequate food. You expected me to work nearly all the time with inadequate food and no way to get clean. The only reason you probably let me sleep is because you probably feared that I would make mistakes if I did not. All you cared about was fattening your bank account by claiming some else's work as your own and didn't care about my crappy treatment, since you knew I wouldn't die. You figured I deserved no better than that, as I was only a weak woman after all. You figured that I was your slave so why should you treat me decently? That's a good way to drive someone insane at least temporarily you know. If I hadn't already known my family was coming for me I would've killed myself and you would have lost your golden goose."
Penelope spat on the man on the floor then turned away.
"You wouldn't have, would you?" exclaimed one of Gregory's men in surprise.
"And why not?" Penelope asked, as she glared at the man with intense anger and disgust in her eyes that he took a step back. "You treated me worse than they treat criminals in prison. At least they get three squares a day and let out into yard to get exercise. I've probably lost at least 15 pounds, just in the short time I've been here because of the poor food, not to mention there wasn't very much of it. I'm sure your boss was trying to save money, as he probably figured why feed me anymore then the absolute minimum so long as I got enough to keep me working. A person can only take so much before they do something drastic."
The man who had blurted out the question hung his head in shame. He had known what he was doing was wrong, but Gregory could be very convincing and now he knew his fate was sealed. There was no way that David Rossi would let him live considering he had been involved in the kidnapping of one his mates. Mrs. Rossi had tried to warn him about what would happen unless he let her go, but he hadn't listened partly out of fear of Gregory, but also because of his own greed. He knew the laws and he knew how the goddess viewed kidnapping of another Immortal's mate. It was one of the few crimes that could lose you your Immortality depending on the severity of the offence and also allowed David Rossi to torture Gregory at least for as long as he wanted before killing him dead. The fact that Gregory had beat his prisoner just for the hell of it on a few occasions sealed his fate, because otherwise, his death would've been quick instead of prolonged.
Penelope turned back to Gregory and glared at him with an intensity that it made Gregory squirm. "You thought you could intimidate me into doing what you wanted, which just proves that you don't know anything about me or about my family at all. You thought I was just a weak woman that would give in under the pressure of being beaten. Even as a mortal I was never weak Mr. Gregory, as I learned how to defend myself a long time ago. You're no different from those that tried their best to steal my work and make it their own, except far worse. Any man who lays hands on a woman no matter the reason deserves what's coming to them. If I hadn't been so careful to protect my hard work some dishonest students would've stolen it, but unlike a lot of computer geeks I was not unaware that people can be dishonest at least and also downright evil. Guess what category you fall into, you piece of slime?" Penelope asked rhetorically. Penelope flung her filthy blonde hair over her shoulder and walked away, but not before she said to her mate, "He's all yours. Torture him for weeks, even months and I promise I will not object or be angry at you for it. If anyone deserves such treatment it's him. Maybe it will teach him how to treat others, if he is ever reincarnated, especially women."
Dave grinned rather maliciously, as he stared down at Gregory with an intense expression of hatred. It was clear he was relishing the torture that was to come and that normally, that wasn't like Dave at all. On the other hand, the man had brought it on himself.
"Let JJ and Spencer escort you to our hotel," Dave suggested, as he held her gently, ignoring the smell emitting from her. "Let the rest of us deal with Gregory here."
"Okay," Penelope decided, without a backward glance at the man who had held prisoner for nearly two weeks. "I need a bath and at least one decent meal."
"I'll be back soon, bella," Dave told her tenderly, kissing her temple. "Order anything you want from room service."
"Just let me have a quick word with Harper and Brooke then I'll allow Spencer and JJ to escort me to the hotel," Penelope requested.
Dave gave her a confused look for a few seconds, but then his eyes cleared and Penelope knew he had some idea of what he she wanted to talk to their daughters about.
There was no point of leaving all that money just growing interest with no one to claim it. The government as far, as she was aware knew nothing about the likely billions of dollars Gregory and his minions had stashed away. Some of it was hers anyway that Gregory had stolen. Not that she needed the money, but it was the principle of the thing. He had intended to make another fortune off her labor while not giving her a cent for all her hard work, which made her angry. The least he could've done was given her decent food and a decent place to sleep, which just showed how uncaring Gregory was of somebody he considered far beneath him. To him she was just an object who could make him billions of dollars, probably zillions because Immortals lived basically forever after all. Penelope had no doubt however, that Ilithyia would've stripped him of his Immortality if this hadn't been solved so soon, so he would have started to age as the years went by and he eventually would have died. She had no doubt that so would the men that had fallen under Gregory's spell for one reason or another. As it was, instead of a relatively painless death she knew that her mate would torture Gregory for at least the next few days before finally putting him out of his misery.
She couldn't even say that Gregory didn't deserve it, but while Dave and some of her other family did so she didn't want to be present, as she just knew she was going to have nightmares as it was and she didn't need more material for them.
Harper and Brooke surrounded their mother and she gave them instructions.
"That's a good idea," Brooke told her mother.
"I just don't see why the money should sit in the bank forever, gathering interest when as far as I'm aware Gregory has no heirs. I doubt very much he would've kidnapped me if his mate hadn't died or rejected him for some reason. I'm sure they'll have millions of dollars at least sitting in various secret accounts. So much money could do so much good in the world. In a way, it will be an insult to his memory and if anybody deserves to lose their fortune it's him, especially since I doubt it was honestly gained, so it's only justice. Besides, it's not like he's going to be around to spend it," Penelope explained. "This is my way of getting revenge on him for his treatment and also on the other men that helped him, even if they never touched me like he did."
"We're glad you're okay, mom," Harper said giving her a quick hug. "We'll see you back at the hotel in a little while."
"I intend to take a nice long soak in the Jacuzzi I'm sure is in the hotel room that your father rented. I'm going to order room service and eat way more than I probably should."
"Just make sure your stomach doesn't reject whatever you eat," warned Brooke and Penelope nodded.
"I will, because you're right. Gregory starved me likely just so he could save money. I've probably lost at least 15 pounds just in the less than two weeks that I've been his prisoner. I would've thought he would have treated me better as it would've made most people more willing to cooperate and instead he used threats and intimidation, which if he knew anything about me, he would've known wouldn't have worked."
"It's clear he didn't really do his research and considered you weak, which is a mistake," Harper said and Penelope nodded.
"Just because I usually abhor violence does not mean I can't use the the same if the situation calls for it," Penelope agreed.
"Come on, mom, we'll escort you to Aunt JJ and Spencer who are waiting right outside. We can discuss this a little later once you've eaten, bathed and had some sleep," Harper said.
Penelope nodded and followed her daughters out of place of imprisonment, which was of course an abandoned building in a different city far away from where she had been kidnapped. She was sure Gregory had been hoping that Dave wouldn't have been able to trace the route that had been taken, but with so many people good with computers in her family that was unlikely. There were things like airplane reservations and any of her children that were good with computers would be able to break into the airlines computers to discover where the plane had landed. If they had rented a car whoever had done the hacking would've been able to track the route through the inbuilt homing signal that all cars had nowadays.
She doubted very much Gregory had thought about removing the homing device that was in all cars, as it was something that had been started several centuries ago now. It let the police locate a missing person or at least their vehicle much more quickly in the case of a disappearance or a suspected kidnapping. Having a homing device in your car was so common nowadays that most people never thought about it, so she doubted Gregory had either, which would've been one way to at least locate the car that had likely been used to transport her unconscious form.
~~~Dave, Emily, JJ and Penelope~~~