“There will be no questions.” The man approaches Melina and grabs her arm. His nails dig into her skin as he drags her out of the room and down the hallway.
They proceed down the corridor and up the stairs into a beautiful house. The walls are white with stunning gold designs on them. The white marble floor is designed with a lovely flower in the center of the foyer above a gorgeous chandelier. It had to be the basement they had just walked out of. They walk past a two-way staircase with a beautiful black banister and golden handle. They come to a halt in front of a door as they walk to the left. James is standing right in front of it.
“Here you go, boss.” The man lets go of Melina’s arm, and she instinctively rubs the spot where he held her.
“You can go,” James says as he turns to the door and knocks. Melina wonders what they’re doing here.
“Come in,” a deep husky voice speaks from inside the room.
James turns the doorknob, and they walk into the room. James stands in front of Melina, blocking her view of the person who let them into his office.
“Here she is, sir,” James says to the man in the room. He moves to the side, revealing Melina to the man. Melina is awed by the handsome man but believes Thomas is more attractive. His jet-black hair is jelled back, allowing Melina a clearer view of his face. She observes his well-defined jaw moving as he chews his steak meat. His long fingers, adorned with skull tattoos, drop the fork and knife on the table, and he wipes his perfect size pink lips clean of food crumbs. The man leans back in his chair, filling it with his broad shoulders. His beautiful green eyes sweep over Melina’s body before he stands and walks toward them.
“Allow me introduce myself; I’m Rafael Gomez.” He puts his hand forward for Melina to shake. Melina hesitates at first, but then shakes his hand.
“Why am I here?” Melina asks the one question that has been bothering her since they walked into the office.
“Why are you here, you ask?” He places his hand on his chin and pretends to think about it. “It’s simple; I want to make Thomas Costanzo pay for what he did.”
“I am of no value to Thomas.” Don’t these people know that Thomas despises me? Hurting me as they have would do nothing to Thomas.
“You see, that’s where you’re wrong, honey. Thomas is probably going insane right now because of the video of James torturing you. I can imagine how furious he would be,” Rafael says as he closes his eyes and sighs deeply. “It would be a sight to behold,” he says, opening his eyes again and revealing a happy glint, which Melina noticed.
“Thomas doesn’t care about me. Hurting me won’t do anything to him.”
“Wrong again, but since we are discussing Thomas, James tells me you offered to kill him for me.”
Melina takes a deep breath before speaking, “Yes.”
“That’s good to hear; nothing beats watching someone being killed by their lover. It gives me a lot of joy,” Rafael says, smiling.
“How do you intend for me to kill him?” They won’t ask Melina to kill Thomas if they can do it themselves, but she’s certain they have a plan for how she will.
“You will know when the time is right; for now, you can leave.”
“Alright,” Melina says as she walks out, trailed by James.
He hands her over to the goons who brought her earlier, and they walk her back downstairs to the basement. As they walk, Melina couldn’t help but think about how Franky and she might die here. These people made a huge mistake by kidnapping me to hurt Thomas. They foolishly believed James. I’m the last person on Earth that Thomas would care about. Thomas hates me more than anything in this world. They think making Thomas watch a video of me getting tortured will enrage him; if only they knew it wouldn’t. Thomas does not give two shits about me, and I will die here. It is even better for me. I’m exhausted and wish it could all be over. My entire life has been filled with pain. First, at the hands of James, then of Thomas, and now of James once again. God, please, when will it all end? I am exhausted and can only hope for an end to my ordeal. I need peace, lord.
THOMAS
Thomas removes the safety from his gun and fires at his target. He keeps firing until all of the bullets in his gun have been expended on the wall across the room. Thomas was enraged because two weeks had passed since he received that horrific video of Melina. Rafael has made a demand of Thomas if he wants Melina back. He requested that Thomas trade himself for Melina, which he agreed to in a heartbeat, but it’s been two weeks since then. Rafael has decided to make the exchange only after James is done having his fun with Melina. Thomas almost exploded when Rafael told him this. His icy heart ached as he imagined the horrors Melina is facing. He couldn’t wait to find her, kill James in the most agonizing way possible, and subject him to twice the torture he subjected Melina to.
Even though Thomas is fine with trading places with Melina, he is still trying to find her. They kidnapped one of Rafael’s right-hand men and have been questioning him all week. He hasn’t cracked, but Thomas believes it’s only a matter of time before he does.
He’s upset that they still haven’t gotten any leads on where they’re keeping Melina after so long. Thomas needs to find Melina. He believes he needs her more than anything else in the world right now.
After his conversation with his mom the other day, he did some digging to see if everything she told him was true, and surprisingly it was. Thomas was astounded to learn that Melina was pregnant and had lost the baby because of James. According to hospital records, she claimed to have fallen down the stairs, but the wounds on her body indicated otherwise. Thomas couldn’t believe the scars on Melina’s body weren’t caused by her drunken father but by James. They weren’t fresh, so it was easier for Thomas to believe her lie. Thomas believes James must have stopped hitting her when they decided to con him. Thomas wonders how many years of abuse Melina has endured at the hands of James.
“Fuck!” Thomas exclaims, punching a nearby wall. Guilt washed over him, remembering how he had allowed Kimberly to add to the scars on her body. Thomas realized he’d made a huge mistake.
Many of the things Melina did a week before he transferred the money to James now make sense. A week before she betrayed him, she asked him if she could move to Sicily and live with him. Thomas wasn’t ready to take that step with her, so he declined. He couldn’t afford to lose her by telling her the truth about his life. If only Thomas knew she was asking to get away from James, he would’ve welcomed her to live with him in Sicily.
She also asked Thomas what he thought about children. He told her he wanted children, but not at the moment. He can bet it made it harder for her to tell him she was pregnant. He wishes she had told him about James, but he understands why she didn’t. She didn’t know who he really was. To her, James was more dangerous, so she didn’t tell him to protect him. Thomas can bet that the loss of their baby scared her even more and drove her to betray him. Thomas couldn’t believe James was so callous that he would beat a pregnant woman because of money.
It also makes sense now why Melina claimed she wasn’t in love with James and wasn’t trying to protect him by not disclosing his whereabouts. Thomas could not imagine how she felt at the time. He’s the reason for all her suffering. She only helped James because she thought James could hurt me, and in the end, I hurt her. Thomas was filled with remorse, which is why he needed to find Melina. He needed to apologize and beg her forgiveness for all the pain he had caused her. She doesn’t deserve any of the horrible things that are happening to her. Melina is still suffering because of him.
The Mexican cartel kidnapped her to hurt him, which worked because Thomas is in pain. The video of Melina being beaten to the point where she lost their baby broke his heart and made him furious because he felt it was his fault. Melina wouldn’t be suffering right now if Thomas wasn’t at war with Rafael. His baby would be alive, and none of this would be happening. Thomas felt responsible for all of Melina’s problems. He doesn’t even think he deserves her love. That’s if she still loves him after all he’s done to her over the last few months. Thomas feels like he’s only brought doom to Melina’s life. He wishes there’s a way he could change that; he’d do it in a heartbeat.
Thomas also deduced that Melina fled because she was pregnant and ended up being kidnapped by the Mexican cartel. He realizes he must have made her believe he would ask her to abort the baby, so she fled to protect their child. Unfortunately, it made her accessible to his enemy, and now their baby is gone for good. Thomas is furious with the way things are going. He needs to find Melina and fix everything. He owes her that.