04

Part 4

Closing the door with a loud slam, I dragged myself to the living room, panting like an exhausted dog. After what I had just done, I deserved a meal loaded with calories. Thank heavens that Severon was now out of my life for good. Once somebody takes him to the hospital, he’ll probably forget about me as soon as he woke up, I did hit him pretty hard, it’d bound to have some effect on him.

Now that one problem was out of the way, I could live my life in peace and worry about finding Maril and rescuing her. But first I had to take a long, relaxing shower or maybe a bubble bath since I was all bruised up, and then have a nice heavy meal, then I’d see if sleep would come to me, and in the morning, I would start searching for my sister.

Jogging into my room, I headed straight for my cupboard which housed all my clothes and threw the doors open. My eyes clenched in frustration as I stared at my empty cupboard. Damn it, I knew I should’ve done my laundry ages ago, but no, I had to be the queen of Lazyville. Oh well, I’d just grab something from my laundry basket and wash it before wearing it. I couldn’t believe that stupid criminal Severon didn’t bother doing my laundry; I mean, I let him stay here for a few hours, and that was how he repaid me. Ungrateful jerk!

Shutting the cupboard doors shut, I hastily went to where my laundry basket was—in the corner, behind my bedroom door—only to find my Goldilocks And The Three Bears laundry basket empty.

What in the cookie hell! Where did all my clothes go? They were all right here last night. It took me ages to roll up all of my dirty clothes one by one and toss them in the basket while sitting on my bed, and now they were all gone. Wait! Maybe, Severon did wash them. Oh God bless his scary, criminal soul.

With a grin on my face, I marched over to the small balcony of my apartment, where Maril and I hung our clothes to dry, only to find the wires free from any clothing items. There were just a few clothes pins hanging on the wires, but no clothes.

Oh no. No, no, no. Severon wouldn’t have done what I think he had. He couldn’t possibly have thrown my clothes away! Fuck my crabs, he really had stolen all my clothes.

Trying to believe with all my heart that Severon couldn’t have thrown away my clothes, I dashed about my apartment, searching every nook and cranny for my lost clothes. From looking inside the oven to bending low to look under the bed, I failed at finding my clothes.

Fuck my shoelaces, the creepy doctor had stolen my clothes. Now there was one more thing I was going to charge him for when I go to the police.

Since I had no clothes of my own, and I was in desperate need of a bubble bath, I had no option but to borrow one of Maril’s outfits. The only problem was, her clothes were off limits to me, and if she saw me wearing anything that belonged to her, she would go ballistic. However, we had come to sort of an agreement that I could borrow any of Maril’s outfits as long as they were a year old and only those which were bought from local brand, things she got from Prada and all the other brands were strictly off limits; I wasn’t allowed to keep any; Maril loved her clothes, shoes and accessories more than she loved me.

Well your teddy bears are off limits to her. Hell, they are off limits to everyone.

Sighing in resignation, I trudged onwards in the direction of Maril’s room. Opening the door I entered into what was a luxurious room. There was not a single thing in the room that wasn’t incredibly expensive. From the wallpapers to the clothes in the walk-in closet, everything was expensive. But that’s how Maril was, when she liked something, she didn’t care abou the price, she just bought it. Back in America, Maril had an amazing job as the PA of an old man who was the owner of the company, so Maril got a hefty salary; and all she did was buy everything she liked—which consisted of clothes, shoes and accessories from high end companies. But she did leave enough for the food and other necessaties. While, I bought teddy bears and anything colorful my eyes caught sight off.

Maril actually had a walk-in closet, which was basically our storage room turned into a walk-in closet because Maril had way too many clothes, shoes and matching accessories from all the popular brands. And she also had a cupboard which consisted of clothes and other things from the local brands. Since I didn’t have that many clothes, I agreed on letting Maril turn the storage room into a walk-in closet.

Closing the door softly behind me, I carefully padded across her room to the cupboard. Slowly I turned the key and opened the door and eyed the cupboard which was crammed with clothes and shoes. Carefully, I looked around for an outfit that was a year old; which proved to be quite a difficult thing to do since most of the clothes in the cupboard had price tags on them.

After fifteen minutes of rifling through Maril’s closet, I finally pulled out a green plaid shirt with jeans, along with a pair of brand new underwear—I was not going to wear Maril’s old ones. Sighing in relief on securing an outfit, I gently closed the cupboard doors, and with final glance around Maril’s room—making sure that her jewelry boxes, make up, her collection of snow globes and her bed were in order, I exited her room and locked the door. I had to make sure that Maril’s room would be in perfect condition once I brought her back from that mansion.

Once I had my clothes, I made quick work in going to my bathroom. I turned on the tap so the tub would start to fill while I removed my clothes. I poured in some bubble bath solution before discarding my clothes. I gasped when I saw myself in the mirror. My body resembled a world map. My skin was marred with blue and purple bruises in different shapes that resembled continents. After a quick count, I got to know that I had eighteen bruises all over my body.

Severon, I really was going to kill you.

With a grimace, I tip toed to the now bubble filled bath and hesitantly got inside. The warm water felt heavenly and did not hurt my sore body. It felt wonderful. Once I was settled in the water, I rested my head at the back of the tub and closed my eyes. Instantly all that had happened in the past few hours began playing on my mind like a movie on repeat.

It was just another day and Maril was exhausted after having to deal with hundreds of crazy ladies as they fought to buy everything they could get their hands on, as it was the last day of sale at Moda Passione, a small boutique where Maril worked.

After a long tiring day, Maril and I left the shop. We were only a block away from our apartment when we heard people conversing in Italian. We being the curious people that we were, we decided to see what was going on, only to have our question answered in the form of a gunshot. However, everything would’ve been fine if I hadn’t lost my mind and screamed like a deranged banshee. And that was all it took for the giant baboons to notice us and kidnap Maril and I.

The psychotic goons took us to the grand mansion where we were met by Aresco, who stated that he would only keep one of us for his sick, perverted amusements and let the other one go. And just to Maril’s horrible misfortune, he chose to keep her and had his demented minions drag me out of the mansion.

I wished that I hadn’t screamed, then Maril would be here right now and we would be arguing about what to order for dinner. Because of me, she was now with Aresco, undergoing God knew what sort of pain. I just hoped that Severon’s burly minions did not hurt Maril in his absence. I mean, they couldn’t hurt her when Severon wasn’t around, right?

After an hour, I finally got out of the tub. Quickly drying myself, making sure not to rub the towel against my bruised body too hard. Hastily putting on the clothes, I exited the bathroom and went straight to the kitchen. Opening the fridge, I took out the half eaten pizza and quickly microwaved it. Once my pizza was warm and edible, I went back to my room and ate the pizza while sitting in bed, my legs under the warmth of my Looney Tunes comforter.

Finishing the pizza took longer than I had expected, as I was surrounded by my teddy bear family, which was a huge distraction; as soon as I would catch the eye of one of the teddy bears, I would zone out. These teddy bears did not help my attention span in any way.

When the pizza was finished, I quickly comsumed a tub of ice cream, all the while thinking of the best way to rescue Maril. I knew I had to take help from the police, but I didn’t know Italian, I hoped they would speak English, it would help me save Maril.

~*~*~*~*

The next day came quickly, way too quickly. So quickly, that I cursed the Sun for rising so early. The stupid thing just didn’t know when it was not welcomed.

After yawning like a cave woman, I got up and went to the bathroom to freshen up. The only reason why I got up so early was because of Maril. The sooner I went to the police, the quicker I would be able to find Maril.

Since I did not change into my pajamas at night, as they were inside the laundry basket with all the other clothes and Severon had stolen them, I slept in my borrowed clothes, and once I woke up I put on my robe with kittens on it over my shirt and jeans. And that was how, I dragged my sleepy self to the kitchen for some coffee.

Once I had my coffee in hand, I took small sips while munching on a muffin. I was halfway through my muffin when the door bell rang. Wondering who on Earth decided to visit me so early in the morning, I opened the door and was met with a man who was dressed in what looked to be a uniform, consisting of a polo shirt and jeans. He was of medium height with shaggy brown hair and a pair of soft brown eyes.

“Consegna per Ms. Blake,” he said, his voice a little rough. (Delivery for Ms. Blake)

“Could you please talk in english,” I requested.

“Delivery for Ms. Blake,” he responded in a thick accent.

“I’m Ms. Blake,” I replied.

“All right, Madam.” The man rolled in a bunch of clothes which were covered in bags and hanging on a metal rail and stopped once he reached the living room. “All your clothes are clean. Have a good day.” With a short bow, the man left, leaving me gaping after him.

Hurrying over to the clothes, I unzipped the bags and removed the clothes. And to my great surprise, they were my clothes, the ones I had request Severon to wash. And they were all here, in front of me, clean. He had not washed them himself but had sent them for dry cleaning, how sweet.

Sending a silent prayer to God for Severon’s wellbeing, I quickly transferred all my outfits from the bags to my cupboard. Deciding to change clothes, I got out of my borrowed clothes and quickly put on my own. Feeling like myself again, I smiled, grabbed my purse and left my apartment. It was time to save my sister.

After walking under the Florence sun for twenty five minutes, I spotted a policeman. He was dressed in the Italian police uniform and was sitting on his motorbike in a corner. Thanking my lucky stars, I jogged over to the man and stopped right in front of him. He was a muscular man, with olive skin and dark eyes.

“Ciao signora, come posso aiutarla?” He said. (Hello lady, how can I help you?)

“Can you please speak english,” I said, clutching my purse tightly.

The policeman frowned. “Parlare in inglese,” he muttered. (Speak in english)

“English. English!” I forced out, urging the man to speak in english.

“What is the problem?” He finally said.

“My sister has been kidnapped, I need help getting her back,” I replied.

The man’s frown deepened. “I will take you to police station. Please, get on my motorbike,” he said softly.

For a second I hesitated. Was it safe to a trust a stranger, even if he was a policeman, in a foriegn country? But I needed help in finding my sister, and he was a cop, surely he would abide by the rules. Taking a leap of faith, I hastily got on his bike. He revved the bike before we zoomed forward, towards the police station.

We arrived at the precinct in under fifteen minutes. I quickly got off the bike, thankful for the cop who brought me here. The cop smiled softly as he dismounted and led me inside the precinct.

I didn’t bother gazing around my surroundings, my mind and heart focused on one thing only: ask for help and save Maril. The friendly cop brought me to another, older looking cop. The man was bald with sun-kissed skin and light brown eyes. He smiled when he saw me but immediately turned to the cop who brought me here.

“Cosa successe?” The older one spoke to the cop. (What happened?)

“Questa signora dice che la sorella è stata rapita. Lei è Americano,” he replied. (The lady says her sister had been kidnapped. She’s American)

The older cop eyed me with an unreadable look. “Who kidnapped your sister?” He asked me.

“A man named Severon Aresco, sir,” I replied, feeling hopeful.

The man frowned and gave me another unreadable look. “What is your name, Miss?” He questioned.

“My name is Kelsey Blake, sir, and my sister’s name is Maril Blake,” I hastily replied.

The older cop frowned and turned eyed the cop besides me. “Lei è il capi signora ci aveva ordinato di comunicare con lui di se lei vienr qui. Portarla in una delle celle e tenerla lì fino sporgenza arriva,” he said rapidly. (She is the lady boss had ordered us to notify him about if she comes here. Take her to one of the prison cells and keep her there until boss arrives.)

“Sei sicuro che sia lei?” The cop beside me spoke. (Are you sure it’s her?)

“Sì, ora in fretta prima che corre, che chiamerò il capo, lui sarà qui in diece minuti,” the bald cop stated. (Yes, now hurry up before she runs, I will call the boss, he will be here in ten minutes.)

The cop who brought me here took a hold of my upper arm. “Miss, why don’t you come with me and wait until the senior officer is free,” he suggessted.

Not knowing what else to do, I allowed the cop to lead me to a waiting area. However, panic exploded in my chest as he unlocked a prison cells and pushed me inside. Before I could demand an explanation, he slid the door shut and locked it.

“Hey, what the hell?! Open up! Let me out!” I shouted, only to be ignored by the cop who had brought me here.

“There’s been a mistake, please let me out, I’m not a criminal, I didn’t do anything wrong!” I yelled, but no one bothered listening to me.

For the next few minutes, I yelled and screamed until my throat felt scratchy, while hitting the metal bars as hard as possible, which resulted in bruised knuckles. But no one heard me, or they pretended not to, and no one helped me.

I knew I shouldn’t have trusted the cop, why did I have to be so stupid. How was I going to get out of here and rescue Maril? I didn’t even have a lawyer at my disposel. Oh God, help me.

After a couple of minutes, I heard footsteps approaching. Feeling relieved, I waited until the footsteps stopped right in front of me. I opened my mouth to demand the cop to release me but my voice died in my throat as I gazed at the person who had just arrived. How was it possible that he wss standing in front of me, wearing a wicked yet beautiful smile, when I had knocked him out cold only a few hours ago. But there was no mistaking it. It was him.

“Severon.”