KALEN

Chapter |15| The Darkest Night

K A L E N ' S P. O. V

Bound. Gagged. Tied.

And thrown into the back of a f*****g white van.

I feel like a worm, or worse, dehumanised as I desperately attempt to reach my subdued wife. Her head sports a nasty cut, but thankfully it's not bleeding that much, and her eyes have been wound tight ever since those bastards slammed a gun into her head.

In some ways I'm glad she's unconscious. Because I'm so f*****g scared of what happens next.

I don't have my gun. Not even a phone. Or my pocket knife. Or any hope of escaping.

They took everything from us, and all I have left is to pray for a god damn miracle. Just for Tessa and our baby to make it out of here alive. That's all I need.

My head slams into the door again as the van swerves right. I kick my legs furiously at the drivers side, hoping they'll stop in irritation and I'll be able to fight them off.

I wasn't prepared for five guys to jump us on the way back from a doctor's appointment. I acted on instinct, fighting them off instead of fleeing. I should have just grabbed Tessa and f*****g ran.

I'm an i***t for thinking I could have won.

The moment they placed a gun to Tessa's round belly, I surrendered everything. The defeat in Tessa's eyes will always haunt me. We both knew this was only going one way.

I plan to fight again. I plan to fight only to run.

But Tessa is still unconscious and I have no idea what we're about to walk into.

The van stops abruptly, causing Tessa to stir. I reach over and frantically try and grab her wrist to check her pulse. It's steady for the moment and the relief that floods through me is only temporary as the doors are wrenched open.

Sunlight floods in, blinding me almost. There are ten men now that watch us stoically as we're dragged out onto our knees.

I don't fight. There's no point.

Tessa is leant against my body, and I support her the best way I can but she continues to slide down. "Let me hold her!" I snap. I guess I look savage in my attire because some of the men appear startled and move back.

My clothes are caked in blood. Not mine. I managed to kill one of them with the knife, before I was slung down into the mud and practically dragged through it.

The men part like the Red Sea, as their commander walks through. The Russian mafia boss. Mikhail. The man Aaron managed to severely piss off, and I know that Kiara killed his children.

Not her fault, it was clear defence, but as all children of the mafia I was brought up learning one phrase: an eye for an eye.

I guess in this context, me and Tessa were the eyes.

"Cut his ropes." My skin cries at the feeling of fresh air on the red raw skin. I quickly move to hold Tessa, and cradle her gently in my arms. "I'm sorry you've been caught up in this. All of you." He gestured to Tessa's stomach. "But I need leverage and unfortunately you're well loved by enemies."

"Just let her go. She's innocent. They both are. Do what you want with me." I expect some sort of compassion if he let me hold her, but instead he smirks sadistically, like he's almost excited to watch us suffer.

"That won't fit into my plans, and trust me you're gonna want to see how they play out. Take them to the room." A dirty rag is suddenly shoved against my mouth.

I try to fight against it, but know I can't let go of Tessa. The f*****g bastard did it on purpose. My screams are muffled and dim slowly as the effects of the drug suppress my nerves, forcing me to become subdued.

***

"Kalen. Wake up, Kalen. Please Kale...I'm scared." My eyes startle open, and I'm again submerged in darkness.

Afraid, I'm still trapped within an non-consensual sleep, I writhe in the darkness, attempting to escape it. "Kalen, stop. You're awake, I'm here. Just...just listen to the sound of my voice. Please,"

I stop. The darkness doesn't leave, but I can feel the rope fastened around my wrists, I can feel the ache of my body trapped to a chair for far too long.

I can hear my wife. If I listen closely, the rapid thud of her heart beat echoed through the silent room.

"Tess, are you okay?"

"I'm not in pain, I'm not hurt. I've been awake for an hour I think. It's too dark to see anything, I feel cold though. Really cold."

"Me too." There was an airy draft, meaning a vent was in here somewhere. A possible escape if I wasn't tied up, half drugged and submerged within total darkness.

The door must be steel and full length because no light filters underneath. No windows, nothing.

"We're going to die. Aren't we?" She crying, and I can't even comfort her, whisper false promises that we'll all be okay because I don't know.

"Tessa, remember our wedding? I thought that was it, you were gone and the lightest parts of me were too. I couldn't even fathom a future where we lived together, laughed, where your stomach is swollen with our child. Now look at us, about to be parents. I know it's scary to imagine hope, but please don't give up on a future where we're happy with our child."

I hear her sobs quiet, and the soft smile in her voice now. "I can see it. You're right baby, we're gonna get out. We're gonna get out."

She chants it under her voice again and again, all the way I try to find a way, any way to make promise on that hope.

About half an hour later, the door clunks open. Steel scrapes against the floor, burning my ears that are so used to the deafness now. As light pours in, I stare at Tessa. She's stripped down to her underwear, so am I, our skin is purpled in bruises and cuts, and her stomach, large and protruding acts as a painful reminder of everything we stand to lose.

"No! No! No, no, no..." The figure stumbled, an array of darkness as my eyes adjust to the new setting, but I would recognise that voice anywhere.

Tessa's eyes alight with hope for a moment, but I know there isn't anyone else. Just my sister. My self sacrificing sister that is shoved inside all alone.

She thought she was saving us all, only to find us tied up in here instead.

"You promised you bastard! You promised!" She shoved Mikhail so hard he actually stumbles back. Men rush in to quickly apprehend her and she's forced back.

"I promised no such thing." Mikhail spits with venom. "You killed my children. You think you alone would be enough? I don't just want revenge on you, I want it in the entire Romano dynasty. I want your father to beg in his knees for me to save his children, to spare their pathetic lives."

His men start stripping my sister of her clothes just like us. I turn my head as she writhes against them but it's useless. Tessa gasps in horror and I attempt to break the leg of the chair, but the men quickly subdue me, tightening my bonds.

"I'm sorry." Kiara murmurs in a broken voice again.

"It's not your fault." I don't blame my sister. I blame centuries of feuds and death and violence that imbues itself within my family's lineage.

"Tessa, baby speak to me."

"I'm fine." Her voice is so timid I can barely hear it. We need water, food, anything really. They turned on a few lights, so we can see each other now, but I feel that's just another form of torture.

My sister and wife are bruised and beaten down. I can't help them.

That vent turned out to be too small to instil any hope, barely breathable for a mouse.

"Kiara, any suggestions for names?" They bith look at me like I'm crazy. I plaster on the best smile I can muster. "I don't know why but I'm thinking something floral."

"Kalen I don't..."

"Kiwi, please." She caves at my desperation. I just need some semblance of normality. If we are going to die here, I don't want our last moments to be trapped in awkward silence.

"How about Poppy then? It's cute."

I contemplate. "Na, too overdone. We want something original."

"In a world of billions, I doubt you'll ever find an original name unless you plan to name your child after a robot like Elon Musk." We all laugh weirdly, and my heart literally leaps at the sound of Tessa's. So melodic and soft. I'm terrified I'll never hear it again.

"Fine, but not Poppy or Rose or anything fancy like Petunia."

"How about Liza?" Tess perks up.

Kiara frowns. "Liza isn't flowery Tessa."

"Yeah but it's soft. I like it."

"Why do you want something soft? Girls can be rough too."

"I know, but what I meant was I just want a gentle name. Something that reminds of you of the softest breeze, the gentle laps of the ocean, the twitter of a bird, the brush of a petal."

Tessa matches my smile, envisioning the same as me, whilst Kiara simply snorts. "You guys put way too much thought into naming a kid. Why not just name her Kiara? After your favourite person?"

Weirdly, I wouldn't mind naming my kid after my sister, and I think Tessa wouldn't even. "Maybe the next one sister?" She feigns hurt and outrage, but can hide her grin.

Then again, the door screeches as it's forced open and suddenly I'm grounded back to reality. We're still tied up, we're still trapped.

"I've got a surprise for you. Look who decided to join us." Three more bodies are shoved inside the cell.

Aaron. Tristan. And Knox.

They bodies are hung like slabs of meet, dangling from the wall. Like us they're tied but also gagged.

"What was that?" Mikhail yanks the rag out of Aaron's mouth.

"I said I'm going to skin you alive for what you've done to them you pathetic piece of crap." I've never liked Aaron Black, but I can't deny the satisfaction of watching Mikhail's disgusting smirk drop.

We all turned our heads, shielding our eyes from the onslaught of punches inflicted upon him. His groans echo with each one, and Kiara struggled to contain herself.

Is it twisted I'm happy the attention has diverted from us? That it's Aaron's being hurt instead of Tessa?

"Stop!" Kiara cries.

"What did you say girl?" He spits at her, gripping her chin tight.

"Please, stop." I was twisting the bounds behind me and caught Tristan's eye. He gestured down to his ankles and I noticed his sick unusually bulky.

I could make out the blade of a knife through the thin material, and carried on twisting my arms. His were bound by metal, ours rope, so there was a chance. Even though they're tight, there's still a chance.

"Why? What will you give me?"

"What you want."

"So you've thought over my proposal? You've changed your mind?" What the f**k was his proposal?

Then all the colour leeched from my body as I realised what he wanted. My little sister as his wife, and she would accept, condemning herself to a lifetime of struggle and pain just to save us.

I worked my hands faster against the bonds, ignoring the burn as it's sliced across my skin.

"Kiara don't."

"Yes! Yes, I'll marry you. Just let them all go."

"What do good girls say?" I almost vomit as he leans in to forcefully kiss her. She squirms against him, attempting to rip free and Aaron thrashed so violently that he almost snaps the metal in two.

"No." He states, destroying her only plant to free us all in one simple word.

"No? What the f**k do you mean? This is what you wanted! It's what you did this for!"

"You're right I did want you. I wanted to marry you, claim you as my wife, f**k you raw every night to show you what a real man feels like and make you bear my child as recompense for your sins. It was only fair and yet now I realise the alternative is so much better."

"Which is what?"

"Pure emotional torture, degradation, death. I have five people in this room that you care about Kiara, and all the time in the world. Besides, I can find a willing b***h anywhere on the street and you're damaged goods since you've already bore his child. You think Ryder Romano and Aaron would ever let me take you anyways. They would never stop coming after me, and I would spend my life in fear of that. What's not to say you would slit my throat in your sleep as well? Here I'm protected and you're all chained up."

I would kill him. Slowly, mercilessly with every bit of pent up guilt and anger and menace inside of me, unlocking the part of my past I buried behind when I married Tessa.

Glancing to my right, I notice her fury too. Tessa is the mask of envy, and I notice her nails digging so hard into her skin that blood starts to leak from her palm.

Yet then, she starts to slide it off. The rope slowly unravels, as she uses the blood for lubrication. Clever girl. My girl.

I slowly shuffle my chair closer to her, knowing once she's free, her unbound hands can free mine too.

"Just kill me. Just end this and run because you're right about one thing. My father will never stop hunting you down like a dog until he's finally got you and when he does, you're gonna hope you're dead."

"I'll take my chance princess. Who should I start with first?"

We both freeze as his eyes pin on us. Tessa stops shuffling the ropes off, but blood drips painstakingly loud on the floor. He doesn't seem fazed by anything, so maybe it's all in my head, but I don't like the look in his eyes.

The look of murder I've seen all too often, it's easily recognisable.

Then his eyes narrow with lascivious intent as they fall on Tessa's breasts. I grind my teeth, forcing down all the rage consuming me.

Don't make him angry Kalen. Don't be an i***t.

"What about you, mother to be? You're very pretty." Tessa physically recoils and the words splurge out of me.

"Don't f*****g touch her!" Too late. His eyes pin on me now, but instead of the seething anger I expected, he smiled instead.

It's the kind of smile that haunts you. That takes away any hope you hold dear and trashes it. The kind of smile that feels me with fear and dread for what's to come.

"Kalen Romano. You're in a particularly hard place I'd say. Both your sister and your pregnant wife in the same room. Let's play a game...there's a gun to each of their heads and you have to choose which trigger is pulled."

In an instant, two guns are c****d and pressed against Tessa and Kiara's temples. I can hear Kiara's sobs tremble as she tries to suppress them and Tessa has her eyes screwed shut, whispering prays because we both know only a higher power can save us both now.

"Choose!" He growls, slamming his fist into my cheek at my silence. The physical pain is nothing compared to the suffocation I feel inside.

The hope of breaking free is gone. His men are too close for us to do anything. Tristan appears defeated, and Knox, who barely registers any emotion is sullen and overcome with despair at the sight. Aaron is so quiet it's terrifying.

He stares at Kiara forlorn and broken. There is not plan.

The power to save them both rests in my hands. Yet how could I?

Making a choice would condemn one of them to death? Not could equally do so. I couldn't lose either of them, it would kill me. Tessa is two in carrying of our child, in some way so is Kiara because Anastasia needs her mother.

Why can't I choose me? Why can't I scream at Mikhail to pick me?

Begging for my own death seemed something he wouldn't take pity in, but relish instead. He would laugh as I scream and cry to save my sister and wife, yet then wouldn't give me my wish anyway.

He's a sick man. A cruel one. The only way to play his game was to play on his emotions.

He hated being rejected, being unheard and disobeyed. The answer lay in one simple word. If I said it, my wish would be fulfilled and his would seize to exist.

I glance at my wife once more, at her swollen stomach where our baby lay. I would never met her, never hold her, never hear her say dad for the first time, but Tessa would. Tessa would be there for it all, and my sister at her side.

That there was peace enough for me, knowing my daughter would have the life she deserved with the best mother possible.

"No." Mikhail snaps, and I utter my own death sentence, I smile.

Something inside of me bursts as my life ends. I expect darkness and hell, with the devil ready to devour my tainted soul, but instead I'm greeted with a white light and find solace, knowing I'll meet my Tessa again one day.

Yet for now, I'll watch my family thrive from the heavens. That's peace enough.

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A/N: What do you think if the proposal??

Of Aaron and Tristan?? If you want to read more about the love triangle then read Chained Lovers, followed by Chained Princess!