KIDNAPPED BY THE SILVER MAFIA DON

My father is at gunpoint.

"You owe us a total of 102 million dollars. Do you have the means to pay, or are you ready to die?"

The bald, 6 foot tall henchman clicks the gun, tapping my father's forehead with he metal.

My heart is racing and I don't know what to do.

Earlier on, father had been rejoicing to me about the new scam he had pulled on a gullible project manager of a big firm.

He had good skills- commiting crimes that no one could trace.

To him, this was the easiest scam he'd ever pulled.

Father had even gone ahead to purchase an exotic home worth 70 million in Milan.

We were both rejoicing- well I was joining in because that's the only way he can be happy these days- before our door was broken down.

Father pushed me to the closet and made me hide while they rushed in.

Now, I'm sweating in the midst of coats and boots, watching these men with criss crossed knife tattoos on their necks point a gun at my father.

Black Silver.

The only gang I know with these tattoos belong to the infamous mafia cartel, Black Silver.

Did father really cross these people? Did he not know that company was owned by them?

Knowing these men are even more dangerous than I thought, my body goes cold.

I'm sweating profusely, but I am freezing from fear.

"I-I can pay...I can pay. I will just need s-some time. The M-"

Before father can get his words out, the man whoops him with the gun across the cheek, flinging his face to the side.

I hold in my gasp and clutch my lips with both hands.

My body is shaking; the closet feels too small.

"Can you pay now, or not?" The second guard asks. His voice is monotone, just like a robot's.

Father raises his head. I see tears in his eyes; he knows I'm seeing all this and he's trying desperately not to look afraid.

Ever since mom died from a minor kidney illness we couldn't treat because we were poor, father went money crazed.

He did everything for it- and he was scary good at it.

He robbed and scammed, swindled and gambled.

Anything at all to make sure we had more than we needed.

As though he was apologizing to mother for not having enough.

But now- father has gone absolutely insane.

How did he even end up stealing from Black Silver?

I watch him bow his head, dejected completely. "I don't have the money..." he says.

My heart drops.

"You spent it all didn't you? Mark, you know what to do." The first guard says, stepping aside for the second one with a loaded gun.

Click.

Time stops as he gets ready to pull the trigger.

I don't know when my body moves, but in the next second, I've flown out of the suffocating space.

"Stop! Stop it please!" I cry aloud. Father turns to me in alarm. The first guard immediately points a gun at me.

"Gracie, what are you doing?!" I hear my father cry.

I ignore him and raise my hands up. "I-I...we don't have the money but...we will soon. My father is quick...he'll find something. But please don't kill him."

My voice is shaking the whole time; I'm feeling quite light headed.

"Gracie, you're insane. Why did you come out?!" My father's face is already swollen from that hit and it's making me extremely pained.

And to think they were about to shoot him dead.

The guard tilts his bald head at me.

"Our orders are to take payment and leave. If no payment is offered, death is next. Appeals will not work."

I shake my head profusely and instantly fall to the ground to beg. "Please, sir! Please. My father will truly pay you back. If he doesn't, you can find us and kill me yourself! But please let him go."

My begging doesn't move him one bit and the other guard raises the gun again.

"My apologies, girl. Our orders are final."

The barrel is pointed at my father's forehead. My world is shattering and there's nothing I can do but watch.

I beg and scream as he places his hand on the trigger.

However, at the last second, a static sound covers the living room.

The first guard tells his companion to pause and takes a walkie into his hand.

"Yes boss?"

"Leave the man alive and bring me the girl," comes a low, menacing voice. The static makes the man sound like a snake.

My heart drops.

Bring the girl?

My father's eyes are peeled open in shock and he's shaking his head. "No, no. No! You will have to kill me. Don't touch my daughter!"

Before I know what is happening, the second guard takes out another gun and shoots something sharp at my father's arm.

It's a tranquilizer.

"Dad!"

They don't let me get close to him, dragging me from the ground where I'm kneeling.

In one swoop, I'm in the man's arms, kicking and screaming.

My father's eyes are gradually losing focus. He's reaching an arm out to me.

"Gracie-"

He falls down to the ground, unconscious.

"Dad!" My voice is hoarse and my tears scorch down my face.

I kick and try to wiggle my way off the guard's shoulders but it's to no avail. They take me out the broken doors and outside of my residence.

"Please! Please let me go! Father will pay...he'll pay you, I promise! Let me go! Let me go!"

Without caring for my screams, the guard tosses me into the backseat of a sleek black car. The two of them sit on either side of me while I cry loudly.

As the car zooms off, an injection is stabbed in my arm.

I instantly lose consciousness.

When I regain myself, I'm on a bed, in a dimly lit room smelling of expensive silk and cedar.

"You're awake, bellissima." Comes a familiar menacing voice.

It's him. My kidnapper.

My heart instantly sinks and I immediately scramble to sit up.

"Y-you kidnapped me...it's...it's against the law." I sputter out. I'm realizing now that this voice might belong to the infamous leader of the Black Silver Cartel.

No one really knew his name...or how he looked.

But everyone knew how rash he could get.

And now I'm here- somehow in the clutches of this monster.

He laughs, low and mocking. "Then your father should be behind bars then. Or better still, he should be dead."

My stomach twists into a knot and I bite my lips.

"He...he can pay. Please sir, give us time..."

I don't know what to do in this situation, so I bow my head and beg. Locks if golden hair fall and frame my vision.

In this dim room, I hear the crisp sound of dress shoes.

It's night outside.

"Yes, girl. That's why I will hold on to you. Like a kind of...collateral."

I lift my head and I see him.

I'm not sure what I expected this man to look like; but it's certainly not this.

Just like his name, grey-silver eyes look down on me. His dark hair, slightly close to his shoulders, is tousled.

He's in a suit that clings to his lithe frame. A glass of brandy is in his hand. He lifts it, takes a sip and smiles.

A dangerously beautiful man. Even his smile is threatening - not out of actual happiness but madness.

Like he's found a new shiny toy to play with.

Oh dad...what have you done?

"C-collateral?" I ask, feeling a cold sweat cover my back.

The man tilts his head and uses his left hand to touch my hair. I immediately flinch.

"Yes. A collateral. This will guarantee your father returns every single penny he owes me. I will give him three months to sort it out, until then- you are mine."

He lets go of my hair and grabs my chin.

"You'll do just fine." He whispers. There are no emotions in those grey eyes of his.

Only emptiness.

"And when the deadline is up?" I ask, feeling extremely faint.

"Then you'll be killed."

My kidnapper says this as though he's commenting on the weather, even going ahead to take another sip of his drink.

My heart skips two beats. Before I can let that information sink in, he takes a document that was sitting atvl the foot of the bed and tosses it into my lap.

"In that document, everything concerning our agreement is written clearly. Your father will pay back what he owes in three months and for the period you stay here, you will be my mistress."

His last sentence completely cuts off my breathing. I sharply look up from the papers at him.

"W-w-what?" Tears are gathering in my eyes. "I can't do that! I...won't do that!"

The reality of my situation is dawning on me. Somehow, father and I went from celebrating a dream house in Milan to crying hot tears in a kidnapper's custody about to be his mistress.

"I will not do this! You can keep me as a collateral or whatever but I will not give you my body! I am not a slave..."

The man in front of me smirks, keeps his glass down on the bedside table and then smirks.

He loosens his tie and takes off his suit jacket making the muscles underneath flex.

"So you'd rather be tied up in the basement as a normal hostage than open your legs?"

I'm so appalled by the question that no words come out if my mouth.

As I find what to tell him, my kidnapper begins to unbuckle his belt. Fear starts to kick in.

"I'd rather be locked up," I tell him firmly, hoping he would grant me what I have said and leave me alone.

"Don't bother, you are not my type. Besides, I wouldn't force a girl. Most times," he leans in so close I feel his breath mingling with mine. "Most times, they end up begging me to fuck them."

I gasp subtly and he chuckles before turning serious. "I have no use for your body, Gracie Millers. Read the agreement. You are just for publicity. Nothing more. Once your father pays, you're free to go. If he doesn't, you die. It's quite a straight forward agreement, no?"

He takes his suit jacket and belt in his hands befor making for the door.

"Please let me go sir," I beg again in the most pleading voice I can muster.

He doesn't reply to that immediately but pauses. Without looking back, he says. "And be careful girl, so you don't get yourself killed before the deadline is up. I'd hate to do that to you."

And with those words, he leaves me in this dark, cold room, crying and wondering how my life has turned a mess.

The contract sits on my lap, hot to touch and very much horrifying.

I adjust the light by the bedside so it's brighter.

The agreement is long, spanning for over ten pages.

With tears, I turn then, reading every single detail. No intimacy, no wandering about the house, must follow orders, must act like a couple in public events.

So many rules that make me want to breakdown.

I finally lose my mind when I get to a certain clause.

"And if in the event, participant A is unable to fulfil the desired agreement- which in this case refers to the reparation of the sum owed by said participant- participant B will be undoubtedly be taken care of. As this is a legal document, the details of this will be kept minimal. Drafted by Bayers and Smith for Raymond Silver."

Raymond Silver. The faceless and nameless leader of the Black Silver Cartel.

A man who was rumored to be so dangerous that even the top gangs in London had to keep their distance.

My tears drop to the page as I struggle to breathe.

The reality hits me hard and square. I've been kidnapped.

Not just by any random.

But by the infamous Black Silver Mafia Don.

I decide then. I have to run.

I haven't stopped shaking since he left.

The contract sat on my lap like a stone, its weight pressing down on me even as my vision blurs. My tears have soaked the edges of the paper, but I don't care. My mind spins with the words I've just read.

Three months.

That's all my father has to pay back the money. And if he doesn't...

I clutch my stomach, trying to will away the bile rising up my throat. The dimly lit room around me suddenly feels like it's closing in, the air too thick to breathe.

I stumble off the bed, my bare feet hitting the cold marble floor. My legs are weak, but I force them to move, pacing back and forth in the small space.

I can't stay here.

I glance toward the door. It's heavy and made of some kind of reinforced steel. There's no handle on my side... just a keypad, its tiny red light mocking me.

My fingers dig into my scalp, tugging at my hair as I try to think. There has to be a way out. A window. A vent. Something.

I scan the room, desperate for any semblance of an escape route. The windows are too high up, the glass too thick to break. The walls are smooth, no cracks or crevices to exploit.

The reality of my situation settles over me like a cold, suffocating blanket.

I am trapped.

I sink to the floor, my back pressing against the bed frame. My hands grip my knees as I try to steady my breathing.

This is not happening.

I close my eyes, but all I can see is his face, those piercing grey eyes, the cruel smirk curling his lips as he tossed the contract at me.

Raymond Silver.

What seemed like hours passed, and I lay awake in the bed, feeling the weight of the silken sheets against my skin, but I couldn't sleep. I can't escape the thought of what's happening to me. I can feel it, creeping into every corner of my mind like a cold wind... this place, this cage. The mansion that should be a sanctuary feels like a prison. And I'm the captive.

The silence of the early morning is deafening. The kind of silence that fills you with dread. I can hear nothing, not even the soft hum of the night, and it makes my pulse race. The ticking of the clock on the wall sounds too loud in my ears.

I can't do this anymore.

I can't sit here and wait for them to decide what to do with me. I won't let them control me.

I push the sheets aside, my bare feet hitting the cold floor with a sharp jolt. My heart pounds in my chest as I stand up, every movement deliberate, as quiet as I can make it.

I scan the room, my eyes locking on the door.

It's the only barrier standing between me and freedom. I drop to my knees, heart pounding as I study the keypad.

"Here goes nothing..." I whisper under my breath, not sure if I'm talking to myself or to the universe.

"1... 2... 3... 4." I press the numbers carefully, then clasp my hands together in a silent prayer. 'Please work.'

The soft click of the lock turning catches me off guard, and I blink as the red light shifts to green.

Well, that was easier than I thought.

I inhale deeply, then slowly approach. The air in the hallway smells faintly of wood polish and something more sinister... like old money and regret. I can't think about that now.

I need to get out.

The mansion is old, and the halls stretch on forever, winding through rooms I've never seen. But I know one thing: there's an exit somewhere. There has to be.

My heart beats louder with each step. I don't know where I'm going. I don't even know if I'll make it, but I can't just wait here for them to come back. I can't let Raymond the monster win.

I slip down the hallway, my eyes flicking to the shadows, but I don't dare slow down. I'm terrified that if I stop, I'll lose my chance. The stairs to the lower levels are ahead, and I make for them, my breath shallow and erratic.

But then I hear voices.

Two women, their voices pitched low and conspiratorial. I freeze. The sound comes from just below.

I crouch low, pressing my back to the wall, holding my breath. I don't move. I can hear the faint shuffle of their shoes on the floor as they talk.

"Did you see her?" one of them says. "The new girl? She's nothing but a scheming thief."

My chest tightens at the words. They're talking about me, of course they are. To them, I'm just a pawn. A tool to be used.

"She doesn't belong here. She'll never last," the other one adds, her voice dripping with venom. "She's just like the rest of them. Just another one of his toys."

I swallow hard, biting back the surge of anger that rises in my throat. A toy? That's all I am to them?

I can't think about that right now. I can't let them see me. I hold still, waiting for them to move on.

After what feels like an eternity, their voices fade, and I exhale softly. Good.

I turn and continue down the hallway, my footsteps light against the polished floor. I feel the exit growing closer, my skin prickling with anticipation. I'm almost there. I can almost taste freedom.

And then, as my hand reaches for the door handle, I hear it.

The faintest shift of movement behind me.

I spin around, my heart lurching. A guard.

"You thought you could get away?" he sneers.

Before I can react, his hand shoots out, grabbing my wrist with a brutal force that makes me gasp. I try to twist away, but he's too strong.

"Let go of me!" I shout, my voice trembling with fear and fury.

But he doesn't answer. Instead, he yanks me back, dragging me away from the door. I kick and struggle, my heart pounding in my throat, but it's no use. The guard is too strong, his grip unrelenting. I can't escape.

"Stop!" I cry out, but my voice cracks as panic sets in. My whole body shakes with the fear of what's to come.

He drags me through the hall, and I can hear my own breath harsh and ragged in my ears. No, no, no!

My head spins, my thoughts scrambling. I try to fight back, but the more I struggle, the tighter his grip becomes. I'm caught.

I hear the unmistakable sound of footsteps... slow, deliberate echoing down the corridor. My heart sinks into my stomach, panic rising like a tidal wave.

Then I hear it.

His voice.

Raymond.

"You thought you could run?" He sneers, his tone dripping with mockery.

Before I can even react, darkness crashes over me, pulling me under. My world goes black.