I awoke to a throbbing headache. Every heartbeat was an explosion of pain. It took all the strength I had just to sit up. My head spun for a second before I allowed my eyes to flutter open. Tears blurred my vision, making the world appear as a distorted mess. All I could see were colors and shapes.
I tried to speak, but only a faint squeal escaped. My throat was dry, keeping the words that difficultly formed within my brain from reaching the outside world. I tried a few more times before finally giving up.
I began to panic. Where was I? How had I gotten here? And why was my head throbbing?
It took a while for the confusion caused by my brutal return to reality to fade. By then, my vision had returned and I was finally able to study my surroundings.
I sat on the floor of a high-end office. A few pieces of furniture were present, but the room was for the most part empty. Whoever owned it had clearly just moved in. My gaze instinctively travelled to the black, hardwood desk, but the leather chair that stood behind it faced away from me. I couldn't tell if it was occupied or not.
I continued my inspection. I noticed a lamp standing in one of the corners. Its light only partly illuminated the room, keeping the rest of it bathed in darkness. A few file cabinets stood in another corner. The final two shapes stood on either side of the boor.
They looked human, but seemed frozen in place. They just stood there, motionless. Their bodies were bathed in darkness and all I could see were blurry shapes. I stared at them for a while before finally noticing their shoulders shifting ever so slightly as they inhaled and exhaled. They were alive.
I opened my mouth to beg for their help, but the words died in my throat when I realized they were probably responsible for my current confusion. The size of their frames told me any hope of escape was foolish. If they were indeed keeping me captive, freedom would remain but a hopeful dream.
I sensed their stares on me and felt a shiver run across my skin. This brought to light a fact I had up until now failed to notice.
I was naked.
Every inch of my young body was uncovered, making me feel even more vulnerable than I already did. I pulled my knees to my chin and hugged my legs. It helped warm me, but shivers still tickled my spine. I suspect they had something to do with the intense fear that filled me.
It took a moment before my dread faded enough for my brain to start functioning again. I took a second to revise my current situation. I had awoken to naked captivity in a dark and mysterious office. But how had I gotten here? And why?
"Don't be afraid." The voice emerged from the darkness, making me jump. My gaze instinctively travelled to the two human statues, but neither of them had moved. They seemed more like guards than conversationalists. Whoever had just spoken was somewhere else in the room.
I glanced around for a moment before a movement caught my eye. The desk chair was slowly spinning, gradually revealing the man sitting on it. He was old—probably in his mid to late forties. The coldness of his gaze sent another shiver dancing across my skin. There was something familiar about the man, but I was too terrified to piece the puzzle together.
"Here," said the man as he leaned forward and outstretched one of his arm. His hand clutched a glass of water. I stared at it, then at him. I could tell he was not the type of man to accept defiance, but the anger that had up until now been suppressed by my fear finally bubbled to the surface.
Forgetting about my lack of clothes, I leapt up and yelled something that was meant as an insult. But my throat was still dry and only a pathetic wheezing was heard.
I expected the man to smile, but he remained impassive.
"Take it," he insisted, nodding to the glass.
I eyed it suspiciously, but my thirst eventually won out. Rushing over to the desk, I snatched the glass from the man's hand and downed it in only a few gulps. A relieved sigh escaped me as I regained the ability to speak. The water had also helped diminish the intensity of my headache. Only two problems now remained: My lack of clothes and my mysterious captivity.
I focused on the man behind the desk. The sensation of déjà vu yet again gained me. I knew this man, yet my scattered brain refused to reveal his identity. I once more took in my surroundings, but that did little to help elucidate the mystery. Perhaps the answer lay somewhere in the past.
Ignoring the three men that stared at my naked body, I closed my eyes and focused on remembering every detail leading to my current situation.
I started with the basics. My name was Candice Swan. I was eighteen and still a virgin. And I had just been accepted into the college of my dreams. Aside from that, everything was a blur.
My eyes fluttered open and my gaze landed on the man behind the desk. The sight of his grim expression acted like an electroshock, igniting a flurry of memories that made my heart race with fear.
I knew who this man was. I had never met him, but I knew exactly who he was. His name was Frank Mazolla and he was the biggest crime boss this city had ever known. People spoke of him in hushed tones and fear gripped the citizens each time a particularly heinous crime was committed. The man had been arrested hundreds of times, yet not once had he set foot in a prison cell. He had connections, the type of connections that made him the most powerful and feared man in the city.
As terrifying as the man's reputation was, it was the memory of a particular newspaper article that made my heart skip a beat. According to law enforcement, dozens of young women—all of them eighteen years of age—had mysteriously gone missing around him. No one knew what happened to them, but they were never seen again.
The shock of my discovery made my fingers lose their stiffness. The glass slipped from my hand and crashed to the ground. I expected it to shatter, but it simply clattered to the floor and rolled under the desk.
