~16~It Goes Deeper

"Um...Ro...Rose, I" Liam stutters and that piques my interest

Who could this woman be to make a man like Liam stutter like a child caught stealing candy?

The woman has blonde hair almost as golden as mine rolling down her back in shiny French curls

She has curves in all the perfect places...I can see that because of how fitted the cream over the knee gown she's wearing is

Her face says 'I'm not one you want to be messing with' and with the look she's sporting...someone's in a lot of trouble and I'm guessing that someone is Liam

She looks like she should be married and probably have kids about my age or maybe even older but I don't see no ring so I'm guessing she's single

"Who the hell is this? And what the fuck is going on here?" Miss Perfect spat out...not yelling but with just as much authority as if she was "What have you done to this poor girl, you psychos?"

She dropped her bag to the floor with a loud thud and rushes towards me

Her eyes softening the moment they land on me

Rubbing her fingers against the collar on my neck, I actually feel anger radiating from her

She brushes my dishevelled hair back with her fingers and smiles a weak smile at me

Noticing the handcuffs, she gets even angrier as she turns to the guys

"What the fuck are you waiting for? Get it all off her" she yells

Did I say she had as much authority as if she was yelling before? I was absolutely wrong

The sound of her yelling scared the shit out of me and she isn't even yelling at me...I'd sure hate to be in any of their shoes right now

Guy 1 nods and rushes over to take off the handcuff just as Guy 2 rushes over to take off what was binding my legs

I bring my arm forward to massage my wrists...they hurt a lot from the handcuffs

One of the two unlocks the collar and in a moment it's off my neck

"Now can someone please tell me what the fuck is going one here" she folds her arms on her chest

"Ro..." Middle aged freak starts but she cuts him off

"Shut up"

She turns to face Liam

"Ro..Rose, it's not what you think.." Liam starts and stupid me takes this as the best time to contribute

"Um...I don't think that's a very convincing way to start your explanation"

I get glares from the 4 guys before Liam finally continues

"She...she's no one important...she's just a girl Russo picked up from the street"

He says that and pauses as if that's any good as an explanation

Before Miss Perfect could speak though, I beat her to it

"Um.. I'll just introduce myself" I pause a little until I'm sure I got her attention "My name is Anita...Anita Cruz...And I'm here because these guys" I roll my eyes towards the 4 of them "thought it would be great to kidnap me"

"Kidnap?!" She exclaimed with wide eyes

"Yes...they kidnapped me supposedly as bait for Alex" I finished

"Alex? Alexander Russo?" She asked sporting a confused look as I nod

"Why would you dumbos think you could use a girl as bait for Russo?" She asks them 4, mostly Liam cos it seems he's the leader here and just as I'm about to agree with her she adds "The boy's probably gay anyway"

"He's not gay" I defend

"You his girl?" She asks me, raising one eyebrow

"No" my voice breaks as I think back to this morning.

"Okay, whatever" she says but I could tell she wanted to ask more questions.

"This" she waved her index in circles "..is not over"

They all nod like innocent puppies.

"Come with me, Anita" she says and begins walking to the exit.

Just before I follow suit I move closer to Liam and whisper "I'm a bad dog and you're a cute puppy..the difference between us is I don't shiver when ANYBODY speaks"

"Get out" he spits through gritted teeth.

"Sure thing" I chirp and run off in the direction Miss Perfect went.

I find myself in an exotic living room but Miss Perfect is nowhere to be found.

"Anita" I hear her call just when she comes into sight.

"I'm here" I say as if she can't already see that.

"Had a few words for them?" She smirks.

"Couldn't resist" I shrugged

"I can imagine" she smiled, showing her perfect teeth.

She turns to leave and I follow closely.

She leads me through the living room to a passage with a large staircase-not nearly as large as the one at Alex's house though.

Then we go up the stairs, past a few doors until we arrive at a room which I assume is hers.

"Uh..Thanks" I mutter as she takes a sit on the bed "..for helping me and all"

"My pleasure" she gives me a weak smile "I don't know if you know what Russo does or what we do but..."

"You guys are gang rivals right?" I cut her off.

"Yes, but it goes way deeper than that" she taps the area beside her as a gesture for me to sit down.

"Oh?" I say, silently urging her to elaborate but it looks like she doesn't want to.

"How did you get involved with him?" She asks

"Alex? It's a long story..." I lie and change to avoid telling her the story "Why do you guys want Alex?"

"We don't" she says

Those two simple words giving me more confusion than I've had in a long while

"Then...then why.." I try to say what's on my mind but the words seem stuck

"You seem not to know much about this lifestyle. It's a Rivalry...one leader goes down, the other gang wins" she shrugs.

"So, you guys want Alex dead?" As I ask the question, I feel hate and anger towards them growing in me.

"No" she says quickly "we want him to surrender but in the worst case...he dies"

Something about the way she says it convinces me that she'll never willingly kill anybody.

"I don't know who you are to Russo or what he means to you..." She starts but I don't let her finish

"Nothing...I'm nobody to him and he means nothing to me" I say too quickly to be believed.

"Of course" she says sarcastically

"Yeah, that's why it was a dumb idea to bring me here as bait to lure Alex" I say, totally ignoring her sarcasm.

"Get some rest, darling. Someone will bring you food in a while" she says as she stands up.

"Miss Rose" I call "You said it goes deeper than just gang rivalry... Care to expand?"

"I will" is all the answer she gives before she's out the door

Leaving me alone with nothing but my thoughts to battle with.

I've been kidnapped twice in a row....effectively moving from one gang leader's house to the house of his rival gang.

To top that off, my pregnancy symptoms are increasing.

What the hell is wrong with me? Why can't I live a normal, peaceful life?

Seems like the universe has been against me since the day I was born.