A Gabog tekin
Calling Belkin
“I’m not crazy,” Liborio regarded her angrily. “I have spent the last several years looking out for you and being
concerned for you.”
“Yeah, not buying it.”
“We will discuss this later. A particularly good friend of mine, someone I hold in high regard has been told I’ve
kidnapped you and taken you against your will.”
“You have.”
“I merely enacted what we agreed upon earlier than anticipated. Do you forget you agreed to be with me? You
agreed to be the mother of my children.”
“You also threatened to destroy my entire family if I didn’t. This is very much against my will
“You were given a choice. Option A or B and you chose.”
“Telling me it was a choice, doesn’t make it better. Man, you are sick in the head.” She rolled her eyes at him
knowing how much it really was grinding his gears to be so disrespected. “What makes you think I want to
talk to your friend.”
“My friend and I run an operation together. In exchange for his services, which include providing cover when
we’re doing riskier jobs, he gets paid a hefty sum of money. We also exchange favors from time to time. I use
his ships flying under his flag here in Europe and he uses mine in Canada. We have a reciprocal relationship
which over the years has yielded us both hundreds of millions of dollars. He owns this ship.”
“And?”
“Because one of the businesses we run together is removing women from trafficked situations. Your buddy
Algernon went to him and accused me of doing the very thing we kill people over. Now, of course, he is asking
me to talk to you to verify your story. It is decades of friendship and professional relationship on the line. You
will talk to him because the last thing I want is to start a war with a man I’ve known most of my life. I will win
of course but killing him and his family would leave a bitter taste in my mouth. I would rather not have to do
so.”
She wondered if the man heard how delusional he sounded or if all crazy people believed they were rational.
Presley supposed it took a bit of psychotic energy to be a mafia boss, but Liborio Bartoli seemed to take it to
the far extreme of nutty. He was an obsessive stalker who excused his manic behaviors on saving women.
“Whether you get into a war with a man I don’t know is not my problem.”
“I will remind you that Algernon is the one who asked this. It is possible Cruz is behind his request.”
She sighed, “fine. I’ll talk to your friend but if you think I’m going to lie for you, you’re insane.”
“You will be honest, Presley. You are here of your own volition.”
“You tased me, made me pee myself and then threw me onto a fishing vessel.”
“You were going to marry that ogre. I saved you from making the biggest mistake of your life.”
“Do you know what we were talking about while we were out together? All the good times we had in our lives together. Like when he carried me or fed me marshmallows until I puked or took me in the canoe, it wasn’t all
III
Calling Belkin
bad. I had a pretty decent childhood despite the pranks. My parents kept us entertained and outdoors as much as possible, so we didn’t have time to fight, plot or prank. We spent a lot of time laughing and playing despite our age gaps. Even Odin, though he doesn’t remember it now, used to enjoy doing the family trips. He rode the roller coasters with me at Disney and he helped me build the treehouse with Dad and he wasn’t a total d**k doing it. He forgets. He’s also very mentally ill,” she frowned as she considered it. “Marsha realizes now she should have realized the doctors knew what they were talking about, but he needs help.”
Liborio gave her a tender smile, “you’re so soft hearted. The man literally hates you and you sit here defending his psychosis. You see why it is you are so easy to love, don’t you? You see the best in everyone.”
“Not you.”
“You will. Now, I am going to call Belkin. You will be nice, or the man tied to the flagpole will be left out for the night instead of taken down to the infirmary as I have already ordered.”
“Fine.” She waited impatiently while Liborio dialed out.
“Belkin, my friend, I am here with Presley. She was in her room getting ready to retire for the night. It took me a minute to get here.”
“You are not sharing a room?” Belkin asked curiously.
“No. She is not ready for such things, and I would never force her. She is in her own room with her own bathroom. I am on the opposite side of the ship, but I have assigned Estrella to keep her safe from any of the crew who might show an interest in her.”
She opened her mouth at the blatant lie. Estrella was not there to keep her from the crew but to monitor her every movement. She glared at him, her eyes narrowed and furious. He shot her with a smile.
“Presley, I am Belkin, a friend of Liborio’s and Algernon, though the three of us have never done business together as a trio. Algernon is friends with your girlfriend Sloane and your friend Cruz. They are quite worried for you, especially after Cruz was dumped here at the resort after being tased and sedated.”
“Sedated?” she shot Liborio an angry glare and he shrugged nonchalantly. “Is he okay? Please tell me he is
okay.”
“He is well. Drinking lots of fluid and pacing the floors expelling energy. He is very worried about you. He is stating you were taken against your will. I am genuinely concerned about this. I do not condone the use of my vessels to kidnap or traffic human beings. I will permit a lot of things, but this is a hard line for me, which Liborio knows. Are you where you want to be?”
She held Liborio’s gaze as an angry tear rolled down her cheek. “Yes. I am here because I told Liborio I would agree to have his children in exchange for paying off the debt my brother owes. I’m here because I chose to be.” Her voice cracked at the words.
“What you are saying, Presley, is you’re being forced to sell your body and your children to repay a debt. “This is not what she is saying.” Liborio grunted out at Belkin’s comment. “Odin and his crew have done nothing but abuse her for their entire lives. I may be using extreme measures to get her out of their abusive hands, but she and I already very clearly discussed how she does not have to birth my children, share my bed or even be in a romantic relationship with me. I have taken her away from their abuse. Cruz Hawley was going to pull the ultimate in humiliation by making her think they were getting married for real and then make a mockery of her all over social media, destroying her reputation and breaking her heart. He is the same
Calling Belkin
abusive bastard who has broken her bones, destroyed her childhood, and even sent her first love away to hurt
her. I acted swiftly and decisively because she was about to be harmed far greater than he has hurt her in the
past.”
“Except, Liborio,” Belkin spoke, “I have spent the last several hours with them, her family. Her mother and father are worried sick. Her mother and her auntie Marsha cannot stop crying because she is not here. Her two best friends are shattered, one of them so emotionally disturbed she’s actually relying on Algernon for emotional and physical support, which has left most of us very confused and a little disgusted.” He cleared his throat as he started to get sidetracked, “however the one who appears to be taking her absence the worst is Cruz Hawley. The man is a wreck. You cannot convince me his feelings for Presley, his Ladybird as he calls her, are not genuine. I checked and he did set in motion a request to the officiant of the wedding he was holding for it to be real. He wants to marry her. He is in love with her. He told us all in the room he shares with her how he’s been in love with her since she was in college but knew his love was inappropriate and wrong because he should be regarding her as a sister not a lover and therefore he put distance between them. Getting this opportunity to be with her, in his mind, is the greatest gift and not one he would squander. Liborio, you didn’t take a woman from an abusive man. You took her from a man who is desperate to make amends for the past by giving her the absolute best in a future. You have become what you and I hunt, my friend. It is not a good look.”
“He is fooling you.”
“You are making a grave error. You have let your obsession with this woman cloud your judgment. Bring her
have forced upon her.” back and release her from the contract you
“I will not.”
“We will have no choice but to hunt you.”
“It is not a war you will win, Belkin. You know my resources run far deeper than yours. You are not my only ally. I will not tolerate you interfering in matters which don’t concern you.”
“Except you have made this my business by using my brother as a sniper to threaten Presley to agree by putting a bead on Cruz. You are on my fishing vessel. I suspect you have threatened my captain of my ship with his family which includes my cousin who is his wife if he doesn’t comply with your orders, and it is why he is not answering my calls.”
Liborio looked away angrily.
“You have made this my business by using my family and my boat to coerce a woman.”
“I am saving her!” Liborio yelled furiously.
“Who will save her from you?”
“She does not need saving from me. I have treated her respectfully and kindly.”
“You tased her. Did you drug her top?”
“No. She was removed from a situation which would have caused her more harm than a tasing. I have a female assistant here to tend to her needs. She has everything she could want. She has privacy. She doesn’t even have to eat with the crew in the mess. She is my guest on our cruise home.”
“Yet, you absconded with her in the belly of a fishing trawler like a criminal running away, Liborio. You know this is true.”
Calling Belkin
I feared Algernon would look for her in a yacht. I took advantage of the ship coming by. Algernon is not
aware of the full story.”
“He is aware of the full story now and he has asked my help.”
“We have been friends longer.”
“We have,” Belkin agreed. “While I agree we have been friends longer, you jeopardize our friendship with these acts. Bring her back and we will move forward by making restitution for her and her family. Please do not force me into a war with a man I consider a brother.”
“If it is war you want, then it is one you will get.” Liborio ended the call and sighed loudly. “Cruz Hawley needs a bullet in his head for involving everyone. I think I will need to call in favors elsewhere.”
With that ominous statement echoing around the room, Liborio slammed out of the room Presley was in and left her crying and alone.
17
Comments
