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Cold Storage
Cold Storage
Presley’s heart couldn’t be beating any harder as she followed the men down the dark corridor and then into a very loud room. She was surprised at how easy it was for these men to dupe the men who took over their ship. A couple of men in blue coveralls she hadn’t met yet easily distracted the ones by the top of the stairs.
Then near the part of the boat they were taking her towards, three more men were there as if still searching
for her and out of nowhere two more men in blue coveralls were offering their help to the searchers and
distracting them from seeing her or the three men dragging Estrella along.
Estrella wasn’t protesting much but Rami twice asked in English to Presley if they could simply toss her
overboard and it seemed to settle the other woman down tremendously.
“What is this place?” Presley put her hand over her nose as the smell made her gag when she looked around
the room.
“Refrigeration room. Keeps the fish fresh and keeps the other cargo nearly undetectable with the scent of fish around it. She will be cold in here but it’s why we brought the insulating blanket. She won’t get hypothermic.”
“It really stinks.” She gagged again as the men laughed at her. Estrella also was gagging behind her duct taped mouth and it made Presley feel better.
The sudden ringing of a phone made them all pause and then look at Estrella who was wide–eyed in terror as she realized she’d not turned down the volume on her device.
“She has a phone?” Presley was immediately going through the woman’s pockets and then was tugging the woman’s boots off to get at the device she knew was shoved in there. “Does Liborio know you have this?” Estrella nodded and Presley commented, “it’s so you can call home to check on your kid, right? He’s so thoughtful, your boss.” Presley scoffed. She looked at the men.
“I will give this to you do coordinate whatever you need but please, can I call Cruz? I just need to hear his
voice.”
“Of course.” Rami nodded at her.
She rubbed her nose and tried to keep from crying as the emotions of being able to call him hit her hard in the chest. She dialed the number she knew off by heart, which was Sloane’s, and waited for her to pick up.
“Who is this?”
“Sloane, it’s me. It’s Presley. I managed to find a phone.”
“Holy s**t, Presley. Algernon, wake up. Presley is on the phone.”
Presley didn’t think there could be anything worse than the smell of the fish but the notion of her best friend actually sleeping beside Algernon might be the one thing. She pictured him sweaty with his balding head snoring loudly. She wondered if she’d ever get used to her young and vivacious friend entangled
older man. She shook the thought away.
“I want to talk to Cruz. Can you get him?”
such an
“We were all trying to get a few hours of steep before a bunch of them come to get you.” Sloane started whispering, “seriously Presley, Algernon has connections which are freakily scary and some of them include really huge Russian guys who are pretty angry at Liborio Bartoli right now. They’re talking about putting him
ก
Cold Storage
down like he’s an old dog or something. It’s pretty vicious. They were working for hours last night to try to
find a way to get you off the ship without him killing you. They are worried he’ll be of the mindset if he can’t have you, nobody will.”
“Great.” She listened as Sloane pounded on the door to Cruz’s room.
“Dude, you were supposed to be sleeping. Why are you sweaty?”
“Can’t sleep so working out.”
“Presley is on the phone.”
Presley listened to the conversation with tears rolling down her cheeks.
“Ladybird?”
“Cruz,” she started sobbing. “I miss you. I want to come home.”
“I know baby. I know. We found a way to get you out of all this. Liborio apparently runs an anti–trafficking group where rescues women from all over the world with this bratva guy named Belkin and a few other people. He’s violated a lot of their agreements by taking you and trying to force you to have his kids and threatening your family. They’re going to make sure he does not do any of the things he threatened you with. We found out he’s very obsessed with you, Presley. He’s been watching you since you went to his b**m club.”
“I went there for research, and he saw me cry at a scene.” She admitted tearfully.
“Are you okay? How did you get the phone?”
“Liborio’s men have basically commandeered the ship. They took all the jobs away from the men, shoved them into rooms and took their phones away. Anyway, I made friends with the Russian men on the ship, and they are helping me. The bodyguard Liborio assigned to me was being loud and annoying so we’re tying her up with the fish and I found a phone on her.”
“You mean sleeping with the fish?”
“No.” She caught his meaning and snickered. “No. Literally tying her up in the place where the boat stores fish. She blinked, “Cruz, we were supposed to get married today.”
“I know baby, but do you know what, when I get you home we’ll start planning the biggest, wildest, most extravagant wedding of which you can dream. You can walk down the aisle to a string quartet because Halima tells me it’s what you always wanted. Sloane says you want to wear a big poufy princess ballgown. We’ll get you the biggest one you can find. We’ll throw a huge party. Then we’ll go on a honeymoon, a real one, and we’ll make all the babies you want.”
“I want that.”
“Me too, Ladybird.”
“I love you.”
“I f*****g adore you. I can’t wait to hold you. I’m going to make love to you for days and I’m going to make sure we’re surrounded all the time by love, laughter, and happiness. I’ll make sure Odin never comes near you again. We still can’t find him by the way.”
“He’s on this boat and he is still mean as ever. Spitting out nonsense and how he hates me. Liborio has him tied up. Cruz, Liborio told me he’s going to have you killed. He said something about calling other friends of
< Cold Storage
his to kill you. You need to talk to Belkin and to Algernon and find a way to stay safe. I just got you in my life.
I finally know you love me too. I can’t lose you already.”
“He put a hit on me?” Cruz was incredulous.
“He did.”
“Why didn’t he just f*****g kill me in the dress shop?”
“I don’t know but he’s unhinged. Seriously. I’m convinced he’s worse than Ramona. Speaking of, he tried to convince me you were plotting to make me fall in love with you and then break up with me and break my heart. He said you even told Odin this and it was why you were all at brunch.”
“I was angry, Ladybird and I said a lot of stupid s**t, but do you remember when we were in your bedroom?”
“Yes.”
“You kicked me in the dick.”
“I did.”
“I was hard as a rock. Do you think I could have faked that?”
“No.”
“I want you baby. I want you and I love you and I need you and I’m not playing. I’m not pranking you. This isn’t a game. This is real and it’s true and it’s honest and while I expect we’ll probably play tricks on one another over the years because it’s our schtick, this, none of this is a joke. I love you. I have loved you since you were nineteen and I will love you long after you are ninety–nine.”
She noted the men were making faces of impatience.
“I love you too. Cruz. I have to go. We’ve been gone too long from where we need to be. The guys here are moving me to a different location and I know they’re going to want to call Belkin and let him know what is happening on the ship. I love you.”
“Ladybird, promise me you’ll be safe.”
“I have twelve Russian men protecting me. I couldn’t be any safer.” She ended the call and passed the phone over to Rami. “Please don’t make me a liar. You’ll keep me safe. Right?”
“We will die trying.” Rami patted her head. “We need to get you to the other room. Let’s go.”
“You’re sure she won’t die in here?” She noted they’d put her boots back on her.
“Not unless Liborio kills her himself for f*****g up so epically.” He waved the phone as proof of the fuckup. She followed the men out of the room after they tucked the insulated blanket around Estrella and left her protesting tied to the side of a large container of stinky fish.
They walked through the mechanical rooms of the ship until they reached another door.
“What is this place?” Presley asked as she stepped inside the room.
Rami made a face, “it is our cold storage for the kitchen and do not be upset,” he held his hand up, “but we do use this room as the morgue sometimes.”
“A what?”
Gold Storage
“A morgue. You know where you hold dead bodies until they get buried. Sometimes we run into problems making our runs. That,” he pointed to metal container, “is a freezer and there have been times we’ve needed to put our associates in the freezer to keep them fresh until we get back to shore. Enemies, well, they can be tossed overboard but family, friends, associates,” he repeated the word, “we bring them home to their families to mourn. We keep them here.”
“You’re leaving me in a place where you keep dead bodies?” She looked at the freezer. “Is there a dead body in
there now?”
“No. Not yet.” Rami shrugged. “I expect it may happen before this trip is finished but for now, if you hear someone coming you can hide in there,” he pointed to a small cabinet. “We will bring you some food and drinks. This is a safe place. Nobody would think of coming here but if Liborio does indeed tear the ship apart looking for you, he may come here so hide in there but don’t go in the freezer because it locks, and you’ll be stuck until one of us comes to check on you and if it is a long time you could die. You will fit in the cupboard”
“Okay.” She was feeling nervous.
Rami stared at her. “I know you think you will be alone here, but you are not alone. You have friends on this ship, Presley and we know you are here. We will check on you as much as we can. Trust us.”
She impulsively lunged at him and hugged him tight. “Thank you Rami.”
“You are welcome.” He patted her back uncomfortably and then closed the door with a warning to her he was locking it from the outside.
As she looked around the small room, she pulled up a chair and settled into waiting, praying whatever Belkin and his team were intending to do to rescue her was done sooner rather than later.
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