Through The Window
Through The Window
Presley looked around the quiet room, grateful the men were still tending to the bruises and shallow breathing of Odin despite how furious they all were with him. Then suddenly there was a cacophony overhead as it sounded like hundreds of feet hit the deck overhead.
“What is going on?” she made wide eyes at Rami.
“The cavalry has arrived,” he smiled at the men. “Now we wait. As much as we’d love very much to go up and shoot some of these fuckers who stole our ship, we will wait here with you and keep you safe.”
Liborio’s voice rang out, but it seemed he was talking to someone other than them. “You should leave. I have your crew and Presley locked up down here and she does not leave without me. If you try to come down for her, I will kill us all, including your eleven men, the captain’s wife and child, and Presley.”
“He’s nuttier than a Christmas fruit cake,” Presley muttered angrily. “Would your gun’s bullets make it through the metal barricades? Seriously. If you could take one shot and maybe just put us all out of our miseries, I might be okay with it.”
“You’re a very soft and squishy person,” Rami laughed at her. “You would be sad if I killed someone in front of you.”
“Yes but,” she held up a finger in protest, “I would be sad off this ship where my fiancé could hold me and make me feel less sad. My family would be there to console me. I would have snacks better than Cook’s cookies.” She giggled as the man in question mocked heartache at her teasing.
Rami snickered, “you are funny. I think we will wait to see what Belkin wants to do with Liborio. I also worry if I shoot the man in the head, his men will retaliate and shoot through the door and kill us all, including you which would be the direct opposite of what we are trying to accomplish. I only have a few bullets, and they have countless.”
“I didn’t think of that,” she sighed regretfully. “Guess I’m stuck eating crunchy cookies.”
She tried not to look in Odin’s direction at all. He was growing paler each time she looked at him and the quiet whispers in a foreign language didn’t give her any kind of false hope. Her brother was dying right in front of her and the thought made her stomach churn.
Liborio called out again, “send the big ape down here and I’ll put a bullet between his eyes.”
“I wish I could hear what Belkin was saying to him from the other end.” Rami grunted.
“Me too. Sounds like Cruz is on the boat based on what Liborio is saying.”
A sudden loud cheer was followed by a shadow passing their window and they all moved to look out the window. A man was swimming in the water as if he’d been thrown overboard.
“Perhaps he’s throwing them like barrels,” Rami grunted.
“Right off the boat.”
“Each time you call my ship a boat, I get offended,” the captain scolded her. “It is a super trawler!”
“Yes sir, Captain sir,” she saluted him teasingly knowing he was trying to distract her from the yelling from the other side of the room and the door. It was getting louder, and she would have been impressed at
B
Through The Window
Liborio’s grasp of the Russian language as he yelled at Belkin in his native tongue, if it were anyone but Liborio. “Your ship is very impressive.”
“I know.”
“I married him for his big boat,” his wife teased as she moved closer to Presley.
“It is a ship, woman,” he tugged his wife’s hair with a big smile.
Presley giggled at their teasing.
“All men think theirs is the biggest and the best.”
Presley smiled at her, “I’m Presley.”
“I am Katya.”
“I’m sorry you’re in this mess because of me.”
“I am in this mess because of the psychopath outside this door.” Katya shrugged. “There is always a risk when I board the ship to be with my husband. His days at sea are often months at a time. I do not like to be away from him for so long, but I know the risks of getting on a vessel owned by the bratva. It wouldn’t have been so bad if they’d put me in a room with our men, but they locked us up with Bartoli’s men and they threatened to kill us repeatedly if my husband did not comply.”
Angry at this information, Presley walked towards the door and screamed, “Liborio Bartoli, you’re a coward and a liar. You instructed your men to threaten to murder a woman and a child to control a man! You should be ashamed of yourself. You claim to be some big savior of women but you’re a liar! No man would do the things you do if they really were out to save the lives of women. I hope your mother and sister are not watching you from heaven or they will be very ashamed of you!”
“Presley, open this door and talk to me face–to–face if you feel so strongly about it.”
Another shadow crossed over the window and this time it stayed. She turned and was surprised to see a man there, hanging suspended by ropes tied around his waist. It appeared he was trying to find a way to get through the window.
“I think they want to break the window and pull us out this way,” Rami said seriously. “It’s not a bad idea but these windows are meant to withstand the stormiest of seas. It might not be possible.”
“We’re going to f*****g try,” the captain said as he started pulling cabinets apart looking for things to smash from his side while the man above was using a hammer to pound the glass from the outside. “Katya, take the baby and go stand by Presley near the door. I don’t want either of you to get hit with glass if we get this
broken.”
“What is going on in there!” Liborio yelled.
“Mind your business, motherfucker. Presley called back. “I hope if someone shoots you it hits you in the d**k and those babies you want can never happen. I hope your bloodline ends with you!”
“Presley, we will get out of this together. You will see. I have called in my own reinforcements, and they will be
here soon.”
“I hope we are long off this boat when it happens,” Rami whispered to the room.
The sound of a woman screaming outside made them all freeze.
< Through The Window
“Estrella?” Liborio’s voice called her name.
“Oh my god they’re using her as bait?” Presley asked the men in the room. She was surprised none of them were concerned. “They can’t use her as bait.”
“Why not? She is not a good person. She smacked your face. There is a bruise there. I bet if Liborio saw how bruised your face is, he would shoot her himself. He is quite obsessed with you.”
“He knew. He told her off. He was yelling at her when I snuck out of my room. It’s how I got out.”
“Ah. I’m surprised she lived because all of us were given stern warnings you were a delicate flower with skin that bruised easier than a peach.” Rami teased her.
“I am very delicate.” She nodded her agreement while the men laughed.
“Let her go!” Liborio’s voice yelled. “She is not one of the men for you to mishandle.” Whatever was said was enough to make Liborio release a primal scream. His bellow was so loud it covered the sound of the glass shattering from where the men on either side finally connected through.
She felt a wave of hope crash over her as the men were now bashing all the glass out of the window excitedly talking to one another.
Liborio was yelling something on the other side of the door in Russian again, clearly pissed off at whatever it was Belkin was saying about Estrella.
The men were reaching for her to push the through and she shook her head. “No. I need to be the last to go.”
“What?” Rami shook his head. “Absolutely not.”
“I am the reason he hasn’t fired a weapon in here. If he thinks I’m gone, he’s going to start shooting. I cannot let you all die while I am up there living.”
“Women and children first when a ship is being evacuated,” the captain reminded her.
“Then your woman and your child first.” She pointed to them. “Get them out first. I refuse to go if they are still here.” She blinked back tears of frustration when they all looked ready to argue. “Please. Don’t make me go first.” Presley sniffed.
“Okay. Katya, put the baby out first. Then you go. Then Presley, you will go. Do you promise? Women and children first is the rule.”
“It’s a stupid rule.”
“I know.” The captain put his hands on her shoulders and stared into her eyes. “You are a brave woman Presley Brookmore. It is time for you to go home.”
Rami nudged her with his shoulder, “we promise to not tell him you are gone.”
“Do you promise?”
“I do.”
“What about Odin?”
“We will make sure he gets the medical attention he needs but you should know he is our prisoner now. He is going to live so we can make him pay for his s**t. Belkin has already said he wants him.”
“You can’t let him die. His mother is going to worry.”
<Through The Window
“We will make sure everyone knows he is alive.”
+8 Posts–7
“Thank you.” She watched as the little girl was passed to the man out the window of the ship and then the
pair were pulled up.
“Presley!” Liborio’s voice called out to her.
“What do you want?”
“They want to exchange you for Estrella.”
“You’re going to do it?” she asked excitedly.
“No. I am telling your right now, it is not going to happen. Whatever way your men are communicating with Belkin, they should let him know, she isn’t worth your toenail. I am aware she tells everyone who listens I am her savior, and I know she is secretly in love with me. It is not much of a secret, and it is not reciprocated. I let her tell people I think of her as a sister because it makes her feel good and the men respect her more, but it is not true. I don’t even like her as a person though I do pity her. Her loyalty is why I brought her with me because she will do whatever I ask of her without question, including watch over you, but I have no more feelings for her than I do any other crew member. If she dies, I don’t care. You will though. You will care. I want you to know, they are going to sacrifice her life for yours but don’t feel too sad about it. When we are back home in Sicily I will kiss your tears away. Perhaps we can raise her daughter for her.”
“You’re a sick fuck.” She covered her mouth in horror. She watched as Katya disappeared through the window. The sooner she was away from Liborio the better.
“I love you Presley,” Liborio called out, “I will spend the rest of our lives showing you how much you mean to me. If it means I need to kill a shipload of men, including Cruz Hawley, to be able to live our lives as I planned,
then so be it.”
Rami was pushing her to the window.
“He’s talking to me. If I stop talking he’s going to know I’m gone.”
“Tell him now you’re done talking to a crazy man.
“Liborio, I’m done. I’m not talking to you. You’ve lost your mind. I don’t like you. I don’t love you. I am not having your babies. My new friends will make sure you don’t hurt my family. You no longer have any power over me. I’m done talking.“”
“Presley!” Liborio pounded the door. “Open this door.”
Without waiting she grabbed the extended hands of the man reaching for her through the glass and was pulled upward. Clinging onto him for dear life, she kept her eyes closed and didn’t open them until the biggest biceps she’d ever felt yanked her out of the arms of her rescuer.
Cruz.
