4

The man was clearly expecting Ava to answer. She nodded without meeting his eyes. 

“And your name is?” he asked.

“Ava,” she told him in a thin voice.

“Ava Cobler?” he wanted to know. Her name had never sounded so beautiful before, it surprised her. She almost forgot to nod. “My name is Zane Velky,” he introduced himself, holding out a hand. Ava’s eyes grew bigger as he heard the name. Oh no, not that, anything but that, she thought. “You have heard of me,” he smiled, he sounded satisfied. Ava nodded. Everyone who lived in the city knew the name Velky, it was the largest mafia group in the state with its centre in the city. And Zane Velky was the head of the family, the don, the big boss, the huge honcho, the Al Capone of the modern world. Ava felt her panicked brain spin out of control. “Calm down, angel,” Zane told her and placed his hand on her shoulder. His thumb went down in front of her throat. If he squeezed, she would be struggling to breathe, Ayya realised, but somehow his hand calmed her mind. “That’s a good girl. You and I need to have a talk,” he told her. Ava’s mind objected to being called a girl. It irritated her even though she was scared. “Who hit you?” he asked. Zane moved his hand to tilt her head to the side so he could look at her cheek and then at her lip.

“Mr Tiny,” Ava said before she could stop herself. She cursed her wondering thoughts, she needed to stay focused. But she was tired and scared and had been running on nothing but adrenaline for a couple of hours. Zane let out a burst of rumbling laughter. Even in her hyper state, Ava registered the sexiness in the sound. Her stomach clenched at the sight of a dimple in Zane’s cheek. The man was pure, undiluted sexiness on a pair of legs. 

“Mr Tiny huh? I like the name,” he smiled at her. Then his eyes grew darker and his mood shifted to serious, there was an edge to him. He was giving Ava whiplash with his mood shifts. “He will pay for that. We don’t hurt women,” he told her in a dark voice. Ava felt like snorting and laughing at his statement. Who did he think he was fooling? She had seen her aunt beaten, gaged, and bound, Ava herself had been beaten, threatened and kidnapped, all in one evening. She had never been this terrified in her life and he was standing there telling her they didn’t hurt women. “You don’t believe me?” he asked, sounding amused. Ava wondered how he seemed to be able to read her mind. It was scarry and made her feel even more exposed and vulnerable. She shrugged. “Let’s go somewhere a little more relaxing,” he told her and placed a hand on her waist to make her leave her corner. Ava’s fear spiked again, and she struggled against his grip. “Ava, I won’t hurt you. But we need to talk. You can come with me voluntarily, or you can come kicking and screaming over my shoulder. That might actually be more fun,” he smirked at her. Ava’s heart started to race. She didn’t like either of the options. She knew this was a bad man that was capable of doing bad things. She had seen the consequences of him and his gang in the E.R. She reluctantly started moving forward, hesitantly walking past him towards the door. “Spoilsport,” he whispered in her ear, making her jump. He chuckled and placed a hand on the lower of her back to guide her. 

They walked the opposite way in the white corridor from where Ava had entered. She guessed they were heading deeper into the building. The base of the music became louder as they got closer to the door at the end of the hallway. Zane unlocked the door and opened it. Ava was hit by a wall of sound and light and people. The club was full of all three. The strobe lights flashed, the music flowed loudly from the speakers and the people was like a compact mass. She stood there, in the doorway, just looking at it all. Knowing who the man at her side was, she doubted she could expect help from anyone in this place. She didn’t think she could even ask someone for help, knowing they would probably die on the spot. 

“Move,” Zane urged her on. She had no other choice than to do as he said. She started moving through the crowd. They seemed to separate when they saw Zane coming, it was like he was Moses, parting the red sea. He steered her with the small movements of his body behind hers, Ava had never met someone like this man before. He made her terrified and excited at the same time, she hated him for it. He led her to another door where he used his card and access code to enter. Behind it was a stairway. Ava didn’t need Zane to tell her to start climbing the steps. They ended up on a small ledge with two doors opposite each other. Zane guided her toward the left one and unlocked it before letting her go inside. Ava ended up in an office. The music could barely be heard. There was a large window to Ava’s left. It looked out over the night club and Ava could see they were on the third floor. In front of the large window, there was what looked like a mix of a modern art piece and a desk. It had what looked like an obelisk that had been laid on its side in black marble. On a ninety-degree angle from it, there was a tabletop in black marble, held up at the other end by a sphere of what looked like brass. 

On the inner wall, there were two black leather couches and two armchairs. Under the coffee table that stood between the couches, there was what looked like a delightfully soft, creme-coloured rug. Next to the door there was a bookcase with a built-in bar and on the other side of it another door.

“Have a seat,” Zane told Ava and made a gesture towards the couches. Ava reluctantly walked over to them, she chose to sit on an armchair. She hoped that the engulfing tiredness she felt wouldn’t win and make her drift off in the incredible comfortable armchair. “Do you want something to drink?” he asked as he poured what looked like whiskey into a glass. 

“No thank you,” Ava said. She was already tired and full of adrenaline. She didn’t need to add alcohol to the mix. She needed the few functioning parts of her brain that were left. 

“Water?” he asked. Ava hesitated. She really wanted some water. Spending an evening crying and shouting really did a number on the throat. But she wondered if she could trust him, what if he mixed something in the water? On the other hand, he had no need to drug her. The thought of her being able to fight the giant man off almost made her laugh. They were in his office, alone, and from the sound of it the office was heavily sound proofed.

“Yes please,” she said. He looked at her with an amused face before opening a cabinet that apparently held a mini fridge. Zane joined her, handing her a bottle of cold water. “Thank you,” she said as he sat down on the coffee table in front of her.

“Are you always this polite?” he asked.

“I have never been kidnapped before, I’m not up to speed on the social protocol. But I would think that avoiding agitating the kidnapper is a wise move,” Ava answered and could have bit her own tongue off. She badly needed to fix her brain-mouth filter. She opened the bottle of water and drank half of it in one swipe as Zane chuckled.

“That’s why I need to buy a new bill counter?” he asked. 

“That was different, they were going to…” her voice trailed off. Ava couldn’t get the word rape past her lips. She didn’t want to admit how close she had been. In her time working in the E.R, she had seen the result of rapes. She had held the hand of women while the doctors took pictures, did swabs and examinations. Ava had come uncomfortably close to becoming one of those women. A frown appeared on Zane’s face. It made him look hard and dangerous, Ava tensed up and looked away. 

“Your family owes me a lot of money, Ava,” he told her. 

“No, my uncle owes you money. At least you say he does,” Ava corrected him. 

“Are you calling me a liar?” Zane asked, there was an edge of steel in his voice. 

“No, I’m just saying I know nothing about this,” Ava gulped. 

“Your uncle has a taste for poker, unfortunately he isn’t good at it. The regular casinos have long since barred him from playing, so he has been a regular at my casinos,” Zane told her. It had a ring of truth, Ava knew her uncle had had a problem with poker in the past. But he said he stopped playing. For some reason, she believed the man sitting in front of her more than she believed her uncle. That meant her uncle had lied to her.

“And you just let him keep playing?” she asked. 

“Angel, I’m not running a charity or a day care. If the visitor wants to play cards, who am I to stop them?” he smiled.

“But the other casinos barred him because he is a degenerate gambler,” Ava objected. That had been the right thing to do in her mind. 

“In my world, there are no rules except for mine. And you should know that my rules, only ever work in my favour,” he told her.

“Your men took me as payment? You are planning to sell my body to pay off his debt?” Ava’s voice trembled as she asked the question.