Tanya's POV It was clear from how he spoke on the phone that he intended to come home soon. I couldn't wait to meet him. I was tired of many things—tired of the work, which made me glad that we were about to complete it; tired of the entire game he seemed so interested in playing. It was dangerous, and for some reason, he seemed very interested in hazardous things. It was probably his nature. Finally, I was tired of all the stalling. I knew what he wanted—for me to beg him, and I did not want to. But seriously, I was about to give in. We were together, finally, and everything was safe for the moment. Something told me that this was one of the few opportunities we would have to enjoy ourselves, to enjoy each other for the first time after confessing our feelings. And since he wasn't ready, I would take the first step. I got ready with everything, wanting to be perfect, when he eventually came. Then, the wait started and did not end anytime soon. I thought it was customary in
Tanya's POV The wait was much longer than I wanted it to be. Every day that passed left me with disturbing thoughts about what was happening to him, with me able to do nothing to help. It was frustrating to be in such a powerless position. It was not long before I lost my appetite entirely. The thoughts that kept reentering my mind made me not want to do anything at all, leaving me a lot less productive. But with Dante staying with me, I didn't have much choice. He made me eat every day and also forced me to do some work at intervals to keep my mind off the situation at hand. I knew he was trying to help, but honestly, I wanted him to stop. I probably told him that once or twice, maybe even shouted at him to leave me alone, but naturally, he didn't. He told me he was staying, and he did. Finally, I got the message on my phone: *If you want to see your dear Rodrigo again, come to the Lopez fishing pier and come alone, without any weapons. Tell anybody about this, and you can
Rodrigo's POV I opened my eyes, feeling a splitting headache. When I didn't see the familiar environment of my home, I suddenly got a hunch that something was wrong. I tried to move, but I couldn't; my hands seemed to be tied up behind me or something like that. With a frown on my face, I struggled for a while before everything came back to me. "Damn it, not again," I roared in annoyance as I remembered that I had been kidnapped once again. It was as if I was some kind of easy target for anybody to use as a hostage randomly. I was the leader of an entire mafia group; how was it even possible for me to be targeted and picked up so easily? I struggled with my bonds for some time. It wasn't that tight; the people who did it were unskilled. I might have gotten loose by myself, but suddenly, I heard footsteps. I couldn't exactly blame him for arriving at such a time. I was the one who had given myself away, after all, when I shouted previously. He gave me a wide grin upon seei
Tanya's POV Ultimately, all we could come up with were flimsy excuses and demands to ensure they handed him over to us. I had thought we could do better, but as it happened, we couldn't. We didn't seem to be able to feel that deeply into it. "I'm worried," I told Dante. "I want to get him out of that situation as fast as possible." Two days had passed since we received the message from the kidnappers, and we still hadn't done anything to respond. I was worried sick, but Diego kept advising me to wait and not rush into anything; this could be a trap for all we knew. "I can't wait any longer. I'm going today," I told him, seeing he didn't answer my previous statement. He looked at me and probably saw the determination on my face because he didn't try to stop me anymore. "Alright then, you can go today, but you have to remember the plan." "Like I can forget it," I responded, rolling my eyes. It was the one plan that was life and death; there was no way I would forget what t
Tanya's POV When he suddenly stopped talking, I knew that I had got him. I waited for him to tell me everything he knew about what I had just said, most likely to redirect me to the leader now instead of acting challenging like he has been acting since. "Come with me," he said in a softer voice. Naturally, I liked this version of him much more than the previous one, as he led me straight under the ship. I looked at the many rooms, wondering which one he was hidden in. It was not as complicated as it was in the factory previously, so something told me that there was a slight chance that I could personally get him out of there without going through so much trouble. I contemplated it for a long moment, but I didn't have the time to decide because, at that moment, a tall, burly man came up to me. "You want to meet the leader now, don't you?" he asked me. "Come this way." He led me back up to the deck, annoying me. Why wouldn't they make up their minds about where they wanted
Tanya's POV The shooting started unexpectedly. I was still thinking when he finished counting down, and his men automatically started firing at us. The man named John took cover immediately, narrowly missing getting shot himself. His men took arms as well, and it was a free-for-all. I tried to find Rodrigo in the commotion. It was a perfect chance for me to escape with him and forget all that was happening. But suddenly, I felt a hand cover my mouth. I struggled, but to no avail. The person holding me was too strong for me to resist. Finally, when I stopped struggling, I felt his grip relax a little as he turned me to him. I already knew it was not Rodrigo before I saw his face, and when I didn't recognise him, I got my confirmation. He put a finger to his lips, indicating that I shouldn't scream. If I had known what was going to happen next, I would have because suddenly, he brought out some ropes and tied my hands behind me. I attempted to scream now, but it was too
Tanya's pov I couldn't understand why he would want me to hand it over to him if he had the power to threaten him. He made it seem as though he could keep him in check, but if he could, then why did I have to give him the document? Why couldn't he just break the both of us out of here so we could forget about the entire incident? All those questions were bubbling in my head, wanting desperately to burst out, but I kept them in. I knew when to speak and stay silent, and now was the typical time to remain silent. I couldn't precisely question him when he showed up out of nowhere to save my sorry ass. "Do we have a deal?" Diego asked him. From the amount of time he was spending to think about it alone, I knew that he had no intentions whatsoever to let me go out of here alive in the first place. The realisation made me even more glad of Dante's intervention, though I could not still understand many things about his actions and why he was doing them that way. Maybe it was not so
Tanya's POV The leader I was to meet turned out to be Diego himself. Well, what did I expect? Seeing him, all the rage and frustration I felt as a result of how things had turned out came rushing back. After all the threats and everything, the man decided to kill me anyway. What, then, was the point of making me give him the flash disc? If he would fight to get me out of there, why didn't he do that from the start? I glared at him in annoyance as I opened my mouth to speak. From the look in his eyes, he already knew what kind of reaction to expect from me after what had happened. I only hoped he had a reasonable explanation awaiting. "Why?" I asked finally. It was only one word, but it carried the weight of all the emotions raging through me. I wanted to scream at him, to fight him—a couple of punches from me to him would release some of the anger and frustration. But somehow, I didn't move. "It's hard to explain and even harder to understand," he told me in a small voice. "But