Once inside the house, Nadia relaxed a little, pretending to read as she climbed the flight of stairs, she took her time trailing the guards. Once she saw he was taken to the room she found him in a few nights before, she headed straight up the stairs to her room to give the guards time to leave.
Pacing back and forth, she wiped angrily at the tears still streaming down her face. The horror she had witnessed earlier, replayed in her head. When she couldn't stand the wait anymore, she headed back down the stairs, still using the book to disguise as she walked down the hallway. Upon getting to the door she stopped, pretending to be caught up in the story she was reading as she listened, wanting to be certain no one was in the room before he reached for the knob and pressed it down, pushing in the door.
She walked in, pretending not to be paying much attention in case someone saw her. As soon as she stepped inside, she shut the door and locked it.
The room was dimly lit, but this time, she could see clearly that they had chained his hands and legs again to the bed. He was still wearing his torn clothes and was covered in blood. His chest was bare and she saw signs of bullet holes on his left shoulder and his side. Nadia held her hand to her mouth to stifle a cry. She walked gingerly to the side of the bed and raised shaky fingers to stroke his eyebrows.
"Angel…" she whispered, sobbing quietly.
Angel slowly opened his eyes, blinking, he met her gaze and saw tears pooled in her eyes and streamed down her face.
"You shouldn't be in here," he muttered and turned his face away from her, causing her to withdraw her hand.
"Please, don't be mad at me…" Nadia pleaded in barely a whisper.
"Leave Nadia. You are putting yourself and me in danger by being here."
"I want to help. Please, let me help, Angel."
"Not here, not now. Go, Nadia!"
"I can't leave you like this – bleeding and alone.. ."
"I have been doing that for ten years. This is a normal day for me."
"Angel…" Nadia reached for his jaw, framing the other side to make him glance back at her. She leaned over him, peering into his intense eyes. "Don’t ask me to leave you, please."
"That fucking doctor is going to come in here any minute, and if he sees you here, there would be trouble."
"I will go and come back then. Just don't turn me away," she whispered, close to his lips.
Angel searched her gaze and nodded. Nadia pressed her lips to his, kissing him fervently before abruptly pulling back as if she had to tear herself away from him. Letting out a shaky breath, she hurried to the door. Angel couldn’t help feeling her anguish.
"Nadie…." he called. Nadia stopped and glanced back at him.
"Will you truly come back?"
"I don't even want to leave," she replied. Angel nodded in understanding. His lips tweaked in a smile.
"You will be fine, right, Angel?" she asked and he could detect fear and concern in her voice and it was quite evident on her face. "You have gunshot wounds and I saw those bastards beat on you…" she recounted, crying.
"I will be fine when you come back," Angel replied, not wanting to alarm her. The bed was soaked with his blood and he knew she hadn't seen the cut to his side. "Go Nadia!" he added when he perceived the doctor's familiar scent. Nadia's lips trembled and she pulled the door open and left. She hurried down the opposite end of the hallway, noting the urgency in Angel's tone. She was just at the stair landing to her deck when she heard the elevator chimed. She hurried up and hid, waiting for the man to appear. Nadia held her breath as the elevator doors slid open and five guards followed him. They all hurried out. Waiting to hear them open the door to the room Angel was kept in, she didn't move until she heard the door click shut. Then she hurried to her room.
She let out a gasp when she opened her door and ran smack into her Nana.
"Jesus!" she exclaimed, holding a hand to her chest.
"Where have you been? I was worried. Your father called just when that madness started and heard gunshots!" the other woman said in a rush.
"What?!" Nadia exclaimed, her heart slamming hard against the wall of her chest.
"He was frantic when I couldn't get you to speak with him!"
"I was um … in the dining room though! Damn it! Where is my phone?!" Nadia said, rushing to her bedside table.
"Here," the older woman replied, offering her the phone. Nadia took it with a nod of thanks and dialed her father immediately. Pacing back and forth, she waited for him to answer the phone. He had told her she could call him whenever she wanted. She knew inmates were not allowed to have private phones but for some reason her father did. She knew that privilege must be a result of their family name. Her eyes darted to her frantic Nana and then she heard her father answer.
"Daddy?" Nadia called, her heart was beating a mile per hour. Scared shitless and worried that her father may have called her uncle to let him know he couldn’t reach her.
"Damn it! Nadia, where have you been?!" Anton Antonio Rufus asked from the other end.
"I was in the dining room, daddy, waiting for uncle Antonio, Dan and Mathew to join me!"
"Thank God! What were the gunshots I heard about? Are you safe? What is going on?"
"Calm down, daddy, Uncle Antonio just had a slight problem with Daniel's nonsense. Everything is fine," Nadia replied, sounding as exasperated as she could muster. "You know what a great model my dear cousins are," she mocked and heard her father sigh.
"Just … stay safe, Nadia. Okay?"
"Yes, daddy."
"I will be out soon and we can go home, okay?"
"Okay, daddy," Nadia replied.
"I suppose I should call Antonio…"
"No, Daddy! He was pretty peeved. We shouldn’t meddle. I think you should let him be," Nadia said, not wanting her father to alert her uncle that she hadn't gone up to her room as he had ordered.
"I see… alright then. You take care. I will call you again in the morning."
"Alright, daddy," Nadia replied, bid her father goodbye and ended the call. Letting out a relieved sigh. she directed her gaze at her Nana who was giving her keen scrutiny.
"You went out there, didn't you? You saw what they were doing to those poor creatures..."
"Me? No…" Nadia lied, feigning innocence.
"Why are your eyes swollen? It's obvious you have been crying."
"I – I," Nadia stuttered, paused and sighed in resignation.
"You saw them?" the older woman said. Nadia nodded. "That was really dangerous, Nadia!"
"I know," she said simply and lumbered to her bed, flopping over her soft mattress. "It isn't right…" she said under her breath but loud enough for her to hear.
"No, it is not. But there's nothing we can do about it. I just pray we go home soon."
The thought of leaving Angel and going back to her house made her heart constrict. 'No, I have to do something… I can't leave him here," Nadia thought, trying to ignore the painful clench in the pit of her stomach at the thought of never seeing Angel again.