Entering the room, I extended my hand to the director.
"Good morning, I'm Ângelo Fontana. I spoke with you this morning."
"Of course! It's a pleasure to welcome you to our institution. Please, have a seat." The white-haired lady gestured to the chair and sat down.
I take a seat and unbutton my suit jacket.
"I'm glad you made an exception to receive me. I'm truly desperate."
"You can rest easy. I reviewed everything you said and looked into it further, and yes, Faruk Fadel is in this boarding school," she revealed.
Abruptly, I stand up and press my hands to my mouth. I found him.
I knew I would succeed.
Planting bugs in the madam's office was a sure shot. I overheard an entire conversation with her partner about the families of the girls that wretch kidnapped and prostituted. They were a gang of criminals trafficking women, selling women, and prostituting them.
Using their clandestine business to make a fortune with girls they kidnapped at airport exits worldwide, it was even better if they were accompanied by small children, as they knew they could use them to make the girls do whatever they wanted.
Lavínia's case had nothing to do with being a refugee from her country who went after an easier life, as that damn madam made me believe.
Lavínia was kidnapped in her own country, had her brother, with whom she intended to escape, torn from her arms, and here in Switzerland, she was forced into prostitution. These bastards won't get away with it… they'll pay for every tear she shed. For every wretch she was forced to sleep with… for everything… absolutely everything!
In a hurry, I turned to the lady and looked at her anxiously.
"Let me see the boy… Talk to him?" I clear my throat, trying in a futile attempt to brush away the damned speck in my eye.
"That's against the institution's rules. And as I told you, we have orders to ensure nothing of the sort happens," she said, and I noticed something odd. Her hand was low, and she glanced at her legs every now and then.
Realizing she was trying to contact someone, I reached under the table, flipped the wooden table to the side, startling her, and grabbed her damn phone, seeing the fucking message she was typing to that wretched madam.
"It looks like I'll have to do this my way." It wasn't a veiled threat. I threw her phone to the ground and crushed it with the sole of my shoe, pressing it as I would her miserable face. I take my phone from my pocket and call one of the hitmen. He answers immediately, and I interrupt him, deeply frustrated that things had to go this way. "I need you to send the Switzerland clan to the address I'll send via message."
The call seemed to be on speaker, as I heard more men talking.
"What happened?" It was 27.
I stared at the director and pulled my gun from my back, aiming at this bitch's face before she could make the mistake of pressing the button that would sound the alarm. I shake my head, absolutely furious with this accomplice to all this filth.
"We have a rescue to carry out in a boarding school full of security. I'm holding the director hostage, and she looks like she'd rather die than tell me where the boy is," I reveal, furious and impatient.
"Then you found the boy. We're heading there, and don't worry, we'll turn this boarding school upside down and won't leave until we find him."
"Be quick, or they'll get suspicious." With that, I ended the call and sent the address to our private group. Finally, I put my phone back in my pocket and sat down, resting my gun on the table and glaring at her with deadly, murderous hatred. "You should be ashamed of being part of this. Did you know that before coming here, I investigated and found out that most of the students in this place are children of women who are being humiliated and sold?"
"I'm not doing anything wrong. I take in the children because they have nowhere else to go."
I lose my patience with this blatant lie.
"Wrong! You get a hefty sum to keep this damn secret," I shout, enraged. "Where's the boy?"
"It's my life on the line. I won't say a word."
I smile.
"I know he's in the boarding school. This is a miserably large place. There must be some secret room. But fine, don't talk. I'll find out who the boy is, and your brains will be blown to bits."
***
When my men arrived, it was easy to let them in. The director lost a total of three fingers in a shot to allow everyone's entry. So I left some men with her and went up with others, room by room, searching tirelessly for the boy with a photo of Lavínia in hand, showing it to everyone to see if anyone recognized her.
"Damn it!" I curse, kicking the wall. Three floors had already been searched, and nothing.
"Ângelo. Here." They shouted to me from the staircase, and I hear gunshots. I run, rushing down the stairs, and enter the storage room, stepping over dead security guards.
I swallow hard, seeing an open freezer and the look of defeat and sadness on my friend's face.
"No." I shout, rushing to the freezer and seeing the boy unconscious inside. I act quickly, pick him up in my arms, and lay him on the ground, looking at his face and getting emotional because he had a chubby face but with so many of Lavínia's features—her eyebrows, nose, mouth, skin tone. "It's him." A tear rolls down, and I desperately try to find his vital signs. My tears turn into audible sobs. I heard many gunshots, but nothing stopped me from hugging the boy's cold body.
The little one was still alive.
***
I was in a hospital room, holding the little boy's hand tightly when he finally showed he was a true warrior and opened his eyes. Clear eyes…
I smile.
"Hi?" I say and sigh in relief that he's alive.
"Who… are you?" His voice was still weak. He was sedated as soon as I brought him to the hospital. Incredibly, Faruk had been thrown into the freezer and stayed there so long that he passed out. It was a miracle we found him in time.
"I'm Ângelo, and you?"
"I'm Faruk…" He stayed silent for a few seconds and then started crying as he remembered what they did to him. "They hit me… they hit me and threw me in a cold place." His hand trembled in mine.
"Don't cry, Faruk. You're safe now. I saved you." I kissed his hand.
"My sister… I want my sister… I miss her so much… I only hear her voice. It's so sad to hear her voice from far away…"
I stand up, touch his forehead, and stroke his long hair.
"I promise you I'll bring Lavínia to you in a few days."
"Do you really promise?" He looked at me hopefully.
"I promise."
"And will she and I live happily without my father?" he asked.
"Yes. You and she will be happy."
"Our father is bad… he hurt Lavínia. My mother, before she died, asked me to take care of Lavínia… because I'm the man, I have to take care of her, my sister."
I clear my throat and squeeze his hand.
"You're a good brother. She's lucky to have you to protect her."
"Do you think I'm good?… But I was so far from her."
"I'm sure you're a good brother. Do you want to eat something?"
I saw a smile on his face, and that made me happier than shooting that damn director in the mouth.
***
I found myself standing at the door, having entered Lavínia's room silently, watching her observe the spider inside a glass box.
"I can see you through the glass," she said without turning her face to look at me.
"I thought when I came back here, you would've killed the spider," I say sincerely.
"I didn't lack the urge. But I'm not like you and your friends, taking my anger out on animals." She was sharp. Her fingers touched the glass box. "What exclusive services do you want now?"
"I didn't come for that today, Lavínia." I walk toward her and lean against the wall, putting my hand in my pocket and observing her distant gaze as she strokes the glass box.
"You got tired of me quickly."
"Don't say such nonsense. You don't know what you're talking about."
She narrowed her eyes at me.
"I'm not feeling well today."
"And what's wrong?"
"Nothing you'd care about." She stood up and turned her back to me, tightening the tie of her robe.
"Maybe I care."
She lay on the bed.
Concerned that she wasn't yelling or cursing at me, I go to her and sit on the bed beside her.
"I've had a bad feeling since this morning," she revealed, looking into my eyes and rubbing her chest. "Don't do anything to me today, please." She pleaded fearfully and closed her eyes tightly.
I touch her face and stroke her hair.
"I have a surprise for you," I confide.
"If it's another animal, I don't want it," she said with her eyes closed.
"You need to come with me."
"At this hour, I'm not going anywhere, especially with you." She looked at me. "Come back another day; I'm really not in the mood today."
"Stop being stubborn, Lavínia." I kept stroking her soft hair. "Don't make me throw you over my shoulder and drag you with me."
"You want to take me where? To your house?" I nod. "And what will we do there? I'm telling you I'm not feeling well, and you're thinking about something dirty."
"I'm not thinking about anything dirty." I smile at her suspicious expression. "There's someone who's dying to see you." I reveal and stand up, going to the spider's box and picking it up, returning to the bed with it. Lavínia sat up, completely lost. "The spider is dead." I show her.
Immediately, Lavínia pulls the sheets off her body and kneels, coming toward me and taking the glass box.
"She was alive. How did she die so quickly?" She looked at me sadly.
"She was poisoned and would die in a week."
She blinked, visibly confused.
"Why did you give me a poisoned spider?"
"Don't you remember the promise I made when I gave you the spider?" I frame her angelic face between my hands.
Her eyes filled with tears.
"I can't go with you." She cried. "Even if it were my only option. I can't go."
"Pretty little owl eyes. Nothing holds you here anymore." I took the box from her hands and placed it on the bed, holding her face again. "He wants to see you."
Lavínia's body weakened, and I had to hold her by the waist to keep her from collapsing on the bed as she realized who I was talking about.
"Please, don't lie to me like this…"
My eyes stung, and at that point, I didn't care if they welled up.
"His hair is long, and his cheeks are chubby." I confess and was surprised by her arms wrapping around my neck.
"Faruk… God! Faruk…"
I returned her embrace, touching the back of her neck and smelling her hair as I closed my eyes.
She needed to come with me before the madam found out that Lavínia was finally free.