One Year Previous

Nick finished the rest of his beer, putting the bottle on the bar next to the rest of them with a thud. He glanced around the club, looking for someone who looked halfway interesting to dance with. He’d come with Howie, AJ, and some of their friends but had lost them earlier in the evening as everyone spread around the dance floor. 

“I need to talk to you!” a voice called to him over the thumping music and he glanced to his right, surprised to see his girlfriend (now EX girlfriend) Toni standing beside him looking positively frightened.

“What are you doing here?” he asked, leaning down to speak into her ear. 

“I really need to talk to you!” 

Nick sighed and rolled his eyes, the drama was so typical of her. Grabbing her arm he led her through the club and out the backdoor to the parking lot, “What is it?” he asked, pulling a cigarette out of his pocket. 

“Can we talk in your car?” Toni asked, looking over both of her shoulders nervously. 

“Why don’t you just tell me what this is about? If you’re trying to get back together with me it’s not going to happen. I told you yesterday, I’m not going to stay with a girl who is obviously cheating on me. I need to just do my own thing for a while.”

“This has nothing to do with yesterday I promise you I don’t want to get back with you,” Toni stressed, finally convincing him to talk in the car. 

Nick picked up on her nervousness, wondering what on earth was going on with her. He might have been upset with her but he’d been with her for so long he couldn’t help but be concerned, “Baby, what’s wrong?”

“You remember all of the phone calls we kept getting at the house…the hang-ups, the pranks, all of that?”

Nick nodded, “Of course I remember, that’s how I found out you were with someone else if you recall?”

“I know something that I don’t think I should know and I’m worried someone might try to hurt me!” she blurted out, her body shaking slightly.

“Who would want to hurt you?”

Toni did another 360º scan of the area before she turned back to Nick, “The guy that I was seeing when you were on tour is not a very nice guy at all. Well, it’s not that he’s not nice it’s just he’s in the type of business that gets you into dangerous things. He’s into all sorts of things he shouldn’t be into and someone gave him something to hold onto, something that’s very important to them…and I took it.”

“Why would you do that?” Nick demanded with his eyes wide as he listened to her crazy story, “Why would you take something important from someone who you say is into bad things? This makes absolutely no sense!”

“I don’t know!” she admitted, “I thought if I took it then maybe he would just forget about it and maybe later on I’d be able to use it if he pissed me off or something.”

“That was stupid,” Nick sighed, bringing his forgotten cigarette to his lips. He patted his jeans, looking for his lighter but Toni was quick on the draw, handing him a pack of matches, “Thanks,” he said, thinking how odd it was for anyone to carry matches anymore.

“Keep ‘em,” she instructed.

“So why are you coming to me with this? How could I possibly be of any help?” Nick asked curiously, tossing the matches into the centre seat console absentmindedly. 

“To be honest, I was hoping that if things got too intense and I needed to get away, that maybe you could lend me some cash just until I can find somewhere else to live.”

Nick rolled his eyes, “Of course this is about money, why else would you come to me? I might as well change my name to ‘Bank of’.”

Toni was about to reply when a loud knock on the window interrupted their discussion, “Oh my god Nick,” she suddenly gasped as she noticed who was outside the window. 

In a flash they were both pulled from the vehicle, Toni screaming as Nick was slammed up against the side of his SUV. He felt adrenaline surge through his veins as he looked at the men who were holding him down and he struggled against them, throwing fists and his body against them to get away. 

His efforts were fruitless though because a firm smack to the back of his head with a pistol was all the other men needed to render him completely unconscious. 

***

Nick blinked slowly, coming to for what seemed like the hundredth time. His mouth tasted like metal, and he could feel his lips sticking together from all of the caked on blood. He had been slipping in and out of consciousness since he and Toni were taken from the parking lot at the club. He was certain that it had been a long time since that happened. It had to have been at least a day because from what he could tell it was dark outside just as it had been when they were taken. 

There had been so many questions asked of him, and so many answers that he couldn’t give them. They were under the impression that Toni had told him about something but apart from asking him for money she hadn’t really told him anything.

“Hey, he’s coming around again,” a gruff voice spoke and Nick tried to look up and see who was speaking but his vision was completely unreliable. He’d been hit in the eye so many times the blood vessels had burst and all he could see was a sea of red out of his right eye. 

“Maybe he’s finally ready to talk,” another voice suggested and Nick just tried to shake his head so they would know that he didn’t have anything to say, “What did she tell you about the list?”

“I…no list, she didn’t…say,” Nick whimpered, yelping when he was immediately hit in the stomach, stealing any air he may have had in his lungs.

“You’re lying!” the man yelled in his ear, shoving him roughly, “I know that stupid bitch told you! Why else would she have gone running to you? She told you about the list to make me angry!”

The two men seemed to walk away but Nick could just barely make out what they were saying.

“We should just get rid of him, that way whatever he knows goes with him and Mr. Esposito never has to know that the list got out of our hands,” the original voice suggested and Nick held back tears, praying to God that they wouldn’t kill them. 

He heard the second man sigh heavily and he didn’t trust the silence that was in place of a response to the suggestion. 

“Please…Please! Don’t…kill me…” Nick cried out, never having been so scared in his entire life. 

“You’re begging now? You’re going to sit there and beg for your life when all along you and that bitch have been trying to ruin me?!” the man struck him again, leaving his ears ringing.

Nick wanted to tell the man again that he didn’t know anything, he was completely innocent in the whole thing but he didn’t know how to get the words out of his mouth. He knew though that whatever he would say would mean nothing. They’d found him with Toni and she had obviously threatened to relay whatever information she knew to bring down this man. It was meaningless to try and plead because even if he didn’t know too much before, he certainly knew too much now. He knew that there was a list, Toni knew about it and where it was, and he could identify these two men by their voices. A horrible sinking feeling settled in his stomach as he realized they had mentioned a name. The name of their boss he had guessed. They would have never mentioned a name and made themselves vulnerable if they had any intention of letting him go. His breath was coming in fast pants as he realized he was not going to live through the rest of the day. He couldn’t believe that it would end like this, that he would never see his parents again, or his brother and sisters. He would never see his friends again, or the Boys. He would never get married, or have kids, or grow old. He just couldn’t believe it.

Slowly, Nick forced himself to lift his head straight, fighting to focus his good eye so he could see. Finally when he saw around him he realized he was in what seemed like a warehouse, full of shipping containers. He was nearly naked, and his skin looked completely red, dotted with blood from his face and chest. His breath was heavy and laboured as he looked around the room, wondering what had happened to his captors. 

‘Maybe I can escape, I have to at least try,’ his mind tried to convince him but the more he realized he wouldn’t be physically able to get himself out of his binds the more frightened he became. Nick could feel hot tears running down his face as he heard footsteps coming up behind him. He could hear someone breathing heavily behind him and the presence of someone standing just behind his chair. His breath became more ragged, wondering what was about to happen. 

In a flash he could see nothing but white and the air was gone. He struggled to breath, fighting against his binds despite how they cut into his flesh. It was the most agonizingly painful thing he’d ever experienced; his lungs burning like someone had thrown a match down his throat. The pressure on his Adam’s apple was as intense as the pain of having no oxygen, and it didn’t take long before he got light headed and gave in, ending the fight. He only managed a few short staggered puffs of breath before the bag that had been put over his head left him void of everything his body needed and he slipped into black.