by Reilly, Cora
He sauntered off and I stepped into Samuel’s cell. His wrists and ankles were tied together, but his eyes were open in his bloody face and full of hatred. “You fucking bastard,” he rasped.
I smiled. “I’d be careful with the insults if I were you.”
“Fuck you,” Samuel spat. “As if anything I say matters. You’re going to torture me to death anyway.”
I knelt beside him. “I don’t think that’s the right punishment for you, Sam.”
Fear replaced the hatred in his eyes. He arched up. “Don’t! Don’t you dare touch her.”
I straightened. “Someone will have to suffer for this. And I know you will suffer twice as much if I hurt your twin.”
“No! Torture me. Kill me.”
“Unfortunately, that’s not an option. You will return to the Outfit with the memory of your sister’s screams.”
Samuel froze. “No,” he gasped out.
I turned.
“Remo!” he roared, but I closed the cell door.
I stepped into Serafina’s cell. She was pale and still so painstakingly proud and beautiful, I allowed myself a moment to admire her.
She tilted her head toward me, her blue eyes burning with emotion. “Samuel will be safe?”
“By my honor.”
Her lips curled, but she didn’t say anything.
“I hope you can be convincing. I want your best screams.”
Her eyes narrowed briefly, giving me a fucking kick as usual. It was so much better than her desperate surrender.
She closed her eyes, chest heaving, elegant throat flexing.
I needed to own this woman. Body and soul and everything else she could offer. I fucking burned with the desire to possess her in every way possible.
Finally, Serafina screamed, and it was so fucking real that my body reacted to the sound, but not in a way it usually did, not with excitement and the thrill of the hunt. There was something close to revulsion filling my body, hearing her agonized cries and imagining they were real.
My hands curled to fists, my muscles tensing because a deeply buried instinct wanted me to protect her from whatever caused those screams. Unfortunately for her, nothing could protect her from me.
I couldn’t fucking take it anymore. I stalked toward her, gripped her arm. “Enough,” I growled, breathing harshly.
Serafina’s eyes snapped open. They searched my face, and a second too late I realized she got deeper than anyone was allowed. “Enough,” I repeated, my voice shaking with rage and confusion.
“Enough?” she whispered so softly. The sound was like a fucking caress.
Maybe I should end it now. Do what Nino said, end this fucking game. Get rid of Serafina and Samuel both.
I cupped her head and pressed my forehead to hers. She trembled, overwhelmed.
“Maybe I should kill you.”
“Maybe,” she breathed. “But you won’t.”
I should have contradicted her, but she was right and she knew it.
“You promised.”
I pulled back from her. “And I will keep my promise. I’ll release your brother now. I’ll have one of my men fly him and the corpses to Kansas City. How he gets back to Outfit territory from there is his own problem.”
She nodded.
“Come,” I ordered.
I didn’t touch her as I led her back to her bedroom. She moved toward the window and perched on the windowsill, pulling her legs against her chest. I stopped with my fingers against the light switch then lowered them, leaving the room in the dark.
Serafina twisted her head, staring at me. She was backlit by the silver moonlight as she perched in the window frame. She’d never looked more like an angel than in this fucking moment, and I realized I was on a precarious path.
Her whispered words broke the silence. “I wonder whose game is more dangerous, yours or mine, Remo?”
CHAPTER 14
SERAFINA
Over the next couple of days, Remo kept his distance. We didn’t go on runs, and Kiara or one of his brothers brought me food.
The look in his eyes when I’d screamed in the basement, it was difficult to describe, but I knew for some reason it had bothered him.
Nino had informed me this morning that Samuel was back in Minneapolis. I believed him. Remo had promised and despite my difficult feelings toward the Capo, I knew he’d keep this promise. I also knew that Samuel and my family were suffering every day I was here.
Nino treated me even colder than before—if that was even possible. I had a feeling things between Remo and him were strained because of Samuel. Nino probably would have killed my brother. It was the obvious solution, the one Dante would have chosen. But Remo ... he was unpredictable. Cruel. Fierce.
I didn’t understand him.
If he’d tortured and killed Samuel, I would have hated him with brutal abandon, would have done anything I could to kill him. But he hadn’t. I was scared about his motives, but more than that ... I was scared because a twisted part of me was grateful. I wasn’t sure exactly why, but Remo had done this because of me.
It was way past midnight when I heard my door open. I couldn’t sleep, my mind whirring with thoughts.
Lying on my side, I watched the tall figure step in. I knew it was Remo from the way he moved, from his tall frame, the shock of his black hair. “You’re awake,” he said in a low voice.
“Did you want to watch me sleep?”
He moved closer. His face lay in shadows, and my pulse picked up. He sank down on the edge of the bed, and I rolled onto my back.
“No,” he said in a strange tone. “I prefer you awake.”
He leaned over me, one of his arms braced beside my hip.
“What do you want?” I muttered.
“I want you gone.”
My eyes widened. “Then let me go.”
“I fear it’s not that easy.” He bent lower and then his palm touched my belly and slowly slid down. I held my breath, becoming still in a mix of shock and anticipation. He cupped me through the covers and my clothes. The touch was light, almost questioning, and I was completely frozen. My center tingled and that, more than Remo’s touch, sent a fierce stab of fear through me. I wanted him to touch me without a barrier between us, wanted to get a taste of something utterly forbidden, something I wasn’t allowed to want.
Neither of us said anything. I knew what paralyzed me, but what restrained Remo?
He exhaled slowly and stood. Without another word, he disappeared. Good Lord, what was happening? With him. With me. With the both of us.
That middle of the night visit seemed to have done something to Remo because he returned to our previous routine of taking me on runs and walks through the gardens. I wasn’t sure if I should be relieved or worried. I’d almost missed our daily arguments because he took me seriously and was strangely excited about my comebacks. He didn’t want me to be the restrained lady. Far from it. Remo thrived on chaos and conflict. His presence left me breathless and overwhelmed.
I slanted Remo a look as he walked beside me in silence. His expression was harsh, his dark eyes forbidding. I stopped and after a moment he did too. He narrowed his eyes.
“Why did you really let Samuel go? I want the truth.”
Remo glared down at me. “I think you’re forgetting what you are. I don’t owe you the truth. I don’t even owe you these fucking strolls through the gardens. You are my captive, Serafina.”
Serafina? “What about ‘Angel?’” I retorted.
Remo gripped my upper arms. “Careful. I think handling you with kid gloves gave you the wrong idea.”
“I think I have exactly the right idea.”
Remo’s fingers tightened. I lifted my hands and pressed them to his chest. The muscles flexed under my touch. Remo lowered his gaze to my hands then slowly looked back up. The expression on his face burned a fierce trail through my body. Fury and desire.
Remo jerked me against him, knocking the air out of me. One hand gripped my neck, and his
mouth pressed against my ear. “I don’t remember you pushing me away when I touched your pussy a few nights ago, Angel,” he growled.
Shame washed over me from the memory, but worse, so much worse ... longing.
“Every fucking day you want me a little more. I can see it in your eyes, can see the struggle in them. You aren’t allowed to have me like I’m not allowed to have you.”
“You are Remo Falcone. You are Capo. You rule over the West. Who could stop you from having me?” I murmured. My God. What was wrong with me?
His fingers shifted on my neck, loosening, and he pulled back to meet my gaze, and I wished he hadn’t because the fierceness in his eyes was like the first breath of air after holding your breath for too long.
“The only force on this earth that can stop me is you. You’re the only one I’d allow to do so,” he said in a dark voice. He kissed me, a slide of his lips over mine. “How much longer will you?”
I wanted to deepen the kiss. My fingers trembled against Remo’s chest. I wanted to look away from his dark eyes and at the same time I wanted to drown in their power. I wanted so many things when he was around. Things I’d always be forbidden to want.
A man of unparalleled cruelty. My captor. My enemy.
I stumbled back, wheezing.
“Do you want to run again?” The dark amusement in his voice wasn’t as convincing as it usually was. He sounded strained.
I didn’t want to run, and that was the problem because I should want to run from the desire. I took another step back.
Remo smiled darkly. “I don’t think I’ve ever seen you as scared of me as you are now.”
Terrified. I was completely terrified. I turned and ran back to the mansion. On the terrace I collided with Kiara, and we had to grip each other to keep our balance. My eyes met Nino’s—he was standing behind her as always—and for a moment I was sure he’d attack me, but Kiara pulled away from me.
“Hey, are you alright?” she asked, touching my arm, looking concerned.
I nodded jerkily.
“You sure? Did Remo do something?”
Did he? Or did I? The lines were getting blurry. Remo was right. Every day I was here things got more complicated. Captivity broke me, only not in the way I thought it would.
Nino’s gaze moved past us. I knew whom he was seeking.
“No,” I whispered in reply to her question.
Kiara frowned. “Come on. Let’s go inside.”
“Kiara,” Nino warned.
“No,” she said firmly. “This is getting ridiculous. Serafina won’t hurt me.”
She took my hand and led me inside where she pushed me down on the sofa. Remo and Nino remained outside. I could hear the low rumble of their voices. It sounded as if they were in an argument.
Kiara handed me a glass of water then sat down beside me. “Is it because of your brother? Nino said they allowed him to return to the Outfit. That’s good, isn’t it?”
I nodded. It was. My brother. My family. The Outfit. My fiancé. I owed all of them loyalty. I owed them resistance and a fight.
“Serafina?” Kiara touched my thigh.
I met her compassionate gaze and touched her hand. “I’m losing myself.”
Her eyes widened then flitted to the French windows. “You know, I was completely terrified of Remo in the beginning. But I saw sides of him that made me realize he’s more than brutality and cruelty.”
“Remo is the cruelest man I know. He is beyond redemption.”
She smiled sadly. “Maybe he just needs someone who will show him the path to redemption.”
I laughed harshly. “I hope you don’t think that’s going to be me. The only path I’ll show him is the road to Hell. I hate him.”
Kiara squeezed my thigh but didn’t say anything. I was relieved when Nino took me up to my room, not Remo.
I traced the line of the healed cut on my forearm, wishing it were still fresh, wishing Remo would hurt me again. More than that, I wished I didn’t need that kind of reminder because Remo Falcone was beyond redemption. I shouldn’t need reminding.
The next day Remo and I did our longest run so far despite the exceptionally hot late August sun. We both needed to relieve pent up energy it seemed. We hardly spoke. I tried to keep my mind blank, tried not to think of my family who was suffering because Remo refused to make a new demand. Guilt became harder to bear every day. The guilt over not suffering the way I should be.
My eyes registered a shadow above our heads. A large black and white bird of prey with a red head. “Look,” I panted. “There’s your spirit animal. A vulture.”
Remo stopped and laughed. A real laugh. Not dark, taunting, or cruel. “Good to know you find me that repulsive.”
I wished. He took a bottle of water from the small running backpack and handed it to me. God, how I wished I found Remo’s body repulsive. I took a sip of water then handed him the bottle back.
“When are you going to ask my uncle for Rocco Scuderi?” I asked to distract myself and him.
Remo’s expression hardened, his eyes returning to the sky. “Vultures wait for their prey to drop dead. I think the Outfit’s almost there.”
“You can’t win this game. The moment you return me, the Outfit will rise and strike back. An endless spiral of violence will start.”
“Why would you say that, Angel? Don’t you want to be returned? Danilo is waiting eagerly to wed and bed you.”
I followed the large bird’s flight, wondering how it would feel to be free like that. A marriage to Danilo seemed so unreal in that moment, so far away, when I had already been less than forty minutes away from being married to him. That girl in the beautiful white wedding dress, she felt like more of a stranger every day. My eyes were drawn to my hand, but the ring wasn’t there. For the first time since my engagement to Danilo, I’d forgotten to put the ring on in the morning.
“One month,” Remo reminded me as he led me through the garden.
It took me a moment to understand what he meant. “Since you captured me,” I said quietly.
One month. Sometimes it felt so much longer, sometimes like only yesterday. I had never thought I’d survive a single day in the hands of the Camorra, in Remo Falcone’s hands, and now I’d survived so many more. Remo was more patient than I’d thought. I was fairly sure my family and the Outfit was at a point by now that they’d hand Scuderi over, even if my grandfather disapproved. He was an old man close to death.
I stared down at my bare feet in the grass. As a child I’d loved to run around barefoot, but eventually I had stopped because I was told it was undignified. Ice Princess. I’d enjoyed being her in public, even if she wasn’t a reflection of my true self. It was who I was supposed to be as Dante’s niece, as Danilo’s wife. Controlled. Dignified. Graceful.
I caught Remo watching me. No control. Unbridled emotion. Furious passion.
One month.
I averted my eyes. Remo led me closer to the mansion.
“I want to know what’s going on in your head,” Remo said.
I was glad he couldn’t. “Maybe I’ll tell you if you tell me what’s going on in yours.”
Remo stopped. “Right now I’m imagining how it would feel to bury my face between your legs, Angel.”
I froze. Remo obviously enjoyed my shock if his smirk was an indication. I didn’t get a chance to retort because a low moan sounded above us. My eyes darted to the open window, my brows pulling together. Remo moved behind my back, standing very close and leaning forward slightly so his face was beside mine. He nodded up to the window. “That’s Nino and Kiara’s bedroom.”
A woman moaned again, an abandoned, uncontrolled sound full of pleasure.
I took a step back but bumped into Remo, who didn’t budge. “That’s the sound a woman makes when a man is eating her out.”
“You are disgusting,” I gritted out, trying to get away, but Remo’s arms wrapped around me from behind, keeping me in place.
“Please,” Kiara gasped out.
“Please, more.”
“Do you want to know why I know Nino is currently licking pussy? It’s because you don’t hear him. His face is buried in it.”
Kiara’s moans turned louder, desperate, and then she cried out.
I wanted to be disgusted, but my body reacted hearing these sounds. Heat gathered between my legs.
“Have you ever made this sound, Angel?” he murmured. “No, you haven’t. But don’t you wonder how it would feel to be overwhelmed with so much pleasure to force these kinds of moans from your lips?”
I stopped struggling, but Remo didn’t loosen his hold on me. His firm chest, warm and strong, still pressed up against my back. “A tongue between your thighs, licking, sucking. Don’t you want to know how that would feel?”
I pressed my lips together, but I could do nothing about the trickle of wetness between my thighs. Above us new moans rang out. Kiara, followed by deeper, more restrained grunts.
“You are a grown woman, and yet you’ve never come so hard you lost yourself. You’ve never had a man buried between your thighs, eating you out.” Remo’s mouth brushed my ear. Then his tongue slid along the outer rim until it reached my earlobe. He circled it then drew it between his lips and sucked lightly, and I felt it all the way between my legs. He released my earlobe and exhaled. Something hard dug into my lower back. I should have drawn back in disgust, but I was utterly frozen.
“Are you wet, Serafina? Wet for me?” Remo rasped in my ear, and a small shiver passed through my traitorous body upon hearing his voice.
“I won’t ever bow to your will, Remo,” I whispered harshly.
“Who says I want you to bow, Angel? I want you to give me yourself freely because you want to, because you choose to. Have you ever chosen anything only because you wanted to? Without heeding the consequences? Without regard to what’s expected of you? All your life you’ve bowed to your parents’ will, your uncle’s will, the Outfit’s will, and once I’ll release you, you’ll bow to Danilo’s will.”
I hated Remo, hated him for making sense, hated him for getting under my skin. And I hated myself for letting him.