Taken for His Bride: An Arranged Marriage Dark Mafia Romance (The Torenti Family Book 2)

by Mae Doyle

  But as the water fills the bath and I struggle to strip, I can’t help but repeating one thought in my head.

  He killed for me.

  Chapter 14

  Arlo

  She’s a stubborn one, my Hannah. I smile to myself when I hear the bath start to run. I imagine that she’ll be able to get in there and get herself clean, but the cuts and bruising on her feet and legs are going to make it really difficult for her to get out and get dressed on her own.

  Whatever. If she wants to pretend like she can take care of herself and that she doesn’t need me, then that’s fine, but I’m still going to be here for her when she realizes what a mistake that is.

  It doesn’t take long.

  By the time I’m just four pages into my new book, I hear her call out. Her voice is quiet, almost like she’s half hoping that I won’t hear her, but of course, I do. I’m listening for her. Hannah doesn’t realize how seriously I’m taking my responsibilities towards her. I just need to her to respond in kind and then the two of us are going to be just fine.

  After I help her rinse off and dress, I carry her back to the bed. My cock throbs for freedom and to be shoved inside her tight little pussy. When she let it slip the other day that I’d taken her virginity I’d almost lost it. There’s nothing sweeter than knowing that I’m the first person to be insider her cunt, and that I’m going to be the only person to ever be in there.

  Hannah looks at this like a nightmare. I get that. I felt the same way at first, too, but now I know that this is all going to be okay, but she’s going to have to pull herself together and stop being so whiny for that to happen.

  I put her gently on the bed and she immediately scoots away from me, so I lift up the covers and settle them over her. Even though she hasn’t been awake that long, her eyes are droopy and I can tell that she’s going to fall right to sleep when she has the chance.

  Good. That will give me time to do some things that I need to do without her hanging around.

  “Can I get you anything? Water? Food? Pain meds?”

  She rolls over and curls up, wincing as she does, but she shakes her head. “I just want to sleep.”

  Hannah smells like my shampoo and body wash when I lean down to give her a kiss on the cheek. She doesn’t stiffen this time like she has in the past when I’ve touched her, and she’s not even asleep yet, so that’s good.

  “I’ll be in the living room,” I tell her. She doesn’t answer, so I leave, locking the door behind me. There’s no way that she can get out of that room. The windows are designed to be impenetrable, mostly because I never liked the idea of someone trying to come and kill me when I’m in my own bed, but that will work out in my favor now.

  The door has so many locks on it that she’ll never be able to open it.

  I know that Pops would think that I was crazy for letting her stay here by herself, but I have a strong feeling that she’s going to sleep the day away, and even if she doesn’t, there’s no way that she could possibly escape.

  Besides, where would she go? She can’t walk on her own, for fuck’s sake.

  The memory of what she looked like tied to the operating table with blood and bruises already showing up on her fair skin makes me sick and I clench my fists. I know that we already killed the bastards who took her and did this to her, but knowing that something else might ever happen to her is enough to make me crazy.

  Instead of doing something rash, I hop in my car. It’s early, and we’ve taken care of most of the business, but I know that the family will be over at Pops’. It’s where we all go when shit gets real. It’s the only place where we can all meet and talk without worrying about someone overhearing us.

  When I pull up into the driveway, I’m pleased to see that the rest of the family is here. Ma greets me at the door with a big hug and presses a plate of food into my hand. I take it gratefully from her and then join the rest of the men in the dining room.

  “There he is.” Pops gestures at the seat next to him and I slide into it, giving Roque a nod. He looks exhausted, like he didn’t get any sleep last night, and I can’t help but wonder what they got into while I was handling Hannah.

  “Everyone okay?” When I ask this, I’m greeted with nods from around the table, so I take a bite of food. Fuck, Ma can cook. I hope that Hannah can, too, or she’s going to have to take some lessons from Ma. There’s no way that I can handle being married to a broad who doesn’t know how to fill my belly.

  “We handled it all yesterday,” Pops tells me, interrupting my thoughts. “I know that you usually deal with body disposal thanks to your business, but we didn’t want to interrupt you while you were handling your broad.”

  As the owner of a construction company, it’s easy for me to dispose of bodies in foundations. I’ve been doing it for years, although we do sometimes have them cremated instead if I don’t have anything in that state of construction.

  I nod at him. “Where are they?”

  “Under the new bank outside of town,” Pops replies, before taking a sip of coffee. Looking at him, you’d never know how many people he’s killed, but I guess that the same could be said for me.

  “Thanks.” I’m not used to not being included in these decisions, but it’s really nice to know that my family has my back and will handle dealing with bodies when I have something else I have to figure out.

  “How is she?” Roque’s staring at me. I sometimes forget that he and his wife, Eva, had a rocky start when they first met. If anyone around this table understands any of what I’m going through with Hannah, it’s him.

  “She’s a mess,” I tell him honestly. Everyone’s listening in. They all want to make sure that we’re still going to get married and that yesterday’s slaughter wasn’t in vain. “But she’s going to pull through. She just…holy hell, they did a number on her.”

  Roque nods. His broad almost got killed once when they were fucking in an alley, so he knows what it’s like to bring someone you love into this family and put them at risk.

  Someone you love? I’m going to have to think about that later. There’s no way that I love Hannah, I just have her under my skin. I can like her, sure, and want to fuck her, but love her?

  I’ve never loved any broad except for Ma my entire life, and I sure as hell didn’t think that it would ever happen for me.

  “Will she talk?” Pops’ question pulls me from my thoughts and I turn to look at him.

  “Talk? Like to the police?” I shake my head. “I really don’t think that she will.”

  It’s silent around the table until Matty speaks up. “We all both know that that’s not good enough, Arlo. We need to know for sure whether or not she can keep her mouth shut.”

  I think about Hannah and her pretty little mouth and whether or not she can do what we need her to do. She’s being forced into a marriage she doesn’t want with a murderer. Suddenly, the coffee I’m drinking has no flavor, and I put my mug back down on the table with a thud.

  “She has to keep her mouth shut, Arlo,” Pops tells me, like that’s something that I don’t know. Like I don’t remember how wiling they were to kill Eva if that’s what it took to keep her silent and protect the family.

  They’d make it painless, I know that. One quick prick with a needle and Hannah wouldn’t feel anything ever again. My stomach twists when I think about dumping her body in a foundation and watching concrete slowly cover her up.

  “She won’t talk.” I try to sound as confident as I possibly can, even though I’m honestly not sure that I can guarantee this. She’s a feisty one, that’s for sure. But will she be able to keep herself under control or are we going to have to do it for her?

  Nobody says anything for a moment, and I can’t help but look at Roque. I need him to back me up on this. He knows what it’s like to have someone and worry that they’re going to fuck everything up.

  But Eva and Hannah are not the same. Not at all. An arranged marriage? She has a really easy out of that if she wants to take it,
and I don’t know that I would blame her if she did. One quick call to the police and she’d be gone.

  Her family would be gone, too, though. They ordered the hit on their cousin. If she does anything to take down the Torenti family then the Del Rossi family will fall, too. I know that she came back home to take care of her mom after her surgery, and all I can do right now is hope that she wouldn’t stupidly do anything to hurt her family.

  We’re not even married yet, but we’re tied together. Anything that she does to the Torentis will also come back to her. I just hope that she’s smart enough to see that and won’t try anything that will put us all at risk.

  “You need to make sure.” Pops is staring at me, and I realize with a start that everyone else is, too. Even Ricky and Valentino, who tend to be the most relaxed of all of us, are looking at me with intense looks on their faces.

  They know what could happen if she’s stupid enough to talk.

  “You need to make sure,” Pops repeats. “And if she needs to be taken care of, but you can’t do it, one of us will. You don’t have to be the one to do it, Arlo, if it’s too hard for you.”

  I swallow hard and stand up. “She’s not going to talk, Pops, I promise you. Besides, if you did something to her, your agreement with the Del Rossi family would go up in smoke. You really want that?”

  He shrugs like he doesn’t have a care in the world. “We can make more agreements with other families. I don’t give a flying fuck about any of the Del Rossis. I just want to make sure that everyone sitting around this table and their families are safe.” When he slams his hand down for emphasis, the sound echoes through the room, but none of us move.

  “We’re safe. Trust me.” I turn away from the table and leave the dining room. Fuck. What if she does try to do something stupid? She’s locked in my bedroom without a phone or a way out, but broads are stupid. I’m on the porch and beeping my car to unlock it when Roque catches up to me.

  “Arlo, listen.” His hand is strong on my shoulder and I turn around to face him. “This sucks. But it will be okay. You just have to make sure that she’s good. If she’s not…” He sighs and I’m glad that he doesn’t finish the sentence.

  If she’s not good then it won’t matter that we all busted our asses to save her. It won’t matter what’s on the papers that we signed with her family. If she’s not good then she’s dead.

  “She’s good.” I say it with some conviction that I feel like I could believe it. “She’s good, Roque, or I’ll be the one to take care of her, okay? I’m not going to ask anyone else to do that, and I’m sure as hell not going to do anything that will put our family in danger. You don’t need to worry.”

  Fucking hell, I hope that I didn’t just lie to my brother. He releases my shoulder and I turn back to my car. I promised him and the rest of the family that she’s good, and now I have to make sure that I didn’t lie to them.

  I can feel my piece pressing into my lower back as I walk. It’s uncomfortable, and I want to take it out and put it in the seat next to me, but I don’t want anyone to see me.

  It’s what I have to do. Hannah better make up her fucking mind about what she wants, because it’s come down to just two choices.

  One of those choices will let me take care of her and ensure that she has a great life. I’ll keep her safe, I’ll fill her belly with babies, and I’ll make sure that she’s happy.

  The other choice? She’s so little that I can bury her under any foundation. I won’t even have to chop up her body.

  Chapter 15

  Hannah

  I couldn’t sleep. I mean, I should have been able to. My body hurts worse than ever hurt before and I have a pounding headache that feels like someone’s using a jackhammer on my brain, but I can’t calm down enough to actually pass out.

  I also have no idea how long it’s been since Arlo put me in bed after my shower. I heard him lock me into the bedroom, but even the sound of the bolts sliding into place in the door didn’t force me out of bed.

  What would I do, anyway?

  There’s no way that I can walk, so I can’t possibly make a run for it even if I did get through the door. Twisting in bed, I turn to look out of the window. Even from here, I can see the huge lock on the window and I know for a fact that I’d be screwed if I tried to escape that way.

  And my phone? Yeah, I have no fucking clue where that is. From what I remember when I was in his house before, he doesn’t have any neighbors. I’d thought that it was quaint and charming before, but now I know that it’s the perfect setup for a crazy bastard who doesn’t want anyone spying on him.

  Fuck. I’m really in it now. And the worst part? I don’t know where to put the blame.

  My parents for making me marry someone that I don’t even know?

  Me for acting like a damn fool and trying to run away from him as soon as he slipped the ring on my finger?

  The bastards who kidnapped me?

  Okay, I can definitely blame them for some of this shit, but that doesn’t make the rest of what I’m dealing with any easier.

  Before I can fall any further down into these thoughts, the locks on the bedroom door click open and it swings into the room. Arlo’s framed in the doorway, and my heart stops when I see him.

  I swear, it’s like my body’s out to get me. I can’t look at him without my breathing getting shallower, without my core aching, without getting wet. I already know what he can do to my body and I can’t help the fact that I want him so bad I could scream.

  “Arlo?” He hasn’t moved since he opened the door, and I get the distinct feeling that he’s watching me. Deciding what to do with me. I don’t want him to have any doubt that I should be left alive, so I give him a small wave. “Everything okay?”

  “You tell me.” He walks forward, his long steps eating up the space between us in no time. I scoot away, giving him room at the edge of the bed, and he sits down with a sigh.

  “You okay?” Tentatively, I reach out and rest my fingers on his shoulder. There’s just something about Arlo that makes me want to touch him, to have him touch me. As soon as my fingers rest on his shoulder, I feel a heat burst through me.

  “Hannah, how are you feeling? Do you need meds? Were you able to sleep?” The concern in his voice is obvious, but there’s something else on his face that tells me that he’s not entirely happy. He’s asking me how I am, but there’s something wrong.

  I shake my head. “I’m okay. No sleep, but I just can’t relax. I needed to see you. We need to talk.” I’m terrified. Just yesterday I was kidnapped and almost drowned, but there’s something even scarier about being alone with Arlo.

  He makes me feel alive, probably because I know how easily he could kill me if he wanted to.

  Arlo shifts his position on the bed and takes my chin in his hand, turning me so that I’m looking up at him. It’s hard for me to see out of my right eye because it’s so puffy, but I focus on him.

  Holy hell, he’s gorgeous.

  “I need to know what you’re going to do.” His voice tears me back to the present. As much as I’d like to spend some time thinking about how hot he is, I need to pay attention to him.

  “What I’m going to do? I didn’t think that I had a choice. Do I?” Hope flares in me for a moment that I may be able to put this all behind me, but he shakes his head, squashing those dreams.

  “Not really, Hannah. You can either go through with everything that you agreed to before you were attacked, or you’ll suffer for it.” He sounds sad, and the way his eyes are searching my face for an answer makes me nervous.

  “How would I suffer for it?”

  “Hannah, you know too much. You know about the agreement between our families, and you know what we did for you and your parents. You know too much about our family to be able to walk out. You’re to be my wife, but I have to know for sure that you’re going to honor that.”

  I’m not following. If he means that I need to honor that by submitting to him and sleeping with him…
well, that’s no problem. I haven’t been able to stop thinking about what it was like to be with him. But there’s something in his tone that tells me he means something else.

  “Honor it? Honor what?”

  “Honor the fact that you will be a part of the Torenti family and that you can’t do anything that would put us at risk. If you do, then we would have to deal with you. Nobody crosses the Torentis and survives, Hannah, not even a wife.”

  Holy shit. As I realize what he’s talking about, chills run through my body. He’s telling me that if I do anything to put his family at risk, he’ll kill me. Or one of them will.

  Without realizing what I’m doing, I reach up and touch my neck. Just a few nights ago he’d held me down and squeezed my neck. I’d loved it at first, like the sick person I am, but I hadn’t know then that he would actually murder me.

  I remember how much harder he’d kept squeezing until I called his name. what it felt like when the stars burst at the edges of my vision. Even then, though, even when I was really getting scared, I didn’t think that he would actually kill me.

  I didn’t think that he’d be willing to put his hands around my neck and squeeze until I stopped breathing.

  “I wouldn’t do anything to your family.” My voice is small. I’m terrified. I was so turned on when he first walked into the room, and now it feels like all of the air in the bedroom has been sucked out.

  “I hope not. I’d hate to kill you, Hannah. You and I could be good together. I know it. We’ve proven it. But if you ever do anything to cross me or the rest of my family, then you’d have to go. Family before everything, do you understand?”

  I nod. I think I understand.

  He doesn’t love me. He just needs to make sure that I’m going to stay quiet to save his ass.

  Got it.

  “Let me see you. How are you feeling?”

  Before I have a chance to argue or respond, he flips the covers back from my legs and gentle pulls them towards him so that he can unwrap the bandages. I wince a little as he does, but I’m already feeling better than I was this morning before I took a bath.