SEALed To Protect (Omerta Series)

by Roxy Sinclaire

  By the time desert rolled around, I thought I was going to lose my mind. When would they release me from them so I could go upstairs and call Blake? I needed to hear his voice to know that he wasn’t mad at me and that he was going to help me get out of danger.

  Even though I put myself here. I tried to eat my ice cream cake quickly, and then I stopped when Donato told me he liked a girl who could eat. This man was out to completely ruin my appetite.

  The family sat around and drank in the kitchen while I excused myself because I was feeling exhausted. I did feel exhausted and I wanted to call Blake before he went to bed. I hoped he would take my call.

  I had to fight off Donato who insisted on walking me to my room. “It’s just up the stairs. I can make it,” I said, fighting off his wandering hands. I thought I was safe until he grabbed my ass with both his hands and practically yanked the skin off me. I let out a little yelp of pain and this only seemed to excite Donato.

  I was a little frightened until someone called him from the kitchen and he excused himself from torturing me. I ran up the stairs and into my room. I locked the door and took a nearby chair and pushed it in front of the door.

  When I finally caught my breath, I kicked off my heels and jumped onto the bed and grabbed my phone. I called Blake and dug my nails into the satin duvet as my heart pounded with each ring.

  “Maddie?” Blake sang breathlessly, and I knew he wasn’t mad at me.

  “Blake, I have been wanting to hear your voice all day,” I whispered as a few tears ran down my cheeks.

  “Why haven’t you called me then?” Blake sounded so sad and it hurt me a lot. “Maddie, I have been waiting by my phone all day to hear from you. It’s been killing me.” He sounded so intense and it made me want to cuddle up in his arms.

  “I thought you were mad at me, so I avoided calling you, but I wanted to. I was afraid that you didn’t want to protect me anymore.” I dropped my voice.

  I heard him exhale deeply. “Maddie, I will always protect you. I . . . I care about you, and I want to see you happy.” Blake became silent.

  I had to catch my own breath as I realized he’d almost said that he loved me. That gave me a sensation that shot through my whole body. I was about to say something when I heard a loud knock on my door and then I heard Donato’s voice calling my name. I became silent because I wanted him to think that I was asleep. Eventually, he gave up on knocking and calling out my name. Blake kept repeating my name and I had to not say a word. I told Blake that Donato was knocking at my door.

  I told him everything that happened in the day and night. We even discussed a secret code to say over the phone in case someone overheard me. We went on talking until I fell asleep.

  Chapter Twelve

  Blake

  I felt comfortable enough now that I heard from Maddie. My last meeting with the detective was more informative, and we were getting somewhere with the Ricci family. I was starting to feel pretty good about pulling this operation off after all.

  In my free time, I was looking for places to live and this became a comforting thing for me to do. I kept seeing the bank people and realtors snooping around the property. Some other Bianco family members who came by the property told me not to worry about it just now.

  It made me a bit nervous even though they never seemed to bother me or say anything about what kind of timeline I had in the back building. But then again, that made me nervous too.

  I started to fear that I would leave and come back to find my stuff in a pile on the lawn and the back house all boarded up like a foreclosure, or just somebody else living there, and then I would really be homeless with no place to go.

  I woke up the next morning to the local news reporting that my detective friend had been killed and found dead in a dumpster behind a Starbucks. The one that we had met in the one time.

  Panic struck all over me when I realized that someone was sending me a message. Someone knew that we had been meeting and talking about the Ricci family’s hit on the Biancos. I suddenly felt sick and I went numb all over. Then my vision became cloudy and I started to sweat profusely. I fell off my couch and tried to hold myself up between the couch and the coffee table. I couldn’t hear anything anymore as a ringing filled my ears.

  It was all a whirl, and the fear of this episode not ending made me feel like I was going to die. I lay myself down on the carpet and closed my eyes to wait until it passed.

  Eventually, it did pass. I opened my eyes to see the ceiling, and the sound of the TV came rushing back into my ears. My skin was cold from all the sweat that was no longer hot. I pulled myself up and sat back down on the couch.

  He was dead. My friend was dead, and Maddie was far away with the family that killed her family. And they were probably going to kill her. That’s it. Everyone who had been close to me and everyone I loved was dead or going to die.

  What a cruel twist of fate for me. I couldn’t believe that everywhere I went and every friend or close acquaintance I had was always taken away from me.

  It was like my fate was to never be happy. The universe wanted to keep me sad and low to the ground all the time. But that just couldn’t be, the more I thought about it. There was no way the universe was just picking on me personally.

  My friend and my only inside connection and access to files and cases in the precinct was found dead in a dumpster soaked in coffee, the news was reporting. The coffee order I got at Starbucks.

  Someone knew something and they wanted me to know they knew. I began to fear for Maddie, and I wanted to call her, but instead, I texted her. “Where are you? I need to talk.”

  I’m on a golf course with Donato. He made me go.

  Sorry about that.

  Yeah, I’m doing my best to keep him off me. But it’s hard because he’s winning the course.

  Listen. Please call me when you can.

  I will. We’re going to lunch at the club.

  I waited around impatiently until I got a call from Maddie.

  “Hector,” she said casually. That was the code name we came up with for her to call me when she was around the Riccis.

  “Maddie, this is important. Say you are going to the bathroom or something.” She said she would. I waited only a few minutes for her to take me off mute.

  “What’s wrong, Hector?”

  “Maddie, my detective friend has been killed. He was my connection for investigating the Riccis.” There was silence on Maddie’s end, so I continued. “I can’t say much else other than I fear for your life and my life right now. We have to trust each other and try to pull this off. I am going to get you out of there, and I have a feeling that security might be heightened around the Ricci home and you.”

  “Hector, I’m scared.”

  “And I don’t want to scare you. But in reality, you should be. Just keep to yourself and try to stay away from their drama.” I tried to steady my breathing.

  “I will, Hector. I will talk to you at every point I can. I’ve been given a lot of appointments,” she said nervously. I knew she meant the Donato was just trying to keep her around him and this made me nervous.

  “Okay, Maddie. Remember to be aware and keep yourself safe. ’Bye.”

  “’Bye.” We hung up.

  I began smacking my forehead a couple of times for not teaching her some self-defense. All I did was have sex with her, feed her, and hold her. Even though I couldn’t have predicted her just taking off when I wasn’t there.

  That she did on her own. The more I thought about it, the more I began to blame myself for putting these two trusted and close people in danger. What kind of security was I? I wasn’t securing anyone. I was exposing them to open fire.

  I had to work fast to get Maddie back, and now I had to do it without any new information on the Riccis. I made coffee and worked out to keep myself focused on making my new plan to get Maddie back and leave the Bianco property which now belonged to the bank.

  They gave me notice that I could stay until the highes
t bidder bought the place. And most importantly, we needed to leave for Italy together. I didn’t know what I would do there, but I would figure it out.

  Chapter Thirteen

  Madeline

  I was sitting in the living room, trying to draw a couple of designs. I was finding so much inspiration through my terrified state of mind. I was deep in concentration until I heard a car drive up and then a few minutes later, the front door flung open and in walked the most impeccably dressed man.

  He kind of reminded me of my father. It was Mr. Ricci, and he walked in smoothly with some of his goons following him.

  He stepped into the living room and saw me sitting there with my sketch book. He was looking at me hard and it looked like his nostrils were flaring out. His goons were giving me the creepiest looks.

  “Madeline Bianco, it’s nice to see you’re still here in our house. How nice,” he said without smiling, and I said as politely as I could that it was nice to see him too. Killer of my family, I thought to myself and prayed that he couldn’t read minds.

  Donato came walking in and making the room smell, plus he was smoking a cigar. “Papa,” he said, opening his arms for a hug. Mr. Ricci didn’t hug him, but he grabbed him from behind the head and pulled Donato’s ear to his mouth. It looked like he was whispering something, and then they excused themselves to me and walked out of the room along with all the goons.

  I shuddered at the thought of all those creepy men and then I continued to sketch. I sent a text to Blake that Mr. Ricci was in the house, but through the code we created in case my phone was somehow tapped, even though it hadn’t left my side after the first day. I usually kept it in my boobs. It was pretty safe there.

  I was getting thirsty from sketching and decided to get some water from the kitchen. As I went to get a water bottle out from the fridge, I could over hear Donato and Mr. Ricci talking on the back patio.

  The door was slightly open, but they weren’t able to see me. I couldn’t spot any of the goons to see me listening, so I pretended that I was very interested in the fruit bowl. As I pretended to decide on which one I wanted, I listened in.

  “But Papa, you don’t understand. She called me and asked for my help.” Little Ricci sounded like a little bitch around his father.

  “Donnie, we can’t have her here. The police, they’re everywhere, and they’re looking for her. The Biancos . . . we don’t have a good history with them when it came to business.”

  “Papa, come on, she’s harmless. She keeps to herself and she has nowhere to go. The bank owns their house now and she has never come forward to the police.”

  “She could if she sticks around.”

  “We don’t know that, Papa.”

  “I know that, Donnie. She might be an orphaned twenty-one-year-old girl, but she’s not stupid.”

  “Are you sure about that?”

  “Don’t underestimate a Bianco, Donnie. I want her gone! You tell her to pack her things and leave!”

  “And go where?”

  “I don’t care.”

  “No! She’s not leaving. I’ll take care of her!” Donato was shouting wildly, and then I could hear footsteps toward the kitchen. I ducked down behind the counter so I couldn’t be seen. I heard him stamp his feet with every step.

  A few seconds later, Mr. Ricci came walking through the kitchen and kept repeating, “Stupid boy, he’s gonna get us killed.” He left the kitchen.

  I just sat there in a panic and breathed heavily. I took sips of water and calmed down a bit. Donato was set on my staying, but why? I was scared he was going to try to kill me himself. He wasn’t smooth about anything, and I was certain he wouldn’t be smooth about killing me.

  I had to call Blake and tell him what I just heard. I got up slowly to make sure that Donato and Mr. Ricci weren’t in sight and then I ran to the living room to grab my sketch book and then up to my room.

  I took my phone out of my boobs and called Blake from inside the closet. As the phone rang, I began to take things off the hangers and threw them on the floor outside. I was going to start packing everything and be ready to run when I needed to.

  “Maddie.” I heard Blake and I started to cry as soon as I heard his voice. “Maddie? What’s wrong?”

  I controlled myself enough to speak. “Mr. Ricci is here, and he and Donato had a fight. I overheard it.” I started to cry more and gasped for air. I tried to shield my mouth with my hand in case anyone was walking by.

  “Mr. Ricci wants me gone from this house and Donato is violently insisting that I stay. ’Bye, Hector. I think he’s going to kill me,” I said, then I just sobbed into my hand. I didn’t hear Blake say anything, but he was definitely pacing or something.

  “Maddie, you have to keep it together. I need you to keep yourself unexposed and try to stay as far away from Donato if you can. Clearly, Mr. Ricci is seeing you as dangerous to his family. He might just try and kill you too since Donato is being so stubborn.” I felt my whole body go in shock at hearing this.

  I tried to stabilize myself and be rational as I listened to Blake. We were both upset and terrified about the danger we were in and what made it worse was that we weren’t under the same roof.

  “Okay, Maddie. Stay in your room. Don’t leave unless it’s to eat meals. And excuse yourself when you can to call me, and I would start packing up your stuff.” I told him I had already started.

  We hung up and I started to pack in a fury. I saw the Marchesa dress hanging there and I scoffed at it. There was Donato’s name and scum written all over it, and I couldn’t believe that he was ruining my love of another designer. What a dick! I shouted in my head as I continued to pack while trying to be silent about it.

  Chapter Fourteen

  Blake

  My conversation with Madeline was still reeling through my head. I couldn’t believe what she had just told me. And I had to deal with the fact that she had overheard a conversation she shouldn’t have, and she was trapped. I couldn’t do anything for her except work through my other connections outside the law.

  My detective friend was now dead, and I had to work fast before anything else happened. I thought of all the other families the Biancos had positive relationships with and then I thought of the Colombo family. I knew their security guard well, and I grabbed my phone and called him.

  “Hello?” I was happy to hear a familiar voice. It felt like ages, besides Madeline.

  “Hi, it’s Blake. And before you say anything else, I need your help.” I became quiet as I waited for his response. It was pretty quiet on his end and I started to feel anxious and nervous.

  “It’s good to hear from you, Jack. How are you?” He seemed to be trying to make small talk and acting weird. Why was he calling me Jack? I was curious until I realized he might be around other people.

  I asked him if he was able to escape to a private place where we could discuss some urgent matters, where no one could hear him. He told me to give him a minute, and I waited patiently until the phone was unmuted.

  “What can I do for you, Blake?” he said in a very hushed tone. I took a deep breath and dove in.

  “Look, I have been keeping Madeline under my watch, and I came up with a crazy panicked plan that she should stay with the Riccis as they are high on the list for causing the Biancos’ car to explode. Then the more I learned about them, the more I realized that this would be a mistake. Before I could tell Madeline that the operation was off, she took it upon herself to call Donato, and now she has been living at the Ricci house.” I stopped to take a breather.

  “Wow, that’s pretty fucked up,” was all he could say.

  I continued, “And to top it off, Mr. Ricci has just come home. She just overheard a conversation between him and Donato about getting her out of the house. Donato insists on keeping her there. I’m afraid for her. I have to act fast.” I let out a long, slow breath.

  There was a little silence between us and then he began to talk. “You have to be aware that the Riccis may be trying
to send you a message. Madeline is definitely in trouble.” He stopped to let me process this.

  “I’ve been investigating with a couple of other families who are close with the Biancos and enemies with the Riccis. What I discovered was the operation was ordered from the Riccis, but it wasn’t Donato. It was the elder Mr. Ricci.” He paused again to let me process. “And Blake, your detective friend was also killed at the hands of Mr. Ricci. He knows you’re on to him and that’s why he killed him the way he did. He knew you two were meeting at Starbucks, and he knew your coffee order. A detail that was left out of the reports was that the body was also covered in a fancy sugary coffee order. Among all of us who know the Biancos, it was Madeline’s usual coffee order.” I dry-heaved at hearing this.

  I didn’t say anything as I felt the floor fall below me. I could possibly lose Madeline and the thought of this created a lump in my throat. “Blake? Please listen to me. There is a way out of this, and you’re right in knowing that you have to act fast. Stay in contact with her, and you need to make sure you can get into the Ricci house safely and exit safely. Now listen closely.”

  Word for word, he told me exactly what to do to get Madeline out of there fast. I wrote it down and thanked him for his help. I hung up and got to work on getting Madeline out of the Ricci house and back into my arms.

  Chapter Fifteen

  Madeline

  I stayed in my room and my luggage was packed and hidden behind the closet doors. I texted Blake where they were and that I was ready to plan my escape. He texted me back that he was mapping out getting me out of there ASAP. There was little detail in the message, but I trusted that he knew what he was doing.