“Are you sure about that?”
“Which part?” I look puzzled and she laughs.
“Are you sure you’ll ever be free? You see, from what I understand you never have been. I know you lived with your parents until they died and then your grandmother until you attended the school. Your grandmother’s will has signed you up for one more year of protection from your inheritance and then it’s yours. That part is correct. But will you ever be free of the responsibilities it brings? Having money is a huge obligation and you would be wise to take advice and make plans for the future. Heading off now will make you vulnerable, and you may not make it through the year.”
“Are you threatening me?”
I narrow my eyes and stare at her with a hostile expression, and she leans back and nods. “Maybe, maybe not.”
“What’s that’s supposed to mean?”
“It means that my grandson brought you here for a reason. His son. If you left, he would hunt you down and drag you back and may not be such a good host next time. Regarding your inheritance, it’s only good if you’re alive to collect it. If you want my advice, you will see this year out, do your best and trust in this family because if you need protecting from anything, you won’t find better. If you make enemies of us, you will die. Simple and a fact.”
My mouth drops open and I stare at her in disbelief. Does this family only know one sentence—you will die, or I will kill you? What planet are they on because it’s not the one normal people inhabit?
Scraping back my chair, I smile politely.
“Thank you for a delicious meal, Elena. I think I should check on Luca now before retiring to bed. It has been a very long day.”
If she’s surprised, she doesn’t show it and just nods. “You’re welcome, my dear. I hope you sleep well.”
I walk slowly and purposefully when I feel like running like the wind. I need to get out of this madhouse and fast.
I almost sprint to my room and lean back against the door, taking deep breaths and trying to channel the fear inside me. I need to get the hell out of here - but how?
Quickly, I start stuffing my belongings into a backpack, only taking the things I want to keep, the clothes can burn for all I care, I’m getting new ones, anyway.
Frantically, I stuff everything into the bag and change into my sneakers and leggings and by the time I’ve finished, I look like a thief in the night, dressed all in black with the hood covering my pink hair tied back into a ponytail.
Before I think better of it, I test the window and am relieved to find it opens and as I peer out, see a creeper growing just below the window frame and take a deep breath. Here goes nothing.
Gingerly, I swing my leg over the sill and cling onto the ledge, then I bring the other leg out and for a moment just hang in mid-air thrashing around, trying to find a foothold.
As I wonder what part of me thought this was a good idea, I finally find one and carefully climb down the side of the building like a thief in the night.
Jumping the last part, I am relieved to find hard ground beneath my feet and look around for an escape from this madhouse.
Keeping to the shadows, I steal around the edge of the building, making sure to avoid the light and stay hidden. It’s pitch black everywhere except for the light that illuminates the buildings and various trees dotted around and it is easy to stay where it’s darkest.
Quietly, quickly and with a thumping heart, I make my way through the grounds in the direction of the perimeter. I just need to find a way through the hedge and make it onto the road where I can flag down a passing car.
As I run through the shadows, I feel exhilarated. This is amazing, I feel so alive. It’s good not playing the victim for once, and my courage only intensifies as I see my goal in sight.
This was so easy; I can’t believe it. So much for security, they’re a bunch of amateurs.
By the time I reach the hedge, I almost laugh out loud. I’m nearly there—freedom is just two steps away.
Negotiating the hedge is a difficult task because it turns out it’s surrounded by a wire fence. It must be ten-foot-high with barbed wire on the top, but I’ve come so far, I can’t let it beat me now.
Taking a deep breath, I start to climb, grateful that I paid attention in gym class and by the time I reach the top and the hated barbed wire, I no longer care whether it will hurt or not. I’m going over the edge.
I hear my hoodie rip as I swing my legs over and try to catch a foothold. The wire tears at my skin as I swing around like a demented thief until I find a foothold. Then, with a snigger, I start to climb down the other side until I land on soft earth—I made it.
The pain in my shoulder and hand are hard to ignore but I must because I need to gain some distance from this place.
Once again, I stay in the shadows and keep out of the light as I start walking to god only knows where. My plan is to flag down a car and ask them to take me to the nearest bus station where I will take the first bus out of town. Then when I get to the furthest destination on the route, I will find a hotel and sort my life out from there.
Yes, as plan go, it’s a good one and so I start putting it into action and start off a brisk pace.
I made it.
Chapter 10
Dante
“What the hell is she doing?”
Marcus and I watch Isabella make the great escape from our vantage point in the control room. We watch every moment of a foolish attempt at freedom from a place so protected a bird can’t move without being discovered.
Marcus laughs softly. “She’s impressive, I knew I liked her.”
His words irritate me because I already got that from the way he looked at her at the school.
“You have no business liking her, she’s mine and Luca’s, remember that.”
Marcus stills beside me and I know that will be the last time he ever mentions it. He knows when to give up and this was a warning he would be a fool to ignore.
My eyes narrow as I watch her progress and if I feel anything, it’s anger. She’s trying to get away. Not fucking likely.
Marcus says roughly, “Shall I get the men to pick her up and bring her back?”
“No, I have a better idea.”
I am so angry I can almost taste my revenge and she will not like what it involves. I will though, in fact, I can’t wait because it’s time I taught my newest employee what it means to be owned by me.
“Bring the Ferrari around, I’ll pick her up myself. I don’t need an escort.”
Marcus nods and I see the resignation in his eyes. Yes, he needs to understand it too, Isabella Rose Grey is mine until I fucking say otherwise.
It doesn’t take long before I’m in my car and heading out to find the runaway. If I’m impressed by her rather daring escape, it’s pushed aside by the rage. How dare she throw our kindness back in our faces and try to run? What about my son, doesn’t she even care how upset he’ll be to find her gone in the morning?
By the time I see her walking along the road, my mood is in place. It’s time to show her how serious I am, so as I pull alongside her and wind my window down, I take a moment of satisfaction to see the relief turn to terror in her eyes when she sees who her rescuer is.
“Get in the car.”
She opens her mouth to speak and must think better of it because I see her make the split decision to run, so I say in a tight angry voice as I raise my gun, “I said, Get. In. The. Car.”
She turns white before my eyes as she stares down the barrel of my automatic weapon and without another word, opens the door and slides into the passenger seat and bites her bottom lip so hard, I see a drop of blood form.
Good. Now she understands.
Reaching across, I belt her in hard and then open the glove box and remove a pair of handcuffs, which I snap around her wrists to her complete horror.
“What the fuck?”
Her eyes are wide and I take a moment to relish the fear in her expression and then say darkly, “Nev
er run from me, Isabella, because I will always find you. I told you what would happen if you tried and yet you did it anyway, so now you must be punished.”
“You’re going to kill me? For running?”
Her voice shakes and her eyes are wide and I laugh darkly, “No, that’s the easy way out. I’m going to show you what happens to people who go against me. Then I’m going to show you what being owned by me means, and you are going to hate every minute of it.”
“You can’t do this.”
She is trying to be strong, but her voice breaks as the tears fall and I swear it goes straight to my cock. I’ve always been turned on by fear, which shows what a damaged bastard I am. I never used to be like this, not since… her and now she’s created a monster that grows in anger by the day. It’s just a shame that Isabella will be the one to pay the price.
I feel the adrenalin driving me as I shift the supercar in gear and drive like a maniac through the streets of Miami. No cop worth his badge would stop me because they know who really owns this city—the Romanos. I weave in and out of the traffic as my nervous passenger shakes beside me and yet to her credit, she doesn’t scream—yet, anyway.
We are soon where I was heading and pull up outside a disused warehouse by the water’s edge and I can see my men are here already. The waiting cars give that away and I wonder what Isabella will think of my office. She won’t like it, I’ll put a large bet on that.
“Where are we?” She whispers and it takes a moment to hear it as I say roughly, “My office.”
As I exit the car, I see Tony, one of my enforcers heading my way and he looks a little surprised to see I’m not alone but knows better than to question it.
“Is he here?”
He nods and I smile with satisfaction. “Then let’s get started.”
Dragging Isabella from the car, I put my hand over her mouth and press down hard, relishing the small scream that my hand captures as I growl, “It’s time to watch me at work, baby and know this is what happens when people piss me off.”
We follow Tony inside the abandoned building that has been owned by my family for generations. We use it to keep the people we need information from, and waiting is a dealer of the lowest kind.
Diego Rossi, small time crook and wannabe kingpin. He’s been dealing shit for my family and overstepped the mark, pocketing the profits and selling information to our enemies. Luckily for him, I’m keen to move on this evening and justice will be quick for once.
He is strung up by chains hanging from the steel bar running through the building, his feet barely touching the floor. His body is battered and bruised and the blood runs down his skin weaving a very intricate pattern. His moans fill the room and the plastic sheet beneath him looks like a painter’s board, as the evidence of the beating he’s received is splattered below.
Isabella gasps beside me and begins to shake, and I grab her head and make her take a long look. “Meet Diego, a former employee. Someone who decided to go against my family and try to steal from us.”
At the sound of my voice, Diego starts to cry and protest his innocence.
“Sir, it wasn’t me, I keep on telling them, I would never betray you.”
My laughter bounces off the walls as I take a moment to relish what will come next and I whisper, “They always deny it and that’s what signs their death warrant.”
“You’re going to kill him?”
Isabella’s eyes are wide and afraid and the tears run down her face and I stare at amazement as I witness an Angel’s tears. She looks so beautiful bound at my side, her face pale and smoky eyes wide. She trembles against me and it’s a sight that reveals an emotion I thought had long been buried—desire.
For a moment, I stare at the small woman who looks completely out of place here. Even Diego’s moans fade into the background as I take a moment to stare at a miracle of nature.
She’s beautiful.
I blink and then realize where I am and wrestle my head back into business, chasing the moment away when a woman held my attention captive over the job in hand.
Tony shifts impatiently beside me because, like me, he is hungry for blood. It takes a certain kind of bastard to operate in our world, and Tony’s a bigger one than most. He actually gets off on ending a man’s life and I was going to give him free rein but something about this feels wrong tonight. Will I push Isabella this hard, so early on out of anger?
Turning away to break the spell she has on me; I drive my fist through Diego’s exposed stomach and his screams tear through the building. To her credit, Isabella remains silent as she stares at the scene, her eyes wide and if I could pinpoint an emotion on her face, it’s one of fascination rather than horror. Interesting.
Stepping back, I say in a dark tone, “What I want to know, Diego, is who paid you enough to betray us? You must have known we would find out, and yet you thought it a risk worth taking? You’ve always been a greedy son of a bitch which is why you did well at the start, but what changed?”
He looks up and as our eyes meet, I see the fear in his. “I didn’t want to tell him, but he said he would kill my mom, my wife and my baby.”
“And you think we won’t?”
“Please, not my family. Kill me, not them, they are innocent.”
Driving my fist into him once more, I relish the sound of bone shattering and an agonized scream piercing the silence.
“Please stop.”
A small voice wafts through the air and reaches me, completely at odds with the menace in the room. It sounds out of place here and ordinarily I would never bring a woman to witness first-hand what we are capable of but she ran from me and the last woman who did died as a result.
The scars run deep and that’s what hurt the most. Isabella Rose Grey opened a wound that never really healed and emptied salt in it. So, I harden my heart and turn to face her with the eyes of the devil. “No.”
Then I take my knife from my jacket and hold Diego’s head back and hold it to his throat. I relish the sight of the blood appear on the blade as I make my first cut and he stiffens in fear. “I want his name and your child lives.”
The tears flow as he realizes he has no other choice, and all his efforts to betray us have been in vain. “Emilio Vasquez.”
Emilio Vasquez. Fuck. What rock did he crawl out from? I thought we ran him out of town years ago.
I remove the knife and wipe the blade clean on the man’s body and nod toward Tony. “He’s all yours.”
Then I grab Isabella’s arm and pull her after me at speed before she witnesses a bloodbath.
Diego’s screams of pain follow us out and I know Tony is in the mood for a long night of torture. Sometimes I like to stick around and watch because Tony is a master at what he does and it’s a beautiful sight watching him carve a man to death, prolonging his life to get the maximum pain from it before he takes his last breath.
Forcing Isabella into the car, I notice she stares straight ahead as if in shock and says nothing.
Feeling my blood pumping for all kinds of reasons, I know we can’t go home. I’m too wired and on edge and she needs to be punished. My hand itches as I think about the pleasure that will bring me and once again, I stick shift my baby and roar off into the night, heading for a place she will wish she had never seen.
Chapter 11
Isabella
I can’t believe what just happened. I’ve seen things like that in movies, but not real life. I’m terrified. I knew Dante Romano was the devil, but what I didn’t realize was how dark his mind really is. The Romanos. I should have known they were not your ordinary family. The black cars, the fuck off mansion and the cold unfeeling family. The haunted look in their eyes and the lack of life that surrounds them. Then there’s Luca. A small boy caught up in the middle of it. Tortured by his own mother and now living with a family of emotionless villains. Mafia.
They’re mafia. The dots connect and I can’t believe how blind to the picture I was. I’m a fool, a grade A fool because now
I understand the trouble I’m in.
My mind works overtime as I struggle to understand what I saw. That man Diego, he betrayed them. He won’t last the night. I ran, I did something I was warned not to do and now he said he’ll punish me. What does he mean? Am I to get the same treatment?
Dante is angry, I can almost taste it. He’s so worked up I’m not sure he’s thinking rationally. Did I do that? Make him so angry it’s sent him over the edge, or is that a place he lives most of the time. I kind of think he does, and I never saw it. I’m such a fool because he did warn me. He told me he’d kill me if I tried to run, I just never listened.
He doesn’t say one word the entire journey, which is worse somehow. I don’t know what’s going through that mind of his, which scares me more than his driving. He is reckless, dangerous, and yet calm and in control. That’s what scares me most about Dante Romano, he doesn’t give a fuck, making him more dangerous than most. The rules obviously don’t apply to him because he runs red lights and breaks every speed limit in town. If a cop dares to stop him, I’m fearful for them because it’s Dante Romano, which for some reason intrigues me when I should be weeping tears of fear. I’m not. Weirdly I’m just fascinated by him, to see his limits and what he’ll do next. The fact I’m involved in this, escapes me because I feel the adrenalin pumping through my veins like the most dangerous drug. For once in my life, I feel so alive it burns, and what just happened only stoked the fire.
He squeals to a halt in a parking bay outside a club. The music thumps from its walls and there’s a red carpet outside leading up to a large wooden door at which two burly security guards look menacing as we approach.
Dante grabs me roughly from the car and if I thought the sight of me in handcuffs would bring them running to help me, I was mistaken because they just nod respectfully and open the door wide.
The Throne of Hate: A mafia romance (The Romano's Book 2) Page 5