“A husband you hope rots in Hell?” I ask.
I have no clue who her husband is. I’ve never met a man named Pio before and if I have, I honestly cannot recall, but that doesn’t seem like a name I could easily forget. I watch her, waiting for her response.
“Doesn’t matter where I want him to rot, he was mine and you fucked him then Benicio killed him.”
I start to shake my head and deny the accusation, but I decide that it’s not worth it. The look in her eyes, she’s too far gone to listen to any kind of reason. The best thing that I can do in this moment is to look for a way out of here.
She pulls back her hand, ready to strike. I keep my eyes connected to hers as I wait for her hand to slap across my face, but it doesn’t come.
A knock sounds at the door instead. She whips her head around, dropping her hand to look behind her.
A man stands there. One that I recognize. He tilts his head to the side, his eyes searching mine with a smirk on his face.
What the fuck?
“I see you’re surprised, Nicola,” he says with a smirk. I realize that I’ve spoken the words aloud and snap my lips closed. “Taylor, take a step back,” he instructs.
The bitch does as he says and takes a step backward. I recognize him, not because I’ve ever been with him, but because I spent all day in his old office. Vinny. He ran the club before he was reassigned and I was put in his place.
Shifting my gaze from him to the woman, Taylor, I try to connect the dots, but I can’t. I don’t know who her husband is or how she became connected with Vinny, not unless she frequented the club.
“Vinny,” I state coolly, all the while my mind is working through all of the names and faces that I can try and think of to figure out who the hell this woman is.
He takes another step forward, his eyes devouring me in a way, that if I could, I would squirm. He’s disgusting, as were his practices in the club.
Tilting my head to the side, I continue to watch him, waiting to see what he’ll do next. He’s here for his own selfish reasons, roping this woman into his sick games by fucking with her emotions about her dead husband.
“She killed my husband, I want her gone,” the woman shouts.
Vinny lifts his hand and I glance back to her and watch as she takes a step backward and shifts her gaze to her feet. He’s already put her in her place before this, at least once.
That shouldn’t surprise me, but it kind of does. She doesn’t seem like a woman who would just back down, not when she’s so insistent on this, on hurting me.
“Have you figured it out yet, Nicola?” he asks.
I don’t respond. There’s no reason to. He’s going to talk, going to tell me everything. Men like him always do.
He sinks down to his haunches, reaching one hand out he uses his index finger to trace the side of my face.
His eyes watch his fingers’ movements and I focus on his face, on the way his pupils dilate with desire as he licks his lips.
Sex.
He wants me and maybe if I pretend to offer myself, I can find an opportunity to escape. Maybe. Hopefully. Then again, I could fail. If I do, then at least I died trying. I will not just take this, not anymore.
I am not a victim.
Benicio has made sure that I will never be a victim again and I won’t be—not ever.
“What do I need to figure out, Vinny? That you want me? Have you been watching me in the club?” I ask keeping my voice purposely low and as seductive as possible.
Vinny’s breath hitches and comes out in a ragged release. Bingo. His finger moves to my lips and he traces them, slowly. When he’s finished, before he takes it away, I slip my tongue out and taste his foul skin.
He lets out a small grunt.
“Vinny,” the woman screeches.
He turns his head, letting out a growl. “Get the fuck out, Taylor. I’ll let you know when you can come back in.”
“Fuck that. I’m not letting this little whore fuck anyone else that I’m sleeping with,” she snaps.
He chuckles as he stands to his feet. I watch as he turns his back to me and closes the distance between them.
Without hesitating, he reaches out and backhands her so hard that her entire body flies to the side and she crumples to the floor with a wail.
Shit.
Maybe I won’t be able to get away from him.
She stays on the floor but slowly lifts her eyes to meet mine. I watch as she narrows her eyes toward me, and if looks could kill, I would be dead already.
“You can watch, Taylor,” he booms before he turns around to face me.
Without another word, he starts to strip out of his clothes. I try to move my arms and although they’re still behind my back, they aren’t as heavy as they felt when I first woke up. Sinking my teeth into my bottom lip, I wait for what’s to come.
He reaches behind me, untying my arms and then does the same to my ankles. I’m free of my restraints, which is one step closer to actual freedom. I just have to figure out what to do with these two assholes first.
“I want to look into your eyes when I fuck you,” he murmurs as he looks down at me.
God, I don’t think I’m going to get out of this. I’m going to have to do this and then come up with a plan once he’s sated.
Inhaling through my nose, I silently give myself a pep talk. This won’t be the first, hell it will be the fifteenth man that I’ve been disgusted with and slept with.
Benicio is the only man that I have actually ever wanted. The rest were forced on me, like this jerk. Taking a few calming breaths, I give him my flirtiest smile and hope that I’m not too out of practice faking it to make it through this.
His fingers start to slide up the inside of my leg, stopping just at the hem of my dress. “I want you naked. I’m going to leave your body black and blue. It’s going to be beautiful. I can’t fucking wait to see you crying in pain,” he rasps.
My stomach twists at his words. I swallow the bile that begins to rise as he reaches for my skirt’s hem and bunches the fabric in his fists before he rips it in half. I gasp, my eyes widening, but I otherwise don’t say a word.
“Take some lessons from a trained whore, Taylor. She hasn’t said a fucking word to me, and she won’t. Will you, Nicola?”
I shake my head, my mind spinning as I try to think of a way to get out of this, out of here. There isn’t anything that I can grab on to, there isn’t any way to get free, unless I knee him in the balls or shove my finger in his eye as a distraction.
He rips my panties next, then my shirt and finally my bra, freeing my breasts and ruining every article of clothing that I have here.
It’s fine. I don’t anticipate needing the clothes anytime soon, not if I can’t gather my wits, my nerve and my strength to get myself out of this.
“Taylor,” he shouts.
A few moments later she makes her way toward me. Her cheek is already swelling and has turned bright red. Her eyes are watery as she looks down at him, careful to avoid my naked body.
“This slut loves being restrained. She came to the club constantly and I used to jack off to a video of her being tied up. Though her handler never fucked her, which was stupid, considering who she was. Any man with enough money could get inside of her snatch. All he had to do was pay her old man. Is that what your husband did? Spend all of his money to get inside of this sweet young cunt?” he asks.
“I don’t know,” she whispers.
He laughs, it’s cold and cruel. I wonder how she ended up with him, but then I already know. He manipulated her. He saw a woman who was vulnerable and hurt. He used her to get back at me, at Benicio for firing his perverted lazy ass.
“Life lessons, Taylor. You will never be the best lay on the block. Especially with the way you just lay there,” he says making a tsking sound. “Watch and learn. If you can’t perform, I’m keeping her.”
“But you promised she would die,” she cries, completely ignoring the fact that he’s talked do
wn to her about her bedroom abilities. Maybe she doesn’t care, or maybe she’s too caught up in seeing my demise that she can’t focus on anything else.
Vinny shakes his head, looking from me to her. “If she’s as good as I think she will be, I’m going to need her to satisfy me. You’ll have to get over that shit,” he laughs.
Without another glance back at her, he begins to climb on the bed. My legs are wide and I pinch my eyes closed as I try to keep from puking on him. I feel his fingers touch me between my legs, and I decide that I can’t handle it.
Opening my eyes, I reach forward and without a thought to what will happen to me, now or in the future, I make the decision that if I die, at least Benicio will know that I tried. Vinny leans forward and touches his mouth to mine.
When his tongue slides inside of my mouth, I do the only thing that I can think of, I bite down until I taste blood, then I bite a little harder, until that blood fills my mouth. He wrenches backward on instinct and I’m left with a mouth full of blood, and a chunk of his tongue.
He screams.
Turning my head to the side, I spit out the chunk of tongue and reach up with both hands, two fingers extended and I shove them into his eyes as hard as I can. Pulling them out, I shove them inside again.
His screams of agony fill the room, and only when he launches himself backward do I scramble off of him. I start to run, only to find Taylor standing in the middle of the room, her mouth open wide.
Before she can do anything, I bend down and go through Vinny’s pants. Hoping he has a weapon somewhere in his clothes, but I don’t find anything.
Lifting my head, I look up into Taylor’s eyes and she widens them, her gaze shifting from the screaming and crying Vinny, then back to me before she takes a step back.
Standing, I take a step toward her. She gasps, then turns around and begins to run. I don’t know where she’s going, but I know that I can’t let her get out of my sight.
Taking off after her, my feet come to a halt in the middle of the kitchen as she turns to face me, a butcher knife in her hand.
Knowing that this moment is about life and death, I do the only thing that I can think of. It’s stupid and reckless, but at this point, it’s the only thing that I can think to do. I charge toward her.
She screams at the same time that I let out a roar and jump on her. She tumbles to the ground, moaning as my naked body lands on top of her. Her hand slashes forward with the knife, but I reach for her wrist and clamp my fingers around it.
Still completely nude, I straddle her waist as she struggles beneath me. With my fingers still wrapped around her wrist, I squeeze my thighs around her middle as I reach for the knife with my other hand.
Applying as much pressure around her wrist as I can, I wrangle the knife out of her hand and grip the handle as firmly as I can.
“Please, I have children,” she whimpers.
“That’s terrible,” I whisper. “A woman like you shouldn’t have any. You’re a horrible human being.”
“You fucked my husband,” she screeches.
“What’s his full name?” I demand, looking down into her eyes.
“Pio Costa.”
“Costa?” I ask.
She nods. I let out a bark of laughter. “Vinny lied to you. I’ve never, not with him.”
She opens her mouth, but I don’t give her an opportunity to continue. I need to get out of here in case Vinny, who is still wailing and moaning back in the bedroom, gets a second wind of adrenaline and comes after me.
I don’t apologize as I use the knife to kill her. I’m not sorry. This is about her life versus mine.
This is about her kidnapping me and wanting to end me. This is about me doing the deed first and I will not apologize to her or anyone else for saving my own fucking life.
I slide it across her neck. Her blood squirts all over my naked chest. The guilt should probably be overwhelming in this moment, it’s not. Not in the slightest. In fact, I close my eyes, feeling better than I ever have—stronger.
“Merda,” a voice rasps.
Lifting my eyes to the voice. My entire body jerks. His gun is drawn, his eyes are focused on me and nowhere else.
“I should not be turned on right now, passerotta.”
Chapter Thirty
BENICIO
My cock twitches beneath my slacks at the sight of Nicola. She’s completely naked, straddling a very dead Taylor Costa, with blood coating her bare skin. She looks feral, but beyond that, she looks fucking fierce.
I hear a noise in the back of the house and I jerk my chin toward Dante. Without uttering a single word, he quickly takes off in the direction of the noise.
My eyes never leave Nicola. She’s staring at me and I know that she has to be in shock, and probably doesn’t even see me, but the only thing that I can think is that she’s alive and she’s fucking beautiful.
“Come to me, passerotta,” I gently demand.
I don’t want to frighten her. Honestly, I don’t think she’s in her right mind right now. She’s high on adrenaline mixed with fear and probably another million emotions that are running through her tiny body.
She doesn’t break eye contact with me as she rises to her feet. Slowly, like a scared animal she makes her way toward me, stepping over the dead woman in the middle of the kitchen.
When she arrives in front of me, I slip my jacket off and drape it over her shoulders.
The knife in her grip clatters to the floor as soon as the jacket is wrapped around her. I watch as she slips her arms into the sleeves and then tilts her head back to look up at me. I watch as her face crumples and her body begins to tremble.
I don’t take her in my arms, not yet. She must stand strong. She is not just my fiancée, not just a principessa, she is about to become a Consigliere. She has no choice but to have a spine and a reserve of steel.
“Turn around, Nicola,” I softly demand.
She tugs the lapels of the jacket closed and turns around, facing the man in question. Fucking Vinny. I’m not surprised.
When I explained to him that his services were no longer needed at the club, he about lost his goddamn mind.
I should have ended him right there, but instead, I reassigned him in hopes that he would cool off and do his fucking job.
“You cunth,” he screams.
What does surprise me about Vinny is the fact that he’s completely naked and has blood pouring from his mouth and eyes. “Is this your handy work, Nicola?” I calmly ask.
“It is,” she says, her voice strong and clear.
I smirk. “He touch you?”
“He didn’t get the chance,” she informs me.
I hum, loving the fact that my woman fought a man off that is almost three times her size and fucking won with nothing but her wits. “You bite his tongue?”
“Off,” she finishes. Dante hisses, but she continues. “Then I shoved my fingers in his eyes so that I could get away from him. Only to come into contact with Taylor.”
I try to hold back a chuckle at how matter of fact Nicola is, knowing that it’s most likely because of shock. I stare at Vinny, wondering if I should put him out of his misery or torture him the way that I truly desire to. But then again, maybe Nicola has done enough torturing.
“Ruthless, passerotta,” I point out.
She turns her head, looking over her shoulder at me. She presses her lips together, then shrugs a shoulder.
“In the moment, it was him or me, I chose to save myself.”
“Thank fuck,” I grunt, taking a step toward her.
Reaching out, I wrap my hand around her waist from behind, touching her for the first time as I press my hips against the crack of her ass. Her eyes widen when she feels my hard-on beneath my slacks.
“Thank fuck,” I repeat.
She nods, turning her head back around to look at Vinny. His pain has diminished into shock and Dante is holding him up by his arm.
“What shall we do to him?” I ask, leaning my hea
d down to whisper into her ear.
She waits a breath, then inhales deeply. “He doesn’t exist to me anymore. He tried to hurt me and I bested him.”
“He’s not a man,” I grunt. “He’s an animal. He should be put down like one.”
Without waiting another moment, I reach into the back of my waistband and pull out my gun.
Pointing it directly at Vinny, I pull the trigger twice and shoot him once in the head and once in the chest.
Dante releases him once the bullets find their target and we all watch in silence as his body slumps to the floor.
“Why was Taylor here?” I ask.
Nicola turns around in my arms, tipping her head back to look into my eyes. “They were together. Vinny had convinced her that I’d slept with her husband.”
“Yeah?”
Nodding, she shifts her gaze to the side, presumably to look down at Taylor’s lifeless body. “I didn’t though.”
“I know, Nicola. He had a mistress, but it wasn’t you.”
“Who was it?” she asks.
Shaking my head, I decide that it’s information that she doesn’t need to have. The details are too fucking sad for her to know.
I can’t shield Nicola from everything bad in this world, but I can attempt to shield her from some things, and the fact that Costa killed his pregnant mistress and a member of the famiglia, Salvatore’s little sister, that is something that she doesn’t need laid at her feet.
“Doesn’t matter. Just know that he did have an affair and Vinny used that information to manipulate a woman.”
“She wasn’t innocent. She wanted to watch me die,” she says.
Dipping my chin, I look down at Taylor Costa. She wasn’t born into the famiglia, became a wife by contracted marriage. Her father could be a problem after this, but that’s a problem that I will take care of.
It’s sad that now her children are without a mother and a father, the whole situation is just plain sad, but Nicola is right, she wasn’t innocent, not of her own actions.
“Then she reaped what she sowed,” I say.
Nicola nods, but I can tell that something is bothering her. True to who she is, she doesn’t hold on to whatever it is. Instead, she inhales a deep breath before she says what’s on her mind.
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