by Bella J
Oh, fuck me sideways.
***
KARINA
A part of me always knew it was only a matter of time before my mistake would come back to haunt me. I’ve had sleepless nights over what happened between me and Enzio four years ago. Crying myself to sleep became part of my nighttime routine for months after that night. Eventually it got easier, or I just got better at suppressing the pain and compartmentalizing the memories. But now, after watching that tape all the pain came rushing back as the memories started to resurface. The only difference was back then all my pain was directed at Enzio because of the way he hurt me.
Right now my pain was consuming me because I knew it was my own damn fault that I was here in the middle of this mess. It’s because of a naïve mistake I made that I’m currently staring at the one man that I hate the most. Only, now it wasn’t my pain that was directed at Enzio, but my hate. Every ounce of hate that I’ve ever had inside me was pushing against my bones while I stared at him.
“Something on your mind, little lamb?” He leaned back casually in his chair, and unbuttoned his suit jacket.
I glanced around the room. It still looked exactly as I remembered. Beige walls, white carpet, king sized bed covered with gold and chocolate colored sheets. The only thing missing from this picture was the hundreds of candles he lit that night, which at the time I thought was the most romantic gesture. But now I know it was just another brick he laid down while paving his road to my ultimate humiliation.
I walked toward the window and stare outside. It’s dark, but I know somewhere in the distance was the ocean, waves crashing over a few rocks to the left while water calmly covered the sand just a few feet away. Amazing how the ocean could seem so calm and beautiful on the one side, and then if you look just a little further you’ll see its anger, the violence and destruction as it slammed against the rocks, the sound thundering through the air.
“I should have known you’d bring me here of all places.”
“Where else would I take you? This place holds some of my best memories.”
I snorted. “I’m sure it does.” I turned back to face him. “Wish I could say the same.”
Enzio’s leering gaze swept over my body making me feel naked and vulnerable. I watched as he got up from his seat stalking toward me with an inscrutable look in his eyes that sent a chill down my spine.
“Don’t you dare touch me, Enzio,” I warned, stepping back.
“Funny, the last time we were in this room you practically begged me not to stop touching you.”
“That was because you deceived me into thinking that you actually loved me and cared for me.”
He didn’t stop his slow approach toward me. “I did love you.”
“You are incapable of love, Enzio.” With another step back I felt the cold wall behind me, and I swallowed hard.
“I might not be the soft and gentle type like your Detective Stone, but that doesn’t mean I don’t have feelings.”
“Feelings?” I scoffed. “Did you have feelings when you allowed me to give myself to you, when you knew it was all lie, just a trick to get a bargaining chip against me and my family?”
“That was business.”
“Exactly, I was nothing more to you than business. While you had me on that bed, naked and overwhelmed with all these new feelings, you were only taking care of fucking business, all the while I was in love with you!” The last words stormed out of my mouth in a rush, and all I could do to keep the tears from falling was ball my fists and grab ahold of the anger that started to fester in my gut.
I give a brave step forward, the fury now stronger than my fear and I lifted my chin to meet his gaze. “You knew I loved you. You knew that I would have done anything to be with you, and you used that. You didn’t give a shit about me or my feelings. All you cared about was doing what Daddy told you to do. And you know what that makes you?”
I pushed myself up on my toes wanting to be face to face with him. “That makes you nothing more than Daddy’s little lap dog.”
It happened so fast I didn’t even see it coming. His palm collided with my cheek and all I felt was fire and heat spreading over my skin. The sting was excruciating and my ears instantly started to ring.
“That will be the last time you ever speak to me that way. As my future wife you will treat me with fucking respect or you will carry the consequences.”
My hand was on my burning cheek as I righted myself biting back my tears. “Did you show me any respect the night you defiled my body?”
He raised his eyebrows. “Defiled? Oh my dear, Karina, if I remember correctly you loved everything I did to your body that night. Would you like me to show you the little homemade video we made again? How your face lights up when I gave you your very first orgasm?”
The wry, wolfish grin on his face made my stomach turn and I realized that it didn’t matter what I said or did, I was stuck here, and there was no way Enzio was going to let me go. For years the war between us and the Mancusos has been raging, and I was now the ultimate weapon Enzio intended to use in destroying my family…my father. He knew I would never allow him to show that tape to anyone. It would kill my father. The shame of a daughter’s betrayal by marrying the enemy would be a far lesser burden to carry. And even if I was brave enough to deny him and risk my father’s humiliation, the fact that Enzio had a second bargaining chip hanging over my head by threatening to go on a murdering spree and framing Antonio, that was what secured my decision. I had no choice, and Enzio knew that.
Enzio moved closer and reached for my hand covering my cheek, and slowly pulled it away from my face. I hated his touch. I hated the way it felt on my skin, how the cold of his touch seeped through to my soul.
“I suggest you get comfortable. This is going to be your home for a very, very long time.” He stared down at me and I could see all the malicious, dirty thoughts running through his mind. I sucked in a breath when he placed his palm over my stinging cheek, his touch doing nothing to soothe my pain. It only aggravated it, making it worse. I flinched, and he slipped his hand behind my neck.
“And if you’d prefer a life without pain, I strongly advise you to get used to my touch, Karina. Because I plan on touching you every day,”—he forces my head forward and presses his cold lips against my forehead causing me to whimper in anguish—“for as long as we both shall live.”
Chapter 22
LORIK
If someone had asked me two weeks ago if I had any plans to sit in the study of the Valenti mansion while plotting a rescue mission with both Valenti brothers, I would have killed the poor sod. It would have been a mercy kill because that person was clearly fucking crazy.
But true as fuck, here I am staring at Dante after I just got all the fucked-up details of how Enzio used Karina in the worst possible way. I suspected all along that Enzio had hurt her somehow, but never did it cross my mind that he had purposefully seduced her, made her fall in love with him as a ploy to get leverage on the Valenti family. This war went much deeper than I thought since the one person who remained innocent in all of this was the one that got hurt the most. And now that I knew what Enzio and his family was capable of, I understood why Anderson always suspected that the Mancusos sat behind the crime statistics of this town.
I balled my fists and swallowed hard trying my best not to go bat-shit crazy while my mind tried to digest everything I just heard. The thought of that son of a bitch’s hands on Karina, tainting her body, taking something he didn’t deserve had me seeing nothing but red. It’s like there was this demon-possessed beast inside me wanting to claw its way out, begging to tear Enzio Mancuso into nothing more than pieces of rotting flesh.
“So you’re saying you suspect he’s blackmailing her with a…” I swallowed hard as the words get lodged in my throat. I rough my hands through my hair. “A sex tape?”
Dante nodded.
I shook my head. “Jesus. What is he blackmailing her for? What does he want from her?”
Antonio, who hadn’t said a single word throughout the entire conversation, finally turned away from the window and faces us. “What do you know about our family, Detective?”
“I don’t understand what this has to do with anything?”
Antonio crossed his arms in front of his chest. “I’m going to assume that you know enough then.” He sauntered over to the couch and takes a seat. Am I the only one thinking we’re wasting fucking time, that sitting around and staring at each other was not going to bring us any closer to finding Karina?
Antonio stared at me unblinking. “Loyalty, pride, and respect are what we build our entire existence on. An Italian man is nothing if he doesn’t have the loyalty of those closest to him. Our women, Detective, are the most fundamental parts of our pride. There is nothing as powerful as having a beautiful woman’s support and unquestionable loyalty, which is why you never fuck with another Italian man’s wife,”—he pins me with his serious stare—“or his daughter.”
I don’t like the feelings settling in my gut while I listened to Antonio trying to let me see the bigger picture. In fact, the clearer the picture got, the more my insides started to twist into painful knots of nerves.
Antonio leaned with his elbows on his knees. “So my guess is he’s planning on using Karina to get to my father.”
“How?”
Antonio glanced at Dante and they give each other knowing looks before he turned back to me. “To bring the ultimate shame upon our family, upon my father, it only makes sense that Enzio plans on taking Karina.”
I looked at them questioningly. “But he already took her.”
Dante got up, the sleeves of his dress-shirt rolled up to his elbows. “What Antonio is trying to say is, Enzio plans on forcing Karina to marry him. That way he strips every ounce of respect and pride from our father. If news spreads that Karina married the enemy, the shame it will put on our family will destroy our reputation and credibility.”
“It would mean checkmate,” I muttered as Enzio’s motivations starts to become clearer. “Karina is one pawn he needs to ensure that your father has no more moves left.”
Dante nods and turns to Antonio. “What do we do?”
Antonio got up from the couch. “We have to tell him.”
“No fucking way, Antonio.” Dante started to pace. “We’re not telling Dad. He won’t understand, and besides, we can’t do that to Karina.”
“What else do you suggest we do then? You know our sister, man. She won’t ever let Enzio go public with that tape.”
“Whoa, whoa,” I interrupted, holding up my hands, forcing my stubborn ass into the conversation. “What are you saying? You actually think she will go through with this?” I stared at Antonio in disbelief.
“Obviously you haven’t known our sister that long.”
I shrugged. “Granted, this thing between us hasn’t been going on for that long.”
Suddenly both brothers have their eyes on mine, and it’s like all the oxygen got sucked out of the room within a nanosecond.
“So there is a thing between you and our little sister.” Clearly Antonio wasn’t asking.
Under normal circumstances I’d probably try to deny it knowing that I risked getting my balls cut off. But this wasn’t normal circumstances, and right now I cared more about Karina than keeping my balls attached to my body. Yeah, pussy whipped does not even begin to sum it up.
“Listen, man,” I started, not backing down an inch. “I know you have your rules and whatnot, but yeah, there is something between me and Karina, and I don’t care if you approve or not, it’s happening. And right now nothing, and I mean nothing, will stop me from finding her. Not you or your goddamn rules.”
Both brothers just stared at me, not saying a goddamn word. For the first time in my career my detective instincts failed me because I have no fucking clue what to expect from them next.
I glanced at Antonio. “And like your brother said earlier, let’s find Karina first, then we can kill each other, okay?”
No answer.
“Good. Now that we understand each other, why in the name of fuck do you actually think she’ll go through with this?”
“Because no matter how hard she tries to distance herself from her family, she loves our father very much.” Dante walked over to the table and poured himself a glass of Bourbon. “She won’t do anything to hurt him. Yes, she fell in love with Enzio and was willing to give everything up for him, but secretly she had always hoped that our father loved her enough to accept her decision and to respect it.”
I cannot fucking believe what I’m hearing. “Surely she won’t be considering this.”
Dante downed his drink, and slammed the empty glass on the table. “Right now, I think she doesn’t have to consider anything. In her mind, she doesn’t think she has any other option.”
“No way. We can’t let her do this. We have to find her.”
I stomped toward the door as my determination started to burn like a fucking inferno inside my chest. There was no way in hell I was losing her after I just found her. I don’t give a shit if it’s only been such a short period of time that we’ve had this thing between us, all I know is I’m not willing to even think about not being able to finish what Karina and I started.
“Where are you going?” Antonio called after me.
“I don’t fucking know, but it’s clear that you two jerk-offs don’t intend to do shit about finding her and stopping her from making the worst mistake of her life. So I guess it’s up to me to find her and convince her that letting this motherfucker manipulate her won’t save anyone anything.”
God, I was so fucking angry, I could punch my fist through concrete. “I came here thinking that her brothers would be willing to help me find her, guess I was wrong.”
Just as I turned around to open the door, Antonio called after me. “What gives you the idea that we’re not going to help you?”
“Well, we’ve been sitting around here doing nothing but talk for the last hour while she’s out there fuck knows where with a goddamn son of a bitch, and we’re no closer to finding her.”
“Hold up.” Dante rounded the table with a thoughtful expression on his face. It’s clear that he’s thinking something, and hopefully that something is a motherfucking plan.
Funny, I’ve always thought Antonio was the brainy one with the skill to run a very successful crime syndicate. But lately I’m not so sure, not when I take into consideration how Dante has been handling all of this. He’s cool, calm, and seems like he’s thinking straight, while Antonio seemed more on edge, like he’s not sure what the right thing to do is.
I walked back into the room. “What are you thinking, Dante?”
He rubbed his chin with his thumb and forefinger. “Earlier, at the restaurant, I told Karina that Enzio sees her as his. In my head, if I try to put myself in his shoes, Enzio thinks because he was her first, she belongs to him. And I don’t know, something just tells me that this is more than a chess move toward checkmate for him. For his father maybe, but somehow I think Karina is more to him than just a pawn.”
Antonio walked closer, eyes narrowed. “Where are you going with this?”
Dante bit his bottom lip before his widen, like he just figured it out. “It happened at the beach house, right?”
“What?” I asked, confused.
“The night Enzio tricked her and taped everything. It was at the beach house.”
“So?”
Dante grabbed his jacket and keys. “Come on, I think I know where they are.”
***
KARINA
I don’t know how long it’s been since Enzio left. He locked the door, leaving me inside the room I used to see in my goddamn nightmares. It was in this room that I willingly gave up the best part of me, and he shoved it right back in my face, tearing my heart apart in the process.
I wondered if Enzio had contacted my family yet, informed them of what’s about to happen. My heart ached just thinking about it,
thinking about the betrayal my dad would feel once he hears about what I’m about to do. And yes, it is going to happen. I have no choice. Enzio made sure that he had the ultimate hold on me. He made sure that there was no way I’d even consider not following through with his twisted idea of a marriage. But I’m screwed; I have no choice. If I wanted to spare my father the worst pain a daughter could inflict, I had to do this.
It’s been hours since I saw Lorik, since Enzio ripped me from his arms. Was he looking for me? And if he was, how would he even know where to start?
God, my heart ached. Thinking of Lorik and what we shared earlier when we made love, I realize how quickly hope can be ripped away from you. For all but a few hours I had myself convinced that maybe—just maybe my luck had changed. Maybe the time had come that I can finally be who I want to be. But that feeling of freedom was short lived.
Now here I am flat on my ass on the bedroom floor with not a single ounce of hope left. I refused to go near the bed across from me. If I had my way I’d burn it, along with the horrid memories that came with it.
The sound of the door being unlocked made me jump to my feet, my heart pounding wildly inside my chest. My blood instantly ran cold as the door slowly creaked open. With my back flat against the wall I watched as Enzio sauntered into the room. The sleek black suit and crisp white shirt he was wearing made him look like the epitome of sophistication. His hair neatly tied at the back of his neck, and his face cleanly shaven gave the impression that he was nothing more than a confident business man. But I knew the evil that lurked behind the expensive clothes and that pretty face of his. There was no way he could ever be able to hide his true colors from me again.