by Alyse Zaftig
Iacopo is glowering at her. I know that his money and power normally intimidate people. The doctor in this room doesn’t care at all that he’s Iacopo Genovese.
“I’m putting in a discharge order now.” There’s a tablet in her hands. Iacopo’s glare should make it burst into flames. “You’ll be out within the next few hours.”
She just walks out, not caring that Iacopo is about to lose his shit.
I have to fill out a bunch of paperwork before I’m discharged. The nurses are doing a bunch of stuff. They want my health insurance information. Iacopo is stewing in the corner.
“You’re ready to go.”
Iacopo looks like he’s about to blow. “Is there a wheelchair?”
“Iacopo, I can walk.” To prove it, I get out of bed. The change of position makes blood rush to my head. I wheeze a little bit as the room spins.
“You’re getting a wheelchair.”
We argue. I lose. In another minute, he’s pushing me into an elevator in a hospital wheelchair. The nurse next to us is just shaking her head. She’s gotten bulldozed by him, but I guess she sees this kind of thing often.
The car downstairs is ready for us. Iacopo picks me up and puts me in the car like I’m incapable of climbing up.
Chapter Eighteen
Running Away
Kelly
He gets into the car. His arm is around me, as if he can protect me from anything that would harm me.
We don’t talk at all as we go home. Well, his house. I’ve been here such a short time that it’s crazy how fast I’ve come to think of it as my home. He pulls me out of the car and keeps me in his arms.
“I can walk.” He’s going up the stairs while still carrying me.
“No, you can’t. You’re sleeping for the rest of the day. I’ll have the chef bring up some soup in a few hours.”
He sets me down on my bed.
“Rest.”
Then he’s gone. I look at the ring glittering on my finger. It’s a mark of possession. He must have been really scared.
Then I hear a phone ringing. It’s not my cell phone’s ringtone. I realize that it’s the secret phone that my dad smuggled to me.
"Kelly, thank God I got hold of you."
"Dad? What's going on? What's with the secrecy? Why couldn't you just call my normal phone?"
"Your normal phone is bugged, sweetheart." He sighs.
"Iacopo would never do that."
"Iacopo would do it in a heartbeat. You've been with him for long enough to know that he's ruthless when he wants to be."
I know that. "He's not like that with me."
"Sure, sweetheart. I heard about the fire. Are you okay?”
“Yeah, I’m okay. Iacopo has taken good care of me.”
“Whatever you say. Listen, I found out where he was holding the evidence to blackmail me. And you. We can get you out.”
"Where?"
"It's in his office in the warehouse.”
"So go get it and disappear."
"Not that easy. His office is locked so that only he or someone with the right key can enter. He personally supervises the cleaning staff when they come in."
"So convince him to go into his office, distract him, and leave."
"You're going to do it."
"No way." I start to hyperventilate. I don't know what's going on between us. Maybe it's a little Stockholm Syndrome, but I really do care about him. And even if he hasn't said so, I know that he cares about me.
"Listen, Kelly. Don't forget why you're there. You're there to save my life. You're also a hostage for my good behavior. Well, you can save both of us. Just get the RFID card that opens up his office and we can disappear. He might be a Mafia don, but there are places where he can't reach."
"Where?"
"South America. I'll take you to where the cartels will protect us."
"Dad, that sounds like out of the frying pan and into the fire."
"Sweetheart, you have to trust me here. I've built a network of contacts for this day. I thought he was going to shoot me on sight, but you bought me time. Now it's time for us to vanish."
"I can't do that, Dad." I love Iacopo. Maybe. I look at the ring on my hand. Whatever we have isn’t what Disney princesses have.
"You're going to." Now he sounds like my father, the man who told me that I had to eat Brussels sprouts. "Or I'll call him myself and tell him that you are planning on stealing from him. Do you know how he'll react?"
"You wouldn't," I whisper.
"You and I both know him well enough to know how he'd react to even a hint that he'd be betrayed by you. So go along with the plan, please. It's what's best for all of us."
I close my eyes. “I can’t do this.”
“Kelly, if you love me, you have to.”
Tears threaten to fall. I don’t want to betray my lover, my fiancé. I wish that my father never called me. I wish that he never stole anything from Iacopo. But wishing to change the past is the instinct of a child. Adults know that they have to move forward.
“Okay.” I feel like the word is choking me, lodging in my throat like a fishbone. Unfortunately, a pair of tweezers won’t be enough to fix my problem today.
“Good girl, Kelly. I promise, I’ll make all of this right.”
It’s already gone so wrong. I haven’t stolen anything yet. “Bye, Dad.”
“See you soon, Pumpkin.”
I hit the red button. I slip the phone into my pocket.
“Kelly?”
I spin around. Iacopo is leaning against the doorframe.
It’s unfair that my father is asking me to betray someone who has asked me to marry him. It’s unfair that I’m even in this position, a sacrifice to save my father.
He walks towards me, his shoulders moving like a predator stalking helpless prey. His eyes are shining with a light that I’ve become accustomed to during our time together. I’ve only seen it for a few days.
Chapter Nineteen
Stealing
Kelly
His hands settle on my waist. I look up, way up at his face. I can see his desire burning brightly.
And something inside of me leaps up. His hands grip my waist. I wrap my legs around his hips.
"Flexible," he grunts before capturing my mouth in a hard kiss.
I hope he can't tell how conflicted I am right now. I want him. I want this. I want us.
But I've already agreed to betray him.
He pushes my body against a wall. The hard, cool surface is against my back. He's not kissing me anymore. His eyes are looking straight into mine.
"Do you want to be taken like this? Mostly clothed against a wall?" His hand goes under my skirt, pushing aside my panties.
Both of us can feel how slick I am, how easily his fingers glide between my thighs.
"Oh," I moan. He catches the moan with his mouth. His tongue is fucking my mouth now. His hand is tangled up in my hair, pulling it almost hard enough to hurt.
"You want it like this," he grunts. He pins me to the wall. My legs are around his waist, and it's not that easy to get his pants unbuckled and his fly down, but he manages it.
Then he's pushing his hardness inside of me. My mouth falls open as my mind spins with pure pleasure. I need more. I can feel my muscles clench around him, but I...
And then he slides me down a fraction of an inch deeper. I feel like he's hammering me into the wall.
"Your pussy is tight," he whispers. "So good."
My eyes are closed. His mouth goes to my neck, biting, licking, and sucking hard enough to leave marks. It's primal. I want to remember what this was like when I lose him.
My hands are on the back of his head, pulling him up to kiss me as I finally reach climax. I kiss him hard, with all the passion inside of me. I can feel him filling me up in that moment, both of us panting hard even as we kiss.
I can feel his warm seed slipping down. He pulls out of me. I can see our combined juices on my thighs.
"It's better ev
ery time," Iacopo says. He's reaching over for some tissues. He bends down in front of me to wipe up his seed.
The gentleness of his touch contrasts with how roughly he took me. I'm looking at the top of his head.
How can I possibly betray him?
He yawns. "I'd like another round, but I need to sleep. Come on."
So without showering or really cleaning ourselves up, we go to the bedroom. We finish taking off our clothes, discarding them on the floor. In moments, his big body is wrapped around me in bed and we're curled up under the covers.
I wait until his breathing slows down and evens. I hate myself. I hate my dad. But I extricate myself from the bed without waking him up, because I know what I have to do.
I look around until I see his wallet in the pocket of his pants. I can't believe I'm doing this. As quietly as I can, I put my clothes back on. I still have some of his seed inside of me. I choke back a sob. I can cry later, when I've gotten out of the lion's den.
My hand is shaking so hard that it's difficult to put my hand inside of his wallet. I might have to take the whole thing. All I need is his RFID badge. Then I can wipe all the traces of my dad's theft and we can disappear into the sunset.
I hate doing this to Iacopo, but I don't think I have a choice. The whole reason that I'm here is to protect my dad from him. Somewhere along the way, I lost sight of that.
But today I take that back. I am in control of my own destiny, not Iacopo.
I take the wallet and stuff it into my pocket. It makes a big, visible bulge. Time to go.
"What are you doing?"
I freeze in place and slowly spin. "Iacopo."
I thought that he was going to be sleeping for a while, giving me plenty of time to escape.
"What's in your pocket?" His eyes are cold.
"Just...something." I scramble for the right words.
He's walking across the room now, his long legs eating up the distance in no time. I can't move. I can't speak. I think my heart has stopped. His hand is reaching into my pocket.
Chapter Twenty
Mother’s Daughter
Iacopo
I can feel my wallet and pull it out. I look at it.
“You are your mother’s daughter.”
Both of us are silent. I threw those words like a knife. I hit my target. Kelly’s eyes are full of tears.
“Let me explain.”
I raise my hand. “There are no explanations that will justify your actions. You need to pack your things and leave.”
“I thought that I had to live with you.”
“Not any more. You are free and clear in every way. I don’t want to see you again.”
There are tears in her eyes, but I should ignore them. Something tugs at my heart. A better man than I am would put aside his anger and comfort his lover when she’s clearly hurt. But she was guilty of casting the first stone. I found her with my wallet. Actions speak louder than words.
So I watch her, standing by the door, as she walks through the house gathering her belongings. She’s crying as she gathers up every trace that she’s left in my home. It takes a while because she’s falling apart in front of me.
Then it’s done. “I’ll call my car for you.”
“I’d rather take a taxi.”
“You’re taking my car.”
“Fuck you, Iacopo,” Kelly spits. “I don’t want anything else from you.”
She could have gotten so much more from me than what was in my wallet, even with my credit cards in there. I think about my nonna’s ring, the one that I took out of my safety deposit box for her. I can’t believe that I was tricked into believing that Kelly was the kind of woman I wanted, the one that I was searching for for so long. I thought that she’d been hiding right under my nose.
Turns out that I never found her.
I feel like I’m in a meat locker right now. I feel like I’ll never be warm again. Her betrayal doesn’t hurt because I can’t feel anything.
“I’ll send over paperwork about the debt forgiveness. And that’ll be the last thing you’ll get from me.”
She walks out, suitcases in tow. I let out a sharp whistle to let my driver know to pick her up.
“Take her back to school,” I say. “And she won’t be coming back.”
He looks at the tears on her face. He looks at mine. I don’t know what he sees there, but he says, “Right away, boss.”
He loads her suitcases into the car. I watch as she slides into the back seat.
I was a fool to think that there could be anything real between us. Now I’m smarter. Mistakes are lessons, sometimes hard ones.
And if I feel like there’s an ache in the center of my chest while I watch my car take her home, then that’s that. I won’t tell anyone. It’s humiliating for me to be brought low by someone whose mother did the exact same thing. This time, though, she didn’t marry me. Thank God for small blessings.
Chapter Twenty-One
Stolen
Kelly
I can’t talk right now. The driver knows where to take me. All my stuff is with me. I’ll still live in the place I was supposed to live in with Camilla.
I cry as quietly as possible in the back seat of the car. I try not to sniffle. Maybe if I don’t make a sound I can pretend like I have some dignity left.
Everything is my fault. Yeah, Iacopo traded my time for my dad’s life, but I was the one who made that decision. I fell in love with him. And I accepted his ring. Then I betrayed him. I thought that we were really something. I thought that the two of us would last forever.
And now I know how wrong I was.
I swipe at my eyes with my right forearm. It’s a long, long drive. I cry myself to sleep.
“Miss? We’re here.” I open my eyes. I’m back on campus. I may have taken off the semester, but I still have my lease.
“Thank you,” I say.
The driver is kind enough to help me bring my stuff in. I’ll arrange the furniture later.
I feel like there are shards of broken glass inside of me, carving me up like a Thanksgiving turkey. Iacopo interrupted my life when he stole me. And now that he’s put me back on track, I feel like there’s nowhere I’d rather be than his home. His bed.
There’s nobody to see me here. I close all the curtains. The light is off. My bed is made with the sheets I left behind. I crawl all the way under the covers and pretend that I’m okay, even though I can’t stop crying.
I feel like I’m bleeding out, like my heart has been torn out of my chest. I should be registering for next semester’s classes now that I know that I’m going to be here, but I can’t make myself do anything.
I think about never leaving my room again. I haven’t talked to Camilla in a while, not since my departure, but I should try to talk to her.
Maybe tomorrow. I burrow deeper under my covers and fall asleep.
Searing sunlight is burning my eyes. It’s like someone stole a spotlight from a stage and is shining it in my face.
“Rise and shine,” I hear a voice say. A stranger is in my bedroom.
I try to get out of bed, but I’m tangled up in the sheets. When I adjust to the light, my heart sinks. My room is filled with men.
“Who are you?”
“My name isn’t important. We’re going to take a little trip.” He reaches for me. I step back, my hands up in front of me.
All the men laugh.
My heart is pounding against my ribcage. I’m surrounded. I’m still fully dressed, thank God, but I’m not in a good position right now.
“It’s time for you to take a little nap,” the guy in front says.
And then a sweet-smelling cloth is over my face. My eyes close against my will as the world turns black.
Chapter Twenty-Two
Hard Choice
Iacopo
I go to my room to look at the empty black box that stayed for so long in my safety deposit box. Ariana never wanted that ring. It was for the woman who had my heart. Now it’s o
n Kelly’s finger. She played me like her mother played her father.
My phone rings. It’s a number that I haven’t seen for a long time.
“Mateo.”
“What, no hello for your old uncle?”
“You’re not my uncle.”
“I used to be, kid. You’re just a little bambino. Never forget that.”
I don’t want to argue with him. “What do you want?”
“I know that you’ve been reluctant to give up your position as the new don. So I’ve decided to give you an incentive.”
“What kind of incentive?”
“The kind that’s wearing your nonna’s ring.”
My stomach twists. I feel like he’s sucker-punched me. ”You have her?"
"You're a fool, Iacopo Genovese." The soft menace of the man who was my father's right hand is mind-blowing.
“How can you do this?“
"Because you are weak. Because you are ruled by emotion. Because you love her,” Mateo sneers at me.
"I will find you and break every bone in your body." He had stolen her. My mind is racing, trying to figure out how to get her back. "Where is she?"
"Where you will never find her." His soft chuckle makes the hairs on the back of my neck stand up. "She's a beautiful girl, no? Maybe I will taste what has ensnared you and encouraged you to forget your duty to the family. Ariana was far better. More beautiful. More powerful. You let her get away.” He stops. “You have a clear choice now. I can murder your fiancée or you can step down and give all your power to me.”
"Fuck you," I shout. "Don't lay a finger on Kelly.” She may have betrayed me, but I still need her.
Another laugh. "I already have."
My phone buzzes. He's already hung up the phone.