The Rainmaker: Jake: A Von Larsen Crime Family Novel

by Piper Page

  After he argued for my life, I got the weird urge to jump into his arms. Those strong, sturdy arms wrapped around me would make me feel safe. But I wasn’t an idiot. I knew this man was my captor.

  Once I broke out of here, I’d need to find my own big man to hug. Preferably, one just as hot but a little less scary.

  Santiago dropped to a knee in front of the nightstand. He threw open a draw and pulled out a set of handcuffs.

  “This’ll work. I’ve still got to keep you chained up somehow. Until I can really trust you.”

  What would that take? And how long did he expect to keep me here?

  Still, I was glad to be out of my wrist and ankle bondage. As he took it off, where I’d rubbed so hard swelled with pain. They’d been snug, biting in my skin, but not enough to cause major numbness. He latched me onto the bedpost, and I clung there, one hand against it.

  But he’d not snapped it in tight. My bitten wrists could find time to heal.

  That also told me one other thing. Santiago was confident that I’d not escape his compound.

  Santiago scratched the back of his neck. As he did, he gazed down at me and thought long and hard about what to do. His shirt rose over his stomach, revealing his sculpted, wide abs. They were the abs of a man who could take a lot of punches, and my body rushed with a sensation that betrayed me.

  His shirt dropped once he finished contemplating. The rush abandoned me, and I was left wishing it would come back. It might be a strange, delusional fantasy, ogling my captor, but it was better than fear.

  “Thank you for making them not kill me,” I said.

  My voice was dry and my throat sore.

  I expected for him to nod, maybe say no problem. Instead, I got a great big belly laugh in reply.

  Santiago stalked out of the room. Not before telling me, “You shouldn’t be thanking me. You might wish you were dead by the end of this.”

  He left me alone. I looked around again for anything to help me escape. I didn’t see anything. The lamp I might be able to use, perhaps start a fire of some sort. Yeah, I was low on options. I didn’t know the first thing about creating an electrical fire, and if I tried, I’d be more likely to kill myself.

  I worried about ruining Megan’s bachelorette party. Or maybe even wedding, which would be in a few weeks. My disappearance would be like a dark cloud looming over it.

  I just hoped that they would check my room first. I bet they would discover I wasn’t there in the morning. There would be no way they’d think I’d gone adventuring in a new country by myself. No way.

  What about my phone?

  Yes! I shimmied my breasts. I’d stuck my phone in my bra before I entered the rental shack. It’d been uncomfortable at first, then I’d been tied up and forgot all about that minor inconvenience.

  He’d been an idiot for leaving me with one hand. It had been a nice gesture, but a stupid one, underestimating me. Santiago never thought I’d hide anything with my dress on. I reached for it and was about to press the message button on my phone, when the door burst open.

  I expected a muscled freak clad in all leather with tattoos and a nasty face. Instead, I got an older, motherly woman wearing a sun dress. Weird.

  Ignoring her, my finger darted for the phone. She charged and snatched it before I could hit it. She waved my phone in front of me.

  “Please, you’ve got to give it back to me. You’ve got to get me out of here,” I begged. I hoped she saw the desperation in my eyes. “They’re going to kill me.”

  She marveled at the phone. She ignored me. “Those boys are lucky they have me here.”

  “Will you listen to me?”

  “I’m listening, dear,” she said before placing the phone on the dresser.

  “Don’t call me, dear.”

  “Sorry,” she said sweetly. Like I wasn’t a prisoner. Like I was back at the Allure, in a high class suite and this was room service. “My name is Marta and I’ve brought you something to eat.”

  Fine, so be it. When she brought over the food, I took the burger and stuffed my mouth full. I even had some soda to wash it down with. And damn, was it the best burger I’d ever eaten. That made it worse. It was truly the guiltiest burger I’d ever eaten.

  Marta had left me. She’d not been phased by me in the bed, so I wondered just how brainwashed she must’ve been. Who knows? It could’ve been Santiago’s mom.

  I could’ve taken the plate and threw it at him when he entered the room. I thought about it. Except, I’d be stuck to the bed still, and he’d be even more pissed off.

  No, thanks.

  Santiago entered next. It was like a revolving door into my little room. In his hand, he held a camera, and he brought it to my beside and dropped it.

  I quirked an eyebrow. Fear came rushing back to greet me like an old friend.

  “Take some photos with this. That’s the only way you’ll stay alive. I need blackmail material.”

  What?” I gasped. My jaw hung open.

  “I will not do that.” And fuck you, you pervert, I wanted to add.

  If he kept pushing me, this rage clawing at the surface would break free. Then I’d really be in trouble.

  He wiped his face and tried to remain in control. Santiago paced, pounded his fist against the cabinet, and then pivoted toward me.

  “You’re going to do it, because you want to live. It’s the only way I can guarantee that you’ll not run away. You don’t cooperate with us? We’ve got these photos that we’ll send to all of your daddy’s friends.”

  His smug look didn’t make me any more enthusiastic about this. I kicked the camera off the bed, and he immediately picked it up, and placed it back, not before glaring at me.

  “You’re sick,” I said. I brought my knees higher against my chest. As I did, I leaned against the headboard taller. I readied to defend myself.

  “This isn’t about that. I’m not sick. I’m only trying to figure out a way to keep you alive. There’s a job you can do for us, but if you decide to run during the mission, it’s a bust. So I need blackmail to keep you in line. You try to escape or sabotage the mission, and we release the photos.”

  He tilted his head, opening up his mercurial eyes. “What do you have to lose?”

  God, he was gorgeous. It pissed me off how gorgeous he was.

  And he was right, that was the sad part. It did give me a good reason to play along, and it would allow him to reassure the others I wouldn’t be a problem.

  My body froze again. Old memories, old wounds, they opened up. Those ugly thoughts coursed through me, and I felt the brunt of it, someone calling me a slut. It rattled me to my core.

  Santiago must’ve noticed. He slowly approached, with what I could only call sympathy. I might’ve been reading into it too much—or hoping for too much.

  “I won’t look at them. You have my word. That might not mean a lot to you, but if you asked anyone around here, even my enemies, it means a lot. I’ll guard the camera with my life. Only if you cross me will it be released.”

  I had no thoughts. I snapped.

  Crawling even farther away, as far as I could go, I said, “Go, you sick bastard.”

  I finally struck a nerve.

  Santiago flinched when I said bastard. A desperation crossed over him, for a brief second, then he spun on his heels.

  “You have one choice,” he said. “If you value your life.”

  He shut the door behind him. I gazed down at the foot of the bed, the camera within a few inches of my feet if I stretched out.

  It would be a struggle to reach and it pull it back up to my hand.

  That bastard hadn’t made it easy for me.

  …Not that there was any way I could what he asked.

  Chapter 4

  Santiago

  * * *

  My fists beat the punching bag in a constant rhythm, my muscles straining to keep up with the burn cascading from my arms all the way to the back of my legs. I stopped with the speed ball, moving over to the m
ain bag where I could really vent my frustrations. I sent a stiff punch at it and a loud smack echoed in my bedroom.

  Yep, I kept punching bags in my bedroom. It might as well have been a gym, because there was also a bench press in the corner too.

  I had a lot of demons to release on a daily basis.

  Just as I was about to lean back for a punch, I heard a clatter.

  This girl would be the end of me.

  I placed my palm against the bag instead and steadied it, and myself. I listened in to see if I could hear anything else. Nothing. The sound had alarmed me enough, though, so I walked out into the hall.

  Sighing, I figured I knew what the sound was now. I knocked on Allie’s door. Like I thought, when I opened it, I pushed aside the camera.

  Allie threw it like a spoiled brat. Didn’t she understand that I was doing this for her sake?

  I found her curled up against the pillows like a frightened cat. Strands of hair hid her eyes from me. I squeezed my fists and then stretched my tight neck. Meanwhile, Allie remained lying there without saying a word.

  “Tell me why you threw the camera,” I growled like a beast.

  Around Allie, I certainly did a lot of growling.

  Allie shrugged her shoulders. Pathetic.

  “That’s all you’re going to say?”

  She nodded.

  Brat. Such a spoiled, American princess. I hoped she wouldn’t continue to test me.

  “Why can’t you take the photos? Just a few simple photos? I promise I won’t look at them. No one will look at them.” As I continued, she tilted her gaze toward the wall like I was boring her.

  I stormed up to her bed. She gripped the sheets, but didn’t move otherwise.

  “Why can’t you take the pictures?”

  I shouted again, and again, until she broke down. I needed an answer, a reasonable one. From behind her red locks, I heard a whimper.

  “Huh?”

  Her shoulders shook and she flung her hands over her face. That was when I realized that she was crying. For how long, I didn’t know, because I’d been shouting at her.

  “Please don’t give me this fake sad bullshit…”

  “It’s not bullshit.” Allie swiped the hair from her eyes, which were blazing. “I can’t take the pictures, because I don’t know how to do sexy.”

  My mouth made a big O as I interpreted what she said, and then I broke out in laughter, clutching my chest.

  “Stop laughing,” she shouted, but I wouldn’t.

  She threw a pillow at me. It walloped me in the face, shutting me up.

  “What do you mean that you don’t know how to do sexy?” I asked her.

  Allie froze. She started shaking and whimpering again like a wet Chihuahua.

  “Will you stop crying like that?” I ran my fingers through my buzzed head. I wished it were longer so I could grab and pull a proper chunk out. By the end of this, I’d be bald, I was sure.

  “I don’t know how to take sexy pictures.”

  I glared at her. “You can’t be serious.”

  “I am fucking serious,” she screamed at me, and threw another pillow. This time I ducked and it hit the wall instead.

  This was getting way out of hand. I’d been sent to get information on a diamond. Not to babysit. I felt like I was having a domestic dispute.

  As I waited and thought of what to do next, Allie shifted her gaze back to the wall. She looked hurt. Honestly, did she not know how to be sexy?

  It made no sense to me. This girl was stunning, drop dead gorgeous. She had to have men falling to their knees for a piece of her.

  Even me, the guy who didn’t care about women, who just used them to get off, I had feeling going on inside me. Then it struck me.

  Of course.

  “You’re a virgin,” I said, pointing at her, my eyes widening in surprise.

  She sneered at me before she hid again as she curled up, knees over her face.

  “You’ve got to be kidding me,” I said. I rubbed my head, leaned back, and let out a big sigh as I’d just figured out her mystery.

  “No, I am not kidding, and what I am is none of your business.”

  “It’s my business now, sweetheart.” I strode over to her bed. I grabbed her knee and pushed it down so that I could see her.

  “Now stop crying,” I told her as she peered up at me with big doe eyes. “It’d take nothing for you to be sexy. Even if you are a virgin…” I stopped. “Hell, that’s even sexier.”

  I watched as she took a gulp. She looked pure and wholesome, and when I jerked my head to the camera, I wanted to pick it up and show her step by step what to do.

  My stupid mouth almost opened, but I clamped it shut. I was about to tell her that I would teach her. I could help her get used to her body. I would sure love to explore it, to teach her how to enjoy getting off. And I was positive that my cock and my tongue could have her cursing that she hadn’t met me sooner.

  But I stopped myself, because I would be watching over her, and I couldn’t trust her yet. She knew far too much. My brothers would be talking to me soon. They would want to know all about her.

  Allie had already gotten into my head in a bad way.

  I gazed upon her long legs, her ample breasts, and her curvy waist, all just waiting for me in bed. Before I could do anything, I paced the room. It wouldn’t be right to come onto her. She was a virgin tourist captured and confined to a bed and blackmailed, and I was no rapist.

  “Virgin or not, you’ll take the picture.”

  Allie bit down on her lip as she sneered. I snarled back, my muscles flexing. She backed off.

  “I’m done fucking around with you. Pick up the camera, pull down your shirt, and take a picture of your tits. I’m sure you can handle that simple step by step process. You don’t even need to smile.”

  But damn did I ever want to be there when she took that picture. My mouth watered as I thought about her pulling out those fat, perky breasts. I’d made a promise not to share the pictures with anyone, but it would be the ultimate test of my self-discipline.

  I offered her the camera again. She didn’t take it, so I dropped it on the mattress, then slammed my fist into the wall. Cracks spider-webbed from the impact point. Allie got the idea. She crawled over to the camera and reluctantly took it.

  My fist throbbed but I ignored it, instead pulling her phone out from my pocket.

  “Take this too.” I threw it to her and she caught it, thinking she would be getting her phone back untouched.

  “It’s got a tracking app on it,” I said. “Anything you do will be tracked. All emergency numbers are blocked too. You’ll need to text the people you were with and come up with a good cover up story. Can you do that?”

  “What if I don’t?” she asked, rather meekly.

  I tilted my head toward the wall. I’d put a good dent in it.

  Allie saw and nodded. “Okay, I’ll tell them I’m visiting my cousin here. I’ll be staying here for a few days.”

  “Good, now I’m trusting I won’t have to come back in here pissed off again.”

  Allie said nothing else. As I left, she rubbed her smeared eyeshadow and started up her phone. She’d better have listened and gone right to concocting her text message.

  My brother, Santiago, pulled me down the hallway to our meeting room. Yes, we were so well off that in our hideout location we had a grand strategy room. There was a circular table in the middle, cabinets filled with papers, and also two computers in the back that were untraceable.

  “So?” Santiago asked as he shut the door and sealed it.

  These walls were thick metal. No one would be able to hear, and there were also audio jammers in place in various locations so no one could bug us.

  I sat down onto the seat across from my other brother, Luca. Hands clasped, he leaned ahead in anxious expectation of what I’d uncovered.

  “Spit it out,” Luca said.

  Santiago sat down opposite him.

  Where should I hav
e started? The good or the bad? Allie or the diamond?

  A small grin appeared on my face. “I got the scoop. Did you think I wouldn’t? Hector said that they’d be sending the diamond to the docks at two A.M. on Wednesday.”

  “The diamond?” Luca asked.

  “Yes, the Angeline blue diamond.”

  “Shit!” he shouted and he swung up from the seat. Santiago jumped up and they bumped chests and hugged. Meanwhile, I remained sitting.

  It didn’t take them long to see my reaction.

  “What’s the deal?” Santiago said.

  “There’s been a small complication.”

  Santiago and Luca sat back down. First to question me was Luca again. “You mean that girl you brought back?”

  Santiago elbowed him. “See, I told you that he wouldn’t bring back a girl unless she was involved somehow.”

  “I heard that he put her over his shoulders when he brought her in. I thought that was just how he got girls. Smashed ‘em over the head and then carried them over his shoulder like a caveman,” Luca added.

  I wasn’t in the mood. “Will you two shut up?”

  They turned back to me.

  “The girl is a liability, yes. She snuck in when I was interrogating Hector.”

  “Snuck in?”

  They weren’t going to let me finish, were they? I sighed. “Yes, snuck in. She heard some weird noises and snuck in. She heard about the diamond, so I couldn’t let her go, but I don’t think she’s a spy or anything. She’s too innocent.”

  After exchanging glances, they both looked ready to carry on. This obviously didn’t bother them as much as I expected—as much as it bothered me.

  “Then keep her here,” Luca said.

  “How long?”

  They both shrugged. Santiago said, “As long as necessary. Can we get to drawing up plans on taking the diamond? That’s what we should focus on now, not on this girl. If you believe she’s no problem, then we’ll keep her in the spare room until we steal the diamond and sell it. Then we won’t have it and she won’t have any dirt on us.”

  I nodded. “Works for me.”

  We already printed out a map of the Guerra’s docks. Santiago scribbled the notes. I worked out who would be in charge of what. Luca offered up the strategy. When we ran into an issue that required fine tuning, Santiago chimed in.