CAPTIVE: A DARK MAFIA ROMANCE

by Amaya Black

  He said nothing and very slowly, eased the papers out of the packet and laid them on the breakroom table. There were ants milling around from cake crumbs left behind by somebody.

  "Come and look Little Star," he smiled in my direction.

  I HATED that name with a passion.

  That name was probably responsible for why I was in the situation in the first place. Because a man had given me a name... If I didn't get it over with, I'd never get him out of this building. Sucking it up, I walked over to read his stupid documents.

  "I'm not agreeing to anything," I eyed him.

  A smirk appeared on his face and I grabbed for the papers. The temptation to rip the papers into teeny tiny particles occurred to me. It twisted and flitted through my brain like gentle flaps of a caged bird's wings. I could imagine the pieces falling like snow all over the floor but I didn't. My eyes scanned the black ink and I realized that Valentin had had a legal contract drawn up. One particular clause caught my eye.

  "The mother of Alexandra Davis will consent to having the child's name changed on an agreed date..."

  "Yes," Valentin spoke no hint of emotion in his voice.

  Taking a deep breath, I kept on scanning. It was all legal jargon that seemed to be nothing more than formalities that required me to sign off on them. Relaxing a bit, I flipped to the second page and my eyes grew wide. I stopped reading and slammed the papers down on the table.

  "You're insane," I stated and tried to back away, but he was already closing in and looming over me.

  "You're going to sign it.."

  Trapped between a door and well...a hard place, I felt like crying again for the second time in a day. My hands instantly went to his chest to push him away because I was feeling overwhelmed. That turned out to be a mistake because my hands became gripped in Valentin's. His grip was hard and firm but not biting.

  "I'm not signing a damn thing," I said.

  He began to apply more pressure then, and my fair skin began to turn red. "You don't want me to take our daughter, Little Star."

  "What you're asking for, Valentin. It's...."

  "Your flesh in exchange for what you owe."

  Valentin's body was pressed firmly up against my own now. A flush was creeping its way up onto my cheeks and I could feel him aroused. A cough was hitched in my throat. It dryly scrapped the back of my throat and I hoped it would deter him from working the black body con dress up around my waist.

  It didn't.

  Once the dress was around my waist, slowly he brushed his fingers over my thighs before going between them. I was only wearing the thinnest of thin fabric.

  A thong.

  You know, because regular underwear wouldn't have gone with such a tight-fitting dress.

  "Do you remember those nights," he asked.

  I already knew what he was thinking about. I knew what he was remembering, and I swear it was like my body had never forgotten either.

  "No," I lied and turned my head trying to not to give in.

  "Let me remind you then..."

  His words were a whisper that tickled my ear. His breath was warm and left a fever across my neck.

  God...he was a sin.

  "You should stop," I tried to push him away.

  "I'm going to fucking ruin you, Astrid. But first...I'm going to fuck you against the door of this break room. Your punishment will start now whether you sign the papers or not."

  "Why are you being cruel," I whispered back.

  God... I could just imagine what Earlina was thinking. There was a clock on the wall of the breakroom. I'd only been gone a few minutes either way.

  "Cruel? Astrid you haven't seen cruel. This is me being nice."

  Pop!

  "Ahh," I breathed.

  His hand had popped against my pussy. It hadn't been a harsh tap, but I feared it was just a warning.

  Valentin didn't do soft.

  He wanted to punish me.

  "Now, I asked you a question, Little Star," he murmured.

  His hands had slipped between my thighs, dragging over the fabric. It caused a small moan to stir. I couldn't think straight.

  "What?" I breathed harshly.

  "Do you remember those nights...after your shifts at the restaurant. The days when you had made me beg to touch you," he sighed. "My sweet innocent Little Star. I dreamed for days how you would taste on my tongue."

  My eyes snapped open and I looked up to find his green eyes watching me intently. He was remembering everything I wanted to forget. I had been the stupidest girl on damn Earth forever falling for him.

  "It's nice you want to go down memory lane," I stated. "But that was years ago, and I'm not interested. Also, I won't be signing a contract that stipulates I'm your mistress."

  He chuckled and I took my shot and shoved him as hard as I could. He only moved a few inches but that was all I needed. My hand found the doorknob and I practically fell into the hallway getting away from him. This only seemed to amuse Valentin, but he let me go.

  Nope.

  I was done for the day.

  Going to my station, I grabbed my car keys and stopped by to tell Earlina I needed to head out.

  "Oh Mami," she said. "You're looking flushed. Who was that big handsome man I saw you with?"

  Jesus Christ! Earlina didn't give two shits about me having a man in here. She was probably going to ask if he had a brother for her. She smiled on as I explained I needed to go and pick Lexie up from the day care immediately.

  "Okay, see you tomorrow," she stated and went back to ringing up customers.

  I didn’t let out a breath until I was behind the wheel of my destroyed vehicle. Today had barely even gotten started but it had already gone to hell. I just wanted to get Lexie, get home and binge my soaps that I was behind on and eat that jar of gelato I'd hidden from myself.

  As I was pulling off, I saw Valentin step out.

  I rolled down my window and shot him the bird.

  "Fuck you and your contract you kinky bastard," I muttered screeching out into traffic.

  Chapter 14

  Valentin

  Operation Make Astrid Pay had gone into full affect the moment that she declined my contract and advances of trying to fuck her up against the door. I had wanted nothing more in that moment than to bury myself into her body and make her scream while the customers of the hair salon listened on and whispered about how they weren't getting fucked that way.

  The second I'd watched her drive away, I'd put in a call to detective friend of mine who owed me. She had left me choice. I had offered her a deal and she had thrown my generosity back into my face.

  "It'll take a day or so to get things rolling," Detective Shine had said.

  "I don't give a fuck how long it takes but it had better be soon," I stated.

  "I understand," he'd replied and hung up.

  That had been two days ago. Now I was watching as my phone rang in my hand as Astrid hit me back to back. She'd called me exactly three times in fifteen minutes. This time I decided to answer.

  "Hello?"

  "Hello?....are you fucking kidding me right now?"

  "Astrid, hello. Is everything okay with Lexie?"

  She began to scream into the phone. Holding it away from my ear, I waited until she had stopped.

  "Sorry, I caught none of that. What is going on?"

  She sounded like she was crying now. "You're behind this some how. Chicago detectives raided my apartment this morning. All of my assets are fucking frozen. You psychopath. I'm being evicted from my apartment."

  "I'm not sure how this is my fault or my problem...again is our daughter okay?"

  "No, Valentin. She's not okay. She watched her mother get fucking handcuffs placed on her...I just don't understand why."

  A smirk spread across my face.

  Both Astrid and myself knew exactly why this was happening.

  She was wasting my time with the phone call.

  "You know why, Astrid. But you didn't want to pay th
e price. There are consequences for actions...I told you I was going to fucking ruin you."

  "God, you're a son of a bitch. I have a hundred dollars to my name...everything I had is being examined by forensic accountants. How am I supposed to take care of Lexie....her day care fee.?"

  "You know how to make this all go away..."

  I ended the call and then watched her call me back to back again. This time I didn’t plan to answer. Looking up, I found Liam standing in the doorway. I'd been using his office computer to scour over business reports for the clubs. They were doing well and the insurance check had just came in from our previously destroyed club.

  "You're taking a lot of pleasure in this," Liam stated.

  "I have no clue what you're talking about," I shrugged and went back to the financials at hand. "How was the honeymoon?"

  "I'm hoping that I've impregnated Nova," my cousin smiled.

  I gagged.

  "Don't tell me any details."

  "Hah...we've shared women but this puts you off. Me talking about impregnating my wife."

  "Nova's different," I said. "I respect her very much."

  "Then will you cut Astrid some slack?"

  I looked up and frowned then. He was smirking and I knew Nova had asked him to speak with me.

  It would do no good.

  "Cut her slack...I have a daughter's whose life I missed out on... because of her best friend."

  "From what Nova's mentioned...seems like Astrid made the best of a shitty situation."

  I watched as my cousin played with a silver pen he always used to sign documents. It glinted in the light coming from the office window. My eyes snapped to his face.

  "This is none of your concern...."

  He held up his hands. "I can at least go back to my lovely wife and tell her, I tried. Now, has there been any news with Viktor or Katia, at least."

  Sitting back in the chair, I relaxed. "Viktor has been quiet and the little spy I put in his camp has been quiet. For now, he's in hiding."

  "And Katia..."

  "I've been doing some digging. It seems that while she was missing for all those years, she use to use an alias. Holly Lassiter."

  A frown creased Liam's face. "She used my mother's name."

  "Yes," I said. "I think it will help me find my brother before Viktor gets his clutches into him. In fact, I was about to take Katia for a little drive."

  Liam nodded. "She's on borrowed time...Nova wants her out of this house as soon as possible."

  Clasping my hands in front of me, my thoughts became muddied. I could understand. Nova's feelings about having Katia here. My stepmother was a target and Viktor knew that we had her. Despite all the extra security around the mansion, we really were a ticking time bomb.

  "I'm on it," I said standing.

  Once Liam and I parted ways, I gathered up Katia who dressed in the slinkiest thing she owned. I stood watch while she dressed and the entire time she smiled but said nothing. Rolling my eyes, I checked my phone and saw that I had no more missed calls from Astrid. Surely, she was thinking of me in her distressed state and all I could do was smile.

  "Where are we going?" Katia asked as I helped her into my car.

  Saying nothing, I shut the door to the black Lamborghini I was thinking of trading in. Lexie would need something a lot safer than a car that could reach lightening speeds. The leather seats conformed in familiarity to my body once I got behind the wheel. The view of Katia's legs beneath the short dress she'd donned came into view.

  "I'm going to go all the places Holly Lassister visited," I smiled.

  In that moment, Katia's face became crestfallen. If despair had been a bitch, she was sitting next to me now. Her hand went for the door but I was already speeding off. If she was thinking of jumping from the car, she thought twice.

  "Now why don't you get comfortable," I stated. "Seems the last place you visited under that name is about a two hour drive from here. You should start talking because there’s a hundred places to dump your body in between here and there."

  Katia went to say something but closed her mouth. Just like that, she clammed up and had nothing else to say. Not that I was surprised in the slightest bit. I had been observing my step mother, probably more than I needed to. However, since I'd had my cock in her mouth, I kept my distance. I should have never crossed the line with her but it'd happened. Regret circled my brain.

  "I'm hungry," she said after a while.

  "And?"

  "You wouldn't let me starve, now would you?"

  Clearly, Katia didn't know who the fuck she was dealing with. Yet, I didn’t' want to hear her whining either for the rest of the drive. Rolling my eyes, I found us a restaurant to eat at. It was one of those little tasty freeze type of place where you could order burgers and fries. Teenagers were milling around everywhere including behind the counter.

  When our food was ready to go, we leaned against the trunk of the car. I sipped on the milkshake and watched her eat, her fried oozing in ketchup.

  "Why Holly?" I asked.

  She stiffened but continued eating. Her tongue darted out to clean the ketchup from her fingers before she grabbed a napkin.

  "It seemed to fit, " she shrugged. "I wanted to steal a piece of her life the way she'd stolen a piece of mine."

  "I'm confused?"

  "Men are always in the dark," she offered up.

  "Then enlighten me, Katia. You were gone for eighteen years...what made you come back?"

  She smirked then. "Isn't it obvious? Revenge, is what drove me. But it was too late to take revenge on my sister. She was already dead. But Viktor...he was there and willing."

  She looked like she was finally ready to talk. Her fingers ran themselves through her tresses in frustration, but she clearly needed me to hear the story of she wouldn't have started. A warm wind came and she closed her eyes tilting her head up to meet the warmth of the sun.

  "Viktor raped me when I was seventeen years old...he stalked me for weeks. Always around the corner when I was getting home from school and I told my sister...but she didn't believe me," Katia's eyes landed on mine. "Then I found out I was pregnant...running away seemed like the best option. I gave birth and gave him up. The only thing that has kept me alive all these years was how I was going to destroy your father."

  "And what about my brother?"

  "Half-brother," she corrected me. "What about him? I used him as a way to get close to Viktor...he was going to be his heir since you were already so...fucked up, " she stated. "His words, not mines."

  We cleaned up the mess and got back into the car, driving in silence. I quietly contemplated my sperm donor; Viktor was a son of bitch....raping someone and impregnating them. It made a shudder run down my spine and couldn’t quite shake the feeling that something was going to happen.

  "Pull over," Katia said.

  "What?"

  "Pull over," she said again.

  We were on a back road now, just a few miles from the nearest town. I eased the car over and off the road.

  "What?"

  "We can't blow this kid's life up like this," her eyes were wide and almost brimming with tears. "I owe him this much to keep Viktor away from him. I'll die to protect him from all of this Bratva shit. He's with a good family, goddamn it! People who love him. Who want the best for him."

  Katia's porcelain body began to wrack itself with sobs and she began to wail. She wailed until her cries became soft and she had cried herself out. When she looked up, her eyes were red and tired looking.

  "His name, Katia...tell me," I whispered. "Tell me so that I can protect him from Viktor."

  "I can't," she said.

  "If Viktor finds out before I do...that's it. All the shit you've been through didn't mean a damn thing,” I swallowed. “And I’ll protect you too.”

  The moments seemed to tick by. Katia stared straight ahead, and darkness seemed to pool into the car. The atmosphere seemed to become thick with some sort of tension, so thick you could h
ave cut it with a knife. Cars passed along the high way, their headlights bouncing around in a dizzying swirl of illumination.

  “Do you promise?”

  “What?”

  “That you’ll protect both of us?”

  My hands reached out and we focused on each other. Her pale skin was warm underneath my touch. Starring into her eyes, I nodded. Katia could trust me with her life and the life of my brother. Viktor wouldn’t touch them.

  “Connor,” she whispered. “His name is Connor Jameson. He’s going to be a Freshman at the University of Chicago this fall. I’ve kept up with him from a distance and he is everything good and pure…everything I’m not. That his father is not.”

  “Let’s get back to the city,” I nodded.

  “Okay,” Katia said sitting back against the seat she occupied.

  A soft sigh escaped her lips. The tension had eased in the car with me learning the identity of my half brother. I would immediately put guards on him, and he would be none the wiser. The next step was getting Katia set up in her own space. I still didn’t trust her exactly, but she had bought herself more time by giving up the information that I wanted.

  Chapter15

  Astrid

  I had dropped Lexie off at my aunt's house. I was down to my last twenty dollars and had to use that for gas or else I would have been drifting through the streets of Chicago. The gas light on the rental car I was driving popped on the moment I pulled away from the curb.

  Finding the nearest gas stations, I eased to the pump and parked. Surveying the area, I got out and walked into the store to pay. The air smelled foul and frozen as though something had died in the air ducts. The attendant tried to make conversation, but I smiled and quickly paid. He had given me the creeps and I wanted to get away from him immediately.

  I pumped and then zoomed over to the mansion. The circular driveway was clear and it seemed eerily quiet. Valentin's black Lamborghini was nowhere in sight and a little wave of relief went through my body. Flexing my hands on the steering wheel of the Ford Fiesta, I noted the time and took a deep breath. I'd been trying to get up with this asshole for at least two days but he hadn't been answering any of my texts or phone calls. In fact, I was more than sure that the he was sending me to voicemail.