by Bella J.
I wrapped my arms tighter around my chest. “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. He got up from his seat, stalking toward me with an inscrutable look in his eyes that sent a chill down my spine.
I took a step back. “Don’t you dare touch me, Enzio.”
“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 you actually loved me and cared for me.”
He didn’t stop his slow approach. “I did love you. I still do.”
“You are incapable of love, you sick son of a bitch.” 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, and 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 hold of the anger that festered in my gut.
I took 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 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 lapdog. A coward without a goddamn spine.”
It happened so fast, I didn’t even see it coming. His palm collided with my cheek, fire and heat spreading over my skin. The sting was excruciating, and my ears rang from the blow.
“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 again? How your face lit up when I gave you your very first orgasm with my cock buried inside that sweet little pussy of yours?”
The wry, wolfish grin on his face made my stomach turn, and I realized 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 had 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 to see images of his only daughter willingly being fucked plastered all over the world. The shame of a daughter’s betrayal by claiming to love and 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, Enzio had a second bargaining chip hanging over my head. He promised to go on a murderous rampage and frame Antonio if I didn’t do as he said. So there was no other way. I had no choice, and Enzio knew it.
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 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 forced my head forward and pressed 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, there I was, staring at Dante after I 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 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 who got hurt the most. And now that I knew what Enzio and his family were capable of, I understood why Anderson always suspected the Mancusos sat behind the crime statistics of this town.
I balled my fists, trying my best not to go bat-shit crazy while my mind tried to digest everything I’d 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 red. It was 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 got lodged in my throat. I dragged 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 faced us. “What do you know about our family, Detective?”
“I don’t understand what this has to do with anything.”
Antonio crossed his arms. “I’m going to assume you know enough, then.” He sauntered over to the couch and took a seat. Was I the only one thinking we were wasting fucking time, that sitting around and looking 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 his dignity and 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 pinned me with his serious stare, “or his daughter.”
I didn’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 twisted into painful knots of nerves.
Antonio leaned forward with his elbows on his knees. “My guess is he’s planning on using Karina to get to my father.”
“How?”
Antonio glanced at Dante, and they gave 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. “What do you mean, take Karina?”
Dante stood, the sleeves of his dress shirt rolled up to his elbows. “What Antonio is trying
to say is we’re guessing Enzio plans on forcing Karina to marry him. That way, he strips every ounce of respect and pride from our father. If news spread that Karina married the enemy, the shame it will put on our family will destroy our reputation and credibility.”
“Who says he’s not planning on killing her? Wouldn’t that be the bolder move to make?” The words burned like acid in my throat.
Dante shook his head. “He won’t kill her. If he does, it would give us enough reason to declare a full-out war. It would give us the right to kill each and every last one of them without losing the support of our allies.”
I stared at him blankly. “I have no idea what the fuck you just said.”
“Listen.” Antonio pulled his palm down his face. “To you, we are nothing more than criminals who go around doing what we want. But we have rules. We don’t go around killing members of other Italian families just because we don’t like their faces.”
I shrugged. “Why the fuck not?”
“We aren’t savages, Detective. If we kill our own people just because we wanted to, that would be a disgrace to our heritage. And like my brother said, respect and pride are most important to us.”
Slowly, I started to make sense of it all. “So, Enzio won’t kill her.”
Antonio leaned back in his seat. “Not unless he wants to open the gates of hell and give us all the reason in the world to wipe out their entire family.”
“Like an eye for an eye thing?”
“Exactly. But if Enzio forces Karina to marry him, forces her to say she loves him, it would make our family seem weak, and we can’t do shit about it because to others it wouldn’t seem like the Mancusos did anything wrong.”
“It would mean checkmate,” I muttered as Enzio’s motivations became clearer. “Karina is one pawn he needs to ensure your father has no more moves left. He would lose the respect of others.”
I looked at Dante, who nodded before turning to Antonio. “What do we do, brother?”
Antonio got up from the couch. “We have to tell him.”
“No fucking way, Antonio.” Dante began to pace. “We’re not telling Dad. He won’t understand, and besides, we can’t do that to Karina.”
“What 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 had their eyes on mine, and it felt 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 I risked getting my balls cut off. But these weren’t normal circumstances, and I cared more about Karina than keeping my balls attached to my body. Yeah, pussy-whipped did not even begin to cover it.
“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 nothing, and I mean nothing, will stop me from finding her. Not you or your goddamn rules.”
Both brothers stared at me, not saying a word. For the first time in my career, my detective instincts failed me, because I had 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 us, we are still a family, and family comes first.” Dante walked over to the table and poured himself a glass of bourbon. “Plus, 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 she was young and secretly hoped our father loved her enough to accept her decision and to respect it.”
I couldn’t fucking believe what I was 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 burned like an inferno inside my chest. There was no way in hell I was losing her after I just found her. I didn’t give a shit if it had only been such a short period of time that we’d had this thing between us. All I knew was I was 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 you two jerk-offs don’t intend to do shit about finding her, while that son of a bitch is doing God knows what to her. 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 her brothers would be willing to help me find her. Guess I was wrong.”
As I turned to open the door, Antonio called after me. “What gives you the idea 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 Satan himself, and we’re no closer to finding her.”
“Hold up.” Dante rounded the table, clearly thinking something, and I hoped that something was a motherfucking plan.
Funny, I’d always thought Antonio was the brainy one with the skill to run a very successful crime syndicate. But lately, I wasn’t so sure, not when I took into consideration how Dante had been handling all this. He was cool, calm, and seemed like he was thinking straight, while Antonio appeared more on edge.
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 this is more than a chess move toward checkmate for him. For his father, maybe, but somehow I think Karina is more to Enzio than a pawn.”
Antonio walked closer, eyes narrowed. “Where are you going with this?”
Dante bit his bottom lip before his eyes widened, 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 didn’t know how long it had been since Enzio left. He locked the door, leaving me inside the room I used to see in my nightmares. It was in this room 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 what was about to happen. My heart ached just thinking about it, thinking about the betrayal my dad would feel once he heard what I was about to do. And, yes, it was going to happen. I had no choice. Enzio made sure he had the ultimate hold on me. He made sure there was no way I’d even consider not following through with his twisted idea of a marriage. But I was screwed; I had no choice. If I wanted to spare my father the worst pain a daughter could inflict, I had to do this.
; It had 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 realized how quickly hope could be torn away. For all but a few hours, I had myself convinced that maybe, just maybe my luck had changed. Maybe the time had come when I could finally be who I wanted to be. But that feeling of freedom was short-lived.
There I was, 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 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 wore 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 he was nothing more than a confident businessman. But I knew the evil that lurked behind the expensive clothes and that pretty face. There was no way he could ever hide his true colors from me again.
He placed a wrapped box with a big red bow on the bed. “I brought you something.”
“I don’t want it.”
Coolly, he placed his hands in his pockets and took a deep breath, never taking his eyes off me. Then he reached for the box and untied the ribbon. In horror, I watched as he opened the box and pulled out a pearl embroidered, white, knee-length dress.
“What is that?”
He held it up. “It’s your wedding dress.”
My stomach turned, and I placed my hands flush against the wall behind me, clawing my nails into the wallpaper. “I’m not wearing that.”