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No,no. This must be a nightmare. What kind of goddamn joke is this?
“Thomas?”
He looks at me and chuckles without a trace of warmth in his eyes. “You should’ve listened to your guard.”
“Fuck you,” I spit out and look away, quivering from inside.
I don’t know why, but his words trigger something in my mind, flooding it with pure heated rage. So these assholes have really been stalking me, huh? The only time I feel like I could be friends with someone—and he turns out to be a goddamn traitor! I tighten my fists, staring down at my lap.
They really want to kidnap me, but they have no idea what’s waiting for them.
“Dad is gonna find you,” I say hoarsely and look up at Paolo in the front seat. “He’s gonna find you, and he’s gonna kill you. All of you!”
“Sure.” Paolo looks at me over his shoulder, and I see his triumphant smirk that makes me want to scratch it off his face. “But do you really want him to find you?”
I part my lips—but I don’t know what to say to that. I escaped from Dad, didn’t I? And despite all this bullshit around me, I don’t want to go back to my old life. I don’t want to go from one prison to another, and I know that’s exactly what’s waiting for me if Dad ever lays his hands on me again.
While I get lost in my thoughts, not knowing what to say, Paolo chuckles and looks at the man next to me. “Louis, I think our princess needs some rest.”
What?
“I don’t need anything, I—”
I only have that much time to talk before, suddenly, black fabric covers my eyes and I realize that my head is covered with a linen bag. Really? I shake my head and mockingly huff, feeling the damp hotness of it on the fabric.
“Do you treat all girls like this?”
They say nothing in response, and I chuckle and lean back, feeling too tired to be scared at this point. Perhaps I do need some rest.
I have to save energy to come up with a new plan of escape.
Chapter 5 - Paolo
“So what is your plan now?” Elena leans into the frame of the video call over Riccardo’s shoulder, and the screen of my laptop shows her icy blue eyes and round Slavic features. “You can’t keep the girl here forever.”
Elena is frowning, and her lips are slightly pursed in disapproval as if she has the right to question my decisions. But as always, Riccardo doesn’t put her in her place and only turns to the camera of his phone with a silent order to answer his wife’s question. He has our family’s dark eyes, olive skin, and sharp features. The two of them look like complete opposites of each other, but it’s almost infuriating how similar their minds are.
But I don’t let my annoyance show and keep my expression neutral as I answer, “Gerardo is losing his mind as we speak. We’ve already received a few reports on his location, and it looks like he’s spreading his men all over Chicago. They got close to our border too, but Matteo detected them before they crossed it, and I sent a few men to scare them off.”
Riccardo smirks and nods in approval, but Elena doesn’t look convinced. She sits down right in Riccardo’s lap, nudging him to hold her, and crosses her arms right in front of the camera. I can barely stop myself from rolling my eyes. They really don’t care about keeping their relationship to themselves, but well, I have no right to tell them to stop.
“If the Escarra find out that Jacinta is your hostage, they may declare war—and then what? Chicago is gonna turn into a bloodbath.” Elena shakes her head and turns to Riccardo as if I’m not even here. “I don’t think it’s gonna end well.”
“And I don’t think that’s gonna happen.”
Riccardo looks up at her with a calm expression, and only I can notice the slight difference in the look of his eyes. For anyone outside of the family, Riccardo would look almost indifferent—but I can see just how smitten he is when he looks at Elena, and it makes me want to grimace and turn away.
“Gerardo is obsessed with his daughter. He wouldn’t go as far as to risk her life for a huge fight between our families.” Riccardo’s hand slides down Elena’s back while his gaze darts to the screen. “It is more plausible that Gerardo will get desperate enough to offer us a good deal—and I trust Paolo with this. You did a good job, brother. The whole operation is a huge success for our family.”
Oh. I blink, and my eyes widen in surprise as something in my chest warms up at Riccardo’s praise. No matter what, I’ve always looked up to him, and it means a lot to receive his acknowledgment. I can’t even help a small smile creeping into the corner of my lips as I accept his words with a nod.
It’s too awkward to say thank you though, so I only clear my throat and scramble for a change of topic. “So when do you guys plan to…when do you plan to come back?”
A knock on the door interrupts me in the middle of the question, and even though it’s quiet enough to let me finish it, it does distract me. I look away from the laptop and see Alberto, the butler of Riccardo’s mansion, in the doorway. He knows better than to interrupt me without a good reason, so when I catch a concerned frown on his face, it makes me sit up.
While Elena tells me something about the sunny weather and California beaches, Alberto gestures at the door a few times and mouths something that looks likeJacinta. Ah, damn it. Again?
I huff out loud, and Riccardo seems to catch that. “Paolo? Did something happen?”
