Page 1

KIDNAPPED BY THE DEVIL

Heidi Rice

CHAPTER ONE

Evie

As I stood on the terrace of my luxury suite in Vito Rocco’s huge villa on his private island, Isla Donna, my gaze drifted over the dark coastline in the distance. The lights of Naples were sprinkled over the headland. A crack of lightning split the evening sky, illuminating Capri, five miles away.

My heart swelled. My sister Mia had just married a Mafia boss and I couldn’t be happier for her.

Eight months ago, I’d persuaded Mia to have a wild night with the owner of a superyacht in Naples whose exclusive party we’d managed to finagle an invite to.

Of course, we hadn’t known then that Vittorio Rocco was the head of a powerful crime syndicate, or that he would get Mia pregnant that night and end up capturing her heart.

I blinked back happy tears.

Mia and I had been on our own since I was twelve and Mia just fifteen, after our mum had run out on us. My older sister had always been so responsible, so grounded, so willing to take on any burden to protect me. But there had been no one there to protect her—which was why, despite the danger Vito lived in, I loved that they had found each other.

Their wedding today—which he’d insisted on, because my sister was due to have his baby in a few weeks’ time—had been nothing short of magical.

Vito hadn’t been able to take his eyes off her.

As I watched the storm clouds massing on the horizon, I couldn’t deny a twinge of loneliness though.

I’d spent Christmas alone this year for the first time, in the flat in London we’d once shared, because Mia’s life was with Vito now. And she was determined not to let me get any further into his world, because she was still my big sister…

I rubbed my arms, feeling the chill—even under the sweater I’d donned over my blue silk maid of honour gown.

‘You’re jealous,’ I whispered to myself.

Mia thought I romanticised her life here too much, perhaps because I’d got a bit obsessed with the man Vito had been keeping prisoner on the island for months now. The man I’d spotted yesterday morning while on my run. Mia had been furious with me when I’d asked about him, after realising he had to be related to Vito, because they looked so alike…

I hadn’t told her though, that I’d got close enough for him to see me, too. The way his intense blue gaze had scoured my body had been as exciting as it was disturbing, just before the two men who were guarding him had forced him to his knees, while shouting at me to leave immediately.

Sympathy and guilt welled in my chest, and I pressed my fist to my heart.

‘He’s not hot, he’s a killer, Evie,’ I whispered, forced to recall what Mia had told me yesterday by the pool.

Dante Malvini, Vito’s prisoner, might be his half-brother, but he was also the rival Mafia boss who had tried to kill both Mia and Vito all those months ago in Naples… On the night they’d first met. The night Mia had become pregnant.

A strange popping sound above the distant rumble of thunder snapped me out of my thoughts. Shouts came from below me in Italian, too distant to hear properly, and lights flashed along the road I’d taken yesterday to reach the cove where their prisoner was being held.

I dashed inside and closed the terrace door, breathing heavily, the sense of threat not at all romantic. I had no idea what was going on, but I was probably better off not standing exposed on my terrace.

I was so freaked out I didn’t notice the shape in the shadows behind me until a wide palm slapped over my mouth, cutting off my terrified scream.

An arm—strong, muscular, unforgiving—wrapped around my midriff and yanked me backwards, knocking the air out of my lungs when my back hit something solid.

I struggled to breathe and tried to fight, but my body was trapped against another, much bigger one, its strength immense.

‘Silenzio!’ The rough whisper against my ear had shock turning to fear. I started to shake.

Dante! It had to be him. The man I had been so fascinated with had escaped. And he was going to kill me.

In my panic I dragged in a lungful of his scent, which only disorientated me more because I caught the wild rose smell of my own shampoo. Had he been in my shower? While I was daydreaming about him?

I struggled against his hold, but my limbs seemed to weigh several tons. He lifted his hand from my mouth, only to gag me with a piece of torn fabric.