Page 2 of Mine to Keep

My heels pounded into the pavement as I raced ahead. When I glanced back, the SUV was hurtling toward me. One of the doors flew open and a man jumped out, followed by another from the front seat. Instinctually, I brought up the pepper spray in an attempt to protect myself, but there was no chance to aim. In my panic, I missed, and the two men closed in on me. They were massive, both well over six foot and built like linebackers.

I was just over five feet. I sucked at push-ups. I didn’t stand a chance against them. Their arms closed around me, and I screamed, but I knew no one would come. No one gave a damn about anyone here in the city. That was pretty much a part of the New Yorker guidelines.

A massive hand slapped over my mouth, and I tried to bite it, but I couldn’t get any leverage. One of the men grunted as he forced my arms behind my back. Metal rings clapped around each wrist, and I cried out, only realizing that they were handcuffs when it was too late. I screamed again, not caring that the sound was muffled. I kicked and twisted my body hard to break away, but it did nothing. They were massive, strong, and they shoved me into the backseat of the oversized SUV with terrifyingly overwhelming ease.

My back slammed against the leather seat, and I sucked in a cry as the metal pinched at the skin of my wrists. The cuffs were too tight, and I bit my lip, knowing that they were likely to leave marks; that is, if they ever came off. I struggled to breathe regularly, trying to keep my billowing trepidation at bay. I folded my fingers together, lifted my head, and attempted to hide the way my body was shaking.

Was this it? Was this how my life was going to end?

I used those brief moments to get a handle on my surroundings. The SUV was set up like the back of a limo. There was a driver, but I couldn’t quite make out his face through the tinted divider. Two of the brutes that had captured me sat across from me.

Someone slipped a blindfold over my face, cutting off my line of vision. He cleared his throat and I blinked back tears. I didn’t want to die. This wasn’t how my life was supposed to go.

“Is she really worth it, boss? This is your last chance to back out,” one of the men murmured. He sounded rational at least. Potentially kind as far as criminals that kidnap women off the street go anyway. Maybe I could use that. At this point, I would take anything.

“This bitch? Oh, she’s going to get what’s coming to her,” another answered, but his voice was distinctly different than the first. He sounded younger, entitled somehow, and I curled my shoulders forward as I retreated as far back into the seat as I could manage.

“Why her? You’ve got all the money in the world. You could buy any woman for a night, but you choose this one?” Mr. Rational asked softly. The seat creaked as he sat down. He’d sat next to me.

“No. It must be this one. I’m going to run the family differently than my cocky arrogant piece of shit father. I want everyone to know I’m in charge and when I give an order, they will obey,” the other voice continued. He leaned toward me. I didn’t need to see him to know that his face was inches from mine.

The whiskey on his breath told me everything I needed to know.

Fingertips slid along my jaw, up toward my brow. He grabbed the blindfold and ripped it away, scratching my cheek in the process.

The overhead lights were on. I could see his face. I knew him.

Anthony Montagna.

He didn’t move, but it was as if he’d reached across the car and slapped me. I opened and closed my mouth, wanting to say something but nothing came out.

To this day, I remembered the feeling of his harsh grasp on my arm like it was branded into my flesh. The thought of it made my skin crawl.

He and I had gone to the same boarding school. I hadn’t known who he was until my senior year. He’d always struck me as some sort of arrogant asshole, but I stayed out of his way and mostly under the radar, or so I thought I had anyway.

Our high school had been ritzy. All the students were ridiculously rich, the kind of trust fund rich that meant they’d probably never have to work a day in their lives. Everyone went out to lunch at fancy restaurants every day except for me. I hid behind the school and ate my bagged lunch, too embarrassed to let anyone see the sad state of my ham and cheese on wheat bread. He’d noticed though.

I remembered that day like it was yesterday. It was my senior year, about a week after my eighteenth birthday when he’d come for me.

I’d had my headphones in my ears, so I hadn’t heard him coming. Before I even knew what was happening, his fingers had wrapped around my wrist, and he’d thrown me back against a wall. Immediately, his body had surrounded mine, pressing me back against the brick and cutting off any avenue of escape.

He’d torn the headphones from my ears, his forearm practically shoved against my neck, while his other hand pawed at my breasts.

“Look at you, hiding back here like some common whore, waiting for a man like me to come and take you and give you exactly what you deserve,” he growled.

“Get off of me,” I seethed. “You’ve got no right.”

“I have every right. Do you even know who I am, Ava Richardson? Because I know everything about you,” he retorted. His fingers curled around the collar of my white shirt, and he ripped it right open, exposing the cheap cotton bra I was wearing beneath.

“Let go of me, Tony. I’ll scream,” I replied furiously. I knew he hated the name Tony. He’d always corrected every teacher who had the audacity to call him that nickname. It made him seem like one of the most pompous dickheads in the whole school.

“I’ll do more than make you scream,” he replied, and I snarled with anger. I twisted my body hard and brought my leg up, kneeing him in the balls with a ferocity that I was still proud of to this day. He’d crumpled with a high squealing cry, and I’d pushed him aside to the ground, making my escape as quickly as I could. I ran back to my dorm and didn’t come out again that day. The next morning, I rearranged my schedule to avoid any classes with him. I started hiding out in the library for lunch and after classes ended, I would make sure to tail groups of girls on their way back to the dorms.

It worked. Or at least I’d thought it had until now.

I stared into those cold brown eyes, seeing that he hadn’t lost any bit of the arrogant entitlement that I remembered. He still stared at me like I owed him something, like he was better than me just because he’d grown up in the embrace of his parents’ success.

“She’s just a girl, boss,” the logical one continued.

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