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Isabel looked like she’d been brought back to life when she came into my room at noon the next day, shoving open my blinds and handing me a to-go coffee. “Sleeping past noon is for bitches and wannabe losers. We’ve got to get our day started,” she said.
“We didn’t get in until after five,” I groaned, sitting up and taking a sip of the chilled coffee, mixed with my favorite creamer and flavor shots.
“Youdidn’t get in until after five.Istill haven’t been home.”
I eyed the evening gown she still wore. Only a thick coat sat over it. I examined my old pajamas I had on. A pair of shorts and a long T-shirt covered all the way down to my knees. I distinctly recalled wearing these pajamas three nights ago. I wasn’t hungover when I’d gotten in, but I wascertainlyexhausted, and I remembered little of bringing myself to bed, especially when my mind still lingered on the sex I’d had with Vin. He was…excellent. He didn’t bother with gentle formalities, and that was just the way I liked it. Though none of that mattered. I didn’t bother getting more than a first name, and I assumed that name had been an abbreviation for something longer. He hadn’t even bothered to ask for my name, yet I still wondered if I’d ever see him again at that same club.
“I’m not doing anything today,” I told Isabel, switching to the water at my bedside table and taking a swig. “Why don’t we make breakfast and watch movies? We can order pizza or something.”
“That sounds like a plan. Let me go to the bathroom, then I’ll meet you in the kitchen.”
As we split ways, I passed two people in the family home, and they each waved kindly to me. I’d been a permanent fixture in this home since we’d decided on the betrothal three years ago. I’d had my own place at twenty-one, but in order to train secretly, I couldn’t afford to live alone. Plus, my dad had wanted to ensure my safety, and a family home with a dozen guards at all times would be much safer than my shoebox apartment.
I contemplated what foods were in the fridge, and I pursed my lips, wondering if anyone had gotten milk. If so, we should have had everything to make French toast… Lost in thought, I didn’t notice a household employee walking by me until I shoulder-checked herhard.“Shit,” I muttered, turning and extending an arm to ensure I didn’t hurt her. “Are you okay?”
I hardly had time to process my words as she gripped my wrists in a maneuver I thought she was using to support herself from the impact of the hit, before quickly noticing the zip ties she’d expertly secured around them. I jerked away, but she held tight, and I opened my mouth to shout and attract someone’s attention. Behind me, someone slid a sack over my head and covered my mouth with a hand, pulling me back into a hard, much larger chest. As darkness overtook me, the situation finally felt entirely real. Panic slid away and became replaced with an urgent sense of necessity. Ineededto get out of here. I couldn’t let them bring me wherever they intended. If they moved me to a secondary location, I knew I’d die.
The man picked me up roughly, and no matter how much I kicked and thrashed, trying to shout for someone to help me, I couldn’t get the upper hand. I didn’t even land a single hit on him. My movements didn’t even seem to faze him as I threw myself around. I felt as the crisp morning air brushed my bare legs, and my thrashing grew relentless as I tried and failed to escape the hold. I’d been trained for this, so why couldn’t I get so much as a single leg free? Someone had to be around to see me. I passed a minimum of six people every time I left the house, and there was no way they’d been able to avoid that.
But they did. Somehow they got me to the gravel driveway, and the door to a van slid open. The distinct sound sent my heart clattering, and the only words that ran through my mind wereno, no, no.This couldn’t be happening, but it was. I was being taken, and there wasn’t a way to fight back. Nothing could stop the inevitable from happening as the man threw me roughly into the van. The back of my shoulder hit something metal, and the side of my face slammed into the floor. I groaned and curled inward, reeling from the pain of my entire body being dropped into the hard van. The door slammed shut.
“Shit,” I said, forcing myself upright and breathing through the wince. I tried feeling for the handle of the door, but as I tugged it, I found it locked. The front door opened as I continued groping the door, trying to find a lock that must have been removed. Then we took off. “Think, Mia,” I whispered under my breath.
“There’s not much to think through. You’re in a predicament, and nothing you do now will stop that.”
I froze, the voice coming from no more than a foot or two to my right. I turned my head in that direction, finding the voice unusually familiar. Through my fear I couldn’t place it, but I knew it. I’d heard it before. The sack left my head in a swoosh, and my eyes met a set of familiar, hardened hazel ones. That ringlet of silky black hair hung right above his eye, and the smug smirk he’d given me last night rested on his lips, though this time there was no amusement or interest behind it. Only cool, calculated evil. Vin.
I gaped at him as I held my tied hands before me. My hair hung limply in my face, and I couldn’t bring myself to say a word as I stared for a moment, soaking in the silence surrounding us. Finally, once the shock wore off, I gritted my teeth. “If you wanted to fuck again, you didn’t have to kidnap me,” I finally said, shaking my head. I knew it wasn’t the right thing to say. I also knew there was a lot behind the scenes of this situation I was unaware of, but as I sat before the man who caused the soreness between my legs that I still felt today, shame reddened my cheeks.
“Mia, my littletopo,” he said, clasping his hands together in front of him.Topo. Italian for “mouse.” The nickname disgusted me.
“Don’t call me that,” I spat.
His smug expression dropped into a completely cold one. One that sent a chill running through me. I may have struggled to control my mouth at times, but I knew when I was being stared down by someone dangerous. I swallowed, leaning back and against the back of the front seat. I surveyed my surroundings, noticing that all but the back row of seats had been removed, leaving only the metal openings for two more seats to be installed. The nearly empty van was even more unsettling as I realized that he sat back on the only seats, leaving me on the floor.
“You’re lucky I didn’t kill you on the spot last night,topo,” he said in a taunting tone. He dared me to protest, and I knew better than to do it this time. “Do you even know who I am?”
“I have no fucking clue,” I told him, shaking my head. I recalled that he’d used my name, so he knew who I was. I wasn’t foolish enough to believe it was a mistake. He knew he had the upper hand in every way, especially since I had no idea how to pacify the situation and get him to release me. I took comfort in the fact I’d been trained, and I knew that so long as I was left alone with one armed person, I could get a gun and fight my way out. But if he killed me first…
I couldn’t think like that. I couldn’t allow that possibility to sink into my mind. If he took the time to take me, he had to want something.
“My name is Vincent,” he said, the coldness in his eyes somehow darkening. “Vincent Colombo.”
Oh. Oh, fuck. I now didn’t have a doubt in my mind that I was going to die today, especially after what I’d said to him last night. I’d told him that the price of his sister and father’s death had been worth it, and I hadn’t stopped to notice his expression. I hadn’t thought it was more than a fleeting platitude to a stranger, but I knew it had been so much more to him. I knew that I’d let him fuck me, and I had liked it. A curling ball of nausea roiled in my belly at that thought, and I clamped my lips together to keep from puking. He had to have known who I was, and he’d still fucked me.
My eyes shot up to his as all of this ran through my mind, and I swore that behind the cool exterior, I saw smugness in his eyes. That alone made me want to come across the van and shove my fist into his face, but I knew better than to act so thoughtlessly. I didn’t have the upper hand right now. Not even close.
“Your father created an enemy out of me after what he did,” Vincent said coldly.
“The Commission approved it,” I told him, shaking my head. “They agreed that killing your father and naming another boss was beneficial. My father was just the one in the best position to do it with the least casualties.” I knew what I said was bullshit. In technicality, that’s what had happened. But in reality, my father had been working on the Colombo demise for years. He’d been bringing every indiscretion to the Commission, and finally, after all that work, they’d agreed. If Vincent knew his father, he would’ve known that the ruling was far overdue. My father had told me of all the things they’d done for years, and I knew they deserved it.
“My sister wasn’t part of it. Harper had nothing to do withanyof this!” he shouted. “He had noright!” Vincent leaned forward as if he planned to hit me, and I flinched back, but the pain never came. He only sat in front of me, breathing heavily. I didn’t say anything as I leaned as far away from him as I could. He took a few deep breaths and sat back, his cool demeanor returning. “But I will have my payback.”
“By killing me?” I spat.
“Eventually, yes,” he acknowledged, and I wondered what that meant. Something in my mind clicked. If he didn’t plan to kill me immediately, I had a chance. I’d been trained to kill him for years, and I knew this would prove to be a unique opportunity. I could take advantage of being alive and do just that, and maybe then I’d save myself in the process. “I planned to only take and kill you, but last night gave me other ideas.” I felt myself pale with those words. “I owe your father two eyes, but you’re the only one who matters to him. But do you know what would matter to him just as much?” I shook my head slowly. “An heir.”
The words made me sick, and I fought back a dry heave. Torturing and killing me was one thing, but to do that? Vincent was evil and twisted for even thinking about that. “You…you can’t,” I told him.
