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Mom once told me that the phrasefeminine issuecould disarm any man. The guard opens the door, frowning.
It’s Edoardo or “Eddie.” I recognize him from when I was a kid. He always bought us candy and asked about school politely and respectfully. I later learned he and his wife had lost a daughter. He’s short and wide, his shirt untucked, and his hair messy and wet, where he used some product to sweep it over. “Miss—”
“Eddie, you’ve got to remember me.”
A shadow of a smile. “Of course I do. Let me see if I can get somebody to fix the toilet.”
“It’s urgent. I can’t wait. Please don’t make me humiliate myself.”
He frowns, stepping back. “Okay, but you have to be quick.”
When he starts following me, I turn, flashing him a look. “I know the way, Eddie. I’ve only been here about a million times.”
He keeps following me to the door, so I walk inside and sit on the closed toilet lid.
Everything in here is so shiny, cared-for, expensive, and… I see it now. Maybe I was toocloseto see it before. It all screamsmafia.
The window only opens a crack in here, way too narrow for my curvy figure. Maybe Rosa could slip out, but even she’d have to graze herself. Back in the hallway, I take the “wrong” turn, heading for the front door instead of the basement.
“Miss,” Eddie hisses, trailing after me.
I grab the front door and pull on it. It’s locked, so I spin and glare at Eddie. I’m sayingIdo this, andIdo that, but it’s likeI’mnot even here anymore. Instead, it’s the girl who sat at Mom’s bedside, holding her hand, struggling to believe this hand was the same one as last week. It kept getting smaller.Shekept getting smaller.
“Where’s the key?” I demand.
“Miss…”
“Eddie, where’s the fucki—”
The door starts to open. I turn, my mind racing into ridiculous places, like maybe I can hurry down the steps before the person entering can react. It will mean knocking them aside, but I can do it.
Where am I going to go after? The new apartment, surrounded by people I don’t know?
There’s no time to think that far ahead. I step forward, and Leo sweeps me into his arms, wrapping them around me, crushing me against his chest when I lash out. Only when I kick my legs do I realize he’scarryingme back into the house.
His body is solid against mine. Oh, heck, I’m panting now, and not just from anger.
I can feel his muscles pushing against me and something else brushing my tailbone as I shift around.
No way. That can’t be right. It must be a gun. There’s something hard pushing against me as he carries me farther down the hallway, then puts me down in front of Angelica’s shrine. No, he obviously wasn’thard.
“Going somewhere?” Leo says.
His smirk and demeanor are supposed to be confident and commanding, but he’s all disheveled from our tousle. There’s something unhinged in his eyes.
“What happened?” he asks Eddie.
“She said she wanted to use the bathroom. She wasn’t going to get anywhere.”
“I know,” Leo says. “Don’t worry. Where were you planning on going, Emma?”
Again, when he says my name, there’s a tickle of something inappropriate and wrong. I shouldn’t let myself feel like this, the teasing sensation moving through me, making my sex ache. I never usually think about my sex in terms of parts, like my clit, my lips, my hole, but he makes each one feel a different way. My clit is hot and tight, eager for attention. My lips are almost throbbing like they’re getting ready for him, and my hole is waytoowet, considering I’m a kidnappee.
“None of your business.”
He grins at me like I’m his pet and he’s indulging me. I should hate it, but I don’t.
“It would be my business if the Russians got you. There’s nowhere to go—nowhere safer than right here. Now, go to your room.”
