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When I thought about being handcuffed in bed a few weeks ago while I was practicing some self-care with my own fingers, this was not exactly what I had in mind. But oh well.
In one fluid motion, Rico climbs off me and straightens on the floor next to the bed. I sit up and swing my legs over the edge of the bed while he pulls out something else from his belt.
Black fabric flutters in the air as he tosses it at me.
“Put it on,” he commands.
I catch it awkwardly with my shackled hands and hold it up in front of me. It’s a black hood.
“A bag over my head?” I say dryly and roll my eyes. “How very mafia of you.”
His eyes sharpen. “What was that?”
Panic crackles down my spine. Fuck.
Lifting my shoulders in a nonchalant shrug, I keep that dry amusement on my features as I reply, “I said, how very mafia of you.” Before he can comment on it, I hold up the hood and let out a huff. “You know, sometimes I wonder if you and the rest of your brothers haven’t in factalreadystarted working as hitmen for the Morelli family. Even though you haven’t even graduated yet.” I move the hood towards my head. “You sure act like it at least.”
Then I pull it on, hoping that I convinced him with my careful twist of words to explain away what I actually meant.
Since the bag is made of thick material, I can’t see anything with it on. But I can hear him as he moves closer. His hands appear on my arms a moment later, and he pulls me to my feet. After tightening the strings of the bag around my neck, presumably so that it won’t fall off, his hands disappear again.
I expect him to move to my side and grab my upper arm so that he can lead me to wherever it is that we’re going. But he doesn’t.
My stomach lurches, and I let out a yelp in surprise as he grabs me by the hips and throws me over his shoulder instead.
“What the hell?” I grumble.
He lets out a dark laugh. “You wanted mafia. I’ll give you mafia.”
12
RICO
She is silent the entire car ride. All she does is to sit there in the passenger seat in the t-shirt and hot pants that she apparently sleeps in, with her handcuffed hands in her lap and that black bag over her head. She does, however, rub her thumb on her palm and twist her fingers together, over and over, in a decidedly nervous way. And then, as I park the car at the edge of the woods and look over at her, for the second time ever, I feel a sense of doubt.
What if I’m wrong?
She had sounded so sincere back there in her apartment. The frustration, thedesperation, had been so real when she screamed back at me that she couldn’t take being ambushed and attacked like this anymore.
What if she really is just a random girl who simply happens to have the same eye color as the assassin from that night? What if I have done all of these awful things to someone who is completely innocent? The thought opens up a pit in my stomach.
I run my gaze over her body again. She is sitting as stiff as a board, still nervously wringing her hands in her lap.
That seed of doubt grows a little larger. What if—
No. Shaking my head, I force those thoughts away. Itisher. She even said that thing about how it was such a mafia move to put a bag over her head. Though I suppose her explanation did make sense. Everyone knows that the Hunters work for our family. But it doesn’t matter. Because itisher. Otherwise…
Shaking my head again, I shove aside any lingering sense of doubt and then open the driver’s side door. Isabella remains sitting in the passenger seat as I throw the door shut again and stride around the car. She flinches slightly as I open her door.
Calculated. All of it is calculated.
I reach over her and unbuckle her seatbelt before grabbing her arm.
“Let’s go,” I order as I pull her out of the car.
She staggers out and then stumbles along beside me as I lead her into the forest. It’s pitch black. Only the headlights from my car break up the darkness and illuminate our way as I walk Isabella to a tree a short distance into the woods. Grabbing her by the shoulders, I turn her around and then move her so that her back is pressed against the tree trunk. She sucks in a shuddering breath from underneath the dark hood.
A faint click sounds as I unlock her handcuffs. Walking up behind her, I pull her arms back behind the trunk and then lock the handcuffs around her wrists again. It traps her completely to the tree.
