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Finally, just as I’m considering getting up and banging on the door until someone comes to find out what the racket is about, I hear the lock click. The door opens a moment later, and a tall, dark-haired man that I don’t recognize at first steps into the room.
And then, a moment later, Ido.
“It’s you.” I blurt it out before I can think better of it and stop myself, my eyes going wide. “At the party. I don’t remember your name, but—”
A sly smirk twists the corners of his mouth. “Alfio Altiere. I’m a little hurt you don’t remember me, Emma. Usually, I make more of an impression than that.”
My stomach twists uncomfortably at the sound of him saying my name. “I was a little preoccupied.”
“Ah, yes. With your date.” Altiere’s smirk doesn’t falter. “Dante Campano. He’s a bit of a thorn in my side. I’m sure you noticed that we don’t exactly get along.” He leans back against the dresser, his arms crossed over his chest as he looks at me. “And now you’re going to give me the means to get what I want.”
My stomach drops. “What are you talking about?”
Altiere chuckles. “I forget that you’re not familiar with the way we handle things. Men like Dante and I, I mean. Dante is my rival. A mafia boss with a better bloodline and more wealth, who thinks he’s better than me on account of those things.”
I stare at him. “I don’t think that’s the reason he thinks he’s better than you.”
“Hm.” That smirk curls upwards further, almost a mocking smile. “Be that as it may, Dante needs to learn a lesson. And you will be the means by which he learns that lesson.”
That cold, creeping sensation crawls over my skin again. “What do you mean?”
“I mean that you’re mine now.” Altiere does smile now, the satisfied expression of a predator who has thoroughly cornered his prey. “I know everything about you and Dante, you see, and your little fling. I know that the two of you were sleeping together. I know you brought him back to that hovel that you call home after my men finished trying to teach him a lesson the first time—”
“That was you?” I lurch upwards from where I’m sitting, a sweep of hot anger washing through me. Altiere holds up a hand, a warning look crossing his face.
“Don’t overexert yourself, Emma. And don’t even think of trying anything. You won’t escape this house, and you won’t be able to hurt me. Not without something very bad happening to you in return—something that might hurt the baby. You wouldn’t want that, would you? I could so easily strike out defending myself, and harm your precious child. I’m sure that would crush you.” A look of faux sympathy replaces the warning expression, and I feel another rush of nausea at his blatant manipulation.
“Fine,” I whisper, sinking back against the pillows. “So, what? You keep me captive, and that upsets Dante? That doesn’t seem like a very good plan.”
“Oh, but it is. You see, poor Dante has been doing everything he can to find you. But you very effectively vanished—impressive, really, for someone with no experience in doing that sort of thing. No credit cards, all cash, changing your number—it was an effort formeto find you. But I had an advantage that Dante didn’t—I managed to get your old cell phone records. All I needed was to track down that sweet girl—Abby, right?—who let you stay at her apartment, and the rest was simple. And if you want to keep her safe, as well as your baby, you’ll play along.”
I’m terrified and furious all at once. The two emotions tangle together, balling up into a painful knot in my gut. “Play alonghow?”
“I’m going to shove it down Dante Campano’s throat that you’re mine now. You and I are going to be seen at an event tomorrow night, you looking beautiful and loving on my arm, and Dante will see that I have the woman he loves. And if he wants you back, he’ll have to come and get you—which would put him in very bad standing with the Family. It might even strip him of his title of don, starting a war over a woman who has no connections with the Family. And then—well, all that territory will need a new don, won’t it?”
“This is insane.” I stare at Altiere, hardly able to comprehend what I’m hearing. “What kind of medieval shit is this? You need to move into the twenty-first century, because all of this—”
“Oh, I can see why he likes you.” Altiere laughs. “You have so many of the same ideas. It’s unfortunate that I won’t be able to let him live to play out the rest of his fantasy of slumming it with you for the rest of his life.”
I do my best not to show it, but the words cut deep. I’d been afraid of that, after all—that Dante’s desire for me had everything to do with the novelty of how different we were from one another, and not actual feeling.
But this man knows nothing about Dante and me. Not really. He might know the details, but not what we were to each other. And I plan to keep it that way.
When Altiere pushes away from the dresser, striding towards me, I shrink back. A new fear fills me, Altiere’s claims of making mehisringing in my ears, and I bite my lip, prepared to fight back. But he stops at the edge of the bed, smirking as he sees me cower.
“I do enjoy how afraid you are of me. But you’ll need to work on that before tomorrow night—you need to at least believablyseemas if you’re happy to be with me. Let me ease at least one of your fears—I won’t touch you. Not the way you seem to be worried about right now.”
I eye him suspiciously. “No?”
“No.” Altiere’s gaze sweeps over me, dispassionately enough that I almost believe him. There’s an odd twinge of disgust in his gaze, too, that would be almost insulting if he weren’t my captor. “I find few things to be as much of a turn-off as pregnancy. The thought of how you’ll look in a few months—” he shudders. “I have no desire for you. Not like that. All I want is to bring Dante Campano to his knees—and I don’t need to fuck you to do that.” He smiles once again, that slow, predatory smile, and reaches forward to grip my chin roughly. His thumb slides over my cheekbone, a mockery of how Dante once touched me, and it’s all I can do not to throw up.
“All I need to do is make sure hethinksI’m fucking you.”
He lets go of me abruptly, stepping back as he straightens his suit jacket. “I’ll have my assistant get some appropriate clothing for you. Tomorrow night, Emma.”
“Wait. Aren’t you going to feed me? And—” I swallow hard, not wanting to describe my bodily needs to this man—but surely he understands that I’m a living person, and I can’t stay locked in this room.
“You can have free rein of the house. Rooms you’re not allowed into will be locked, so don’t bother exploring. And don’t try to leave, either—my security is plentiful and very skilled, and youwillregret it.”
