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Shrugging, he loads onto his bike and says, “Business is business.”
Five hours and six visits later, we’re sitting pretty with a hundred Gs in our pack. Fifty for the charities we fund anonymously because they’d never take it if they knew where it came from, and fifty to cover the payroll of those in government we want to keep under our thumb. But my gains and losses have nothing to do with money and everything to do with the vows of loyalty.
Danny wasn’t the only one to remind me how easy Tony made it for them to cheat him out of his fair share. And he wasn’t the only one who paid with his life for it.
No, it’s not the way Tony would have done it. But this isn’t Tony’s world anymore.
It’s mine.
9
CARINA
The sound of a door closing in the distance wakes me. I attempt to sit but am reminded of my situation almost immediately as pain lances from my shoulders to my wrists.
Fucking Luca. Fucking Alma and my father.
I pull violently, which I’m fully aware is pointless, because I’ve tried to free myself many times already. All night, I’ve struggled against the cuffs, even considered breaking my hands if it would mean getting away. But the image of my family paying the price for this huge deception is the only thing that’s kept me from going that far.
I can’t be sure how many hours have passed, but it has to have been at least eight, given the fact that through the window, I see the first hints of daylight.
At some point, I must have dozed off, impossible as it may have seemed, yet I’m still exhausted. I’m sore and hungry, and I peed myself, all while my father and Alma are free. And though I’m doing this for them, I hate them a little for it too.
Tears prick my eyes, and I turn my head into the crook of my arm to wipe them before they roll down my cheeks.
That’s when I hear footsteps, clear and heavy, coming up the stairs. I stop breathing, knowing it’s Luca. No one else lives in the house, and he said he’d made sure everyone else stayed away.
Then the door to the room opens, and he stands there staring at me as if he has more of a right to be angry that I do. As if he’s the one in the humiliating position of being secured to the bed in a dirty wedding dress and at the mercy of a criminal.
“What took you so fucking long?” I hiss, and I hate that the tears I’ve been trying to keep at bay spill from my eyes for him to witness.
“I wasn’t aware you were waiting for me.” He steps inside and the sunlight beginning to spill into the room makes the weariness on his face visible.
“So, have you decided my fate, then?” I ask, my damned voice cracking at the end. “Are you going to kill me?”
“What I should do is find your father and sister, then tie their asses next to you and have the three of you beaten for lying to me.” His tone is so calm yet so full of menace that I find myself trembling in spite of myself. “But what I’m actually going to do is give you a choice.”
“A choice?”
“When I bartered for Alma, it was because I had certain needs that she could meet. But because you took it upon yourself to fill in for her, I’m going to assume you believe you can meet those needs just as well. If you can do that, I will refrain from hunting her down.”
I swallow the panic that’s threatening to choke me. “What needs are you talking about?”
He comes closer to the bed, and I recoil, pulling my legs to me. “I want a prize on my arm. Something pretty to look at, not hear. I don’t want a chatterbox. I don’t like meddling. Unless you’re told otherwise, when I’m doing business, you will be elsewhere. I want respect. And above all else, unquestionable obedience. Can you do that, Carina?”
“Obedience?” I laugh, and he narrows his eyes to near slits, so I stop.
The word alone raises my hackles. Searing heat chases the ice from my veins and amplifies the tightening of my jaw. I bite my tongue to keep from ruining what I’m sure is the only chance I’ll be given.
“Can. You. Do. That?” he asks with long pauses between each word.
“That’s all you want? A mute wife who obeys?” I huff. “I can do that.”
If it means my family will be safe, I’ll tape my own fucking mouth shut.
“That’s not all.” The corners of his lips tug up as he rakes me with a salacious stare I’ve never seen from him. “Your body will also be mine to do with as I please.”
“You’re fucking cra—”
