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“Oh, I am not so sure about that. What makes you think this wasn’t Alessio’s plan all along?” A taunting female voice echoed around the concrete walls as I craned my neck to see Isabelle strutting in wearing killer red stilettos and a black dress. Her narrowed eyes were full of amusement and malice as she looked me over.
“Isabelle? What’s going on? Where’s Alessio?” I shouted, wriggling my body against the ropes.
“Meeting with your brother, like he said,” she smiled, standing in front of me.
“I- I don’t understand. What is this?”
Her smile grew and sent a shiver down my spine. Pure evil was the only expression on her face. She looked at me as if I was someone who had committed the most horrendous of crimes against her, yet I didn’t even know the fucking woman.
“You know, I used to envy you,” she spoke with distaste as she stepped closer to me, towering over me in her heels. “Knowing you were a mafia princess in your twenties who had never been forced to marry. You would never be forced to sell yourself to please the men in your family. But now I see it. You have no idea how to be in this world. You have no idea how to survive it.”
I frowned deeply, looking down at my bound ankles as I attempted to pull one of my legs free, but it was no use.
“Women like us will always be used, Elenora. It is the way of our world. But we can have a say in how we are used, if we are clever enough. Unfortunately for you, your plan didn’t work.”
“What plan? What the hell are you talking about?”
“Your plan to make Alessio fall in love with you,” she tilted her head to the side as my eyes widened.
“Oh,” she suddenly burst out laughing, leaning over to hold her knee before looking back at the soldier who had shot Stefano. “Massimo! How pathetic is she? She really believes he loves her!”
He smirked, folding his arms over his chest and I stared between them.
“Isabelle, what the fuck is going on? Alessio and I are together. We are going to get married. That is why he is meeting my brother right now and when he finds out about this, he is going to lose his fucking head!”
She stopped laughing and looked down at me with pity in her eyes that caused the most dreaded feeling to brew in my chest as she shook her head. “Oh, you poor naive little girl. Of course you would think that… because those are the lies he has fed you.”
My body started trembling as I stared into her cold eyes.
“What?” My voice didn’t even sound like my own, weak and vulnerable.
“Let me guess…” she started circling my chair, the sound of her heels clicking on the cold floor. “First, it was his rugged good-looks and effortless masculinity. Who can deny that he isn’t the sexiest man alive, right? But then he started to show you a kinder, softer side to him… the man behind the mafia? He picked away until he had you right where he wanted you… on your knees, ready to please him in every way possible. And the sex…” she fanned her face as she appeared in front of me again. “Once you started, there was no going back. Once you’ve had a man like Alessio Barbieri, no one will compare.”
My frown grew as my mind whirled with manic confusion, but her words were striking me right in the core of my heart.
“He knew he had you physically craving him. Needing his touch. But that is never enough for a man like him. He wanted to destroy you, Elenora. It’s fun for him. Watching you pull down your walls and trusting him. Falling in love with him. Did he protect you? An act of pure heroism that made you fall for him? He is good at that. Looking like the hero when really he is the ultimate villain. I truly do feel sorry for you.”
I shook my head, anger erupting to the surface. “I’m not listening to this. You are wrong! You don’t know anything about us. Tell me why you are doing this!”
She cocked her head to the side again, “You know it’s all true. Every word of it. You just can’t admit it to yourself because you are scared of how much it will break you. The truth. That you don’t really know him at all. Or what he is capable of doing to achieve his success.”
“I do know him! Better than you do! You are just some jealous, scorned woman who hates everything I represent. Yes, we are both mafia princesses but I am loved. I have a family who would do anything for me. And Alessio and I have found each other and have fallen in love, which you can’t stand. For whatever reason, you want him to be as miserable as you!”
Her face morphed into a look of pure rage as she stormed forward and leaned down close to my face.
“Tell me then, Princess. Has Alessio told you he loves you? Has he said those words?” she hissed. My nostrils flared as I stared into her eyes, hoping she couldn’t see the doubt that was slowly crawling under my skin. Her huge lips pulled up into a vindictive smile as she stood up again. “I thought not. Alessio isn’t capable of love. I am the closest he has ever known to it.”
“Fucking untie me! Tell me what this is about!” I roared loudly, losing my patience and temper. She chuckled, swaying onto one hip with her perfectly polished nails resting on it.
“Why do you think you are here, Elenora? Why do you think Alessio kidnapped you in the first place? You are the only thing he needed to take the North. It was meant to be Olivia. But you were second best.”
“Your husband kidnapped me! Not Alessio,” I snapped, which caused her to shake her head.
“Oh, don’t be naive! Do you really think Lorenzo is allowed to do anything without my family’s permission? They own him. This was all Alessio’s idea. Fucking you and making you fall for him was just to pass the time until he could use you for his ultimate plan to take the North. Which is what is happening right now,” she smirked as I struggled to fill my lungs with air from the panic.
“Alessio staged that meeting with Galiz in Greece to earn your trust. It was his final act to destroy you. The deal was never off with Galiz. In fact, Galiz is on his way to get you right now. That is why you are here. Alessio promised you to him in exchange for his help with the North.”
“No,” I breathed, squeezing my eyes shut as my breathing became too erratic. I was on the verge of a panic attack. “You’re lying! Alessio wants an alliance! He is going to ask Giovanni to marry me!”
