Page 37 of De Luca: The Sinister Game

Much to my surprise, he listened and removed his hand from my leg. “For now, Pretty Girl. For now, I’ll let you be in charge. Just don’t get used to it because you’re mine. I have no intention of not touching my property.”

I roll my eyes at him, “People are not possessions, Drake. You don’t own me. Neither of you do.”

He grips my chin tight and watches me with apparent interest. “Pretty Girl, I will possess you. Every part of you won’t be able to exist without us. I’ll be sure of it. We own you, Natalia. One day soon, you’ll be thankful for that fact.”

“I hate you,” I whisper. I want to hurt him, but it only makes him laugh.

“You want to, baby. You’ve tried, but you can’t because nobody gives you everything you need like I do. No other man can feel your pain. No other man knows how to take that pain away. Both my brother and I can give you everything you’ve never even known that you needed.”

I struggle out of his grip, and he allows it as I turn away from him. “You’re such an asshole.”

My emotions are all over the place. With every second that we drive, it gets harder to breathe. I’m pissed at them both, but I’m not sure why. Because they blackmailed me into this bizarre situation? Maybe because they are lying to me about my family? Perhaps it’s the false hope that I’ll finally get the answer to the biggest question of my life.

Why does my family hate me so much?

Your blood is supposed to love you simply because you share blood. It's not complicated. There's no doubt about it. It just is. For my entire life, I’ve never fit. It’s like trying to fit a square peg into a round hole. I’m the square peg. The one piece that doesn’t belong. I once read that the need for belonging is the reason cults are born. Because everybody wants to find that place where they are accepted for who they are. They want to find their people. Giada is the closest I’ve ever found. She loves me despite all my flaws, and there are many. Now that she’s married, it’s different. It’ll probably change even more after she’s a mother. I’m happy for her. I’m just really unhappy for myself. Of course, I want all the good things for my best friend. Is it too much to ask to have a little positive thrown my way too? Yeah, I’m sulking. I need to snap out of this and deal with the issue at hand. My family.

I still can’t wrap my head around what these two jerks could gain by lying to me about this. What is it they’re after? Maybe they want to hurt me by hurting my family? That thought causes bile to rise in my throat, but it’s the only thing that makes any sense to me. It’s more sensible than the alternative that they are telling the truth.

Stop it Natalia. They are liars. If it’s unbelievable, it’s because it’s fiction.

CHAPTER 27

DRAKE

Her conflicted emotions become apparent as we pull up to the warehouse where her kidnappers await for our return. I know well that Natalia doesn’t believe a fucking word we said about Bebe kidnapping her from her biological parents. I can’t say that I blame her. If she came to me and said my mother had kidnapped me, I wouldn’t believe her either. Although, you can tell by looking at my brothers that we’re all related. When I first saw Nicole, I knew they didn’t look like sisters, but I never would’ve imagined the true story.

Both Dante and I take one of her hands and walk inside. We take her to see Bebe first because, of course, she’s the one who set this ball in motion by stealing her. Our security team stands close by but far enough away to give us privacy. My brother and I will only have to say the word to get their help, but we likely won’t need it unless we decide to have them kill one or all of these pieces of shit. However, I don’t see that happening because this is one I want to handle personally, and I suspect Dante feels the same way.

She steps into the room and stares at the woman she believes is her mother. Exhaling a shaky gasp, she asks, “Is this really necessary?”

Between the two of us, my brother is the better man. However, he’s a lethal fucker like the rest of us. And that these people have hurt Natalia so badly means there’s no way that any of them will be granted any mercy. Even if I agreed to let them live, Dante will not. Not even for Natalia.

She looks at Dante with tears in her eyes. “Dante, please.”

I chuckle lightly because I know my brother better than she does. He loves her and wants to make her happy, but we both know in time, this will be exactly what she needs. We don’t allow people to hurt the ones we care about and leave unscathed.

He runs his thumb down her cheek. “Get the information you need, Sunshine.”

“Mom,” she asks as she steps closer to Bebe, who stares at her supposed daughter with disgust. I clench my fists as she looks at our girl like she’s a piece of disgusting shit on the floor. Dante growls a deep rumbling animalistic sound, “Close enough.”

Natalia stops, balling up her own fists, in obvious anger. She takes a deep breath. “Mom. Are you okay?”

Bebe glares at her. “Stop calling me that. I’m not your mother, and we both know it.”

I watch the two of them as our beautiful woman visibly shrinks before us. “I don’t understand.”

Dante grabs a chair and brings it over to Natalia. “Sit.”

She sits in the chair and my brother tells Bebe, “Spill. Everything.”

At first she says nothing, but when I hold up the remote she stammers, “Okay. Okay.”

I chuckle and motion for her to move it along because the sooner we get this shit over with, the sooner we can glue Natalia back together.

“After Nicole was born, I wanted another little girl. I couldn’t get pregnant again because I had to have an emergency hysterectomy within hours of her birth.”

Natalia listens intently, but I know she’s confused. “Go on,” she says.

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