Page 2 of Tattletale

But now, I’m alone.

The O’Leary clan was killed right before my eyes. My sister is also at the mercy of the Accardi mafia. I’m eighteen, at least. God forbid they touched her. She’s still just a child. It’s why I haven’t wrapped these cuffs around Luca’s throat. I would die trying to end him…but he has answers. He knows where Saoirse was taken.

I still refuse to look at him when he exits the en suite bathroom, so I didn’t anticipate the towel in his hand. Straddling the back of my thighs, he runs the hot cloth over my back in gentle strokes, cleaning off the remnants of his release.

“I’m going to take these cuffs off, Fiona. Promise me you’ll behave. I don’t want to have to hurt you,” he murmurs. At some point, while I was drifting off in memories of my childhood, Luca procured a key. There’s a satisfying click as the cuff latch releases on one side. My aching left arm slumps onto the bed beside me.

There’s no hope for escape.

I know his game. I’m treated one of two ways in the Accardi mansion. My wrists are either bound, or I’m staring down thebarrel of a gun.“Behave,”is the command Luca constantly gives me.

“There. That has to feel better, right?” Luca asks as the metal cuff falls from my right wrist. “Turn over.”

“You got what you wanted.” I glance at the wet rag he discarded on the ground. “Please just leave me.”

“Fiona,turn over,” he says again, grabbing my bare hips and flipping me easily.

Sitting up, back against the headboard, I cover my naked breasts. I pretend like there’s a place left for modesty. Luca’s seen me. Touched me. Every part of me. For a month now, since his family massacred mine, he’s kept me locked in this makeshift prison, using me as a toy to play with.

“Look at me,” he whispers. “It doesn’t have to be like this. I could take care of you. If you’d just open your heart to me.”

For the first time since he arrived in my room this evening, my eyes snap to his. “Open my heart to the man who slayed my father?”

He gives me a dark glance. “You weren’t to come to America. My father made that clear. This is the mafia’s territory. Cillian was a stubborn man who started a war he couldn’t finish. You’re a daughter of the mob, Fiona. You know this is the way of our worlds. Messages are sent with bloodshed.”

“How dare you speak his name? Your men ambushed him in the house he shared with his daughters. You shot him from behind. You doused his men in barrels of lighter fluid and lit his home on fire. There’s no honor in that. It was unnecessarily cruel, even for the Accardi.”

Luca’s gaze shifts. “It was not my idea. You’re not the only one shackled by your bloodline. My father is cruel to his enemies. Even more so to his own kin. You’re lucky I’m the one here in America. Had it been my father or my elder brothers, they would not have spared you and your sister.”

“Spared?” I practically spit out. “Is that what you call taking what’s not yours?” I cross my legs tightly, pressing my thighs so hard together they ache.

“Not mine?” He raises his brow. “We had a deal.”

After the Accardi men stormed my home and killed my father and his men, they kidnapped me and my sister, but took us in different directions. I fought, I screamed. They knocked me out with a blow to the head to silence me. I ended up in Luca’s mansion, locked in a windowless room. I know I’m on the second floor, at least. The boards beneath sound hollow when I stomp. But that’s all I know. The door to the room is solid steel, impossible to break down. There’s no lock to pick. The door is automatic, only opened with a code.

The first time Luca visited, he told me he instructed his men to never strike me again. He said I was his guest, not his prisoner. But when his hand crept up my thighs, I headbutted him. He smacked me so hard my head spun for hours. The next day, when he unzipped his pants and put his cock near my lips, I took the opportunity to bite him. He starved me for two days after that.

It couldn’t go on if I wanted to live, which I honestly questioned. It’d be easier if I was buried in the ground with my mother and my father. But if Saoirse is alive, I have to stay alive, too. Luca relished the idea of a living doll he could play with. So, we struck a deal. My sister was safe, in exchange for my cooperation.

But Luca’s had me dozens of times…and still no word of my sister.

“You have yet to fulfill your end of the deal, Luca. Where is Saoirse? How do I know she’s okay?”

He reaches out to run the inline of his thumb against my cheek. “You’ll have to trust me.”

I pull away from his touch. “I don’t.”

“Fiona.” He whispers my name like a lover would. It makes me sick. “I’m leaving America. My work here is done, and with Cillian in the ground, my father is ready to welcome me home with open arms. Come with me to Italy.”

“Where I can be passed around like a whore to your brothers as well?”

“Come with me as mybride,” he says. “Princess of the mob and the prince of the mafia. It’s an alliance that would be celebrated. My father never wanted a war with Cillian. He just wanted his obedience. I promise you, I’d never chain my wife. I’ll make an honest woman out of you. You’ll be dripping in diamonds and drive the fanciest cars. I’ll have a throne fastened for you. If you could just learn to love me, like I love you.”

I’m rendered speechless.

Love?

Is that what this miserable excuse of a man thinks love is?

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