Page 120 of Isabella

A smile breaks free on my face at the anger in his tone and the slight hint of worry that laces it.

Good, he believes me, whether he wants to or not.

“I can’t take all the credit. Your lack of leadership and the target you put on your back after losing your alliance with the Mancinis has helped drive the nail into your coffin. My capos want someone who has a plan that will help line their pockets and keep them protected. It wasn’t difficult to get them to back me up on this.”

“You little fucking shit.”

“And then the DiMaggios, well, we called a truce because we each had something the other needed.”

“And what the fuck was that?”

My dad still has his gun aimed at my side. If he took a shot right now, chances are he’d puncture my lung and I’d bleed out instantly. But that doesn’t stop me from laying everything out on the table.

“He wants you dead, and I want his sister.”

“You traded me for that whore?” he bellows.

“Yep, and I’d do it again.”

Before I have time to register it, my dad hits me upside the head with his gun, sending a piercing pain throughout my body that causes me to swerve.

“Fuck!”I yell, doing my best to clear my vision from the assault. The man hit me hard enough to make me see a light but not hard enough I wasn’t able to regain control of the car after nearly swerving into several other ones.

“Stop speaking, Niccolò. You should’ve never laid out your hand to me because before I was going to spare your life, but now I’m going to make you suffer… and I’m going to use your little bitch to do it.”

70

ISABELLA

We pull up to what looks to be an abandoned building, and I can’t help but think about how stupid I was to allow myself to get kidnapped by this man. I have no phone and no way of getting out of here. The only thing that gives me any hope is knowing Nicco will be here. I know he’ll get us both out of this situation.

Mauricio lets me out of the car and gestures with his gun to the brick building lit up under the full moon, with rusty bars on the outside of the old, dusty-looking windows. “Let’s go,” he says.

I reluctantly abide and walk toward the steel door. We enter the large abandoned warehouse that’s dimly lit, and he shoves me toward a table with a tray of different sized knives laid out on it next to some zip ties and duct tape. Two chairs are set up back-to-back in front of the table.

“You’ve been awfully quiet,” Mauricio snides from behind me. “Finally realizing no one’s going to be able to save you now?” He chuckles.

“Hardly,” I mutter, looking around the building to see if there’s another way out.

“What did you say now, little girl?” he says, irritation flowing through his words as he rushes to step in front of me.

My gaze is brought back to him and the maniacal look on his face. There’s a grim gleam in his eye. “You clearly don’t know Nicco or my brothers very well,” I say.

“Your brothers have no idea I took you, so how the hell do you think they’re going to save you? And Nicco? Don’t you worry your little head off,mia bella, your precious little Niccowillshow up, but unfortunately for you, he won’t be able to help you.”

Mauricio steps toward me, making me want to step back, but I don’t. I stand my ground, knowing I can’t show him any weakness.

His lips roll up into a chilling smile, showcasing his stained teeth caused by decades of smoking. I nearly wince at the disgusting sight.

Taking the barrel of his gun, Mauricio grazes it down my cheek. I stop breathing as the cool metal touches my skin.

“You know,” he says, the sinister grin playing out larger on his face, “you are quite beautiful, Isabella.” The way he says my name sends a shudder up my spine, and I want to recoil from his proximity.

He traces a line with the barrel of his gun down my cheek before sliding it down to my neck, shifting a loose wave of hair back behind my shoulder. The movement is intimate, and a wave of nausea hits me so hard and fast I nearly keel over from it.

“Do you know what Giuseppe and I were doing while we were in Miami,mia bella?”

“Don’tcall me that,” I grind out.

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