Page 294 of Sinfully Savage Mafia

“You must be starving,” he says.

I nod, continuing to stare at the floor because I’m petrified he’s going to mistake my admission to hunger for…well,hunger.

“There’s nothing in the fridge. Dante ate pretty much everything,” he grunts.

“Let me take a look.” I push past him and pull open the refrigerator door. “You have plenty of stuff in here,” I exclaim, rifling through the shelves and drawers. “Eggs, English muffins, bacon, cheese…I mean, as long as none of it is expired, we can have breakfast for dinner?”

He smirks. “So you’re gonna cook for your kidnapper?”

“Well, you’re paying me, right?” I turn around, my eyebrow lifted. “But I have one condition.”

“I didn’t realize employees negotiated with their bosses,” he mumbles.

“This is important. You have to let me call Frankie. He’s all alone now and he’s hurt. You have to let me see if he’s okay. Please, Roman.” I swallow hard. “Look, I have no way of reaching him other than to ask your permission. Which,” I’m quick to say. “Absolutely sucks. But I’m not too proud to ask because he’s my brother and I love him, even if you do want to skin him alive.”

He looks at me for a long minute, and just when I think I might spontaneously combust because of the heat generated by his panty-melting stare, he shakes his head. “No.”

My jaw drops. “Why the hell not? I only want to find out if he’s okay. What if those guys found him? What if they know he was with you? They might hurt him, or worse!”

“Do you understand that I don’t give a damn if he’s okay?” he yells. “Your brother took what didn’t belong to him! And if ‘those guys’ fuck his shit up, then good! He deserves it for what he did! Thinking he could get his revenge all this time later. He took enough. I owe himnothing!”

A gaggle of tears knots in my throat. Fuck, this is too much. I can’t see my battered brother, I’m alone with this crazy, paranoid thug, and now I have all of these other toxic memories from my past bubbling up from the deep recesses of my heart.

I have to get away from Roman, away from everything he’s dredged up over the past few hours.

Christ, I was practically living in poverty a few hours ago, but it was a hell of a lot more tolerable than this shit show Roman has cast me for. My shoulders quake and I hurry to scoop up Bella before stalking out of the kitchen toward the second floor.

“What happened to breakfast for dinner?” he asks, his jaw tight.

My mouth drops open and I turn to look at him with as much disdain as I can conjure up. “Are you serious? Because if I’m anywhere near a scalding hot pan right now, there is a hundred percent chance it’ll be smashed against your face!” I take a deep breath, stopping on the stairs. “But don’t let that stop you from enjoying your meal.” I stomp up the steps, hissing loud enough for him to hear. “I hope you fucking choke!”

* * *

I clutch my mother’s hand as we wade into the clear blue water in Turks and Caicos. The sand feels so soft beneath my toes, like a thick carpet warmed by the sun’s rays. I let the gentle rippling waves wash away the angst, the uncertainty, and the sadness. I tilt my head backward to stare up at the cloudless sky.

It’s a perfect day because we’re together, creating a memory I will cherish for years to come.

Mama’s thin and fragile hand grips mine tight as we wade deeper, the water rising higher and higher until I take a final step, my foot no longer finding the sandy floor. I gasp, unprepared for what lies ahead…what lies beneath the surface.

My arms and legs flail about as I sputter. My head bobs up and down like a buoy, and the resort is in the far-off distance. How did I drift so far away?

And where is Mama?

I don’t feel her fingers laced with mine!

“Mama!” I gasp, the waves getting more turbulent by the second.

The sky, which was a bright cerulean only moments ago, is now dark. The sun, once bright, is now eclipsed by thick, ominous clouds. A heavy wind catapults my body through the waves and I scream, struggling for breath. My lungs constrict with panic, my limbs struggling to keep afloat.

But the volatile water has other plans for me.

A rumbling wave gathers speed and height, capturing me in the swirling curl as it hurls itself toward the resort miles and miles into the distance. It rises, higher and higher like an all-consuming tsunami, dragging me along for the ride, certain devastation in my near future.

I try to shout, to warn everyone on the shore who is seemingly oblivious to the impending danger. But nobody looks up…nobody, not even my family.

I wave my arms in the air, trying to catch their attention, but they are too busy laughing. Mama, Papa, and Frankie, playing Frisbee in the sand, no clue that their entire world is about to be shattered.

And I can’t do a damn thing to change the outcome.

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