Page 12 of Taken By the Mafia King
That familiar face from the auction was clear as day in my mind as this man started to move, taking me with him. Could it be?
“The maid?” I whispered. I wasn’t sure if he could hear me. “Is she alright?”
My new captor chuckled low and deep in his chest, and his voice dripped with all the coldness in the world. “Don’t waste your breath, princess.”
CHAPTER 11
SERA
The body of the man who’d bought me continued to bleed all over the bed as the man who’d shot him in the back of the neck entered the room.
Without thinking, I pushed the body off me, flailing as I tried to stay calm but lost the battle.
He was fucking dead! Right on top of me.
“Calm thefuckdown,” my alleged savior said, coming at me. He growled through gritted teeth, but I smacked at him blindly, trying to get away.
Manhandling me seemed to be no problem for him. Within seconds, his strong hands clasped my arms, twisting them as he pulled me against him, putting yet another bag over my head and hoisting me over his shoulder.
He didn’t tie my wrists though. Still wild, I bucked and tried to comprehend what was happening. He merely adjusted my weight with a little toss that sent me a couple inches into the air. When I came back down and landed on his shoulder, it took the wind out of me. A hiss of involuntary sound left my lungs. He patted my rear end as if calming a skittish dog. I clenched my teeth and ached for the never-ending fear to turn into something else. Anger.
Why couldn’t I get angry? Maybe anger could keep me alive. I thrashed some more once I caught my breath. My knee thudded into his ribs but he didn’t seem to give a damn.
Screw you!I screamed in my head. If only I were brave enough to say it out loud. My heart thundered wildly in my chest and I wondered if he could feel it against his shoulder.
Thump. Thump.
Where was he taking me? What could I be worth to him? Why save me from the likes of Gabriele only to cover my head and drag me off against my will? It didn’t make sense. I kicked again, and this time my captor gave me a rough shake.
“Stop fucking moving. Understand?”
I went still.
Thump. Thump.
The sound of a door opening broke through the blood rushing in my ears. Not another kidnapping…
He took a step down what had to be the hallway to the stairs, and I swung again, fighting for my life to get out of his grasp and to run but he slammed me against a wall, the edge of what had to be a picture frame biting into my back as he pressed his weight against mine.
He had me pinned, his chest against mine. I could feel his heartbeat—slow, steady, totally unbothered. A stark contrast to the way mine beat like a caged bird trying to escape.
Thump. Thump.
“Please let me go,” I begged and tried to wiggle away again. He rammed me against the wall and ripped the bag from over my face. My hair clung to my tear-soaked cheeks. I could barely see him until he hooked a finger in my curls and dragged them away from my eyes.
The thunder of my own heartbeat went silent as I stared into a murderer’s eyes.
“Feel any better?” Killian Ricci asked sarcastically, his deep, rasping voice full of smoke.
I couldn’t move. I couldn’t do anything but stare at him. We were nose to nose, his eyes boring into mine with an intensity that made my mouth go as dry as sandpaper. His eyes… they weren’t the unearthly gray I remember and recognized the night of the auction. They wereblue. A very pale, glacier blue flaked with silver. I’d never seen eyes quite like his before. It was shocking, really, so much of a shock that I didn’t process the scene around me for several seconds.
Blood coveredeverything. Bodies were scattered across the mosaic tiles. Red splatter stained the fine wallpaper and imported furniture and art of Gabriele de Luca’s home.
“Do not make a sound,” he commanded, his eyes still firmly fixed on my own, “or I will hurt you, Seraphina. You won’t like it.”
Terror that I’d never experienced before in my life paralyzed me to the core as he carefully lowered me to the floor and turned me toward the wall. I felt the cool, edged bite of a knife graze my throat. I didn’t dare swallow.
He turned us, keeping his knife pressed against my skin as he led me through absolute and utter carnage. Voices echoed from the door we’d come out of, far below where we were now. My bare feet slipped over bloody tiles as he soundlessly walked me right through the front door.
