Page 18 of Taken By the Mafia King
She’d fallen for the bait like a fly to honey. It had been too easy. The girl had a lot to learn about survival in this world.
I held my breath as Andre’s voice boomed through the phone.
And Sera, so quiet, so scared she’d get caught.
Less than a minute passed before the line went dead, but Sera remained on the line, her jagged, confused breath doing something to me, igniting a spark deep within my chest that no one had ever touched before.
That brokenness ripped me open momentarily. She would have heard the way her own father was unimpressed by her predicament. Casual about it, even.
I waited for her to hang up before setting the phone down and looking over at Tommaso.
“Well, that confirms our suspicions,” I said lightly, kicking back in my chair and resting my legs on my desk.
“What now? Are you going to talk to her?”
“Not yet,” I replied, tilting my head as I considered my options. I ran my tongue along the side of my lower lip, thinking of the girl cowering in her bedroom upstairs. I couldn’t stop thinking about her. My interest in her ran deeper than I’d meant it to, and that wouldn’t do. “I want to wait and see if she uses the phone again. If she believes her father won’t help her, she’ll call someone else. I want to know who Andre’s allies are, and if they’re willing to protect the Bianchi princess.”
“And if no one comes for her?”
“Oh, they will,” I said, meeting Tommaso’s eyes. “And soon.”
He pursed his lips. “Unless she wastes away before then. She still hasn’t eaten.”
“She’ll eat,” I said, more to myself. What could I do at this point? Leaving her locked up and guarded was a given, but what if she lost hope of being rescued, just like she had the moment she’d acquiesced to Gabriele trying to take her body without a fight?
And he would have, had I not been there at that exact moment. The thought of him straddling her. Her tears. Her cries.Fuck. Putting a bullet in his head had been a long time coming but my reasoning for it had been totally selfish.
I didn’t want him touching her.
I didn’t want anyone touching her.
I flexed my hands when I realized they’d curled into fists.
I couldn’t get too close to her, not with so much on the line now that she was here, in my home.
“Spread the word about her whereabouts in her old neighborhood, Andre’s neighborhood. See what happens.”
“You got it, Boss,” he said.
I found it likely word was already spreading about Gabriele’s death, but it was unlikely anyone had known he was the one who bought her from the auction, at least the soldiers and caporegimes. The bosses knew well and were clutching their pearls.
“Tell them,” I began, tapping my fingers on the desk, “that I want to make some deals in exchange for the girl. But don’t extend that offer to Andre’s crew in particular. Let him fester with the idea that I’m using his own daughter to further my gains.”
Tommaso smiled as he nodded and left the room.
Andre had no idea what was coming his way.
And I’d make sure that he’d never see his daughter, that angel he was so unworthy of, ever again.
CHAPTER 16
SERA
Amaid walked into the room. She wore her glossy black hair pulled back into a low, messy bun at the nape of her neck. She smiled at me with thin pink lips and shook a pill bottle.
“Antibiotics,” she said. “I swear. I can take one to prove to you it’s not something to knock you out.”
“It’s okay,” I cut in, my heart hammering in my chest. I’d almost been caught with the phone. Thank God it hadn’t been Killian who’d come in. He would’ve seen right past my strained expression and known I’d done something I shouldn’t have.
