Page 27 of Taken By the Mafia King
Yes. Bash his skull in, wrap him up in a fucking carpet, and throw him in the river.
“Boss?”
“Take him back to his apartment and tuck him into bed.”
“Seriously?”
I turned to the guard and met his gaze.
He cleared his throat and nodded sharply. “Yes, boss.”
I moved down the hallway and out to the foyer, where Tommaso leaned against the stair railing and Fred Bagnoli stood with his arms crossed on the other side of the foyer. Tommaso pushed off the railing as I looked down at Jim’s phone and watch. I handed them to Tommaso. “Get his previous location data off these and send it to me before you wipe them.”
Tommaso said nothing and turned away, but Fred scoffed. “He’s just some guy off the street.”
“Of course, he is,” I said. I walked past him without a glance in his direction and began to head upstairs, but then a thought struck me as I heard Francesco dragging Jim down the hall into the foyer. I turned to Francesco, who held a barely lucid Jim up by his waist. “On second thought, there’s someone Jim should see before he leaves.”
CHAPTER 22
SERA
Heavy footsteps pounded in the hallway outside my room. Turning from the window, I barely had a chance to catch my breath or process what was happening, what I wasseeing, before Jim was thrown into my room.
Jim landed hard on his knees before toppling onto his side, and I registered several things at once. Bruises. Blood splatter. And Killian, standing in the doorway, knuckles bleeding, a smile curling his wicked lips.
I screamed.
“Shut up, Sera,” Killian growled, teeth bared.
I immediately snapped my mouth shut as the tone of his voice licked up and down my spine. He was furious. I’d never seen a look like the one he gave me now. Pure death flashed behind those haunting gray-blue eyes.
Jim groaned, cursing under his breath as he brought his swollen, cracked fingers to the top of his head. Blood seeped through his hair, turning the silky golden curls to crimson.
“What did you do to him?” I hurried across the room and fell to my knees in front of Jim. But he moved away from me, his eyes glassy and dazed. I shook with rage and grief as I held my hands up in surrender. “Jim?”
“Cara mia,” Killian drawled, his voice full of smoke and violence. “Tell him why you’re here.”
I stammered, unable to form the words. Unable to involve Jim in this mess. No, not unable. Unwilling. I looked up at Killian with a pleading expression, but he only smiled. He knew as well as I did that if someone else got their hands on Jim, and he knew thetruth, it would be a death sentence.
“Sera,” Jim choked, his teeth covered in blood. A dark bruise formed on his swollen jaw as his eyes met mine. “Are you okay? Please tell me you’re okay.”
Damn him. Even bloody and beaten, his heart was pure. “You didn’t have to hurt him!” I sobbed at Killian, tears streaming down my face. The gash on Jim’s head needed stitches badly. He was bleeding everywhere. Blood soaked into the cream-colored carpets, leaving a thick, dark stain. “I need a cloth. And a doctor. Please.Please.Let me help him.”
No one would come to clean it. Killian would make me look at it every day as punishment.
“Tell him,” Killian pressed, crossing his arms over his broad chest. I caught the gleam of his holstered pistol and winced.
“I’m here,” I whispered, the reality of what I was about to say suffocating me. “I’m here because I want to be.”
Jim looked up at me and blinked. “No, you were—you were thrown into a van.”
“It was a misunderstanding,” I lied, trying to keep my voice as calm and level as humanly possible. I swallowed thickly, fighting against the tightness in my throat as I continued. “I need you to stop trying to help me. I’m okay.”
“Why are you lying?”
“I’m not lying, Jim. I’m okay. This was a huge misunderstanding. That’s why the police won’t get involved. I already talked to them. I am here because I want to be. Ineedtobe here. I need you to go home and stop trying to save me. I don’t need to be saved.”
I stole a glance at Killian, who watched me with a cool, indifferent expression. Could he not see how much he was hurting me right now?
