Page 51 of Taken By the Mafia King
“Sera…”
I gazed out the window at the tree line beyond the tall grass. “He’ll kill me, too.”
“Killian has his reasons for the two of you being here. He has his reasons for not telling Delaney about her father, and what he did to put his own daughter in this situation. And you will notsay anything about it if you want to survive, do you understand? You know how to play this game.”
“I never wanted any of this.” Would they bury me out there in that tall grass? Nobody would come looking. There’d be no headstone. No flowers. No trace I ever existed at all. Would Killian think of me when he looked outside? Maybe for a month or two, and then I’d be nothing but dirt. I strode to the door. Thoughts like this weren’t new to me. I’d wondered over my own mortality when I lived with my father often enough. “I left because I couldn’t do this. I couldn’t stand the secrets. Thestrategiesand bullshit.”
“You need to keep your head up, girl. Eyes forward. Killian is not your enemy.”
“Don’t you dare say that to me after everything he’s done.”
“He saved you from an unimaginable fate. Show some gratitude.”
I rounded on him. “Saved me? What delusional world do you all live in? Sure, he spared me from Gabriele, only to lock me up here. You want me to believe he’s the good guy when there’s another girl upstairs hanging onto hope that her father is going to save her from thishell? This is wrong.You’rewrong.”
“There’s nothing I can do about it, even if I wanted to.”
I paused, looking deep into his eyes. I could see that this hurt him as much as it was hurting me. These secrets. This business. This lifestyle that stripped you down until there was nothing left but ash and bone.
“Whose side are you on, Tommaso?”
“Killian’s,” he growled. “Always. And if you were smart and used your fucking brain, Sera, you would be too.”
“What are you not telling me?”
“Nothing you need to know.”
The room felt like it was caving in on me, suffocating me like a wet, cold blanket draped over my skin. I wanted out. I neededto get out of this room and out of this house, Killian be damned. My feelings for him be damned.
“Will my father come for me?” I asked after a long, tense silence.
He studied me, and a debate warred in his eyes. To tell me, or not to tell me. I waited, hanging on the edge of a cliff.
Finally, he said, “I wouldn’t hold your breath.”
CHAPTER 39
KILLIAN
The de Luca’s warehouses were numerous. I could see the port from where we stood along the tree line. Men milled about, walking between the metal buildings, their bodies shadowed by heavy equipment and trucks loaded with goods.
Luxury goods. Stolen cars ready to be exported overseas. Drugs. Cash. Guns. Everything Gabriele had built to maintain his standing.
I would take it all. Tonight.
“How many men does he have on guard?” I asked Mikey, who primed his pistol.
“Forty,” he whispered. “He’s scared, I think. Beefed up his guards on patrol.”
I glanced at the dozen or so soldiers behind me, all of them waiting for my command. We had the place surrounded. The two roads that connected the lot to the highway were blocked off. There would be no escape.
“I want the warehouses burned down before we leave. All of the cars need to be loaded, and everything inside needs to be packed up and ready to go.”
Mikey nodded and turned to relay my orders to the men waiting behind us.
I watched the unsuspecting men below me as they went about what they believed was just another night.
Francesco came to my side. “Are we ready?”
