Page 66 of The Enforcer's Possession
I opened my mouth to argue, to tell him he was wrong, that I should have protected him better.But then I heard it.Footsteps.Slow.Deliberate.Coming from the shadows where the flickering light didn’t reach.Had he been there and we’d missed him?Or was there another entrance we’d missed?The room appeared an average size, but with the dark creeping in from all sides, I couldn’t be sure.
My hands froze on the rope.My heart stopped.Every cell in my body screamed danger in the split second before Marco Vitale stepped into the light.
He moved with unhurried confidence, like he was walking into a board meeting instead of emerging from the darkness of his own kidnapping operation.His suit was still immaculate, not a wrinkle visible despite the warehouse’s filthy surroundings.His hair was slicked back with the same precision as always.Even his shoes were polished.
The only thing disrupting his carefully cultivated image was the gun in his hand.And the fact that he pressed it directly against Luca’s temple with enough force that my brother’s head tilted sideways from the pressure.
“How touching.”Marco’s voice was smooth, conversational, like we were discussing wine selections over dinner.“The princess comes to save her little brother.”
I didn’t breathe.Couldn’t.The world had narrowed to the barrel of that gun pressing into Luca’s bruised skin, to the way Marco’s finger rested on the trigger with casual readiness, to the cold smile spreading across his face as he watched my expression.
“Don’t.”The word came out strangled.“Marco, please --”
“Please?”He laughed, a harsh sound that echoed off the concrete walls.“Now you say please?After you threw my proposal back in my face?After you chose this -- this thug --” he spat the word in Dante’s direction “-- over someone who could have given you everything?”
Behind me, I heard Dante moving.Not rushing -- he was too controlled for that -- but repositioning, looking for an angle.I didn’t turn around.Couldn’t take my focus off Marco’s face, off the gun, off my brother’s terrified expression.
“Let him go.”I forced my voice to steady, forced myself to stand slowly with my hands visible and empty.“This is between you and me.He has nothing to do with --”
“He has everything to do with it.”Marco’s grip tightened on the gun, his knuckles going white.“Your family rejected me.Your father chose the De Luca alliance over my perfectly reasonable offer.You humiliated me at that dinner, made me look weak in front of Giuseppe.Someone had to pay the price.”
Luca made a sound -- half whimper, half rage -- and tried to pull away from the gun.Marco pressed harder, making him gasp.
“Stop moving,” Marco ordered.Then to me: “Tell him to stop moving, Caterina.Or I’ll show you exactly what his brain looks like spread across this concrete.”
“Don’t move, Luca.”I kept my voice calm, kept my hands up, kept my eyes locked on Marco’s face.“Just stay still.It’s going to be okay.”
“No, it’s not.”Marco’s cold smile widened.“It’s really not.See, I had this whole plan worked out.You were going to choose.Your brother or your husband.Your family or your forced alliance.Simple choice, really.But then you had to come here yourself.Had to play hero.Now I get to watch you watch him die.That seems more poetic, don’t you think?”
He shifted his stance, adjusting his grip on the gun, and I saw my opportunity.Saw the angle Dante needed.Saw how Marco’s attention was focused entirely on me, on savoring this moment, on the revenge he’d been planning.
I took a small step to the left.Drew his eyes away from where Dante had positioned himself in Marco’s blind spot.“You want me to beg?”I asked, putting everything I had into holding his attention.“Is that what this is about?”
“I want you to understand what you threw away.”His voice went tight with emotion -- rage and obsession twisted together into something ugly.“I would have made you magnificent, Caterina.Would have given you power and position.Instead, you chose a man who is nothing but a killing machine, who has no polish.”
“You’re right.”I took another step, maintaining eye contact.“I made a choice.And I’m making another one now.”
I saw Dante move in my peripheral vision.Saw him closing the distance with the kind of speed that came from years of enforcement work.
Then everything happened at once.
I forced my feet to move again, another small step that pulled me farther from Luca and drew Marco’s eyes with me.His gun was still pressed to my brother’s temple, his finger on the trigger, but his attention had fractured.He was looking at me instead of tracking the room.Instead of noticing Dante moving closer from the angle he couldn’t see.
“You’ve lost, Marco.”I kept my voice level, almost conversational, like I was stating a fact we both already knew.“My father knows everything.The Vitale name is finished in this city.”
It was the right thing to say.I watched his face transform, watched rage override the cold calculation he’d been maintaining.His grip on the gun tightened, knuckles going white with the pressure.A vein pulsed at his temple.
“Your father is a fool.Couldn’t see your potential.Couldn’t see what you could become with the right man guiding you.”
“Guiding?”I let contempt color my voice, took another half-step to the left.Drawing him.Distracting him.“Is that what you call kidnapping my brother?Beating him?Threatening to kill him unless I abandoned my husband?”
“I call it teaching you consequences.”His gaze was locked on mine now, burning with obsession that had clearly been festering for months.Years, maybe.“You rejected me at that gala.Looked at me like I was nothing.Then at the dinner announcing our engagement, you made it clear my offer meant nothing.Then you threw yourself at De Luca instead.”
My heart was hammering against my ribs, but I kept my breathing steady.Kept my face composed.Behind Marco, I saw Dante shift his weight forward infinitesimally.Almost in position.I just needed to hold Marco’s attention for five more seconds.
“Partnership?”I let myself laugh, bitter and cold.“You wanted ownership, Marco.You wanted to turn me into your trophy wife, your proof that you’d climbed high enough to claim a Lombardi.That’s not partnership.That’s collection.”
His face flushed dark red.“I would have made you magnificent.Would have given you everything -- power, position, influence beyond what Giuseppe ever allowed you.Instead, you chose this.”He jerked a little, the movement making the gun barrel dig harder into Luca’s temple.
