Page 32 of His Captive
“You sure about that?” he asks. “I’ve got another excursion planned for you tomorrow.”
“Wait, what?” I raise a brow.
“Well, I had the guy who brought your bags find out which excursions you booked. You wanted to go swimming with the dolphins,” he says. “That’s a little boring, so tomorrow, we’re going swimming with the sharks.”
“Uh, Massimo, no.” I shake my head. “I don’t want to go swimming with the sharks! Plus, I got sick the last time I was on a boat, and I was planning on canceling that one.”
“You’ll be in a cage the entire time you’re underwater,” he says. “It’s completely safe. I’ll get motion sickness patches for you. They work. You’ll be fine.”
I mutter a few things under my breath and say a silent prayer that the motion sickness patches will work. But swimming with the sharks? I’m already doing that. I’ve been doing that since I got sick on the boat.
Swimming with one shark, at least.
Massimo is more dangerous than anything in the water.
CHAPTER 14
Massimo
I never take a life unless it’s absolutely necessary.
Today, it was.
I would have given them everything in the Jeep and everything in my pockets if that would have made them leave. But they wanted more. They wantedLea. I don’t know if they just wanted to ransom an American girl or if they had something planned much worse than that. Either way, I wasn’t going to turn her over to them, even if it meant I got to walk away. They picked the wrong tourists to rob.
I tried to shield her from it all. The best I could, at least. If I hadn’t been concerned about her, there would have been more than one body on the ground. There wouldn’t have been any warning shots. Thankfully, it didn’t come to that. I took one life and gave the rest of them an option to run. They chose wisely.
Now Lea is safe, but she’s not okay. I get that. I remember how it was for me. I had nightmares for months, and saw that traitor’slifeless eyes every time I closed mine. Saw the horrific things my father did to him,beforehe was allowed to die. My father isn’t as ruthless as my grandfather, but he’s still a dangerous man. I learned that at a young age.
As I got older, I began to understand his weaknesses. The way he coddled Emilio. The way he gave him chance after chance that nobody else would have gotten. But that’s not my problem anymore. I’ve made my choice.
Or I had… until Lea made it a lot more complicated.
“We can wait a day to swim with the sharks, if you’re not ready,” I offer, squeezing her hand once I park the Jeep.
“That might be a good idea,” she sighs. “Let me see how I feel tomorrow morning. Right now, I’m just… I don’t know.”
“Let’s go inside,” I say, patting her hand and letting go.
Lea waits for me to open her door, and I help her out of the Jeep once I do. She clings to my arm as we walk into the hotel. I don’t think I have to worry about her running away anymore. That seems like the last thing on her mind. I lead her into the elevator, swipe my card, and put an arm around her after the door closes. I pull her into an embrace and she squeezes tighter.
“We can also forget about the spanking tonight,” I say. “Tonight, we’ll just have dinner, wine, and put all of this behind us. How does that sound?”
I’d love to have her over my knee again. Love to watch her admit she enjoyed being spanked, so I can taste her. But things are different now. She may not be in the right headspace for it. Taking care of her is my priority.
Lea slowly lifts her head and looks up at me. She looks so beautiful right now. All I want to do is hold her close, kiss those pretty lips, and tell her everything will be okay. But those words would be hollow. They wouldn’t be true. I’m letting her get attached to me, and I can’t offer her all of the things a woman like her deserves.
“I-I don’t want to wait,” she whispers, her green eyes flickering. “We don’t have that much time together.”
“I know,” I sigh, looking away. “But it’s supposed to be enjoyable. Today may have been a little too traumatic for you to enjoy it.”
“If I don’t enjoy it, then you don’t get to spank me again,” she says, biting the inside of her bottom lip. “I’m not going to lie and say I’m perfectly fine, but I understand why you did what you did. And I’m grateful for it. You protected me.”
“Like I said, you’re always safe with me,bambina,” I tell her gently, squeezing her tighter.
Those words are as hollow as the ones I can’t bring myself to say. Always safe with me, like I can keep her safe for the rest of her life. The rest of mine, sure, but that promise isn’t worth much. My days are numbered. I won’t make it off this island alive.
“Thank you,” she whispers, leaning against my chest.
