Chapter 25 Serenity
Serenity
Icame to slowly, blinking quickly against the fluorescent lamps aggressively aimed my way.
The first thing I noticed—other than the lights—was my throbbing head.
A dull ache pulsed behind my eyes and my mouth tasted disgusting, like I’d been licking pipes.
I tried to move and immediately became aware of the pull at my shoulders—my hands bound behind my back, my wrists aching where the plastic ties bit into my skin.
Plastic ties? I didn’t remember being bound. The last thing I remembered was being tossed in the back of the van. I was kidnapped. It all came crashing back and my pulse raced, my body temperature spiked. Panic tried to set in.
I forced myself to breathe.
In through my nose. Out through my mouth.
The room swam into focus inch by inch. There were lights.
Too many of them. Harsh and bright, mounted on metal stands, all aimed toward the red leather sofa positioned like a centerpiece, which I guess also made me the centerpiece.
In front of me was a low coffee table, with cheap halogen lamps behind me.
The walls—all three of them—were bare, the concrete floor scuffed and stained beneath the black rug.
It looked less like a hideout and more like a forgotten TV set.
I managed to sit up, look around, and examine my surroundings, but there was nothing else of note. Except for the man who stood just beyond the lights. He was nothing more than a dark shadow, a looming figure who had kidnapped me and brought me here.
Except they were after Mattie.
That thought sobered me.
“Hello?” I used my most professional tone because the one thing I knew above all else was that I couldn’t let my fear show.
The man stepped forward with a slow smile on his face as if we were old friends. Even still, the smile didn’t reach his eyes. “Serenity Majors,” he said just as the light revealed average, unforgettable features. “It’s nice to finally meet you.”
I lifted my chin, figuring he must be Enzo’s cousin. “You must be David.”
His brows shot up. “So Lorenzo has spoken about me.”
I didn’t answer.
Up close, he was unimpressive with a slim build, restless energy, and the same green eyes as Enzo and Mattie but duller somehow. Meaner. He wore expensive clothes that didn’t quite fit right, like he was dressing for a role he hadn’t earned.
“Oh, I’ve heard all about you,” he continued, circling slowly. “When he came back to California, it was always Ren this and Ren that.” He rolled his eyes. “Obsessed. It was disgusting.”
I stared at him, trying to look strong and brave, but he wore all the markers of a weak little man obsessed with power he couldn’t hope to attain. I’d met plenty like him over the years. “I can see why you’re divorced.”
The effect was immediate. Anger flashed across his face, his jaw tightened, and a flush crept up his neck.
For a moment I thought he might hit me, then he smoothed it away, replacing it with a smile that brought to mind a used car salesman.
“I thought he’d give up eventually,” he said. “Go back to you. He didn’t.”
In that moment, everything clicked into place. “You wanted the top job,” I said softly.
David shook his head. “No. I didn’t want it.
” His voice rose, the sound brittle and sharp.
“I deserved it. It was mine.” He started pacing back and forth, his steps short and jerky.
His hands clenched at his sides as if he didn’t know what to do with them.
“Lorenzo was supposed to be the college boy,” he snapped.
“The one who focused on the legitimate businesses, growing the empire. That was the plan.”
“That’s what he wanted too,” I said softly. “But plans change.” Thinking about the past was too painful, and right now, combined with the fear, my emotions were all over the place.
His head whipped toward me. “Yeah? Well, that’s not what the family wanted. And the family always gets what it wants.” He raked a hand through his hair and let out a shaky breath that revealed more than he wanted it to.
I watched him unravel, fascinated despite my pounding heart. It was interesting, watching the way his anger unfolded, but terrifying because he was losing his grip, and the last thing I wanted was to end up as collateral damage.
David wasn’t in control. He was posturing, trying to convince me, or himself, that he was the man in charge here. He was already spiraling, and this was the beginning of his plan.
“This is your plan?” I asked in disbelief. “Threaten his son and kidnap his nanny?”
“Nanny?” He threw his head back and laughed. “Hardly.”
He stopped in front of me, leaning down so his face was inches from mine. “You are the perfect leverage to get me everything I want.”
I sucked in a sharp breath at the unfocused look in his eyes. “What do you want, David?”
His eyes went hard. “I want what should’ve been mine.” Then he smiled. “And you’re going to help me get it.”
I laughed, shaking my head. “You’re overestimating my importance. I’m just a woman he used to date. Now I’m an employee. Nothing more.”
“Bullshit,” he snarled. The word cracked like a whip, echoing all around me.
“He married Sofia,” David went on, his voice rising with each syllable.
“He had a baby with her, but he never loved her—not the way he loved you, if he loved her at all. He lost his spark when it was clear he couldn’t go back and be with you.
” His eyes gleamed. “Everyone thought it was because of Giovanni’s death, but it wasn’t. It was because he lost you.”
My heart ached inside my chest at his words, but I put that aside and focused on the delight he took in his cousin’s torment.
I never wanted Enzo to pine after me the way I had, half-living because I was too scared to try again.
Stop it, right now. “Perhaps,” I said evenly, “you don’t know Enzo as well as you think. ”
He stared at me, his chest heaving, then reached into his jacket and pulled out a gun. He aimed it at me, and my breath hitched as fear gripped me. “I guess we’re going to find out,” he said, his tone filled with malice.
Before I could respond, hands clamped around my arm and yanked me to my feet.
I stumbled, pain shooting up my shoulder.
“Let’s go,” a woman said, her grip tight enough to bruise.
I glanced over my shoulder, shocked to hear a female voice, but only for a second. It was the same voice from the parking lot. But more than that, I had seen her face before too. “The hiker,” I grunted.
She grinned, but it looked more like a grimace. “That’s right.” She dragged me across the room, rough and angry.
I twisted free of her hold. “Get your damn hands off me!”
“Shut up,” she snarled and shoved me across the room.
Something inside me snapped. I was tired and I was scared, sure, but I was also really tired of being handled. I spun around and slammed my shoulder into her, using my weight and my momentum to make up for her larger size.
She staggered back, shock coloring her eyes. “Bitch,” she grunted and lunged forward.
Instinct kicked in, and my foot shot out, hitting her in the stomach.
The woman fell backward, her head cracking against the sharp, metal edge of one of the light stands. The sound was loud and sickening. The woman crumpled to the floor, and she didn’t move.
Suddenly, the room was quiet. Very, very quiet.
I looked at her lifeless eyes, my chest heaving, my breaths short and sharp. “Oh God,” I whispered to myself, unable to look away from her suddenly pale skin, the fire that was no longer behind her eyes.
I hadn’t meant to kill her; I just wanted her to keep her hands off me.
“Fuck,” David shouted and rushed forward, brushing past me to check on the woman. “Do you have any idea what you’ve done? Fuck!”
“She attacked me,” I answered in a shaking but firm voice. “She pushed me.”
He laughed, the sound high-pitched and a little unhinged. “You’ve done it now.”
I didn’t know what he meant, but suddenly I wanted this to all be over.
Quickly.
David stood and stared at me, stepping in a little too close. “I guess it’s time to get on with getting me what I want.”
I didn’t like the look in his eyes. Not one bit.