Chapter 9
Gio
She’s still in the cage. She’s always in the cage.
It’s impressive. Grace has gone so many days without eating, despite how weak she was when she first woke up. She was defiant, angry, and still refuses to leave the cage. She’s finally accepting some food, but that defiance is still there, that beautiful fucking defiance.
In the early days, she would sneak from her cage when she thought I wasn’t watching. I’m always watching her, though. I let her explore the room, test her boundaries.
I let her learn that there was no real escape.
I lean back in my chair, watching her. She barely moves, rocking side to side, humming something. I’m not sure what the music is, but she hums it sometimes when I’m not in the room. Maybe it’s just nonsense and she’s just passing time, or maybe it’s a memory she can’t help but vocalize.
I’m fascinated by her, far more interested than I thought I would be. I thought she was just another mafia princess, a spoiled little girl without a personality. I expected weakness.
Instead, I got the total opposite. According to the map of scars on her body, she's been through so much before she came to me. Because of that she has a strength inside of her that I’m not even sure she’s aware of.
She’s resisting me far more than I ever imagined she could, and it excites me to no end.
I know that’s fucked up, but I’m past worrying.
The darkness is there, begging to be fed every single day.
I honor my word and don’t touch her when she’s in the cage, which is all the time, but I ache for her to come out.
I ache for the day when she finally crawls out and begs me to come into the room and touch her.
I want her to beg for it so badly. I can give her a reason to continue breathing.
I can make her body feel things she’s probably never felt before and much, much more.
It will feel good to submit to me.
That’s how I’ll break her, I know. She’ll finally trust me enough to call me into the room.
I’ll unwrap her from that blanket and bathe her, take care of her.
And finally I’ll slide my fingers gently along her skin and make her shiver until she pleads for more.
I’ll do it again and again, and soon I’ll have her dripping wet on the floor, writhing with pleasure as my fingers do their work.
I’m hard as fuck just watching her on the cameras, imagining what I’d do to her. The whole thing is twisted and I feel broken inside, but I’ll keep going forward. That’s how I live my fucking life, just keep moving forward.
Suddenly, there’s a knock at the front door. I stand up, pissed off at the interruption, and take one last glance at the monitors. She’s not moving again. I leave the control room and shut the door behind me, locking it with a key. I quickly walk to the front door just as the knock comes again.
I pull it open and my father’s standing there. “Son,” he says.
“What are you doing here?” He never comes here. He only visits when there’s a hit to be done. And that’s only because he’s reliant on me now.
“Come to check up on you. Gonna let me in or what?” he asks.
I nod and step aside. His heavy steps pause as he enters the hallway and looks at the mess of boxes and guns stacked in the living room.
“What’s this shit?”
“It’s from the gun room. I had to clean it out to make room for her.”
“I know, but you didn’t find a better place for it?”
“I’ve been busy,” I say and clench my jaw and look away. “What do you need?”
“The Romanos have been asking about you.” He walks into the kitchen as if it’s his and grabs a beer from the fridge. He peeks his head over the open door and asks, “Want one?”
“I’m good.”
He takes a seat at the table, making himself at home and takes a big swig.
“What do they want?” I ask. I lean against the wall with my arms crossed.
“They’re wondering why that bastard Toni isn’t dead yet.”
“I’ve been busy,” I say again.
“I get that. But he’s just one asshole.”
“He’s a well-guarded asshole. I’ve been scouting him, searching for weaknesses.” I set up surveillance to learn his routines, which are minimal. He has to know it’s coming. He’s not giving me an easy angle.
“What about the girl? She give you anything?”
“Not yet.” My blood heats at his question. She’s not a part of this. I haven’t asked her a damn thing, and I don’t plan on it. She’s not a tool to use. She’s mine.
“What’s taking so long?” he asks.
“You know how long it takes. They always want to rush this shit, but it takes time to plan it out.” I may be putting this off a bit longer than I should. But hits take time, and they know that.
“Yeah, I get it,” he grunts, drinking the beer. “Still, they’re getting on my ass about it. How much longer?”
I shake my head. “Hard to say. Weeks, maybe.”
“Fuck, Gio.” He finishes the beer and walks back to the fridge for another. I follow him, annoyed at this useless intrusion. I want to get back to my princess.
He knows better than this. Getting a little taste of the familia is fucking with his head.
He knows how long it takes to research and plan a proper hit.
He’s complained many, many times over the years that they always want us to rush into it and get fucked, and here he is doing that same thing to me.
“Listen, I’ve overheard some shit,” he says.
“What sort of shit?”
“There are some new meets going down. They’re starting to let us in.”
I raise an eyebrow. He seems excited, which is unlike him. The Bruno Luca I’ve known my whole life has been skeptical and quick to anger, but always patient when it comes to a kill.
I barely recognize this man. We’ve been growing apart for years, but now it feels like the break has finally come.
“I’m going to do it,” he says, cracking another beer. I cock a brow at him and he repeats himself, “I’ll do the hit.”
“No,” I say.
“I have a plan. You’re taking too long. They want this shit done.”
I ball my fists and have to take a deep breath before I clobber him to death. I almost want him to go forward with this hit and get himself killed. It would probably make my life easier if he just never fucking existed or suddenly disappeared.
Instantly I feel guilty about that thought.
Although we’re growing apart, he’s still my father.
I disagree with him over this situation, and there are a lot of things I hate about him, but he’s still my family.
My only family. I can’t turn my back on him as much as I really want to.
He's given me so much in my life already.
He fucked up as much as he gave, though. Maybe more.
“I can pull this off,” he says confidently.
“I’m not having this discussion.” I stare at him, and there must be something in the way I’m looking at him that makes him back off.
“Alright,” he mutters and takes another swig. After a second of silence, he grins at me. “Hey, let me see the girl.”
“What?”
“Yeah, let me see her.”
“You know I can’t do that.” My back straightens, and I feel a prickle of unease down my spine.
“Come on, son,” he says, leering at me. “I just wanna see the girl. I just want a little taste, you know what I mean?”
“No!” I say, more forceful than I expected. It surprises me and clearly surprises him, because his eyebrows instantly lift up in a questioning look.
I have to scramble to cover up my reaction. “You know how this goes,” I say. “I can’t have you going in there and fucking up my work. I need to build trust with her, make her want me above anything else.”
“Yeah,” he says slowly. “Right. I know how it is.”
“You can’t go in there. It’s not a good time.” It will never be a good time. My heart races with anxiety, but more so anger. She’s mine.
“Fine, fine,” he says, putting the empty beer can down on the counter. “Just take care of this shit fast, Gio. The Romanos want results.”
“Fine,” I say, and walk him to the door. “I’ll do what I can, as fast as I can.”
“Alright then, son.” He gives me a look that I can’t read, then leaves. I shut the door behind him, breathing fast as I lock it.
As I lean against the wall, taking deep breaths to calm myself, the memory of Grace’s hand touching mine comes back to me completely out of nowhere. I feel that same electric spark and excitement course through me as in that moment, and I remember her surprised but angry stare.
I didn’t stop my father because I want to break her, and the realization hits me with an undeniable force.
I stopped him because I want to protect her.
I don’t want my father near her because I don’t want him to hurt or touch her. It’s completely fucked, but I’m protective of her. The princess is mine, all mine, and I won’t have anyone else come near her.
Which makes things pretty fucking difficult for me.
I go into the kitchen and make her a meal, not thinking too much about it. I’m too busy going over every detail of my conversation with my father, wondering if he got an inkling of how I was really feeling. That last look he gave me was strange.
I’m going to have to be extra careful from now on.
I carry the food on a tray to her room. I touch the fingerprint scanner with my thumb, and the door opens with a click. I push my way inside and shut the door behind me, making sure that my face is blank. She can’t sense my confusion.
She’s lying in the cage like always, her eyes shut, breathing slowly and deeply. I walk over and put the tray down where I always do before taking a few steps away.
“Wake up, princess,” I say softly.
She stirs a little bit.
“Princess,” I say louder. “Get up.”
Her eyes open. Her gorgeous eyes. She looks at me for a second, then looks at her food. She shifts her weight toward me, and for a second I think she’s going to come out. I want it so badly, more than I could have imagined, but instead she stops moving, those eyes boring into mine.
“I’m here for you now, princess,” I say softly. “So eat up. You’re going to need your strength.”
I smile at her, wicked and desiring, the darkness inside of me raging with delight.