Chapter 10 Chiara
Chiara
My stomach’s full once again, thanks to a delicious meat stew cooked by Kane. He’s tidying up the remains of our meal while Angelo messes with his phone. When my husband senses me watching him, he sighs.
“Ready to tell me what happened?” he asks in a surprisingly gentle voice. I’m not ready to talk about it, but I don’t say that. Instead, I gather my thoughts while watching the flames dance in the fireplace.
Snow’s still falling outside. If it continues snowing this heavily, we’ll end up stuck here.
“I’d fallen asleep in the car on the way back from the office,” I say before describing what happened in the warehouse.
“We found the bodies,” Angelo confirms.
I relate the barest details of everything I saw and heard after I woke up in the castle. He doesn’t interrupt, but his mouth flattens in barely concealed rage.
“Who is that guy? Someone called him Barrington. And why did he kidnap me?”
“He’s English mafia, and as to why, I don’t know.” Logs crackle and spit while I think.
“Are Coco and Felix alright?”
“They’re fine,” Kane calls from the kitchen.
“And Luka?” I hate asking, but he’s on my mind.
“Don’t know about Luka, but I assume so.” Angelo grinds his teeth in annoyance that I’m asking, but I ignore him.
“How long are we stuck here?”
Kane strolls back in. “For a couple of days.”
The thought of being cooped up in this tiny cottage with these two hulking, dangerously attractive men makes my skin itch, so I change the subject to avoid thinking about it.
“What happened to the other women?”
“We don’t know. Our focus was on finding you.”
“So you did nothing to help the other women?” Kane and Angelo exchange looks, which tells me it’s not good news.
“Barrington has the local law enforcement on his payroll. They turn a blind eye to what goes on. There wasn’t time to mount a full-scale rescue mission, Chiara.
We were lucky to find you on that massive estate.
We killed a few guys but only came across one other woman still alive. Declan’s guy, Connor, got her out.”
“Someone needs to stop that man from hurting any more women,” I mutter.
“Yes, but that someone isn’t us.” I know he’s right. This isn’t our country, and Angelo can’t afford to get involved while the feds are on his case. Which reminds me…
“What’s happening with the investigation back home?”
“Nothing you need to worry about.” The dismissive way Angelo brushes my question away irritates me.
“Excuse me? You’ve had me checking the accounts. I think I deserve to know what’s going on!”
“We’re being investigated, but as far as I know, the feds don’t have enough to charge me with anything yet.”
It seems like the two events are connected; first the suspicious deposits, and then my abduction. But I keep my thoughts to myself.
I tuck my legs up and pull a blanket from the back of the sofa over me. Despite having slept for a day, I’m still tired. Bone tired.
Kane sees me yawning. “Let’s get you back to bed for a bit, kitten.” He goes to lift me up, but Angelo steps in.
“I’ll take her, seeing as how she’s my wife.” The warning in his voice is unmistakable, but I roll my eyes.
“Only on paper,” I snark.
The staircase is both narrow and steep, with a low, beamed ceiling. It forces Angelo to duck his head on the way up. I can’t help but smile.
To my surprise, he asks me if I need the bathroom, and when I say yes—because I want to brush my teeth—he carries me inside.
“I can manage.” All this care and attention has begun to feel suffocating. I’m not used to being pampered. My father quit pampering me once Vivian arrived on the scene. And to be fair, he wasn’t much of a helicopter parent prior to that.
“I know you can manage, but I also need you to rest your ankle,” Angelo replies with a plastic smile. The bastard is enjoying this. I can tell. He loves that I’m dependent on him and Kane. Probably assumes I won’t try to escape his clutches if I can’t walk without falling over in agony.
Sadly, he’s right. Even if I had a passport and some cash, we’re stuck in the middle of nowhere.
“Are you going to hold me while I piss?” I’m joking, but he nods.
“I have no problem with that.”
“Eww, gross.” This time his smile is genuine at my horrified expression. “Not happening.”
“Relax, cara. I’ll leave you to pee in peace.” He backs out of the small bathroom and pushes the door shut.
I quickly brush my teeth using the brand-new toothbrush and then use the toilet while hoping he’s not listening on the other side of the door.
My hair is a tangled bird’s nest and my skin milk-pale, but I try not to avoid my reflection. Part of me is worried that if I stare into the mirror, I’ll see a demon lurking behind my eyes. The sort of demon that kills people without remorse.
When I leave the bathroom, Angelo is waiting for me. He picks me up before I can protest and deposits me in bed.
“Seriously, I’m not crippled, Angelo,” I grumble.
He rolls his eyes and clicks off the small lamp on the nightstand, plunging the room into semi-darkness.
“Get some more rest. If Declan has your passport ready tomorrow, we’ll be leaving.”
I nod and snuggle down under the thick quilt. The pillows are soft, like fluffy clouds, and the bed is surprisingly comfortable. If I were a genuine tourist, I’d rate the place five stars for sure.
I don’t expect to fall asleep so quickly, but the next time I wake, a heavy blanket of shadows has settled over the room. All I can hear are faint creaks as ancient timbers shift and the rhythmic sound of heavy breathing behind me.
The realization that I have company doesn’t surprise me. It’s become apparent that these two can’t leave me alone for five fucking minutes.
My unwanted companion rolls onto his back and throws a brawny arm out sideways. His breathing pattern doesn’t change, so I assume he’s still fast asleep.
I carefully adjust to lie on my side facing him, ogling his cut muscles like a creeper. It’s not often I get the chance to admire Kane’s defined musculature and myriad tattoos. When we train, he always wears a tee. Presumably so I don’t collapse in a puddle of lustful drool.
The drapes are partially open. Light filters in from the moon, which periodically peeks out from behind the clouds.
It’s stopped snowing, but it’s still possible the snowfall will have blocked the roads around here.
I hope not, or we could be stuck here for weeks.
Or so I overheard Kane telling Angelo last night.
Not exactly ideal. I need to get back to my babies.
My pet babies.
The only babies in my future.
“Need something, kitten?” Kane’s low rumble startles me. I’ve been so lost in thought I’ve failed to spot he’s awake.
“No.” He rolls over to face me.
“Sure?” The whites of his eyes glow in the dark, and I swallow hard. Kane’s not wearing enough clothes. It’s both distracting and tempting.
“Do you know where Luka is? I miss him.” To my surprise, instead of taking offense, Kane reaches for my hand and squeezes.
“He’s on a work trip in Europe, but he’s due back at the end of the week.”
“Does he know what happened?”
Kane shakes his head. “There wasn’t time. And besides, Angelo doesn’t want Luka involved in family business.”
“Or with me,” I point out. Kane doesn’t disagree. “I’m surprised you’re risking Angelo’s wrath by being here.”
“He took the spare bed and left me with the couch. If I’d spent another minute on that thing, I’d have needed a chiropractor, so I came up and joined you.”
“And now I’m keeping you awake.” After sleeping so much in the last day, I am no longer tired. Kane must be exhausted, though.
“It’s nearly dawn, so I wouldn’t have slept much longer. If the roads are clear, we’ll be leaving later.”
“For home?” By home, I mean the States, but I’m pretty sure from Kane’s faint smirk he thinks I mean Angelo’s mansion.
“Yeah. Declan sent Angelo a message late last night to say his contact has a passport for you. We’ll pick it up on the way to the airport.”
Kane stretches his arms above his head, gifting me a glimpse of skin and muscle when the quilt slides down. The room is cool, but that’s not why my nipples are hard.
“I should grab a shower,” I say while not making any attempt to move.
“Need a hand, kitten?” There’s a subtext to Kane’s ostensibly innocent question. Or maybe I’m reading way too much into it.
“I think I can manage. My ankle feels much better.” It doesn’t, but I hate admitting weakness.
A hand settles on my hip, making me shiver. Only I can’t blame the cold because my skin burns with heat and my mouth is so dry I can barely swallow.
“I should go brush my teeth. Or something.” The hand on my hip tightens as fingers dig into my flesh.
“No.”
“No?” The words are barely a squeak. I tell myself it’s because I don’t want to wake Angelo, but we both know that’s a lie. I give no shits about what Angelo thinks about any relationship I have with Kane. And now I’m not sure Kane gives any shits.
Kane leans in and brushes his mouth across mine. My gut screams at me to scramble away, but my whore of a libido locks me down. I can’t move. He’s trapped me with a lust spell.
At least that’s my excuse for my woeful lack of self-control.
Perhaps I have PTSD. Is the inability to withstand the allure of a fiendishly attractive man a textbook symptom of PTSD? If not, it should be.
“You feel tense, kitten.” Tense is an understatement. If my body tenses up any further, I might break. “Let me help you relax.” It’s a statement, not a question, although I know that if I say no, he’ll back off. Kane is many things, but a rapist is not one of them.
“Angelo might wake.” I don’t honestly care, but it seems prudent to point that out. I’d hate for Kane to lose his life over me.
“Then you’ll have to be quiet.” His white teeth gleam in the darkness as he edges my borrowed boxers down my hips and thighs. “Can you be quiet, kitten?”
I gasp as he slides his fingers between my thighs. I’m embarrassingly wet.
“Is this all for me?” Two fingers push inside me while his thumb rubs my clit.
“No. I was thinking about Luka,” I lie before groaning when he adds a third finger.
A chuckle tells me he sees through my bullshit. “I’m more than enough for you, kitten.” The thick cock that throbs against my thigh tells me he’s right. This man will ruin me if I let him inside my aching body, but I want more than his fingers.
He pushes me closer to the edge as his mouth claims mine. The noises I make are far too loud, but he swallows my cries as I come. By the time he’s wrung every last drop of pleasure from my body, I’m exhausted again.
But Kane’s not finished. Not by a long stretch.