Chapter 7
Seven
Marchello
What the fuck was I thinking? There were less complicated ways to get Gian to back off and clear the way for my father to return. Taking his entitled little brat hostage was not one of them.
But I’d made the decision to extract Lissia from the situation with the arms dealer, and now I had to make it work to my advantage.
I pulled up to the secluded house nestled in the woods in a remote part of a New Jersey suburb. My family had used this location for years when we needed privacy or a safe haven.
The house was close enough to the city if we needed to get back, but it was also remote enough that no one would look for us here.
“Where are we?” Lissia asked—her first words since I chucked her coveted phone into the river.
“A safe house.”
“Why?”
“We need a place to hide out until your father comes to his senses and does what I need.”
“What if he doesn’t do what you need?”
“That would mean he doesn’t want you back.” Although, from her attitude, that could be a real possibility. “I wouldn’t want you back.”
“What?” She glared. “Why would you say that?”
“Did you not come to me to form an alliance against your father? Your lack of loyalty is concerning. It certainly doesn’t gain you any points with me.” Her actions to betray her father were probably triggered by some nonsense like him not buying her something expensive.
“You have no idea what motivated me to come to you for help.”
“You’re right.” I opened the driver’s side door, and the brisk fall air swept into the car. “And I really don’t care.”
“Like I care if you care.”
She’s brave, I’ll give her that.
“I don’t respect you. Your lack of loyalty to your family speaks volumes.”
“You don’t have any right to judge me,” she said.
“I’m not judging you. I’m just telling you what I see. You’re a little girl who didn’t get what she wanted. Was it the Corvette? A trip?”
“You’re a jerk.”
“Like I said, Daddy didn’t give you what you demanded, so you came running to me to make him suffer. You should be proud of yourself, because you accomplished your mission.”
“I didn’t accomplish anything.” She rolled her eyes.
“Your father deserves what happened to you tonight. Why were you out without a guard? What’s wrong with you people?”
“Your family is just as deplorable as mine. Your father didn’t even have the honor to stick around and protect you and your brother.”
Without thinking, I grabbed her throat and pinned her against the window. She swallowed hard but kept her gaze locked with mine, as if daring me to lose control.
“I’m going to say this one time.” I tightened my hold on her neck. With my free hand, I swiped the hair from her face. “If another negative word about my father or my family comes out of your disrespectful mouth, you will not draw another breath. Do you understand me?”
She nodded.
“I want to hear the words.”
“Yes,” she breathed out of her constricted airway. “I understand.”
“That’s better.” I released her before getting out and walking around the car. I took a few seconds to gain my composure as I breathed in the autumn night air.
What was it about this woman? She drew emotions from me I didn’t understand. One second I wanted to kill her, and the next I wanted to fuck her brains out.
What the hell is going on with me? I could have any woman I wanted, but for days, all I could think about was her.
She still leaned against the window as I approached the car door, so when I opened it, she almost tumbled to the ground. I caught her arm and guided her out. As she stepped onto the ground and yanked away from my hold, she lost her balance and fell to the gravel.
I extended my hand, but she swatted it away.
“You can’t sit out here all night,” I said.
“I can do whatever I want.”
“That may have been true in your father’s house.” I reached down, tucked my hand under her arm, and pulled her up like a floppy rag doll. “But it won’t be true here. You’ll do whatever I want.”
She straightened her posture, trying to gain her composure.
“Let’s go inside.” I pointed to the house. “It’s cold out here.”
“I’m fine.”
“I might believe you if you weren’t trembling.”
She gazed into the gloomy woods surrounding the property. The leaves rustled, and an owl hooted in the distance.
“There’s nowhere for you to run.” I looked her over, glanced at the woods, and then back at her. “In that dress and those boots, you’d last about an hour in the woods, and that’s only if I don’t catch you before you reach the tree line. And we both know I’ll catch you, even though I do like a good chase.”
She looked between the house and the woods. Would she be stupid enough to choose the dark unknown?
Make me chase you and see what happens.
I moved toward her, and she retreated a few feet.
“I like games too.” I smirked. “Do you want to play?”
“Stop.” She held up her hand.
I advanced on her and tossed her over my shoulder before she realized what I was doing. She yelped when her ribs hit my shoulder.
“Put me down!” She wiggled against me. “Help!”
“Scream all you want.” I slapped her ass.
“Ouch!”
“No one will hear you out here.”
I punched a code into the keypad on the front door and opened it, gaining access to the spacious house. I hadn’t been here in a few months, but we had trusted staff who checked the property every week, keeping it stocked and maintained for emergencies.
This definitely qualified as an emergency.
I plopped her down on the couch in the family room, catching a peek of her black panties before she sat up and tugged her dress into place.
“Your struggle will only make this process harder on you. I can fight you every step of the way.” I removed my suit jacket and draped it over a chair. “I’m stronger and smarter than you. I’ll catch you every time.”
I loosened my tie.
“This is your new home for the foreseeable future.” I took the throw from the back of the sofa and covered her with it. “You’ll have no contact with the outside world until your father gives me something that gets my father home.”
“What if he can’t do that?”
“I have faith in him.” I strode to the wall and turned on the gas fireplace.
“What am I meant to do while I wait?”
I waved my hand around the large room. “This house is spectacular. There’s a hot tub through the screened-in porch and a state-of-the-art home gym in the basement, equipped with a sauna.”
“Am I supposed to work out in my dress?”
“I’ll have everything you need delivered in the morning.” I sat next to her. “Tell me what you want, and I’ll make sure you have it.”
“I don’t want anything from you.”
“Why don’t I believe that?” I trailed my finger down the soft skin of her arm. “You wanted something from me a few hours ago.”
“And if I recall, you wanted something from me.”
“We both wanted that.” I lowered my hand to her thigh. “We’ll have plenty of time to explore one another while we’re here.”
“No.” She pushed my hand off her.
“Your defiance irritates me.”
“Your assumption that I want anything to do with you irritates me.” She tossed the throw at me and got off the couch. “I didn’t agree to be your captive.”
“That’s not how being a captive works.”
“I’m over this.” She hustled down the hall and to the front door. I followed close behind. “I’m leaving. You can’t keep me here.”
“You don’t think so?”
“I’ll walk home.” She tugged on the handle.
I couldn’t help but admire her determination, even if it would get her nowhere.
I held up my phone. “The security system in this place is amazing. I control it all with my phone.”
“You can’t lock me in.”
“I already have.” I pointed to the family room. “You’re not going to be able to escape, so let’s cut the bullshit. You might as well make the best of this situation, because you don’t have a choice.”
What was I going to do with her? Collins wasn’t wrong when he said I couldn’t kidnap a rival family’s daughter. We were supposed to follow a code. Innocents were off-limits. But at the time, I wasn’t entirely sure Lissia was innocent. She had come onto my territory and provoked me. I did what I had to do.
“Why are we still standing in the hallway?” I moved toward her, but she turned and stomped back into the family room.
I had dated a few rich and entitled women in my time, but this one was over-the-top. She needed someone to put her in her place and teach her lessons on respect.
As she walked in front of me, I focused on her firm ass. How many squats did she have to do to achieve such a tempting bottom?
I joined her by the fire. “Don’t pretend you wouldn’t have come with me even if I didn’t hold a gun on you. You were running from something when you arrived at the dealership.”
She turned and looked into my eyes. The anger in them told me I had hit a nerve.
“Your little games and the way you teased me don’t seem so smart now, do they?” I asked. The night we first met, she challenged her father by kissing me goodbye in front of him. “Provoking me might not have been your best idea.”
She stared at me, but her confident expression wavered, and for once, she didn’t have any sharp words for me.
“You’re going to have to do something you’re not used to.” I inched closer to her. “Suffer the consequences. You poke a bear, and well, that bear might just devour you.”
She backed up, bumped into the stone hearth, and stumbled. I caught her arm before she could fall this time.
“You came to me because you wanted me to protect you,” I said.
The rage over her betrayal to her family festered inside me. Not because I cared about Gian’s family’s dynamics. This had more to do with someone like her intriguing me. I considered myself a good judge of character, and she wasn’t someone I would normally be interested in.
“You wanted the help of your father’s enemy,” I continued. “What could have been so horrible in your entitled life that you would defy him like that?”
“That doesn’t matter now.”
I thought she had come to me at her father’s request, but after seeing how hostile Danny was with her, I didn’t think that was the case. She didn’t even struggle when I removed her from the situation. She thought I was the safer bet.
She was wrong.
I grasped her hips. “I helped you get away from the arms dealer tonight. You’re going to owe me for that.”
“My father can pay the price,” she said.
“Oh, he will.” I brushed my lips along her jaw. “But the price he pays is to guarantee your safety. The price you owe is to repay me. That’s how you’ll gain your freedom.”
“You’re just as vicious as they are,” she whispered.
“You’re wrong.” I ran my tongue along the seam of her lips. “I’m worse because I have leverage, determination, and motivation.”
Nothing would stop me from protecting my family and the empire my father had built for us.
She pushed me away and turned toward the fire.
“Don’t worry, princess.” I tightened my hold on her. “I’ll let you have tonight to process.”
A busy night was ahead of me. Milo would follow my lead no matter what, but I needed him to get security in place. I also wanted to make sure the cartel shipments were in order. I couldn’t have the cartel or the other families thinking I didn’t know what I was doing. Not at such a crucial time.
My father depended on me to get things done in his absence, and I had already veered far from the original plan. I needed to right this ship and fast.
“I’ll get you something to eat and then show you to your new room.” I kissed the side of her neck. “This experience will be as pleasant as you make it.”
She rested the back of her head on my shoulder, and I slid my hand up her stomach to rest it just below her breasts. I moved my hand enough to push her nipples out of the top of the plunging neckline of the dress.
“I’m going to ask you a question, and I want an honest answer this time.” I swiped my thumb along her exposed nipple, and she tensed. I played a dangerous game when it came to her, but I couldn’t deny the attraction between us.
“Did you wear this dress for me?” I tweaked her nipple, fighting the urge to spin her around and take it between my teeth.
“I told you, I dress like this for me.” She swirled her hips, grazing my erection with her tight ass. “If it makes you hard, that’s a bonus.”
I turned her to face me, pulling her close. Her chest hit mine as I took her chin in my hand. “You’ve totally fucked up my whole world.”
In a matter of days, I’d gone from focused and in control to impulsive and indecisive.
“Maybe you need me in your world. The universe put me here for a reason.”
“I can think of a few reasons you’re here.”
I lowered my gaze to her lips before claiming them. Her softness meshed against my hard form, allowing me to take the lead and release the beast she would have no idea what to do with.
She held onto my biceps, trying to steady herself from the force of my mouth on hers. I had never been one for long kissing sessions. I liked going for the good stuff—the tight, hot, wet, good stuff—but with her, the back and forth aroused me. I wanted to savor the chase.
How long could I keep this chase up before I unleashed everything? How long before I fucked the daughter of my enemy?
She broke the kiss with a gasp and gazed at the floor. The blaze of the fire heated her flesh while illuminating it with an enticing glow. When she made eye contact with me, uncertainty shone in hers.
Where had her confidence gone?
“You wanted my help.” I ran my fingers through her silky locks. “Now that you have it, you will be paying your debt in full any way I see fit. And I do mean any way I see fit.”