11. Something Hard
CHAPTER 11
SOMETHING HARD
S erena
I brace myself against the sink in the tiny bathroom and stare at my weary reflection in the mirror for an endless moment. I look like absolute garbage. Get your shit together, Serena ! Who cares what you look like? According to the captain’s announcement, we’ll be landing in Milano soon, and I need to figure out if I should run and risk Isabella’s safety or just stay put and wait this thing out.
This is all Papà ’s fault. If he hadn’t made that deal with the Sartori’s it wouldn’t have pushed Antonio to make such a rash decision. Kidnapping me , seriously? My father is going to rip the guy’s spleen from his throat and dance on his eviscerated entrails. Just because I don’t have a security entourage like Bella’s doesn’t mean I’m not valuable.
And Antonio is about to have all hell rain down on him.
A smirk spreads my lips as I consider it. The asshole deserves it.
Still, my traitorous cheeks flush at the thought of his hands on my back as he tried to unzip my dress and his stiffening cock against my ass… I slam down on the completely insane thoughts and bury them in the dark corners of my mind.
Antonio Ferrara just kidnapped you, and he’s holding you hostage. How the hell are you turned on by this?
Two sharp knocks on the door jerk me from my mental monologue. “Serena, are you almost finished? The pilot has informed me that we must return to our seats.”
“I’m coming in a sec,” I mumble.
Heaving in a deep breath, I spin around, hand closing around the knob. I jerk the door open and find Antonio at the foot of the bed. For a bedroom on a jet, it’s surprisingly large, a king maybe. I take a step forward on my good foot. The other one hurts like hell and I’m already regretting denying his request to wrap it, and the jet dips. All my weight falls on my bad ankle, and I stumble forward, romper still unzipped, right into Antonio’s arms.
“Shit!” I hiss as arms and legs fly.
Antonio falls back on the sleek gray comforter, and I land on top of him in an awkward straddle. I scramble to get my cuffed hands unpinned from between us. His arms curl around my waist, firm fingers secure at my hips.
“I’ve got you,” he whispers, and the tone is so soft I barely recognize it as the mobster who just kidnapped me.
Our eyes meet and hold for a never-ending minute. Those pits of smoldering darkness burn with some unreadable emotion as he regards me. His chest doesn’t move beneath me, and I’m fairly certain he’s stopped breathing. Interesting…
Then his hand moves up my spine, and now I’m the one whose lungs refuse to function. It isn’t until I hear the familiar whizz of the zipper climbing up my back that I draw in a ragged breath.
Before I can think on the inappropriate reaction further, the inside of my thigh grazes something hard. Not his cock which is wedged against my pussy and also thickening. No, this is another type of hardness I quickly recognize.
His gun.
And it’s wedged between my leg and his pocket.
With the damned handcuffs, I can’t move as fast as I’d like and somehow, he reads my mind. I get one hand in his pocket, but he lunges for the second one, hanging from the silver chains.
“Don’t you dare,” he hisses. His gaze scans the oval windows on either side of the unusually bright room. “If you hit the glass, do you have any idea what would happen?”
“A violent rush of wind would engulf the cabin resulting in a sharp pressure drop and loss of oxygen. Depending on the sturdiness of your jet, it could strain the fuselage, and we could potentially plummet to our deaths.”
He watches me with eyes wide as I spit out the words of the scenario my father had forced me to play out countless times as a child. I know very well the consequences of shooting a gun midair. “Very good,” he murmurs. “Then I suggest you take your hand off my gun.” My hold only tightens around the handle.
“And I suggest you remove these damned handcuffs.” His grip around my wrist constricts until its punishing.
“That’s not happening, tesoro .”
“Why not?”
“Because even handcuffed and with a sprained ankle you cannot be trusted.” His piercing gaze dips to my hand stuffed into his pocket.
“What do you expect me to do? Just sit here like an obedient little captive?”
“Yes!”
“Is that what you would do?”
He grits his teeth, jaw grinding.
“I didn’t think so.” I shift my weight across his hips with a sigh, and my clit accidentally rubs against the hard ridge of his cock. Even through his slacks, it sends a jolt of awareness all the way up my spine.
He must notice my reaction because a wicked grin melts across his stupidly attractive face.
“What are you smirking about? You’re the one whose dick is hard when I’m moments away from shooting that smile right off.”
“I think you’re smarter than that.”
“Shows how little you know me.” I flash him a sneer.
The jet lurches, and my stomach climbs up my throat as we begin the descent.
“You know what that means, tesoro . It’s time to return to our seats and buckle our safety belts.”
“Thank you, Captain Ferrara. If I’m a good little girl, will you give me my own pilot wings pin?”
He squirms beneath me, grimacing, rubbing his hard-ass cock against my center. “At this point, I’ll give you anything you want if you just get off me.”
“Handcuffs off?” I bat my lashes and shoot him my most angelic smile.
“Fine,” he grits out. “But you understand that if you try to escape, I will go after your precious little cousin instead?”
“Stay the fuck away from Isabella,” I snarl.
“I swear to it, as long as you keep your word.”
I squeeze out a frustrated breath and release my hold on his gun, slowly withdrawing it from his pocket.
Antonio heaves out a sigh as I slide off his lap and scoot to the edge of the bed. I would stand, but my damned ankle hurts too badly.
He shoves his hand into the opposite pocket and fishes out a small set of metal keys. Damn, I was so close to finding my own freedom. “Give me your hands.”
I flash them within an inch of his nose, and his head whips back.
“So that we’re clear,” he grumbles, “just because I’m removing these doesn’t mean I trust you.”
“Same here, buddy.”
Antonio slides the key into the hole, and the sound of the satisfying click has a swirl of hope rising. I’ll play the role of good little captive for now, but the second I have a chance to escape I will. Somehow, I’ll find a way to send word to Bella, and Raf will make her disappear before this coglione can get anywhere near her. At least with her all the way across the Atlantic in Manhattan, some of the pressure is off. She should be moderately safe.
Or at least that’s what I’m banking on.
Once the cuffs are off, I rub my sore wrists. Angry red marks crisscross my flesh, but I’ve endured worse.
He rises and motions toward the main cabin. “After you…”
I push myself up and immediately my ankle falters. Shit .
Antonio’s wary gaze flicks to mine, and a flash of something that looks an awful lot like empathy crosses those stormy eyes. But I must be hallucinating because this is Antonio Ferrara, the man who stood by and allowed his father to do unforgivable things to his own brother.
“You should have let me wrap it,” he mutters as I attempt to walk past him, holding onto the wood-paneled walls.
“I don’t want anything from you but my freedom.” Without sparing him another glance, I hobble back to our seats.
The other guy, Pietro, eyes me as I limp by and sink into the cushy chair. Then his amused gaze pivots to Antonio behind me. “I thought you two got lost back there, capo .”
“ Zitto ,” he hisses.
The man’s smile evaporates, and he leans his head against the headrest. “By the way, I just heard from Salerno’s righthand man, he said if you can keep Sartori away from his territory, he’s ready to talk about an investment in the new restaurant complex.”
Wonderful, at least something has gone right today. If the rumors are true and Dante and Enrico have brokered a deal, now that I have Serena, I could force him to break it, weakening the Sartoris in the process.
The flight attendant appears, flashing a smile. “We’ll be landing in twenty minutes, signori .”
“Good.” I pivot my gaze to Pietro. “Is Nero already waiting at the airport?”
His head dips.
“Send him a message to call for Elena. We’ll require her services this evening upon our arrival at the estate.”
“Will do.”
I listen to their exchange with my eyes closed, pretending to zone out. Estate? There aren’t many of those in the city center of Milano. Where the hell is Antonio taking me? An escape from a city I know well is one thing, but from some small town in the periphery… that was another story all together.