13. Sergio
CHAPTER 13
SERGIO
“I wouldn’t suck your cock if it was the only one on Earth and I needed it to breathe!” The dark pink color that floods her cheeks makes her eyes pop even more than normal against her bronze skin. She glares at me so hard that I believe she’s trying to kill me with her mind right now.
It’s hard not to chuckle, especially since she thinks she had the last word last night at the club.
Look who’s in the driver’s seat now, Jaelyn.
How does it feel to be Miss Daisy, in a very erotic, very compromising position?
Just looking at her — long, dark hair spread out on the pillow below her, shirt riding up to expose taut, smooth abs with a hint of boob, shapely legs thrashing about — fuck me.
She’s the sexiest captive I’ve ever seen.
The only one I’ve ever had, actually.
That’s when reality smacks me across the face with the force of a big beefy hand.
I kidnapped this woman.
Stole her from her life.
And her beloved car.
I’m holding her prisoner in a safehouse that’s not mine.
I have her chained to a bed, also not mine, though it’s one I’d very much like to share with her, handcuffed or otherwise.
I scrub a hand down the front of my face.
Forget about her sucking your cock and figure out how you’re gonna fix this situation so nobody slices off said cock!
Jaelyn’s head suddenly drops to the pillow like she’s just succumbed to extreme exhaustion and her breathing gets more and more shallow. Tiny mewls escape her lips as her arm and leg muscles tense and seize.
Fuck, what the hell is happening to her?
I grit my teeth, watching her transform from raging bitch to one step above a vegetable in only a few seconds. I stand still, staring at her, willing her to light me on fire again with that mouth, but she only moans louder. Blood rushes between my ears as I rub at the stress knot tight against the base of my spine. Are these side effects? What if she’s having a reaction to the injection? What if she’s allergic? What if she convulses and fucking dies on me?
In the Severinov’s goddamn safehouse, of all places?
I’d have to chop her up and bury her somewhere in the desert!
Otherwise, I’ll end up in my own grave next to hers.
With a throbbing pulse, I walk back toward her, concern outweighing all primal urges at this point. Beads of sweat dot her forehead as her whimpers get fainter and fainter.
I lower my head to her chest, her pulse double the speed of my own.
Her eyelids flicker and flutter as if she’s about to black out, her skin clammy.
Holy shit, I need to call an ambulance!
“Hey, Jaelyn,” I murmur, smoothing back her hair. “Are you ok?—?”
But before I can even utter the words, a paralyzing shock of pain erupts between my legs and before I can catch myself, I collapse right on top of her. My stomach leaps into my throat and the anguish resulting from her shin colliding with my balls roars through my groin like a wildfire incinerating everything in its path. “Goddammit!” I roar, doubling over as I roll off of the bed.
“Fuck you, Sergio!” she sings, alert, awake, and most importantly, alive. Sure, she may have just sterilized me, but death would be much more painful.
For me, I mean.
“You can chain me up but you’ll never hold me down, dickhead!” She giggles as I clutch myself, staggering toward the open door, gasping for air.
Jesus Christ. She fucking played me and I let myself get sucked right into her twisted and sadistic game.
She may be gloating now after crippling my manhood.
But there’s no piece of ass on this planet hot enough to cripple my goddamn livelihood!
“You do realize that if you put me out of commission, you’ll still be handcuffed to that bed, right?” I gasp, doubled over. “No ability to move or escape?”
“It would be worth it just to see you suffer!” she shrieks. “I’d rather starve to death or lay in my own waste to see you crumbled on the floor like the weak, pathetic asshole you are! Oh, so powerful and scary,” she mocks in a voice dripping with disdain. “You couldn’t even get me here without sticking a needle in my arm! You knew I’d fight and that you’d lose!”
Her eyes blaze, her jaw so tight I think it might crack from clenching so hard. She’s right. I knew she’d fight. Like a fucking hellcat.
I just didn’t want to have to fight back.
I needed to keep my leverage intact.
The corners of my lips lift as I slowly rise to my feet. “Well, I’m not on the floor, sweetheart. But don’t worry, I’ll make sure the rest of your requests are granted. Enjoy your stay.”
I slam the door, my pulse throbbing against my neck as she flings out the harshest expletives that would even make a prisoner’s ears bleed.
I lean against the door and push back my hair. I have Jaelyn Torres on her back, which is exactly where I’d fantasized she’d be if I had my way.
But now that I have her, there’s the tiny little detail of what the hell to do with her. I didn’t think that part through very well.
Okay, not at all.
And what was my plan for work? How many damn meetings can I say I have that’ll keep me away from the hotel and out from Matteo’s thumb?
I need backup.
Someone to run interference.
I walk through the mess of construction and pull out my phone, as far away from the bedroom door as possible so she can’t hear the panic in my voice.
I’m reserving that for one person.
I stab Bruno’s number into my phone and he answers after a couple of rings.
“How’s Enrico?” I ask in a choked voice.
“Good. He just woke up a little while ago. I brought him some food.”
I nod. “Okay, glad to hear that.”
“How’d the meeting go?”
“It, ah, didn’t go as planned.”
Bruno snickers. “Did you shoot someone?”
“Not exactly.” More like shot someone up. “Where is everyone?”
“You mean where’s Matteo? I try to keep away from him, so I don’t really know. Don’t wanna know, either.”
“Bruno, I have a job for you to do.” I take a deep breath. “My meeting kinda went sideways and I’m going to be out for longer than I planned. I need you to cover for me.”
Another high-pitched shriek emerges from the bedroom and I squeeze my eyes shut.
“Dude,” Bruno says with a chuckle. “If you wanted to get laid, you coulda just told me. And why would you need me to cover for you, anyway? It’s not a hooker, is it? Jesus, Serge. Not again. There’s plenty of pussy right here that you don’t have to pay for.”
“Bruno,” I hiss. “There is no hooker. And there sure as hell isn’t any sex. I just…I have to take care of a few things today. You know, figure out how to fix things with, ah, Torres.”
“The only thing that guy is fixing for is an opportunity to kick your ass, you know that, right?”
“I might have come up with a way to get through to him,” I say through clenched teeth.
“Oh shit, that’s not him screaming, is it? You gonna ass-ram him or something until he agrees to sell?”
“No,” I hiss. “I don’t have time to play Twenty fucking Questions now!”
“Sergio!” Jaelyn shouts again. “I have to pee!”
“Serge, what the hell is going on there?”
I mute the phone and yell back to her. “You just said you’d happily lay in your own waste! So be fucking happy, yeah?”
“Serge?” Bruno asks again. “You wanna tell me what the hell is going on? Where are you and who the hell has to pee?”
I suck in a breath. “Bruno, I did a fucking bad thing. I mean, I didn’t think it was bad at first. Well, actually, I didn’t think about anything at first except talk?—”
“Sergio!” Bruno bellows.
“Fine,” I say, expelling a sigh. “I’m at the Severinov safehouse.”
“The one under construction?”
“Yeah.”
“Do I wanna know why?”
I rub the back of my neck. “No.”
“But you’re gonna tell me anyway, right?”
“Yeah.” I lean my head back against the wall. “I came here because I knew nobody would be here to use it.”
“And you needed privacy because…?”
“Because I kidnapped Jaelyn Torres from her car this morning and needed a place to keep her.”
“Fuck me,” he mutters slowly. I can see his expression in my mind, eyes wide, beefy hand scrubbing the stubble of his beard.
“Yep.”
“And by kidnapping her, just to be clear, you, ah, what exactly?”
“I gave her a shot of whatever Doc Arlo gave me for Enrico. It was strong enough that she passed out. I pulled her from her car and brought her right here.”
“You kidnapped her in broad daylight?”
“Yes.”
“And left her car on the side of the road.”
“Yeah.” I pause. “But I wiped down any area I touched so there wouldn’t be prints.”
“Mm-hm,” he mumbles, silent for a minute. “And you thought that drugging and snatching Torres’ sister was the best way to negotiate a fucking deal, Serge?” Bruno shouts.
“Easy,” I mumble. “I don’t want anyone to hear you and ask what you’re grousing about.”
He lets out a dry laugh. “Sure, I’d get why you want me to keep my dipshit cousin’s meathead plan to salvage the deal with Torres quiet!”
My mouth twists into a grimace. “If you were here, I’d shoot you for saying that shit.”
“But I’m not!” he sings out. “I’m not the fucking idiot who just committed a kidnapping and left all of the goddamn evidence out in the open for anyone to find!”
“There weren’t any eyewitnesses,” I grunt. “Don’t be so dramatic. It’s not like you’re a Boy Scout, Bruno.”
“True,” he says. “But I am a planner, though. I strategize before making a move, especially one that would have Torres all over us. Not to mention the shit you brought on us by cutting off Javier’s hand! What the hell is with you, Serge? This isn’t like you! This screams Dante and Roman!”
I shift against the wall. He’s right. I don’t make sudden moves like this without thinking them through. But my life…starting from when Jaelyn walked into my nightclub…has become a very dangerous and destructive funnel cloud. It just spins with lightning speed, sucking me deeper with every passing day. It continues to wreak havoc at every turn and I don’t know how to stop it.
I wanted to talk to her. Really.
I figured I could come up with something to say that might get her to change her mind about me, the offer, all of it.
But then Matteo’s words rang out in my head and I just lost it.
All of it.
The anger charged through me when I saw her car coming down that road, and I wanted to show Torres how short-sighted he was for attacking us like he did.
“He tried to kill us,” I seethe. “He deserves nothing less than to have his precious sister’s body hand-delivered to his club in a crate of dry ice!”
“Please tell me that’s not part of your plan.”
“Not yet it isn’t.” I scowl as Jaelyn’s whining gets louder. “I can’t say it won’t become the plan, though.”
“So how long are you planning to keep her locked up?” Bruno asks. “And are you going to stay there with her? You do have a job here, you know. I can only cover for you for so long before Matteo starts asking questions. And it won’t take long for him to jump down my throat if you’re not here to distract him.”
I roll my eyes. “Thanks. And yeah, I know I have things to figure out.”
“Look, let’s be real here. You made a dumbass mistake by taking her. No doubt about that. We could have figured out another way to deal with the situation. But if Torres finds out, Matteo will be the least of your problems. By then, you’ll be earless, handless, and dickless. Probably on your way to being headless.”
“Thanks for the vote of confidence.”
“I’m just telling it like it is.”
“You’re not helping.”
“Do you want me to kidnap some other chick from the club to keep her company? Would that be helpful?”
“You’re flicking my last nerve.”
“There will be a lot of lasts for you when Torres finds out you hijacked his sister. Your nerves should be last on your list of concerns.”
“Just don’t blow my damn cover, okay?” I say through clenched teeth.
“Just figure out how the hell you’re gonna fix this situation you’ve created, okay?”
I click the end button without saying goodbye and fight with everything in me to not hurl it at the unfinished sheetrock.
Jesus Christ, what the hell have I done?
My eyes flicker toward the closed bedroom door.
Jaelyn would know the truth.
But would she tell me?
She’d never sell out her brother, and would I be able to trust her if she said it wasn’t them?
Another round of screams explodes into the air. I hear the headboard of the bed slam against the wall as she flounders on the mattress.
“Sergio!”
I clutch the sides of my head. “ What ?” I shout back.
“I have to pee!”
I drag myself off the wall and fling open the door. “What part about making you suffer wasn’t clear the first time?”
“Look,” she seethes. “I don’t know why I’m here or what you plan to do to me, but the least I’d expect is to be treated with a little bit of goddamn dignity! And that means being able to use a bathroom! Cuff me to the freaking toilet, but get me in there!”
I let out a sharp breath and stare at her. The second I uncuff her, she’s gonna attack me like a rabid lioness. I search the room and then wander into the foyer for supplies. A roll of duct tape sits on one of the half-walls. I grab it and bring it into the bedroom. I wrap it around her ankles first so she has nowhere to run, and kicking will be quite the challenge since I’ve basically turned her into a mermaid. Then I uncuff one wrist and pull her loose arm over to the still-cuffed one. I snap the handcuffs on both of her wrists and bend down to gather her in my arms. I swing her upward as she wiggles around.
“You think you’re so smart, don’t you?” she mutters as I carry her toward the bathroom.
“Well, seeing as how I’m not the one who’s so trapped she needs to be carried to the toilet, yeah. I think I’m the smarter one in this scenario.”
I deposit her inside the bathroom and she glares at me.
“Pull down my pants, you dickhead.”
I can’t fight the smirk and she curses me before collapsing on the seat. I turn around to give her some privacy because I’m not an animal, after all, and when she’s done, she calls my name. With a sweet smile, she asks me to wipe her and pull up her pants again.
This time when I lean over, she clocks me in the side of the head with her knee. I make sure to pull her panties up so high, they’re in her throat when I carry her back to the bed and cuff her again.
“You can’t keep me here forever,” she says in a low voice, squirming on the bed. “Nate needs to know that you have me.”
“Oh, he will. When I’m goddamn good and ready!”
She shakes her head, her eyes fluttering closed for a minute. “I would do anything to protect my brother.”
“I know that. It’s why you came to my club last week, to fuck around with my business and figure out a way to get the upper hand. You fucking played me!”
She lifts an eyebrow. “It wasn’t that hard.”
I narrow my eyes. “Well, guess what? It didn’t work. Your brother doesn’t get the last word. I do!”
“So you think you’re just going to babysit me until he changes his mind?” She shakes her head. “You don’t have any idea what you’re up against, Villani. You want Nate to change his mind? Well, he needs to be alive to make that deal. There’s so much more to this than you know, and the longer you hold me here, the less of a chance you have of that happening.”
I stomp over to her, hovering low against her face. “Jaelyn, I’m gonna tell you something right now that you need to remember because I won’t say it again. Fool me once, shame on me. Fool me twice, you are completely fucked. See how that works?” I trail a finger down the side of her face, tilting her chin upward so she has no choice but to look at me. “I do not and will not believe a single word that comes out of your smart-ass mouth. That’s what happens when you try to play someone one time too often. You lose their trust. Now, you can cry me whatever the hell river you want, but to me, it’s all white noise. I have an objective and you’re my way of achieving it. I don’t need to hear anything more from you. Anything that you say is complete bullshit and will be ignored, do you understand?” I pull my finger away. “Don’t think for a second that you can actually win this. You will fail. I promise you that. And when you fail, guess who pays the price?” I flash a nasty smile. “That’s right. Big bad brother Nate. You wanna be responsible for that?”
Her nostrils flare and she twists her head away from me. “If you don’t tell him you have me, it’ll be too late for him to pay you anything,” she rasps, her voice choked.