10. Marchella
CHAPTER 10
MARCHELLA
S o much suffering. When the fuck will it ever end?
Roman helps me settle back onto the couch but I shove him away. I don’t need his help. I need his mercy.
But everything he just said confirms one thing.
He’s still my enemy.
My head falls into my hands, the sobs exploding from my chest.
I hate that I’m crumbling in front of this man. I hate that I’m so emotionally broken that I’m allowing myself to lose my shit in front of someone I loved to the ends of the Earth who has just basically threatened to kill me and my brother if he doesn’t get what he wants.
Because the truth is, while my situation is dismal at best, I still manage to pop out of bed in the morning. I still have some shreds of positivity left in me. I still have hope, dammit!
But everyone has their breaking point, I guess.
And since I’m already fractured, I guess it was only a matter of time before I cracked open completely.
God, what I wouldn’t do to feel my mother’s arms around me, to hear her soothing and syrupy-sweet voice whisper that everything will be okay…that this, too, shall pass.
I have clung to that saying for the better part of the last year and you know what?
Shit’s only gotten worse! Nothing has gotten better!
Case in point, I’m sitting on a couch in my captor’s office awaiting a sentence of his choosing because Sticky Fingers Amante couldn’t get a real goddamn job!
“I’m sorry your brother put you in this situation,” he grumbles.
“And I’m sorry you’re such a fucking insolent and controlling asshole who assaulted me, drugged me, and dragged me away from something that actually needed my help! Did you even care that I was trying to save that stray dog? Was it even a thought? She needed me, but did you care, you selfish bastard?” I know I’m rambling now, but I can’t stop the anger flowing out of me.
I wished to have my mother’s arms around me, but I’m convinced that when I found Bella, I had a little piece of Mama in my grasp before they tore it away from me.
I drag my hands down the front of my face, sniffling loudly. I’m crumbling like a freaking house of cards right now and I don’t really think I can stop it.
Maybe it’s a good thing. Maybe he’ll think I’m completely nuts and let me go because keeping me would be more trouble than it’s worth.
Since nuts are prone to cracking.
Roman’s jaw tightens and his fists clench tight at his sides.
“Are you going to hit me now?” I hiss. “Haven’t you done enough to me already?”
In a flash, his fist whips past me and crashes against the wall, putting a dent in the sheetrock.
My mouth drops open. “You’re a sick bastard.”
He turns his fiery glare at me, his eyes shooting white flames. “I didn’t hit you, did I?’
“You’ve clearly got a lot of pent-up rage,” I mutter.
“Who says it’s pent-up?” he growls, shaking out his hand. The impact must have done some damage, although he doesn’t give any indication that he’s in pain.
I guess he’s just so used to causing it that feeling it doesn’t quite register.
“Lucky guess.” I narrow my eyes at him. “Tough guy got taken, so now he needs to prove he still has a dick swinging between his legs, right?”
When he launches himself at me, I am completely caught off-guard.
“Don’t make assumptions, Chella,” he snarls, yanking my ponytail so that my head is tilted toward his, giving him the upper hand. “You don’t know shit about me anymore. And you don’t have the right to judge what you don’t understand.”
“What I understand,” I sputter. “Is that you have no regard for anything but yourself and your reputation. That’s why I’m here. And that’s why you’re gonna snatch Frankie. You need to make examples of us to show your thug peons what happens when the great Roman Villani gets a dose of his own medicine. Tell me,” I seethe through clenched teeth. “How many times did you pull a scam on someone you worked for to get ahead, huh? How many times did you fuck over someone else to get yours?”
He pulls my head back farther, his lips hovering over mine. “How many times isn’t the question you should be asking.”
“Oh, yeah? Well, then, enlighten me. What’s the right question?”
“The right question is did I ever get caught? And the answer…” he says in a low, gruff voice. “Is no .”
I swallow hard. His forehead is pressed against mine, his powerful body plastered against mine as the heat in his gaze snakes through my insides, charging me up like I’ve just stuck my finger into an electrical socket.
“Do you know why?” he continues, his eyes shooting white hot flames. They’re dark and clouded now, filled with a twisted mix of emotion that I can’t even begin to process.
I grit my teeth, not backing away. Fuck him if he thinks I’ll cower!
“Because I was?—”
“Boss!” A deep male voice calls out from the other side of the door. “They’re here.”
Roman hovers over me for a few final seconds, his nostrils flared. It’s almost like we’re playing a twisted game of Chicken.
“I don’t give a damn why, by the way,” I hiss. “You might be great at your job, but you’re a piece-of-shit mobster who has zero decency or morals.”
“I don’t need either,” he seethes. “Because I have something more valuable. Power.”
“You have nothing!” I screech, hurling my hand at his smug expression.
He catches my hand in mid-air…fucking again! I really need to work on my timing.
“Wrong,” he grunts. “I have you , Marchella.”
“You’re no better than Frankie or my father!”
And with that, he backs away with a grim expression on his face, smoothing down the front of his t-shirt. But he doesn’t say another word. I drag my eyes away from his bulging biceps. The fabric stretches tight over his broad chest, and I can see his pecs ripple as he moves toward the door. I swallow hard.
He kidnapped me and pretty much threatened death and yet, here I am, admiring his ripped muscles?!
Jesus, I really am a headcase.
Roman pulls open the door and moves aside as Frankie pitches forward onto the floor at his feet. His face is bruised and bloody, and the front of his shirt is stained bright red. A loud groan escapes his lips as he moves into a fetal position, clutching his midsection.
“Frankie!” I scream, adrenaline flooding my veins with an energy that I was certain had been zapped from my body. But that fight-or-flight instinct kicks in and I dart over to him, collapsing on the floor and covering his body with mine. My gut twists at the sight of all the blood, but I hold him tight and somehow manage to hold myself together.
“What did they do to you?” I weep, my face pressed against his arm.
One of Roman’s guys yanks me away from Frankie and shoves me back onto the couch. I land with a gasp, twisting around toward Roman. A glimmer of fury in his expression morphs into a raging inferno, and he grabs the guy by the jacket and slams him against the wall. The pictures hanging on either side of him crash to the floor, shattering on the hardwood.
“Don’t you fucking lay a hand on her unless I tell you to!” he roars, letting go of the guy and then slamming his head against the wall a second time, I guess to make sure he really drove his point home.
Well, that was somewhat chivalrous in a sick sort of way.
The guy groans, rubbing the back of his head. He mutters an apology and backs away as the other guy with him stands still with a stoic expression on his worn face.
Smart. I’d stay still, too.
Roman kneels down next to Frankie who is still crying into the floorboards. He pulls off his baseball cap and fists his hair, yanking his head off the floor. “Frankie,” he says in a low, menacing growl. “Do you know why you’re here?”
“Yes,” he wails, still holding his midsection. “And I’m s-sorry, Roman!”
“Sorry for what, exactly? For stealing from me? For fucking me over? Or for getting caught? Which is it, Frankie?”
“For all of it!” he groans. “I needed the money and it wasn’t coming fast enough. So when Sal came to me with the job, I figured it could help. I didn’t know we were gonna hit your stash.”
Roman punches him in the jaw, and I yelp.
“Stop that! Can’t you see he’s already hurting?” I scream.
But he just ignores me, pulling Frankie’s head closer to his mouth. “You’re a fucking liar! Your friend Sal sold you out. He told me the job was your fucking idea!” A vein in his neck twitches. “You knew exactly what you were doing, who you were doing it to, and you were banking on me not finding out, you cocksucker.” He lets go of Frankie’s hair and his head drops to the floor like a rock. “Did you really think I was gonna let it go? I’m not my father. I do things my way! I’m not gonna run you outta Manhattan. I’m gonna run you into the core of the fucking planet!”
I cover my mouth with my hand, tears streaming down my face. I have to do something! I can’t just sit here while they kill him! “Please don’t hurt him!” I plead. “Give him a chance to make this right. You said you would. He’s not a bad person. He was just desperate to do something to help us.” I turn my eyes to Roman. “Don’t you understand that? Haven’t you ever felt that before, that you just need a chance to prove yourself?”
Roman walks over to the couch, falling to his knees in front of me. He cups my face with his rough hands, bringing it close to his own, searing my insides with those molten eyes. “Don’t challenge me,” he rasps. “Or my decisions. Otherwise, you will be punished.”
“I’m willing to do whatever it takes to protect my brother from you,” I say, my voice quivering. “He did a stupid thing, but he doesn’t deserve to die.”
The electricity sizzling between us is so intense, my nerves are on the brink of short-circuiting, maybe for good.
But still I hold my ground. Frankie is an idiot. He knows better, yes, but look at the role model he had! It’s up to me to help him out of this mess.
If Roman will let me.
“Okay, then.” His voice is rough and gravelly and I find myself longing for his strong hands on my prickled skin.
“Okay, then…what?” I ask, my mind glitching as I stare into his stormy gaze.
“I said one chance, yeah?” he grunts. “Here it is. Frankie gets my drugs and I keep you until he finds them.”
“Keep me?” I repeat. “What the hell are you?—?”
“Listen, Chella. If I let you both go now, he’d take you and flee the city.”
I swallow hard. Shit.
“So to keep him on task, I’m keeping you . You’ll stay with me until he gets back what he stole.” He turns to Frankie, whose black and blue eyes are almost swollen shut. His body shudders as Roman approaches him on the floor and he rolls onto his side to protect his busted-up midsection. “You’re going to go back to the assholes you worked with and steal it back.”
“But…but I can’t! They’ll never let me have the drugs back!” Frankie sputters. “And I don’t even know how to find them! They came to me!”
“Well, those are big problems, aren’t they?” Roman hisses. “Looks like you’ve got a lot of work to do, especially if you don’t want to end up like your friend, Sal, who’s recently been sunk to the bottom of the goddamn Hudson River!”
I gasp. “If he tries to steal the coke from them, they might kill him!”
Roman turns slowly, regarding me with his penetrating gaze. “I guess he’s gonna have to come up with a stellar plan, Marchella. That is, if he doesn’t want you to be plunged into a watery grave just like his pal, Salvatore.”
My throat tightens. “You’re a fucking monster!”
He doesn’t respond right away, but his lips pull into a tight line, his face a mess of anger, regret, and disgust. “I am,” he growls. “And you’d be smart not to test me.” He nods toward Frankie again. “You have one week. I want my drugs or the cash equivalent, and I want the fuckers who thought it was a smart idea to take it from me. You deliver on all that, you get your sister back. You try to fucking cross me again, and I’ll tie you to a chair to watch me violate her before putting a bullet between her eyes. Then, once you think you’ve suffered enough, I’ll make sure you suffer even more before I plunge a knife into your skull. You’ll beg and plead for death by the time I’m done with you.”
Frankie struggles to his feet. “Don’t you fucking lay a hand on her!” he bellows with as much strength as he can muster.
Roman grabs him by the shirt collar to hold him back. “Then do your fucking job, dick. Otherwise, death will be the least of your concerns.” He eyes one of his guys. “Get him the hell out of here.” He lets go of Frankie and gives him a smack on the cheek. “Don’t get any ideas, Frankie. I’ll be watching. If you make any moves, you know exactly what I’ll do.”
“Fuck you, Roman!” he yells.
“Frankie, stop!” I scream. “Just do what he says and stop?—"
But I don’t even have time to finish my thought before Roman punches him, sending Frankie flying to the floor again, clutching his already-shattered jaw. “I don’t appreciate the tough-guy act. And if you try it again, I’ll make sure you go home with every finger broken.”
I watch as Roman’s guys drag Frankie out of the office, leaving a trail of his blood behind him. Bile rises in the back of my throat, making me gag. I know the dark red streaks are just the beginning. There will be puddles if Frankie doesn’t deliver to this madman.
When he walks toward me, my spine stiffens. How could I ever have felt anything but disgust and disdain for this man? My God, could I be a worse judge of character? He is a savage and sadistic pig, for fuck’s sake! And I let him kiss me!
“What if he can’t meet your demands?” I ask. “If he doesn’t know how to find those people, how can he find your drugs? He was your best friend! How can you do this to him…to me?”
I see a flicker of remorse in his eyes before they ice over once again. “Frankie is a resourceful kid. They found him once. I guarantee they’ll find him again,” he says gruffly.
“But you only gave him one week! What if?—?”
“People in my line of work don’t sit around on their asses planning their next big moves. They strike while the iron is hot. And this time, it’s fucking scorching. If they think they found a weakness, they’ll come back to hit it again.” He narrows his eyes at me as he approaches.
“Don’t you come near me, you sonofabitch,” I say through clenched teeth. “He’s all I have left, and if you try to hurt him again?—”
“What are you gonna do?” he murmurs, backing me against the couch cushion. “Huh? Are you gonna hit me? Stab me? Kill me?”
“I’ll do worse,” I say, my voice quivering. “I promise you that!”
“Good.” He nods. “Then I’ll have something to look forward to.”