Chapter 19 Julian
CONSCIOUSNESS RETURNED SLOWLY. Reluctantly. Like swimming up through dark water toward distant light.
My head pounded. My mouth was dry, tasted like chemicals and cotton. My vision was blurry. Everything hurt.
I tried to move. Couldn't. My hands were restrained behind me. Zip ties cutting into my wrists. I was sitting in a chair. Hard wood pressing against my spine.
Where was I?
Memory came back in fragments. Coffee shop. Stefan going inside. Standing outside in the sun. Men approaching. Tranquilizer dart. Sting in my neck. Falling. Darkness.
I'd been taken. Kidnapped. Drugged.
Terror spiked through me. I forced it down. Tried to think. To assess. To use everything Elio had taught me about staying calm in crisis.
Breathe. Look around. Gather information.
The room was small. Basement, maybe. Concrete walls. One small window high up showing darkness outside. How long had I been unconscious? Hours? A day?
Single door. Closed. Locked, probably.
My hands were zip-tied to the chair back. My ankles were free but what good did that do with my hands secured?
I tested the restraints carefully. Tight. Professional. Whoever had done this knew what they were doing.
The chair was bolted to the floor. I couldn't tip it. Couldn't move it.
Trapped. I was completely trapped.
Stay calm. Elio's voice in my head. Panic makes you stupid. Think. Assess. Plan.
Okay. I was alive. Conscious. Not seriously injured that I could tell. Just restrained. That meant whoever took me wanted me alive. Wanted me for something.
Who? Who would—
The door opened.
A man stepped through. Mid-thirties. Fit. Handsome in a way that made my skin crawl. Dark hair. Sharp features. Expensive suit.
I knew him immediately even though it had been five years.
Dante Caruso.
My fiancé. The man who'd tried to rape me when I was sixteen. The man who'd sent me that card. I'm watching, little spitfire.
The man I'd put in the hospital and still had nightmares about.
Cold terror flooded through me. Made my heart race. Made it hard to breathe.
He smiled. Slow and predatory. Like a cat cornering a mouse.
"Hello, little spitfire. Miss me?"
I forced myself to meet his eyes. To not show the fear screaming through every nerve. "Go fuck yourself, Dante."
His smile widened. "There's that fire. I've missed it. Missed you. Did you really think you could run from me? That I'd let you go that easily?"
"I was never yours to let go. The engagement was your arrangement with my father. I never agreed to it."
"You wore my ring for two years. That made you mine." He moved closer. Circled the chair like a predator circling prey. "Running to New York. Hiding with the Vitales. Playing house with Elio Marino. Did you think I wouldn't find out? Wouldn't come for what's mine?"
"I'm not yours. I'll never be yours."
He stopped in front of me. Reached out and touched my face. I jerked away but couldn't go far. He grabbed my jaw. Forced me to look at him.
"You've always been mine. Since you were a child.
You just needed to learn to accept it." His thumb traced my cheekbone.
Possessive. Violating. "I tried to teach you gently when you were sixteen.
You weren't ready. Fought back. Put me in the hospital.
But that was then. You're older now. More mature. Ready to accept your place."
"My place?" I spat the words. "You tried to rape me. I defended myself. That's not fighting back. That's survival."
"You led me on. Accepted my ring when you were fourteen.
Let me believe you'd submit. Then attacked me when I tried to claim what was mine.
" His hand tightened on my jaw. Painful.
"That's betrayal, Julian. You betrayed me.
Your family paid everyone off. Blamed you.
Made me look weak. Do you know what that did to my reputation?
How hard I had to work to rebuild after you humiliated me? "
"Good. You deserved worse."
He slapped me. Hard. My head snapped to the side. Pain exploded across my cheek. I tasted blood.
"Watch your mouth." His voice was cold. Dangerous. "You're going to learn respect. Going to learn your place. We're going to finish what we started five years ago. And this time, there's no way to fight back. No one to save you. Just you and me."
He let go of my face. Walked around behind the chair. I couldn't see him but I felt him. Felt his presence like a physical threat.
"Your boyfriend's probably looking for you," Dante said conversationally.
"Elio Marino. Head of security for the Vitales.
Very competent. Very dangerous. But not smart enough to find you.
I've been planning this for weeks. Bought this property through shell companies he'll never trace.
Used professional contractors who disappeared the moment they delivered you.
There's no trail. No evidence. No way for him to find you. "
"He'll find me." My voice was steady even though my heart was racing. "He'll figure it out. And when he does, he's going to kill you."
"Maybe. But that'll take time. Days. Weeks, even. And we have so much to catch up on." His hand touched my shoulder. Slid down my arm. "So much lost time to make up for."
I tried to jerk away. The chair didn't move. His hand stayed on my arm. Possessive. Claiming.
"Don't touch me."
"I'll touch you whenever I want. You're mine, Julian. Have been since you were fourteen. Running didn't change that. Elio Marino didn't change that. Nothing changes the fact that you belong to me."
"I belong to myself. And I chose Elio. I love him. Not you. Never you."
Dante's hand tightened. Bruising. "You'll forget him. After we're done here. After I've reminded you who you really belong to. After I've finished what I started. You'll remember your place."
He walked back around to face me. Looked at me with possession and obsession in equal measure.
"I've waited five years for this. Five years of watching you from a distance.
Following your life. Waiting for the right moment.
When you ran to New York, I thought I'd lost you.
But then your name got leaked. Your face in the papers.
Everyone knowing you were with the Vitales.
With Elio. That gave me exactly what I needed. A target. A location. An opportunity."
"You're insane."
"I'm persistent. There's a difference." He crouched down in front of me.
Eye level. "We're going to be here for a while.
Days, probably. Long enough for me to teach you everything you should have learned at sixteen.
Long enough for you to accept your place.
And then we're leaving. Going somewhere far away.
Somewhere your boyfriend can't find us. And you're going to be the perfect lover you should have been all along. "
"I'd rather die."
"That's not one of your options." He stood. "I'll be back in a few hours. Think about your situation. Think about how hopeless it is. Think about how there's no escape. The sooner you accept that, the easier this will be."
He left. The door closed. Locked with an audible click.
I sat alone in the basement and tried not to panic.
Time passed. I didn't know how much. No windows to judge daylight. No clock. Just darkness and silence and growing dread.
I tested the restraints again. Still tight. Still professional. No give.
I looked around the room for anything useful. Nothing. Just concrete walls and a bolted chair and that one high window showing darkness.
My mind raced. Trying to plan. Trying to figure out escape options.
But there weren't any. Dante was right. I was trapped. Completely helpless.
Memories kept surfacing. Unwanted. Intrusive. Flashbacks to when I was sixteen.
Dante's hands on me. His weight pinning me down. His voice saying you're mine, you've always been mine, stop fighting.
Fighting back. Desperate. Terrified. Using anything I could reach. A lamp. My fists. My teeth. Pure survival instinct taking over.
His blood. My father's rage afterward. You put him in the hospital. Humiliated the family. This is your fault.
Being sent away to "calm down." Being blamed for defending myself against assault.
Starting to plan my escape that day. Five years of planning. Leading to this.
Running from Dante only to end up back in his hands anyway.
No. No, that's not how this ends. I didn't survive sixteen to die at twenty-one. Didn't run across three states to give up now.
Elio was looking for me. I knew he was. He'd mobilize everything. Everyone. Tear the city apart until he found me.
I just had to survive until then. Had to stay strong. Had to keep fighting.
The door opened again.
Dante returned. Different clothes now. More casual. Like this was just a normal evening.
"Have you thought about your situation?" he asked.
"Yeah. I've thought about how you're going to die when Elio finds you."
He sighed. "Still defiant. That's disappointing. I was hoping you'd be more reasonable after some time to reflect."
He moved behind the chair again. I tensed. Waiting for pain. For violence.
Instead he started cutting my jacket off. Scissors slicing through fabric.
"Don't—"
"Shh. I'm not going to hurt you. Not yet. Just getting you more comfortable. We're going to be here a while. Might as well relax."
The jacket fell away. He moved to my shirt. Started unbuttoning it.
Panic surged through me. Real panic. Not controlled. Not manageable. Pure terror.
"Stop. Don't—Dante, don't—"
"Relax. We're not doing anything tonight. I'm just looking. Reminding myself what I've been missing. What you owe me."
"I don't owe you anything—"
He grabbed my hair. Yanked my head back. Made me look up at him.
"You owe me five years. Five years of humiliation. Five years of waiting. Five years of being denied what's mine." His face was inches from mine. "And you're going to repay that debt. Starting now."