Chapter 28
TWENTY-EIGHT
Capri
The sharp stench of mildew assaulted my nostrils before I opened my eyes. Beneath me was a hard, cool, concrete floor, but the hot air surrounded me in humidity. My running clothes were drenched in sweat, making me cold despite the high summer temperatures.
Where the hell am I?
I pushed off the floor into a seated position, trying to focus, but the throbbing in my head made it difficult to think. The last thing I remembered, I had finished up my run, but I still wasn’t ready to go home and face Sebastian after I had humiliated myself the night before.
I had started to do a cool-down run to the park, but I never made it that far. I rubbed my head. Was I attacked? Did I fall. How did I end up here? Where is here?
“You’re awake,” a voice said from the corner of the damp and dark room. “Put this on your head.”
I scooted until my back slammed into the wall, trying to get away from whoever was with me. “Stay away from me.” The hoarseness in my voice stretched at my parched throat.
“I’m not going to hurt you.” When the person came closer, they set a bottled water and an ice pack on the floor in front of me. I tried to make out the figure in the dim lighting. “I apologize that you got hurt, but you put up a struggle and my men had to contain you.”
“Benny?” I recognized his voice as his face came into focus. “Why?”
“Why what?”
“Why did you have your men take me?”
“Because your father can’t get his house in order, so I have to do it for him.” He crouched down in front of me. “I want things to work out between our families, but his lack of control over you is infuriating.”
“Do you think holding me hostage is the way to go?” I gazed around the unfamiliar room. “Where are we?”
“The basement of a church.”
“Why are we in a church?” I didn’t know if it was the thickness in the air or the panic in my system but my throat began to constrict, making it hard to swallow. “I want to go home.”
He’d taken me against my will and injured me in the process. What else was he capable of?
“You will.” He smiled. “But it will be my home, under my terms. Away from any distractions.”
When he reached out to touch me, I flinched.
“Capri,” he said. “I don’t want to hurt you. I just need to get a few things straight with your father. He needs to understand that when he enters into an agreement with me, I expect him to follow through. That’s not too much to ask.”
“Are you talking about me? Am I the agreement?” I breathed through my nose and slowly out of my mouth. “He never should have promised me to Christopher. I’m not going to marry your son. I can’t be used that way.”
Sebastian tried to help me. If I would have left with him instead of trying to stay and please my mother over a stupid birthday party, I would have been safe. I would have been with Sebastian. Why didn’t I follow his instincts?
“That’s where you’re wrong.” He got up and paced in front of me. “If you’d give my son a chance, you would see that he’s the perfect match for you. None of us expected you to come home from Greece infatuated with your godfather.” He shook his head. “Do you know how ridiculous that is?”
“I think an arranged marriage scenario is more absurd.” I tried the breathing trick again, but instead of wiping out my anxiety, all it did was filter my breathing passages with stale air. “You can’t force someone into marriage.”
“Someone should have tried to take out Hades long before last night,” he said. “I shouldn’t have had to clean up your father’s mess and then neither of us would be in this predicament.”
“You were responsible for shooting Atticus?” How had my dad gotten into business with this man? “Why would you try to kill Sebastian?”
“I have plenty of reasons,” he said. “But the most prominent one is removing him from the situation so Leo and I can merge our families and build a lucrative alliance. You and Christopher can have a beautiful life together and give me my first grandchild.”
“Oh.” I swallowed back the bile. “That’s not happening.”
I wasn’t sure if I was nauseous because he thought he could dictate who would be getting me pregnant, or if the bump on my head was making me sick.
I grabbed the ice pack just in case it was the latter, but I had a persuasive intuition I was ill over being made a pawn in this twisted man’s family tree.
“I’m sorry about your injury. I never meant for that to happen. I’ll make sure my men are reprimanded for that.”
“It wouldn’t have happened if you didn’t tell them to take me in the first place.”
“True, but this whole arrangement wasn’t working out the way it was supposed to. Now I have to right this ship.” He pointed to the water bottle. “Stay hydrated. You look like you might be sick.”
“You need to let me go,” I said. His calm demeanor startled me. It was as if he thought all of this was normal. Like kidnapping me wouldn’t affect the outcome of his plan.
Does he really think I’m going to say, cool, now I’ll marry your son and be your daughter-in-law even though you kidnapped me and gave me a concussion? Oh, and let’s not forget you tried to kill the man I love right in front of me. Get the fuck out of here.
“This will be over soon. You’ll come around once I have your father under control.”
“And what about Sebastian?”
“You leave him to me,” he said. “By now, both your dad and your…godfather have received my message, and I’m certain they’re trying to figure out how they are going to work together long enough to save you.”
“What are you talking about?”
“Don’t worry that pretty head of yours. You’ll thank me someday for all of this.” He held up his hand when his phone rang. “I need to take this.”
“No.” When I tried to get up, my legs gave out, causing me to fall onto my backside.
“Try to relax.” He went to the door. “This will all be over soon.”
“Please.” My muscles ached and I was so thirsty. “Just let me go.”
“As long as your father and Hades do what I told them to do, you have nothing to worry about.” His phone stopped ringing. “I’ll be back soon.”
“What if they can’t work together?” The thought of either of them walking into a trap terrified me. “Then what?”
“You better hope they can.” He opened the heavy wood door, allowing a bright light to blind me. “For your sake.”
“Let me go and I’ll work this out with my dad.” The confusion in my head began to take front and center. I wanted to lie so I could protect Sebastian, but I wasn’t sure how to go about it. “You don’t have to do this. We can come up with a solution.”
“The only solution is for your father to see what could happen to you if he doesn’t honor his agreement. You need to know how far I’m willing to take this if you continue down this path. You will give my son a chance.”
“I will.” Focus and try to make this lie believable. “I’ll end things with Sebastian. Don’t make them come for me. It isn’t necessary.”
“I’m afraid it is.” He stepped over the threshold and into the bright room. “The only way for me to make sure Sebastian stays out of the way is for him to come and save you. That’s going to be the last thing he ever does.”
“No.”
“It’s time Hades the Assassin repents for his sins, and what better place to do that than in a church on the very altar where he sacrificed my cousin?”
“Wait!” I shouted as he closed the door. “Emilio was your cousin?”