23. Giulia
I woke to a firm grasp on my upper arm.
Again? So soon? I swore that I’d just closed my eyes, that we’d just had another hot, intense round of lovemaking. I wouldn’t protest, though. I was already addicted.
I was a goner for my enemy.
As I came to, lazy to open my eyes, I rolled into Renzo’s grip. He pulled on me, roughly, but that didn’t alarm me. I was quickly realizing how needy and impatient of a lover he was. And I enjoyed every gruff bit of affection and desire he showed me.
“Shh.”
What? Who said that? Warnings blared in my head, and as I opened my eyes, I saw a very real reason to be alarmed. Someone else had spoken. And it wasn’t Renzo.
Three burly, tall men dressed in black had trespassed into the room. As I opened my mouth to scream, to call for Renzo, one slapped his gloved hand over my mouth.
It was too thick of leather to bite through and cause this man enough pain to release me, but I tried. My screams were muffled. All the curses and shouts I flung at them faded to mumbled noises that wouldn’t alert anyone.
A frantic glance to my left showed that I was alone on this huge, messy bed. But then I wasn’t even in it myself any longer.
One man hauled me up by grabbing my arms. A third handled my legs. Together, they gagged me and tied me at the wrists in such an efficient manner that I knew they’d done this many times.
Mafia thugs. Soldiers who’d been trained to kidnap.
But who?
I fought the best I could, too damned determined to stop this fucking routine of being used and moved and controlled by men. Wriggling and bucking didn’t slow this trio down. Not at all. They were too strong. Too practiced. And too eager to follow the orders of whichever Mafia lord had instructed them to snatch me right out of Renzo’s bed.
How’d they know where to find me?
Who sent you to take me away?
Where is Renzo?
Is he okay?
Are they coming for me because we found Cecilia dying?
What is going on!
I couldn’t rationalize an answer to any of my questions. They bombarded me as adrenaline kicked in. I breathed too fast through my nose, and my sinuses burned with the rapid inhalation on top of the musty stink of the rag they’d used to secure my silence. As my heart raced with fear and anger, I lost control of any calm, any steadiness that I could bank on right now.
I couldn’t freak out. I had to stay in control of my emotions. Of my body. The more I repeated that mantra, I brought myself down from the roller coaster of panic and shock.
From sleeping in to taken away. It was mental whiplash, but I fought against the all-consuming terror that threatened to make me freeze up.
They rushed me out of the Bernardi vacation home and tossed me into the backseat of a car.
Driving was another guard, and I recognized him as one of the brutes Renzo’s Family employed.
For fuck’s sake. I glowered at the other three men. Two caged me in while I rode in the backseat, and the tallest one had taken the passenger seat up front. All four men worked for Renzo’s Family. I’d been kidnapped by Bernardi soldiers. Taken as I slept at a Bernardi residence.
My anger shifted. A deep, seething rage slowly filled me.
As if I needed a fucking reminder that I’m the enemy. I didn’t want to know how Giovanni knew that I was sleeping with his son. My mother had caught on to a partnership. She’d gotten word of me riding with Renzo when the Greeks tried to hold us up on the road. If she could hear about my being near the enemy, it seemed fit to assume that Giovanni would also become aware of the situation.
Having me kidnapped to keep me away from his son didn’t sit well with me. Not at all. I heard how overbearing Gio was when Renzo let me listen in to the call in the car. That conversation told me enough about what kind of a dominant, control-freak sort of Mafia Don he was.
Maybe it was stupid of me to think that Gio could simply call Renzo and tell him to get me out of their villa.
Or maybe Gio knew better than to assume his rebellious and independent second-born would listen to him.
But taking me like this? I glared forward, letting my fury keep me warm inside.
This is bullshit. However, I could rest easier with the fact that Renzo had to be safe. Now that I identified who’d taken me, I could relax with the knowledge that Giovanni wouldn’t hurt his own son. Punish him, yes. It seemed the first punishment was to steal me right out of the bed I’d shared with him.
And still, I remained furious. All through the long drive closer to the city we both called home, I fumed. It was absolute bullshit for them to pull me out of bed the way they had. I wasn’t some criminal scum. They didn’t have to force me into this car and transport me like this.
What stung even worse was how I’d fallen asleep to the fantasies that I could believe in Renzo. That somehow, we would have a chance to be together. That we could live as a couple in the future. In that fantasy world, I’d be Renzo’s lover. His wife, even, Mrs. Giulia Bernardi as I lost the tinge of association with my mother by giving up the Acardi name.
I’d drifted to sleep with that dreamy vision. I’d get my sisters under his protection, and we’d be a happy family. And as Renzo’s wife, I would own these Bernardi soldiers. They’d listen to me. I would have the right to instruct them to do whatever I wished.
Not be carted around like a shackled prisoner.
Not stuck and silenced.
The entire drive back to the city felt long, and every time I shifted to get more comfortable with my hands cinched together with a zip tie, the guards beside me shot me a dirty look.
I lifted my hand to show them the middle finger. When one smirked, amused, I hated that I’d given him the satisfaction of seeing how irate I was.
Cool it. Just keep it cool and wait to lash out on them all when we get there.
It wasn’t a great plan, but I’d stick to it. As they transported me, I let my anger build up inside me so I could release it when the opportune moment came. It finally did. Parked at an entrance to what had to be the rear of the Bernardi mansion, the engine was killed and the men filed out.
Two of them handled my exit, but as soon as my feet hit the ground, I sagged. Letting my deadweight surprise them, I ducked lower to dart under their arms.
Unfortunately, another soldier was at the ready, and his tackling hold would definitely leave bruises littering my back and ass. Together, the soldiers got me upright and the new one carried me inside.
They went so quickly that I struggled to mark which way we went, but I realized where they wanted to leave me.
We headed lower within the house, not up. They took me down flights of stairs, not into furnished rooms.
In a dungeon-like basement, the asshole who lugged me over his shoulder stopped. Then he leaned forward and urged my body to slam to the hard cement floor.
I gasped with the gag over my mouth, and the quick intake of metallic-scented air worsened the rawness in my mouth and throat.
Pain ricocheted through my body, and as the dull throbbing radiated from the impact of falling onto my ass and side, I did my best to ignore the dried blood on the floor. The odors of piss and shit hung in the air as well, and I didn’t bother to wonder where I was.
They’d brought me to a cell. Likely, a place with no easy exits. Somewhere they’d previously tortured and killed countless others.
I wasn’t prepared for one man to step forward and slice off my gag. Another tossed a bottle of water at me, but I didn’t rush to drink it.
“Is this poisoned?” I snarled.
“The fucking cap hasn’t been broken, bitch.” The man who growled that stalked out of the room, shaking his head and complaining about how ungrateful I was.
“This is what I get for fucking him?” I asked the others. “Tortured and killed just because I slept with him?”
“Shut up,” one of them warned, glancing over his shoulder at the closed door.
What’s he afraid of? They’re just doing their job. They don’t care. They were told to get me and bring me here, and that’s that.
“Gio put a goddamn hit on me? Because some stupid old rivalry between our Families makes us the enemy?” I huffed, letting the water bottle drop off my lap and roll away.
“Shut. Up.” The soldier repeated it with so much emphasis, I furrowed my brow. He raised his and opened his eyes wider with the command.
Is he trying to tell me something? I was so sick of men ordering me around and telling me what to do. I’d lapsed with Renzo enough to trust him, to want to believe in him. But I wouldn’t lower my guard so much to assume this random Bernardi soldier was trying to give me a helpful tip.
“Well, I know better than to waste my breath and energy screaming for help.” I couldn’t stop this sarcasm from coming forth. It was likely a defense mechanism, a deterrence from realizing how dire my situation was.
“Don’t—” The other soldier shut up as the door’s knob was twisted.
Both men turned to watch others enter the cell, and as they filed in, I got scared. Now, I felt terrified. With these Romano soldiers coming into my space, I realized what was going on.
Giovanni Bernardi must have heard that Renzo was with me, the supposed enemy, when all I was trying to do was identify Luka and Father’s killer. I was trying to help. I was risking the wrath of my mother to side with their Family and freely assist them in this mystery.
But Giovanni hadn’t stepped in and interfered by removing me from Renzo’s side.
He’d gone so far as to tell the Romanos to collect me.
Fuck!
These Romanos could only be here for one damn reason. Nickolas was coming for his intended. He was sending his men here to retrieve me, and there wasn’t anything I could do about it.
Running from them would be impossible.
Attacking them would be pointless.
They outnumbered me. They had weapons.
I was well and truly fucked, bound and captured to be sent off to the sadistic man my mother wanted me to marry so she could delude herself further with the chance of having power and more money.
“Good.” One of the Romano soldiers acknowledged my presence with a curt nod. He wasn’t speaking to me as he took in the visual proof that I’d been brought here. They were collaborating on this whole thing. “We appreciate your finding her,” he told the Bernardi guard who’d firmly suggested that I shut up.
“We’ll move her soon,” he told them, leading his group of soldiers out of the cell once more.
Both of the Bernardi soldiers left with them.
As the door clanged shut, they left me all alone.
Stuck with the company of my worst fears coming true, I clung to the stupid thought that I’d been robbed.
I wished that I could’ve had more time with Renzo. Kissing his bossy lips. Feeling his hard, strong body holding mine. And melting under the comfort of his hand gripping mine as we talked.
It wasn’t enough. I wanted more with him. I wanted it all with him. A lifetime.
But that was all we could have.
As soon as those men returned, I’d be taken to my fiancé. I’d be held somewhere to ensure I stayed put and behaved until they deemed me fit for our wedding.
Fuck that.
I’d kill myself before becoming Nickolas’s wife.
I belonged to Renzo, with my heart, body, and soul.
No other man would ever take his place for as long as I lived.