Taken for his Captive: A Dark Mafia Romance (The Torenti Family Book 4)

by Mae Doyle

  Chapter 14

  Nicolo

  It had been a week and I still couldn’t fucking get Isabella out of my mind. Or out from under my skin. She was in me, worming around, making herself at home, and I couldn’t fucking quit her.

  I hated it.

  We tore through the fresh food that I’d packed in the first few days. She couldn’t cook, not with a bad shoulder and not handcuffed to various places around the cabin, but that didn’t stop her from being a fucking pain in my ass and trying to talk me through cooking elaborate dishes that nobody needed to fucking eat.

  “You could just run into town and get some fruit or something. I’m tired of the canned peaches.” She poked at her plate, frowning. “Or I could go. Just give me your keys.”

  I raised an eyebrow and stared at her. She was obviously joking, but I didn’t find it very fucking funny. I’d gone out of my way to keep her safe, left my home under the care of a friend, and she was acting like it was all a big joke to her.

  I wanted Isabella, but holy fuck, sometimes I just wanted to shove my cock in her mouth so that she was doing something useful with her lips.

  The thought must have shown on my face because she dropped her fork to her plate and glared at me. “What the fuck is so funny? You look like you just heard a joke, so spill it.”

  I stared at her for a moment, trying to decide if I should tell her what I was thinking. Sexy little thing, she deserved to have my cock in one of her holes just to shut her up for a bit. I took a sip of water and then answered her.

  “Just thinking about how the best thing that you can do with that sassy little mouth of yours is have my cock in it. Probably the most useful thing you can do with it, you know.”

  Her mouth dropped open, but she quickly recovered, snapping it shut and pushing away from the table. I had her bad arm handcuffed to the chair so that she couldn’t get very far, and she gestured at it with her free good arm.

  “Undo me. I want to go to bed.”

  “What about dessert? You don’t even know what it is.” I wanted to see how far she would push it. I had to know just where the line was with her, and I hadn’t found it yet.

  “Is it your cock with whipped cream on top? Because I don’t want any of that.”

  “Not just whipped cream,” I told her. “I have cherries, too. Interested?”

  “Go to hell.” She tried to pull her hand from the cuff but only succeeded in gasping and grabbing her shoulder. “Fuck!”

  I was on my feet in an instant and pulled the bandage down so that I could see what was wrong with her. Her shoulder looked fine, a little red and swollen, but that was to be expected, but I was so busy looking at it that I didn’t see what she was about to do.

  She grabbed her plate, still covered with canned peaches, and slammed it into the side of my head. I fell to my knees, pain ringing through my skull, and looked up just in time for her to smash the heavy serving bowl against my head.

  ◆◆◆

  Fucking Isabella.

  I groaned, sitting up and cradling my head as I looked around the cabin. She was gone and I had no way of telling what time it was. It was darker out than before, but not quite night. That was good, because if Isabella had made a run for it, then I needed it to be as light as possible so I could find her.

  “Isabella!” I didn’t expect her to answer me, or even to be within range where she could hear me, but I still called out as I pushed myself to my feet. The chair was smashed to pieces, the handcuffs missing, presumable still attached to her arm.

  I hoped that her shoulder hurt like a bitch.

  Running to the window, I breathed a sigh of relief when I saw that my truck was still in the driveway. She hadn’t found where I stashed my keys when I brought her here. The last thing that I needed was her grabbing them and making a break for it, because I’d never catch her then.

  At least on foot I had a much better chance of catching up with her. Before I could catch up with her, though, there were a few things that I needed. I stopped just long enough to grab a pistol, flashlight, and a knife. Once I was loaded down, I hit the door and tore down the steps at a full run.

  Sure, I liked to torture Isabella and not give her what I wanted.

  But there was part of me that was honestly scared that something would happen to her out there, and I wasn’t about to let that happen.

  Chapter 15

  Isabella

  I didn’t know where I was going.

  I didn’t know what state I was in, or where these 500 acres could be, or even if we were anywhere near my home. We could be tucked away in a national forest just down the road and I wouldn’t know. Just because Nicolo had told me that we were far away from everyone didn’t mean that it was true.

  It was impossible for me to know what I could believe from him and what I couldn’t, but when he told me that he thought I should have his cock in my mouth just so I would shut up, I almost lost it.

  He could keep me tied to his bed all he wanted. He could try to keep me captive. He could do all of those things – and he had – but I always knew that I was going to make a run for it.

  “I don’t date assholes,” I reminded myself as I pushed my way through some thick underbrush. “I may sleep with them from time to time but I’m sure as hell not going to date them, so I’m out of here.”

  Maybe it was my positive thinking. Maybe it was the fact that I was so driven to fucking escape from that cabin and from the overbearing presence of Nicolo that I knew I had to do something, or maybe it was just blind luck, but whatever it was, I couldn’t believe it when I stepped onto a gravel road.

  “Fuck yeah,” I whispered to myself. I wanted to dance and sing but I had a really good feeling that that was a great way to bring him running when he heard me.

  The gravel crunched under my feet as I started to walk down the road, but I quickly switched to running. Every step felt like freedom, and my shoulder wasn’t nearly as painful as it had been. I pumped my arms, picking up speed as I tore away from the house. Did I have any idea where I was going?

  Nope. Not at all. But I didn’t give a shit.

  Nicolo thought that he was protecting me, and maybe he had at the beginning when he first brought me to his cabin, but that had changed. I had the distinct feeling that he just wanted to keep me for his own, and while part of me was okay with that, the other part of me realized that that simply wouldn’t do.

  What was I going to do? Marry him?

  I scoffed to myself as I ran. My foot twisted on a loose spot of gravel and I almost fell, but by pinwheeling my arms out and slowing down, I kept my balance.

  Okay. I had to slow it down a little. Even though I wanted to just get the fuck out of there, it wouldn’t do me any good to run away if I broke something. Even though I figured that I had a good head start on him and he wouldn’t be waking up from me knocking him out anytime soon, I kept looking back over my shoulder, and my ears almost hurt from listening to what was going on around me.

  Just normal wood sounds. Birds, critters rustling in the grass…stuff like that. It was quickly getting darker out, but there was still a lot of movement off in the woods. I slowed down, sucking air hard, but forced myself to keep walking.

  My backpack was heavy with food that I’d stolen from the kitchen, and I had no idea how long I’d be out in the woods before coming up on some people who could help me. My best bet was to keep moving for as long as possible and to try to stay on the move even through the night. The moon would be full, giving me plenty of light to walk by, but I knew that if I cut into the woods I would definitely need the flashlight I’d stolen from him.

  I had no idea how long I’d been walking when I suddenly heard a car. The tires eating up the gravel was easy for me to pinpoint, but the strange thing was that it was coming from in front of me, not behind me.

  I froze, trying to decide what I should do. Chances were good that it wasn’t NEW GUY just based off of the direction from where the car was coming, but that didn�
��t tell me anything about who it could be.

  Hesitating, I glanced into the woods and then back down the road. Any moment the lights were going to cut around the bend in the road and shine on me, and I needed to have made up my mind before then about what I was going to do.

  Fuck it. It couldn’t be worse than going back to the cabin and living handcuffed to a chair. I stepped into the middle of the road, my heart pounding, and waved my arms in the air to make sure that the driver slowed down.

  It was a truck, but not Nicolo’s, and I felt a surge of relief pulse through me at the fact that he hadn’t just caught me trying to escape his cabin. That relief was replaced just as quickly as I’d felt it when both doors of the truck opened up and two huge guys leaned out.

  “Where are you going, sweetheart? You need a lift?” The driver asked. He leered at me, his eyes raking up and down my body. Even though I was wearing jeans and oversized shirt without anything on display, I had the distinct feeling that he was looking as hard as possible to see what I would look like naked. I shivered.

  “Just out for a walk.” Something about the way the two men were looking at me and how quickly they had come up the road made me think that maybe I didn’t want to get into the truck with them. Maybe I made a big fucking mistake. I took a step to the side of the road. “Let me get out of your way.”

  “You’re not in our way.” The passenger hopped down out of the truck but didn’t take a step towards me. I froze anyway, the hair on the back of my neck standing straight up.

  Even though I searched my memory for some advice from my dad, I couldn’t find any. I sure as hell didn’t want to run, but I honestly didn’t think that I could take them both. My shoulder felt a lot better, yeah, but knocking it around trying to fight two assholes wasn’t the best way to ensure that it continued to feel better.

  I was fucked.

  “You guys lost?” Slowly, so I didn’t attract their attention, I reached up and unbuckled the backpack strap across my chest. If I had to fight them, I didn’t want to be carrying thirty pounds of food on my back while I did.

  “We were.” It was the driver, and he hopped out of the truck, too, walking around the front of it to look at me. He wasn’t carrying a gun, but that didn’t mean anything. For all I knew, he had it tucked in the back of his jeans ready for him to pull it at any time. “We were really lost, out here on a job for our boss, but our luck changed.”

  “That’s great.” There wasn’t any reason to pretend like we didn’t all know what was going to happen. I slipped my backpack off my back and left it on the ground, still staring at the two guys. “I’ll just get out of you way so that you can keep on going then.”

  “Like I said, darling, you’re not in our way.” The passenger had left the side of the car and was walking straight towards me, his eyes locked on mine. It was tricky for me to see the two of them because I had to stare into their headlights, but I knew the look on his face.

  I’d seen it before with other men, and I knew that I needed to get the fuck out of there.

  He reached me and I ducked, sweeping his legs out from under him in one kick. As soon as he landed, I spun, kicking him in the temple hard enough that his head snapped to the side. He wasn’t dead, or at least I didn’t think so, but he sure as hell wasn’t going to be getting up anytime soon.

  “What the fuck was that?” The driver asked, jogging towards me. He still hadn’t pulled a gun, and I thought that I might be able to give him a run for his money, but before I could attack him, he punched out, slamming his fist into me.

  It was his lucky day. It hit right on my injured shoulder and the pain that coursed through my body took me to my knees. I screamed, the sound ripping from my body and silencing all of the animals that were moving around in the woods.

  Stars filled my vision and I wasn’t surprised that everything started to go fuzzy and black. Before I could shake my head to try to clear it, the driver slammed his shoulder into my stomach, knocking me to the ground.

  Pain ricocheted through my skull as my head hit the gravel. It bounced once, but I could still feel tiny rocks sticking into my skin.

  “Motherfucker,” I managed, forcing myself up onto my good elbow. It was still almost impossible for me to see. Between the dark vision I was experiencing and the bright lights of the truck, my eyes were squinted half shut to be able to even make out the movement of the asshole standing over me.

  “You like that, bitch? You think that you and your little fucking boyfriend can fuck up our family and not have to suffer for it? You’re supposed to be dead.” He leaned back and then kicked me, the point of his shoe driving between my ribs and making me gasp out in pain.

  “Why?” I gasped, grabbing around my ribs and rolling over. My stomach churned and I had to swallow hard to keep from throwing up.

  “Why?” He dropped to his knees and grabbed my hair, pulling and twisting it so that I had to look up at his face. I didn’t recognize him. I was hoping that somehow I would know who he was so that it wouldn’t continue to be this huge mystery of why he was trying to kill me.

  Because that was what was going to happen. I honestly didn’t see a single way that I was going to walk out of this. The only way out for me was dying, and even though it would relieve the pain screaming through my body, I wasn’t keen on it right then.

  “Because of who you are. Because you and your family thought that they could hide you away and not get you involved. Our job is to cleanse the earth of your family. That way, our boss gets the Marino family. Sounds a hell of a lot better than dealing with scum like you. Half Marion, half Torenti. Fucking half-breed bitch.”

  Oh, for fuck’s sake.

  “I don’t know the Torentis,” I spat, looking at him with as much hatred as I could muster. The corners of his mouth twitched like he was going to laugh at me for arguing with him, but I was being serious. “We’re not close. We’re not even really family. Please, you have to believe me. And you assholes want the money? You can fucking have it. Just let me go.”

  “I don’t believe you.” He dropped my hair suddenly and my head slammed back into the gravel. “I don’t believe that your parents didn’t keep in contact with them. I don’t believe that all of the money that you have coming to you now that you’re an orphan isn’t somehow soaked in blood. We want that money, Isabella, and you’re going to help us get it.”

  He crouched over me and grabbed my hands, roughly yanking me to my feet. I didn’t want to get in the truck with him. All I’d ever heard what I was younger was that if you got into a vehicle with someone then you were really and truly fucked. They could make you disappear, and there wasn’t a fucking thing that you could do about it.

  I didn’t want to disappear.

  Even though I knew that he wasn’t coming, I couldn’t help but glance over my shoulder for Nicolo. The lights from the truck illuminated a lot of road, but he wasn’t on it.

  Fuck. How badly did I hurt him when I knocked him out? I felt a twinge of regret for what I’d done, but I quickly pushed it away.

  “Why not kill me? You were going to do that before, when you kidnapped me. Why take me with you now?” I knew that what I was saying could possibly be dumb as shit and that he may change his mind and put a bullet in my brain, but I didn’t care.

  The driver paused and looked me over. His hands were still squeezing mine so tightly that there wasn’t any way that I could pull back from him and make a run for it.

  “Because the boss wants to meet the little bitch who caused so much trouble. He wants to put his eyes on you.” The way he said it made it very clear that it wasn’t just his eyes that the boss wanted to put on me.

  “And then?”

  He shrugged, and while he looked calm and nonchalant, I had a very good feeling that he was just playing it up. He knew what was going to happen to me.

  “And then? What then?” I screamed, leaning forward so that my face was in his. He didn’t seem bothered by the fact that I was freaking out and he act
ually had the audacity to laugh at me.

  “And then he’s going to do whatever the fuck he wants with you, Isabella. You know, his dog died recently and I have a very good feeling that he’s lonely and looking for a new pet. I bet that you’d look fucking fantastic with a collar around your neck.”

  He let go of one of my hands long enough to reach out and grab my neck, squeezing it enough that I gasped.

  I couldn’t help it. I thought about what it had been like to have Nicolo grab my neck. What it had been like to be with him, not with this asshole.

  Leaning back a little, I spat at him, overjoyed when the thick glob landed right on his cheek. He let go of my neck and wiped his cheek, but he still kept a tight grip on my wrist. His chest moved erratically as he tried to get his anger under control, and I wondered for a moment if he’d be able to.

  The next thing I knew, I was falling back to the ground. He’d punched me, and my face ached from the impact. I reached out to slow my fall with my hands, but the gravel rushed up too quickly to meet me and I was on it before I could do anything to stop it.

  Chapter 16

  Nicolo

  I wanted to run around the woods like a fucking moron looking for Isabella, but I knew that if I was going to get her back that I had to be smarter about it. She was out there, somewhere, probably either scared or pissed, but chances were really damn good that she wasn’t hurt.

  She was my hellcat, and I had a good feeling that it would take a lot more than being lost in the woods for a few hours to bring her down. All I had to do was get to her before something bad did or before she actually made it off of the property and everything would be fine.

  Isabella wasn’t someone who would just stumble blindly through the woods, and even if she did for a short period of time, I had no doubt in my mind that she would make it to the road eventually. Grateful that I’d hidden my keys, I slipped into my truck and pulled out my phone, putting Freddy on speaker before I’d even backed up.