Naz eyed me, dissecting my every word and movement like a CSI detective. “That had better be the case. I have a meeting Wednesday with the Gulf suppliers. I’d like you to come by tomorrow so that we can discuss matters beforehand. Ten a.m., don’t be late.” With those parting words, he spun around and left, the black cloud he brought upon his arrival still lingering over me.
Sometimes I considered my relationship with Naz in terms of a foster father, but he’d always been more of a boss than a father. Requiring my education and training me were strategic maneuvers rather than guidance from a place of love. I’d always excused his harsh tactics because the results had benefitted me. I assumed he was doing the best he could and had cared for me, though his methods didn’t always show it. Why else would he invest so much time and money into my development?
What I’d learned from his brother shook that foundation. I was questioning everything about our relationship, and that uncertainty made overlooking his shortcomings far more challenging.
I’d spent ten years being raised by a devoted mother. I knew what it was to care for someone. To love and sacrifice. When I thought Naz was trying to achieve that in his own way, I excused a lot. Now, I was seeing him differently. More critically.
His controlling behavior looked far more abusive than misguided. And when his predatory gaze had trailed Giada’s departure, I wanted to rip his lecherous eyes from their sockets.
A colossal storm was brewing. If I couldn’t reconcile what I’d learned and continue to see Naz as an ally, our relationship would hit a breaking point, and that could have deadly consequences. Leaving his employment wasn’t an option, and overthrowing him could mean war. I may have been an important part of his organization, but I was by no means the only player.
I would have to decide quickly what I could live with and where I had to draw a line. Taking a stand against Naz would be the greatest challenge I’d ever faced, and I wouldn’t dare entertain it without thorough provocation.
Chapter 15
Giada
What a fucking shit show. I went out on a limb defying my family for him, and it was all just a goddamn ploy to get me out of the country. I barely managed to keep my tears at bay until I was out of their sights. Scalding, angry tears stained my cheeks with shame and heartbreak as I hurried up the stairs to my room.
I had to give him props. He’d played the long con better than anyone I’d ever come across. Who knew how long he’d been scouting my family, planning to snatch one of us.
Back in Vegas, when I’d caught him ogling the other girls, he hadn’t been scheming how to get some action, he’d been plotting our kidnapping. Not ours. Hers. Alessia was the only cousin with me. She was who he had his sights set on all along.
I slammed my door shut and leaned against it as a shuddering sob had me clutching my chest. I’d always been a decent judge of character—how could I have been so wrong? I could understand my body lusting after a man who was pretty but toxic. Physical lust was chemical and rarely logical. But how could my heart yearn for someone who saw me as nothing more than a pawn? I’d never been so horribly wrong in my life.
I had started to believe Primo might actually have wanted me despite my flaws. That he had seen my imperfections and hadn’t needed to change me—that he desired me exactly as I was.
But it was a lie.
As much as I hated to admit my terrible error in judgment, I had to get ahold of my family and tell them I was in trouble. Making the admission would hurt like a sonofabitch, but I had to do it. I needed someone to help get me out of Mexico. My wounded pride would heal. I wasn’t sure I’d survive an attack from Naz or his guards.
He was terrifying.
My shock and anger had helped keep my fear in check, but I could tell the man was two Froot Loops shy of a full bowl. I half expected his eye to start twitching like a cartoon villain when he demanded answers to why his orders hadn’t been carried out. A child throwing a tantrum, except this child was a grown man with adult weapons at his disposal.
I hurried to the bed and dropped to my knees, frantically lifting the bed skirt to resume my search for my missing phone. I felt around in the sheets, peeked behind my nightstand, and then emptied every article from my suitcase until the room was littered with clothes. That was when it hit me—I wasn’t going to find my phone. I was being held hostage; my phone had been taken.
No-no-no-no-no.
I slammed my fists against the ground, furious with myself. I was the physical embodiment of every dim-witted horror movie starlet, too engrossed in her own world to realize the dangers around her. It was pathetic. I was pathetic. A whirlwind of self-loathing consumed me, but I didn’t give in to its battering assault.
I refused to be that girl—weak and pitiful.
No more wallowing. No more mistakes.
I wiped my tears away and scooped an armful of clothes back into my suitcase, clamoring to pile in as much as I could. I would find a way out of there. I would not be a fucking damsel in distress.
Thinking back to my brief journey through the house before breakfast, I couldn’t recall seeing any landline phones. There had to be another way. Alma had been a kind older woman. Maybe she would sneak me her phone so I could get word to my family. I’d assured Matteo I was here of my own free will, and I needed to tell them I’d been wrong. It sounded like they would get word of my abduction soon enough, but it was important to try to get word to them myself—tell them where I was and give them any help I could offer.
As I collected the last pile of clothes, something fell to the ground, catching my attention. The lighter. It must have slipped from the pocket of the pants I’d been wearing the day before. I dropped the clothes in a messy heap and sank to the floor, my fingers numbly retrieving the innocuous silver object.
I rolled it around in my hand, my eyes almost losing focus in an unseeing trance. This tiny, worthless object had started it all. If I hadn’t stolen the lighter, I never would have seen Primo again. But if that was the case, why was I there?
Like a ray of sunshine peeking through a storm, logic infiltrated my emotional haze.
If Primo had been instructed to get one of my cousins, why had he taken me instead? There’d been no mistaken identity. He knew exactly who I was and that I was not what his boss wanted. Getting me to go with him could have been some kind of twisted game, but I didn’t get the sense that was the case. I was foolish after being deceived to believe I had any clue what Primo was thinking, but my gut told me his desire had been genuine.
Despite what I’d learned, I still couldn’t imagine him hurting me. Maybe I was still drunk on the illusion of a whirlwind romance with him, but I couldn’t see it. The way he looked at me like he’d go mad without a taste of me; no one could act that convincingly. There was truth behind his molten silver eyes.
The realization flooded me with calming reassurance. I hadn’t been wrong. Primo may have had ulterior motives, but the connection between us had been real and substantive enough for him to justify defying his boss. He wanted me, and that just might be my ticket to safety.
I made my way out to the small balcony off my room. The midmorning sun shone from behind me over the house, casting teal and cobalt swaths of color across the water. Only the most delicate of trickling waves lapped at the sandy shore, and a gentle salty breeze tugged at my flowing white blouse.
The location was serene in a way I could only imagine Heaven would be. Trying to reconcile the predicament I was in with such divine surroundings was difficult. Almost disorienting. How could my life be at risk when I was nestled in paradise?
On the edge of the sand by the house, fluttering palm fronds swayed as if part of an invisible ocean current. Sandpipers scurried at the water’s edge in search of breakfast, and an armed guard strolled through the sand in the distance.
Okay, so maybe it was a militant, prison-like version of paradise.
The task of getting to safety was daunting, even if Primo did have a weakness for me. I
wasn’t Maria. I couldn’t fight my way out of there if things went awry. No, but what other choice did I have? I had to try. If I continued to slip beneath his skin, maybe he’d help me escape. I certainly wasn’t going to cower in my room like a child. Primo brought me here for a reason, and I was going to get to the heart of it, then get my ass back home.
The door to my room clicked open, but I didn’t turn to see who had joined me. I could sense Primo’s brooding presence, come to me as if summoned by my thoughts of escape. He didn’t join me on the balcony, choosing to linger in the doorway just behind me instead. It was probably best. I was still pissed at him for deceiving me. If I was going to play on his desire for me, I would need to appeal to him, but my temper was still too hot for that.
“I suppose I could be someplace far worse than this,” I said sarcastically, allowing my words to drift back to him on the warm breeze.
“You won’t be mistreated unless you give me reason to do so.” His words were cold and clinical, detached from all emotion as if he’d lobotomized the human side of himself. He’d never been particularly warm or nurturing, but this side of him was even more robotic than I’d witnessed before.
Curiosity nipped and clawed at me until I turned around. I needed to see this man who disobeyed his boss to keep me near him then professed his indifference toward me like so much mud on his shoe. Just like before, both at the casino and at my apartment, his casual stance broadcasted a careless apathy, but the raging storm in his gray gaze could not be silenced. He was a living, breathing cacophony of emotion compressed and pressurized behind an impenetrable wall of armor.
“Why did you bring me here?” I asked calmly, attempting to mirror his own impassivity. Bottling up my anger and seeking to confront him with the truth I’d already unraveled.
“Exactly as Naz explained. We needed leverage over your uncle.”
“No. I want to know why I’m here and not one of my cousins like you were ordered to bring.” Before I started an assault against his defenses, I needed to test for weaknesses. See how ardently he would fight against his desire for me. I wanted to hear him tell me himself that I’d meant nothing.
“Does it matter?”
“Yes. Tell me.”
“Because you were easier to target,” he shot back evenly, eyes narrowing just a fraction.
I took a measured step forward. “Bullshit. Tell me the truth.” No matter how hard I tried to remain calm, I couldn’t keep the rage from my voice.
“I saw you as a challenge. Kidnapping anyone is easy, but luring someone of their own free will was far more entertaining. Is that want you want to hear? That you were entertainment?” He stepped forward, slowly snaking his hand behind my neck and caressing my jawline with his thumb.
I wanted to yank myself away and lean into his touch at the same time. The push and pull made me feel maniacal, teetering on the edge of insanity.
I gave into a crazed smile. “It’s exactly what I wanted to hear, but not for the reason you think.”
“Oh, yeah? And what’s that?”
“Because I can hear the lie in your words. You may fool your boss, and you may even fool yourself, but you can’t lie to me.”
Primo’s jaw flexed, and his hand flinched momentarily tighter around my throat. “It doesn’t matter what you believe. You’re still going to be used to get at your family, and you will end up hurt if you give us trouble.”
Finally allowing my anger to show, I glared at him and lifted my chin. “Then do it,” I hissed. “If that’s how this is going to go, hurt me.” I slammed my hands against his chest. “Show me what a monster you can be. Prove to me that you felt nothing when you were inside me, because until you do, I won’t believe it.”
He growled with rage, whirling us around to press my front against the wall with his body firmly behind me. “What you’re asking for is a death sentence for both of us, and no matter how good your cunt tastes, I’m not willing to die for you. Stop this fucking bullshit now. You hear me?” His heaving breaths mingled with my own, his mouth just inches from mine.
The more adamant the refusal, the greater the admission.
He was battling against his desire for me. If he felt nothing, he would have shrugged and walked away, unaffected. Feeling the wrath of his frustration was all the reassurance I needed. My anger receded, and a calm, determined certainty took its place.
“I hear you, loud and clear,” I said on a shaky breath.
Primo was just as affected by the connection between us as I was. If I could convince him not to shut me out, I might get far more than a ticket home. I was no longer interested in pursuing a simple escape. After feeling the fervent intensity of his emotions, I realized there was more on the line than my freedom. I wanted the man I’d come for, and I wouldn’t settle for anything less.
Mistaking my response for submission, Primo pulled away, straightening his collar and exiting my room without another word.
Chapter 16
Primo
I avoided Giada the rest of the day. Something about her riled me up more than anyone else I knew. Her words should have rolled off my back like the ocean breeze, but instead, they soaked straight into my bloodstream, making my heart rate skyrocket and my emotion spiral out of control. I had to stay away from her to have any hope of remaining sane.
The irony of the situation didn’t escape me—the fact that I brought her to my home just to keep her at arm’s length. It would have been far easier on me to have kidnapped her cousin as I’d been instructed, but I seemed to be harboring masochistic tendencies. I’d convinced myself I could enjoy her while she was here and combine business and pleasure. That had been a naïve error on so many levels. Now, I had to deal with the consequences.
“I hope there were no issues with our guest,” I prompted Santino when I checked in that evening.
“Not at all, actually. She’s eating well and seems to have taken to Alma.”
Of course, she had. She’d probably poison my housekeeper with the same alluring venom she’d used on me, and the next thing I’d know, Alma would be petitioning for Giada’s freedom.
“I trust Alma has been warned about staying in line?” I grumbled.
“She has. I don’t believe there’s anything she could do to create problems. There are no phones in the house aside from yours and mine. She knows better than to cross you.”
I grunted. “You don’t know how compelling our little prisoner can be.”
“So far, she’s been rather compliant. She did ask to go for a walk on the beach this afternoon, but she stuck to the shoreline, swam for a bit, and hardly said a word.”
I’d told Santino that Giada was allowed on the beach if he escorted her, but I was suddenly reconsidering that decision. The bitter taste of jealousy left a sneer on my face when I thought of Santino seeing Giada in a bathing suit, watching her perfectly rounded ass as she strolled along the sandy shore. I didn’t want anyone else laying eyes on her body, even someone I trusted as deeply as Santino. He’d been a friend since my days on the streets and owed me just as I owed Naz. Hopefully, unlike my relationship with Naz, my friendship with Santino wasn’t founded on a series of lies. As far as I knew, we were solid. I’d given no reason for Santino to be disloyal.
It’s possible Naz would say the same about you.
True, but he was responsible for my parents’ deaths. If he couldn’t understand why that would be hard for me to accept, then he had issues of his own. I’d never done anything to hurt Santino and wouldn’t let my fucked-up mental state bleed into other areas of my life. I shook off the self-doubt and shoved aside my jealousy.
“As long as she behaves, I see no reason she can’t be on the beach, but you have to keep a close eye on her. She’s brazen enough to try something stupid, and she’s of no use to us dead.”
Santino stared at me for a moment as if he were studying me. “I overheard your conversation with Nazario.”
I glared at him, holding perfectly still. “I suggest
you think very carefully about what you’re going to say next.”
“Are you telling me I can’t speak openly to you? Because I would have thought we were past that at this point.” He hadn’t been upset before, but my warning had clearly triggered his temper.
I sighed and ran a hand through my hair. “Of course, you can speak.”
“I can tell something’s different with you since you got back. If I can see that, Nazario will too. He’ll think she’s getting to you.”
“Why are you telling me this?” I asked warily.
“Because I’ve seen the way you look at her. I’ve known you too long and seen you with too many other women to believe she means nothing. As far as I’m concerned, good for you—there’s no reason you shouldn’t have a woman in your life—but I doubt Nazario would feel the same.”
My gut reaction was to lash out in denial about my feelings for Giada, but Santino was only trying to help me. What he said was true on both counts, which was the reason I’d been trying to distance myself from her. Nothing good could come of being with Giada. And as for Naz, if I was going to get him off my back about the girl, I would need to give him another reason for my irregular behavior. I wasn’t entirely ready to confront him about my mother, but it would seem I had no choice.
“I appreciate your concern, but there’s no need to worry. I have Naz under control.” If there was such a thing. Confronting him with what I’d learned would buy me some time to manage the situation with Giada. Once we received our shipment at the New York pier and got Giada back home, things could go back to normal, and I could get rid of this pounding headache.
***
I spent the next morning in the gym working out my frustrations. Often, I swam or jogged on the beach, but with Giada at the house, I didn’t want to be out of reach if there were problems. I spent an hour on the heavy bag working combinations, then did some weights before hitting the treadmill for some low-key cardio to wind down.
Impossible Odds: A Mafia Romance (The Five Families Book 4) Page 11
