Just like I had every intention of doing with the bartender I had just procured.
7
Rosana
I should’ve stepped out of the shadows whenever Mateo started walking back out into the main room. But, I enjoyed the darkness. It comforted me in times of stress and cloaked me whenever I needed to go unseen. It’s why my wardrobe never had any color to it. Just blacks, navies, and shades of gray.
It helped with the blending in I needed to do.
Nevertheless, I heard exactly what I needed to hear. I knew what Mateo’s plans were, and I slid my hand into my clutch purse. My men needed to be updated. They needed to know that my husband had stepped off the path and done something I didn’t think he had the balls to do.
But, I knew Mateo’s weakness.
I pressed the number ‘one’ and dialed it, listening as my cell phone started ringing immediately. It only got two rings in before the call was answered, though.
Just how I like it.
“Yes, Mrs. Emiliano?”
I grinned. “Lyle! Hello there, dear. I have a bit of a request.”
“Anything for you, ma’am.”
I giggled as I leaned against the wall. “Oh, you’re such a dear. Listen, remember that little talk we had about what my husband would do to Lorenzo if pushed to his limits?”
“Yes.”
I sighed. “Well, he’s surprised me a little bit. I know he’s already given the command to your head of security to infiltrate Lorenzo’s home. Possibly to snatch up little Miss Charlotte and take her back to the beach house. Or some nonsense like that.”
“Do you have orders for me, ma’am?”
I felt my nostrils flare. “Volunteer as an aid on the team. You guarded Charlotte the entire time she was with my husband. I’m sure you can talk yourself onto the team. And when you do? Your orders are simple.”
I paused for effect just to keep Lyle on his toes. Then, I cleared my throat.
“I want you to kill Charlotte Pettigrew and make it look like an accident by Lorenzo.”
After tumbling down the stairs and trying my best to avoid the bulk of the trauma imposed upon me by the concrete steps, I sighed. I didn’t even bother pushing myself up off the ground. All I wanted to do was lay there and drown myself in the puddle that soaked my cheek. I curled my knees up to my chest and rubbed my wrists. I hated being chained up down here, but those fucking handcuffs were murder on my skin.
Nevertheless, I eventually picked myself up and stumbled around until I found the ratty cot that had been afforded to me from day one. I dropped onto it and laid down, closing my eyes to try and block out the rest of the world. The light down in this basement was sparse, to say the least. There wasn’t much of a difference between my eyes being open and my eyes being closed. But, with nothing else to do but roam around, I’d gotten pretty good at figuring out where everything was.
The furnace.
The water pipes.
The water shut-off valves.
The massive, grate-covered drain that led down into the sewers.
“Maybe I could pry it open with something,” I murmured to myself.
“Gotcha,” a voice hissed.
Out of nowhere, I felt a pair of hands wrap around my throat. My eyes bulged and my hands flew to the person’s wrists, and I quickly figured out that it was a man. There was a man in this basement with me, and I had no idea where the hell he’d come from.
“Help,” I choked out. “Somebody—please.”
The man’s hands squeezed tighter and the little bit of light that was afforded to me down here started to dim. I curled my fingernails against his skin, going so far as to feel his own blood dripping down my fingers. But, the growling man didn’t release me.
“Teo,” I wheezed.
“Not even he can save you now,” the man growled.
I recognize that voice.
I tried my best to focus my eyes and relax. And when my body went limp against the bed, I felt him release his grip just a little bit. I drew in a big breath of air before the man cursed to himself, tightening his grip in an effort to take me out for good.
Then, he dipped down just a bit too close to my face.
“Lyle?” I choked out.
Suddenly, there was a crash in the distance. I heard Lorenzo shouting upstairs as footsteps stumbled around on the floor above my head. I felt Lyle’s grip loosen even more as the outline of his head looked up, and I knew then and there that the commotion wasn’t planned.
“Fuck you,” I hissed.
I slid my knee between us and pressed against his groin, causing Lyle to pull away from me. I pulled my foot back and shoved my heel against his dick as the sound of tearing fabric and his helpless gasps of air hit my ears. Fuck him, fuck this, and fuck everything about this entire god damn island.
But, I didn’t even get to my feet before Lyle’s hand fisted my hair.
“Fine. I’ll do this another way,” he grumbled.
He slammed my head against the cinderblock wall behind me as my knees knelt down onto the cot. I pressed my hands against the hardened surface as he pulled my head back and smashed it against the rock once more. I felt the end coming closer than I wished. My mind flashed back to the first time I’d ever laid eyes on Teo at that party and how much I had wanted him then.
It reminded me greatly of how much I wanted him now.
“I love you, Teo. I’m so sorry,” I whispered.
And just as Lyle reared my head back for a third smash that I knew would rob me of the rest of my life, the door at the top of the steps flew open.
“Hey! Who the fuck is down there!?” Lorenzo roared.
A mixture of feelings rushed through my system when Lyle dropped me. Part of me was disappointed that he hasn’t simply killed me and ended my torment. Part of me was confused as to why Teo would want me killed in the first place, and by the man that had watched over me for what seemed like so long.
But, what worried me the most was the last thought on my mind. As I stared down the barrel of death, only one person crossed my thoughts.
Teo.
“Nothing will ever be the same,” I whispered to myself.
I collapsed against the cot as the commotion in the basement grew. I felt hands on me before I was picked up and carried up the steps. The second we emerged from the basement, there was more commotion. Gunshots. Things breaking in the distance and people shouting obscenities and orders from across the room.
“Get her to the doctor. Now. If she dies on my watch Ronnie will have my head,” Lorenzo barked.
“Just let me die,” I said breathlessly.
I managed to open my eyes and I saw him staring down at me from his upside-down perch. And when he smiled, I saw blood seeping between his teeth.
Before dripping down his chin.
“Can’t have you dying on me just yet. But don’t worry, I’ve got wonderful plans for you,” he warned.
I whimpered as the person carrying me started rushing down a hallway. At least, I thought it was a hallway. With every bounce, I grew sicker to my stomach. With every turn we took, I felt like I was going to puke. What happened if I threw up while upside down? Would I choke on it? Would it come through my nose? Or pour out of my eyeballs and my ears?
“Doc!” the man roared.
I heard a door open in the distance before a murmuring voice floated down the hallway. I wasn’t sure what the person said, but I could just barely tell that it was yet another man. Nothing but men filled this house, and part of me wondered if I’d get passed around to all of them before Lorenzo decided to kill me himself.
But, just as I felt my body being settled onto a cold, hard table, the world went black.
And I was fucking thankful for it, too.
8
Charlotte
I surprised even myself when I groaned, mostly because I didn’t want to be awake. In all my life I had never once wished for death. But, now it was all I could think about. Pain shot through my heart
first when I processed what had happened. Teo sent Lyle to kill me, and I wasn’t sure I’d ever forgive him for something like that.
Why would he want me dead?
The second thing I felt was the blinding pain ricocheting up and down my neck. My head felt as if it were about to explode, but when I moved to turn onto my side, I felt something soft beneath my body. I froze, and I blinked. And when I felt my lashes rush across something, it all slowly came to me.
I’m not in the basement.
I raised my hand to my face and felt the fabric against my skin. Velvety and soft, and it didn’t let an ounce of light in. I laid down onto my back and felt the knot digging into the back of my head. So, I rolled over onto my left side and watched as the darkness that had been forcibly shrouded around my eyes lit up just a tad.
Before I heard something shift in the corner.
“Who’s there?” I asked.
I heard footsteps padding toward me, but no one spoke.
“Hello?” I asked again.
I heard something dragging across the floor before the sound stopped. Something creaked, then the sound stopped again.
And it wasn’t until I felt his breath against my face that I realized he was sitting in front of me.
“Welcome, ladies and gentlemen, to the main event.”
Lorenzo’s voice filled my ears and I quickly backed up. Until my back fell against a wall, that is.
“Tonight,” he continued, “we have a very special prize to auction off.”
Panic flooded my stomach as tears rushed my eyes. It hurt to blink and it hurt to move. It even hurt to think. But, when Lorenzo continued on with the adage from the auction last night, I felt a growing sickness in my gut that I couldn’t suppress.
“What are you doing?” I asked.
I hated the fact that my voice shook.
“Tonight, ladies and gentlemen,” he said as the bed dipped in front of me, “we’re going to be auctioning off the daughter of one of the most powerful attorneys to ever grace the United States. And you better open up your wallets, fellas, because we’re not letting this prize go for less than ten million.”
I tried to hold back my tears. “You’re sick, you know that?”
Lorenzo didn’t stop. “Do I hear the starting bid of ten million? Ten million, anyone?”
He cleared his throat as if he were playing another character, and I regretted not letting Lyle kill me last night.
That was last night, right?
“Ten million,” Lorenzo said in a commanding voice.
Then, his voice shifted again. “Wonderful! Do I hear eleven million? Eleven, anyone?”
He cleared his throat and it sounded different again. “I’ll do eleven, sure.”
In a flash, I heard a gunshot ring out and I screamed. I jumped back so far that my body pressed against the wall the bed sat against, and I heard Lorenzo scramble for me. He gripped my hair with his hand and pulled me back to him, until I was perched on my knees on the edge of the bed.
Then, he pressed his lips against my ear. “Do I ear eleven million from anyone that’s still alive?”
He was role-playing my auction as if he had been the one to purchase me. There he was, playing auctioneer and bidders before popping off his gun as if he were shooting anyone else who bid on me. It was sick, and I wanted to vomit all over him. But, I was so tired and my head hurt so badly and the back of my neck felt so stiff that I was scared to make him do anything that might jerk me around more.
I should’ve let Lyle kill me.
Lorenzo’s voice puffed air against the side of my face. “Ten million going once. Ten million going twice. Sold, to the man in the dapper suit and the deep pockets, everybody! She’s all yours, Mr. Lucchese.”
He tossed me down onto the bed and my mind didn’t know which way to panic. One moment, I was reliving the absolute horrors of being sold off that day. And the next moment, I was reliving how stupid I felt for not succumbing to Lyle when I had the chance. At least then, I wouldn’t have to feel Lorenzo’s paws clamoring for my breasts. At least then, I wouldn’t have to endure the hell I knew was coming for me as he strapped my ankles and my wrists against the bed, with my legs spread wide.
“Please, don’t,” I whimpered helplessly.
Lorenzo cracked his hand against my inner thigh and I screamed.
“You’ll take it and you’ll like it. Or, I can kill you myself.”
I lifted my head despite the pain. “I would rather eat my own fucking grilled-up colon than willingly have sex with you.”
I heard his belt slip out of its loops. “Very well, then. I’m sure that can be arranged. One can live without a colon, after all.”
I tugged against the restraints. “Help! Somebody help me!”
Lorenzo mocked me. “Help, help. Oh my goodness, someone help.”
And in a flash, he was on top of me. “No one will come for you. No one will care about your screams. You can call out all you want, but your dear ‘Teo’ will get what’s coming to him. He doesn’t get to ransack my house and get away with it. He doesn’t get to send his men to infiltrate my compound without recompense.”
Tears slid down my cheeks. “I hate you. You’re a disgusting, vile, sorry excuse for a hum--.”
He jammed his thumb into my mouth before I felt him shift. His legs wiggled over my body and I felt his squishy little cock dripping on me. What? He couldn’t even get it up for his own escapades? It almost made me laugh had he not been choking me on his damn thumb.
And when I gagged, he chuckled. “That’s gonna feel good around my dick. It’s been a while since a woman has properly gagged around me.”
I bit down onto his thumb and he pulled back as I spoke. “Probably because you can’t even get it up. Doesn’t take a genius to feel you sliding across me like a little fucking snail.”
“Stupid bitch.”
His hand smacked against my cheek, but it didn’t even hurt. The pain in my head overrode anything else and I wished for an aneurysm. I wished for a stroke, or some sort of brain-trauma event to finally free me of the hell I’d found myself in. The man I had come to love wanted me dead. The man I thought might help me had become my torturer. And as Lorenzo traced my lips with his leaking cock, I had half a mind to bite that shit off and accept my deadly fate.
Until a knock came at the door. “Mr. Lucchese.”
He growled. “What the fuck do you want?”
“You have a visitor, and I believe you’re going to want to take this meeting.”
The room fell silent and I could feel him debating on what to do. And when he finally climbed off me, I released the breath I didn’t know I had been holding. I openly wept with relief as I heard Lorenzo get dressed. And when he released me from the bonds of the bed, I rolled over onto my side.
Before vomiting onto the sheets.
“Disgusting pig,” he hissed.
I could say the same about you.
I’d never been so relieved in all my life. But, I knew this wasn’t over. I knew Lorenzo would get what he wanted, even if things had to be postponed. I went to go vomit again, feeling my stomach turning itself inside out, before there was a smack to my back. It felt like the weight of the world had crashed into my spine, and I gasped so hard for air that I started choking on my own puke.
“Maybe that’ll teach you a lesson,” Lorenzo growled.
Then, he slinked out of the bedroom and slammed the door behind him.
I rolled off the bed and onto all fours, desperately coughing and heaving, trying to get the chunks out of my lungs. I’d never felt so dirty and so used in all my life, but at least he was gone. With a trembling hand, I reached up and slid the blindfold off my eyes. The blinding white light of the room made me whimper as I curled up into myself, trying to get away from its harshness.
But just outside the door, I heard Lorenzo speaking with someone.
Though, I didn’t recognize the voice.
“What do you mean, they were coming for her?
He tried to kill her,” Lorenzo murmured.
The foreign voice continued in a soft-spoken tone. “My sources say they were actually gunning for your life before he pivoted.”
“That man honestly thought he could kill me in my own fucking home?”
“Shhh, keep your voice down. You’re always so damn loud.”
I blinked. Were they talking about what I thought they were talking about?
“Nevertheless, you weren’t ready. You weren’t prepared, Lorenzo, and you always have to be prepared.”
Lorenzo cursed beneath his breath. “How the hell did they get in? I want to know exactly how they infiltrated without my men knowing anyone was here.”
“We’ve got bigger issues right now, though. Last night was to throw you off your game. And while you’re stewing in your own anger, one of your warehouses is under attack.”
I silently made my way for the door and scooted off to the side. Was this really happening? Was the war already beginning? And if so, was it possible to use the chaos as a way to escape?
And as I listened to the sets of footsteps tear down the hallway, I braced myself for the trials to come.
While trying to formulate a plan on how to get the fuck out of here.
9
Mateo
I sighed as I stared at the ceiling, feeling my wife’s legs intertwined with mine. I hated nights like this. I hated the nights where she expected me to be home and I had to put up with her incessant need to wear perfume and bras wherever she went. She wasn’t even that comfortable, what with her bony stature and her useless stick-figure-like features.
I missed the comfort of Char’s excess more than I cared to admit.
Nonetheless, when my phone started lighting up I almost leapt for it. I reached over and rolled away from Rosana, feeling her come with me as her arm slid around my waist. I tried not to shiver in disgust at her touch, especially with her cold and clammy hands.
Traitor: An Enemies to Lovers Mafia Romance (Sold to The Don Book 3) Page 4
