The Rise of Saint

by J, Bella

  He smirked, those picture-perfect lips turning into the mouth of the devil. “Oh, sweet little Mila. Do I look like a merciful man to you?”

  “Merciful?” I frowned in disgust.

  He reached out to touch the back of his hand against my cheek, but I jerked away. He bit his bottom lip, eyes narrowed as he studied me, the wicked glint in his eyes giving me a glimpse of his evil intent. “Believe me, killing you would be me showing you mercy.”

  His glare cut from mine to the man behind me. “Clean her up. We leave in half an hour.”

  “No! I’m not going anywhere with you, and you can’t make me. You can’t do this!”

  There wasn’t even a split second for me to take a breath before he had his hand around my neck, fingers biting into my throat so tightly I could only gasp for air. My eyes widened, the toxic mix of fear and my need to breathe sending a surge of panic thundering against my chest. His glare was as deadly as his grip.

  “First lesson. Never raise your voice to me, ever. And secondly,” he pulled me closer to him, “there is nothing in this world I can’t fucking do, and that includes taking you. Now, keep your goddamn mouth shut, do as you’re told, and don’t give me a reason to ruin this already plain looking face of yours.”

  If I wasn’t so desperate for a breath, his insult would have hurt more than the pain from his fingers clawing at my throat. My head felt like it was on the verge of exploding, my lungs aching as they pleaded for air, all the while his menacing glare swirled with dark warning.

  Abruptly, he let me go, the force causing me to stumble backward. I gasped as air finally filled my lungs, and I reached up to place a shaky hand on the burning skin around my throat. There were so many things I wanted to yell at him, scream at him, swear at him. But my need to breathe was stronger, and I braved a glance his way. There was no remorse in the depths of his eyes, and his squared shoulders and stone expression exuded power—the power of a tyrant.

  “I won’t warn you again, Mila. The sooner you start knowing your place, the easier this will be.” His jaw ticked as he kept my gaze, the fire of warning raging behind iced irises. “For all of us.” He turned, grabbed his drink, and walked off as if killing a man in cold blood and kidnapping a woman was just normal, everyday business for a man like him.

  As tears streamed down my face, my chest rising and falling while fear clawed at every bone in my body, I watched him walk away. The man in the navy suit, with the light blue eyes and textbook perfect lips. A killer. A kidnapper. The devil.

  I was dragged by two large hands across the carpet until I heard the stomp of our feet on the marble floors of the foyer. My body suddenly felt drained of all my energy. The stories you heard of adrenaline kicking in, your natural instinct going on autopilot to escape situations like these, were bullshit. There was no rush of energy, no all-consuming need to escape. It was like my body had been drained, my mind caught in the web of vertigo, as if it was trying to alter this new reality I was trapped in.

  I glanced down at Brad’s lifeless body one more time before I was pulled around a corner. That was when I lost my hold, the moment my body and mind both shut down, the world disappearing right before my eyes.

  I fell back, arms catching me before I hit the ground. A woman’s voice sounded from far away, flashes of images slicing through my head like blades.

  “Take her to the room.”

  I wanted to fight back. I wanted to stop them, to scream, but somehow my mind had short-circuited, and I couldn’t do any of those things.

  “Hold her down. We need to get her cleaned up and ready to leave.” My back hit something soft, like silk sheets, my shoulders pinned with what felt like two boulders.

  “Mila, we’re not going to hurt you.”

  More flashes. A woman’s face. Blonde. Pretty.

  I needed to fight.

  My skin crawled as I felt hands and fingers sliding down my body. “Keep still, and this will be over soon. I promise.”

  “No.” I couldn’t hear my own voice, but I knew I said it. I didn’t want anyone touching me. I didn’t want this to happen to me. This happened to other people, to other girls. Not me. It wasn’t supposed to happen to me.

  “Hold her still, James.”

  “I’m trying. The bitch is strong.”

  Strong? I wasn’t strong. I wasn’t even moving. I wasn’t fighting. I wasn’t trying to break free. I was just lying there, weak and frail, letting them do whatever they wanted.

  “James!”

  Pressure crushed my chest, a strong scent of musk blasting around me.

  “Jesus. Can I knock her out?”

  “Do you want Saint to kill you?”

  “Just hurry the fuck up.”

  More pressure, my body being forced deeper into the mattress while hands continued to rush across my skin. The more I felt the unfamiliar touch, the more I started to grasp my senses, slowly gaining control.

  The flashes stopped, and suddenly everything happening around me began to click into place. A man was holding me down, the woman trying to undress me.

  “Stop!” I cried. “Let me go.” With the kind of strength I never knew I had, I jerked free and slammed my fist into the woman’s face, sending her stumbling back, falling on her ass.

  “Jesus Christ, woman.” The man grabbed both my arms, wrapping his hands around my wrists, pulling me down on the bed.

  I kicked, screamed, thrashed, clawed, tried everything in my power to break free.

  “Let her go.”

  My head jerked in the direction of the woman whose lip I just busted.

  “Let her go, James.” She got up from the floor, nursing her busted lip with a gentle hand.

  “You sure? This bitch is feisty.”

  “Yeah.” She nodded, pinning a glare at me. “She won’t run.”

  “Like fuck I won’t.”

  She stepped closer. “Where will you run to? You have nowhere to go.”

  I clenched my jaw. “You don’t know me.”

  “Trust me, I know more than you can imagine.” She looked at James, who still clutched my wrists tightly together. “Let her go.” Even I could see the warning in her dark eyes.

  Abruptly, he let go, raising his arms in the air. “If she runs, it’s on you.”

  Her gaze snapped back to mine. “She won’t run…will you, Mila?”

  Even with the hard look in her eyes, her voice was calm and soft. One would think after I almost broke her nose, she’d be a little more pissed.

  I shot upright and moved toward the headboard of the bed, watching as her tall, slender frame came closer.

  “My name is Elena.”

  I didn’t respond.

  “I can imagine you’re confused right now.”

  “I just saw my friend murdered right in front of me, and now I’m being kidnapped by a man I don’t know. Confused is not a strong enough word.”

  She stepped right up next to me. “Right now, we don’t have a lot of time, but I can promise you that no matter what you try to do, or how hard you fight, it will change nothing. Things have been put into motion, and there is no stopping it now.”

  “What things?”

  “Things you won’t understand. At least not right now.”

  I wiped at my cheek with the back of my hand. “Sounds like you’re asking me to trust you.”

  “Asking, yes. Expecting, no.” Rosy pink lips turned into a hint of a smile, her expression softening—compassionate, almost. “I don’t expect you to trust me, but this is me giving you a friendly warning. Fight, and you’ll make this much harder than it is.” She picked up a black dress hanging over the back of a chair and placed it on the bed next to me. “Fighting will make this harder for you. But if you cooperate, I can promise you won’t get hurt.”

  Not trusting this woman, I kept my glare on her as she rounded the bed to stand at the end. “In fact, once this is all over, you might even find it all…liberating.”

  “What does that mean?”

  �
�It means you might find answers to the questions you’ve been asking your entire life.”

  The knowing look she gave me had me holding my tongue, and in that moment, I got the feeling she really did know me as she had claimed a few a seconds ago.

  She smiled. “That caught your attention, didn’t it?”

  I didn’t react.

  “Good.” She straightened her shoulders. “Now, you can either dress yourself, or James and I can assist you.”

  Silence fell around us, her eyes never leaving mine. The only reason I was able to play the cards life had dealt me for the last twenty-two years was because I had learned how to bluff. And now, my every instinct was screaming at me to do what I did best. If I wanted to survive whatever hell this was, I had to focus all my energy on this one thing.

  Bluff.

  3

  Saint

  I could still feel her skin beneath my fingers as I walked away. Still see her eyes go from terrified to desperate as she fought for air while I struggled to contain myself. Struggled to control my anger while I held her life at my fingertips, seconds away from crushing her throat. But nothing would stop me from doing what I had set out to do, especially not an ignorant young woman like her. She needed to be taught a lesson. She needed to learn that challenging me, telling me what to do, would always end with painful consequences.

  I saw the fight in her eyes slowly turning from a glimmer to a searing flame. It had to be doused before she had the chance to acknowledge it, before she could even think of standing up against me. There was no fighting me, no stopping me from getting what I wanted, and it was a lesson she needed to learn as soon as possible.

  My bags had already been packed hours ago. The night had gone exactly according to plan, and now we needed to leave this hotel penthouse suite like we were never even here. For this to work, I had to make sure he didn’t come close to figuring out my plan, knowing what cards I held in my hand. Now that I had the Torres girl, I had to make sure no one else knew about her—or the fact that she would be my biggest trump card.

  My phone vibrated in my jacket pocket, a message from my pilot to confirm everything was ready for our departure.

  I slipped my phone back into my jacket pocket when James knocked and walked into my room.

  I gave him a sideways glance. “Is the girl ready?”

  “She is.”

  Scratch marks on his hands caught my attention, and I frowned in question.

  James shrugged. “She’s a fighter.”

  “I expected nothing less.” I smirked then righted my cufflinks. “Has the clean-up crew taken care of the mess Brad left on the carpet?”

  “It’s like he’s never been here.”

  “Fantastic. Everything in place for our exit?”

  “Yes, Mr. Saint. The chefs and kitchen staff have been briefed, and three unmarked cars will be waiting for us at the back exit.”

  “Good.” I turned toward the full-length mirror and straightened my tie. “Make sure any security footage is wiped after we’re gone, including those of when they entered the hotel earlier. I want every trace of her erased.” I spun to face James. “There’s no room for error here. If they discover we have her, our plan will be shot to shit.”

  “Understood.”

  James was on his way out when I called him back. “When are you going to stop calling me Mr. Saint?”

  He smirked. “The day you stop paying me.”

  “Smartass.”

  The door slammed when James left, and I wiped a hand down my suit jacket. For a brief second I thought about Mila, and how her cheek flushed a scorching crimson while I had my hand around her throat, showing her that she was no longer in a world where she could say and do whatever she wanted. She was in my world now, and she had to live by my rules, obey me at all times. But she had a strength in her that wouldn’t let her submit easily—the kind of strength I had to break as soon as possible. I wasn’t surprised to see her handiwork on James’s arms, and I wasn’t lying when I said I didn’t expect anything less from her. This wasn’t a recently concocted plan I just threw together at the last minute. I had been plotting this for months, years, and Mila had been a part of it since the very beginning—she just didn’t know it. She still didn’t.

  I grabbed my Sea-Dweller Rolex from the bedside table, the oystersteel and yellow gold glinting under the dim light of the room, and headed out as I clasped it around my wrist. This was finally it. The wheels had been set in motion, and there was no going back now.

  James was already waiting by the elevator in the foyer. The sound of clicking heels had me looking down the hall, my aunt Elena impeccably dressed as always. She gave a slight nod, and Mila appeared next to her, no trace of the jeans and shirt she wore earlier. Instead, she wore a black sheath dress nipped at the waistline, accentuating her hourglass shape, and a large, elegant hat specifically chosen to hide her face as much as possible without it looking too conspicuous. Her wild curls had been tucked into a neat bun at the back of her neck, and the closer she came to us, the more I noticed how different Mila’s face looked with the make-up Elena had used. If I hadn’t seen the real Mila half an hour ago, I never would have thought it was the same person.

  I held out my hands as Elena stepped up, and I frowned when I saw the cut on her lip. “What happened?”

  She smiled warmly. “A mere misunderstanding.”

  I glared at Mila, knowing all too well it was her handiwork. But there was no time to investigate, and I kissed Elena on the cheek. “You did a fabulous job, Aunt Elena.”

  “Thank you, Marcello.”

  I glanced at the woman with the defiant look in her eyes who seemed mere seconds away from running in the other direction. I took the black trench coat Elena was holding and circled around to stand behind Mila. I held the coat as she reluctantly pulled it on. Leaning closer, I brought my hands up to her arms. “I must say, you clean up well.”

  She glanced over her shoulder. “You think having me dress in these expensive clothes and hiding my face with a huge-ass hat will stop me from screaming my lungs out the second we step out that elevator?”

  My fingers dug into her shoulders, and she gasped from my punishing grip. “I can guarantee you won’t be that stupid.”

  She lifted a brow. “Yeah? Why is that?”

  I let go of her shoulders and moved to stand in front of her, towering over her, forcing her to crane her neck so she could keep looking me in the eye. “Because you saw what I did to your friend.”

  Her face paled, and I reached behind my back, pulled out my gun and held it in front of her before easing the muzzle down the side of her face—a subtle reminder of what I was capable of. “See, if you scream, or move anything besides those high heels you’re wearing while we walk out of here, I won’t hesitate to pull the trigger.”

  “I’m not afraid of dying,” she bit out.

  “Oh, I won’t be killing you. You’re far too valuable to me. But there are a lot of people in this hotel who are of no use to me, whose blood I wouldn’t mind spilling.” I inched closer. “Can you handle being the one responsible for a massacre, Mila?”

  Long lashes that framed those big green eyes batted a few times while I refused to look away. The stone expression she was so desperate to keep faltered, and her bottom lip quivered. Fear. That was what it was. That was what I saw while standing so close to her. Good. It was that exact fear that would ensure she survived everything that was about to come.

  I tucked the gun back under my jacket. “It’ll be a bloodbath on the bottom floor before you’ll be able to reach those golden revolving doors.”

  Her expression faltered. “You’re bluffing.”

  “Are you sure you want to chance it? There are a lot of innocent people down there who have nothing to do with our business.”

  “I’m not a part of your fucking business.”

  I smiled. “You can’t be more wrong.”

  “Sir,” James interrupted, “everything is set. We need to leave
now.”

  I grinned. “Are you ready to be a part of my world, principessa perduta?”

  4

  Mila

  There was nothing in his eyes. No emotion. No feeling. Nothing. Not even rage. It was an absolute void of black. Indifference, the one thing far worse than hate. It was so easy to see he was the kind of man who didn’t care about those he hurt, as long as he got what he wanted. And I was clearly the thing he wanted.

  “So, what will it be, Mila? Will you risk the lives of others for your own freedom?” The smirk on his face told me he already knew my answer. He already knew I would never let anyone get hurt because of me.

  “No.” The word burned my tongue, and the arrogant grin on his face grew wider.

  “Good.”

  Elena wrapped a gentle hand around my elbow as the elevator door opened. As we stepped inside, I was sure my legs would give way beneath me, my body weak and numb. I had never been this terrified in my entire life. Not even on those days when I stepped into new homes having no idea what kind of hell I was walking into.

  “Breathe, Mila,” Elena whispered as we settled at the back of the elevator. Why was this woman so concerned when she was clearly a part of all this?

  Saint, James, and two other men stepped in front of us, and the door chimed as it closed.

  “Keep your head down at all times.” Saint didn’t turn to look at me as he spoke. “Do not make eye contact with anyone, and make sure you stay at Elena’s side. Understood?”

  I chewed the inside of my cheek, my gut too heavy and mind too frazzled to respond.

  “Do you understand, Mila?”

  Elena tightened her grip around my arm, shooting me a warning look.

  “Yes,” I choked out, followed by a deep breath.

  I watched the numbers on the side panel light up as the elevator moved down. With every floor we passed, my heart beat a little faster, my breathing becoming more rapid and shallow. Sweat beaded at the back of my neck, my mouth dry as fear ignited my thirst to a point where my throat burned.