“Why?”
“The Landi soldiers are not to be trusted now. The other women are being watched as well.”
“Unlike the other women, I can defend myself.”
“It’s still safer if you stay in here.”
“How’s that? They can still get to me, and unless you’re going to stick by my side every second of the day, there’s no use closeting me away. And it’s not like I’m a Donatelli; they have no quarrel with me.”
“True.”
“That’s because it is. So, fetch me some clothes and allow me out of your room, because I need to talk to Honey about why the FBI sent her here.”
He nodded. “That’s a good idea. While I get the clothes, phone the FBI and tell them to stay away.” He kissed me again, then left the room.
I went to his desk and picked up the phone, dialing the number for my boss. Dan’s secretary answered, sounding surprised when she heard my voice. She put me through to Dan, his voice coming over the line a few seconds later.
“Where are you?” he asked.
“In the D’Angelos’ Italian house.”
“How are you able to call me?”
“The Don left me alone in his room, which means I can’t talk for long, so I’ll cut to the chase: Federico is dead, Matt killed him.”
“Matt’s alive?” Dan said, sounding shocked, probably already knowing about Federico from Honey.
“Yes, and a Donatelli spy.”
“He’s what?!”
“It’s true; he’s been playing us all for fools. And why didn’t you tell me about Sarah being a plant?” I said, using Honey’s real name.
He went quiet.
“Dan,” I hissed out. “I don’t have much time on the phone. Understand this: I have tricked Frano D’Angelo into believing I’m his lover. He trusts me now, but he won’t if he catches me on his phone talking to you. Now, tell me why I wasn’t told about Sarah being a plant.”
“My boss suspected you were the spy, not Matt. I told him I didn’t think you were, but he wasn’t convinced, so he told me to have a fake family come in and give you their sob story about Sarah. I had to convince you to take this job any way I could. Don’t be angry with me; you still needed to take the job. I wanted to prove that you weren’t the spy; I just didn’t expect it was Matt. He ... God, how could he be a Donatelli?”
“He’s a very accomplished liar,” I spat out, still furious with my pretend husband. “I lived with him and didn’t even suspect a thing. He had the D’Angelos and Federico fooled too, but that’s not why I’m calling. A war has broken out amongst the families on the island. Christo Donatelli has murdered two of Pedro Landi’s daughters with the help of the Rosso family, and as a result, the Landi have taken up arms. The D’Angelo house is now under lockdown with the Landi guarding it. We’re basically prisoners in here, so whatever you do; do not have anyone approach the house. The Landi are dangerous and extremely volatile right now.”
“I know. The plant in the Santini household informed us about the situation. The agents have been told to observe only. Here is Julio Rodriquez’s number if you need to contact him.” He rattled it off. “He’s heading the team on the island. And if you can, get out of the D’Angelo house and head straight for Julio. I don’t want you in the middle of a Mafioso war. We can take out the Black Russian another way.”
“I’m fine; Frano will protect me. He’s under the delusion I’m someone called Sophia Salvi, an old lover of his.”
Dan went quiet, making me grit my teeth. He bloody knew; his silence proof that the FBI had been using me; I just didn’t know for what purpose.
“I have heard of her,” Dan finally said. “She died seven years ago.”
You lying son of a bitch! “Apparently I look like her,” I said, forcing my voice to stay steady.
“A lucky coincidence.”
“Yes,” I replied, clenching my fist, wondering what part he had in the mindfuck the FBI had done on me. I just wished I could recall everything, because my memory was still only returning in bits and pieces. Noise came from outside the room. “I have to go, someone’s coming.” I hung up without a goodbye, watching as Frano entered. I walked over to him, taking the clothes out of his arms.
“Was that the FBI?” he asked.
“Yes, they won’t storm the house. Dan gave me the number of the man who is leading the team. They are already here on the island.”
“Did you find out anything else?”
“Dan knows I’m Sophia. He didn’t say it, but I could tell by his voice that he was lying. And I wasn’t told about Honey because they thought I was a mafia spy. They didn’t suspect Matt at all.”
Frano breathed out. “Okay. I need to call the Santini. Alessandro said his famiglia are refusing to back down to the Landi. They are too hotheaded to listen to reason, though luckily they have already gotten some of the Rossos off the island.” He headed for the phone, muttering that Alessandro’s oldest brother was now after Pedro Landi’s blood, because of the death of Camila’s sister.
Understanding he was busy, I quickly got dressed, enjoying the feel of the jeans and T-shirt against my skin. Though, he’d failed to get me underwear, but regardless, it was still a marked improvement.
He placed the phone against his ear and started talking to one of the Santini, trying to get a man called Ricardo to back down for Alessandro’s sake as well as their own. I indicated with my hand that I was going to leave the room. He nodded as he continued to talk on the phone.
I opened the door. The guard pushed to his feet, blocking my exit.
Frano covered the phone. “She is permitted to roam the house freely,” he said to the guard.
On Frano’s orders, the guard let me out. I headed down the passage, realizing I’d forgotten to ask where Honey was. But since Frano was busy, I decided it would be better to ask Jagger instead, because I also wanted to make sure that things were settled between the two of us.
I stopped outside Jagger’s room and knocked.
“Who is it?” Jagger answered.
“Rita,” I replied, still not comfortable with referring to myself as Sophia.
The door opened a moment later. Jagger appeared in front of me dressed in loose white pants and nothing else. His hair was messy and his body was glistening with sweat, the man looking divine. But nothing fluttered in my chest, my heart now completely in Frano’s hands.
Jagger’s eyes narrowed at me. “Why are you wearing clothes?” he snapped, his harsh tone taking me by surprise.
“Frano gave them to me.”
He grabbed my arm and yanked me into his bedroom, taking me by surprise again, his rough treatment not something I had expected after we’d bonded in captivity. My eyes shot to his bed. A naked woman was tied to it, with a ball gag in her mouth.
I pulled my arm free from Jagger. “What are you doing to her?!”
He flicked his tongue out. “I was hungry so I ate some pussy.”
“Is she a slave?”
“Sì, and so are you.” He pushed me up against the wall and kissed me hard, his grip on my shoulders bruising.
I shoved him away.
He took a step back, his eyes flashing at me. “Can’t I kiss my own woman?” he said, his voice dripping with disdain.
“I’m not your woman.”
“You are. I own you.”
“I am no one’s property!”
He stepped closer, pressing his body up against mine. “You’re wrong, schiava,” he growled.
The Italian word for slave shot through me, reminding of Christo. I shoved Jagger harder, now angry enough to hurt him. “Touch me one more time and I’ll break your fucking hand.”
He sneered at me. “I should punish you for cheating on me, you lying puttana,” he spat. “You bedded Frano seconds after I poured my heart out to you about the Padre.”
I went still, shocked he knew. “Neither of us ever meant for it to happen.”
“Other things happened as well,” he said, pai
n glossing over his eyes. “But you still have to pay for it, like I did.”
“What are you talking about?”
“Things that should stay in the past.”
“Why?”
“You ask too many questions, and just remember: everything that happened is your fault.”
I stiffened. “How is it my fault?”
“You lied and cheated on me!” he yelled. He shook out his hands, looking like he was trying to calm down. “But I can forgive and forget as long as you come back to me.”
“No, I love Frano.”
Jagger’s lips curled, making him appear cruel. “You told me you loved me once. You screamed it when I fucked you.”
“I never had sex with you,” I said, not believing him. I’d turned his advances down, going to Frano’s room instead. I had given Frano my virginity as well as my heart. I couldn’t have slept with Jagger after that, especially since Frano had said he loved me in return.
“You may not have given me your virginity, but I still had you.” He fondled his cock through his pants. “I made you scream my name, not Frano’s.”
“You’re lying,” I said.
He stepped in close, his body a whisper away from mine. Even though I was dressed, he was making me feel naked with the way he was looking at me. Frano was right: he was acting strange. This wasn’t the Jagger I knew, or the slave trainer who had slapped me, this was a totally different person: a stranger I didn’t know, nor wanted to.
“I’m not lying,” he answered. “I’ve had my cock inside of you, filling you with my seed.” The hate in his eyes disappeared, pain now replacing it.
“I don’t remember.”
“I don’t want you to.”
“Why?”
“Because you’re a lying, two-timing troia who didn’t give a shit about me. I told you what that monster did to me, yet you ran to Frano. Didn’t you even consider I would hear you two fucking?” His face twisted. “I don’t even know why I still want you, because I don’t love you anymore. How could I love someone who could betray me so easily? You’re as repulsive as the Padre.”
“I’m sorry,” I said, guilt flooding me. “I should’ve helped you.”
His lips twitched. “But you didn’t. You were the only person I had the courage to tell, the only person I didn’t think would look at me with disgust, yet you did. You betrayed me in the worst possible way and while I was at my lowest. Do you want to know what the Padre did to me that night after I told you?”
I shook my head.
“He raped me on my fucking birthday! I tried to fight him, so he knocked me unconscious. I was half his size! You could’ve stopped that from happening by telling Frano instead of fucking him.”
I placed my hands on his arms, wanting to do what I should’ve done all those years ago: to give him comfort and support.
He flung his arms out, knocking my hands off him. “Don’t touch me unless you want me, because I will hurt you ten times worse than what you did to me.” His eyes flashed angrily. “I will ruin you, so no one will ever want you again.”
“I never meant to hurt you,” I said. “And it kills me knowing that I did.”
“You paid your dues, and I will make you repay them again if you don’t leave this house at once.”
“I can’t, we’re trapped.”
“I know a passageway out; it’s in the room next to Frano’s office. Leave through it or I will follow you around wherever you go, while contemplating different ways to hurt you.”
“Don’t threaten me.”
“I don’t threaten; I fuck, because that’s all I’m good for. The Padre made that clear, Honey made that clear, Bianca did too, and so did that foul bastard Alberto. I was made for sex. I know that now. But, Sophia,” he spat. “I won’t be used again. I will be doing the using from now on. So, leave this house if you don’t want me to use you.”
“Frano would never let you lay a finger on me.”
“So, you need Frano to fight your battles?”
“No. I’m not the least bit frightened by you. You won’t be able to take me down.”
“You underestimated me before.”
“I let you take me in New York.”
“I wasn’t referring to that.” He smiled; the expression cruel. “Everyone underestimates me, but they all pay for it. The Padre underestimated me and paid for it, like you did too.”
“What did you do to me, Jagger?”
He touched his nose. “That’s for me to know, and for you to eventually remember, and when you do, remember that it was your fault.”
“What was my fault?!” I screamed in frustration.
“Run before I fuck you again.” He pushed down his pants and kicked them off, his cock fully hard.
I backed up quickly, stopping at the door. “What was my fault?” I said, grabbing the handle.
He stepped in close, plastering his body against mine. I pushed him away and slapped his face hard, making him laugh. Then before I could react, he grabbed and kissed me.
I shoved him back again. “Stop it, Jagger!”
The door flung open, knocking me into Jagger’s arms. Frano stormed in. “Let her go!” he hollered at Jagger.
Jagger clamped his arms around me, his cock pressed hard into my stomach. “Leave the room, Frano; I’m having some alone time with my girlfriend.”
I stomped my heel onto Jagger’s foot, making him let go. He let out a holler and hopped back. “You troia,” he spat.
Frano stormed up to him and punched him in the face, knocking Jagger to the floor. Jagger brought a hand to his mouth and laughed.
“What the fuck is wrong with you?!” Frano hollered at him, looking like he wanted to punch him again.
Jagger spat out some blood. “Everything.”
“Just stay away from my woman!”
“Your woman?” Jagger smiled, the blood on his lips and chin making him look evil, or maybe it was the maliciousness in his eyes. “You seemed to have failed to notice she came to my room.” He touched his crotch, the movement calculated, no doubt insinuating I wanted it.
Frano clenched his hand, his arm tensing. He looked like he was ready to let loose, but he remained rooted to the spot. “Get it into your thick head she doesn’t want you, and if you touch her again I will add another family member’s name to my death count.”
Jagger’s face twisted. “You love her that much?”
“Sì!”
“Well, you can have her then, because all my love for her died when I heard you fucking the puttana after I confessed to her what the Padre did to me. Just keep her away from me or I might do something we’ll all regret.”
“Then go to the Padre!” Frano snapped.
Jagger raised his eyebrows. “So, you want me to walk into the arms of a monster, someone who ruined my life, all because you want to fuck my whore of an ex-girlfriend?”
“I will not have you speak to her that way! And I sure as hell won’t allow you to threaten her. Leave through the passage. Go get Thierry back if you can, or if you don’t want to go near the Padre, head to New York. I will find a way to save Thierry if you can’t.”
Jagger pushed to his feet. “I will get my brother back, and I will make that sick priest pay for everything he has done. Then I will go to New York and get you more whores to fill your bed.”
Frano’s whole body vibrated in anger, but instead of attacking Jagger, he grabbed my arm and pulled me out of the room. He closed the door behind us. “I told you not to go near him,” he growled.
I pulled my arm free. “I needed to tell him the truth about us.”
Frano ran a hand over his face. “Just don’t go near him again; he’s lost his fucking mind.”
“Did he hurt me when I was younger?” I asked, Jagger’s words coming back.
Frano dropped his hand. “Not that I know of. I wasn’t aware he knew about us until now. Jagger was always keeping secrets.”
“You don’t think he could’ve told the Padre about
us?” I said, wondering whether he’d set the Padre onto me. I remembered the Padre hovering over me, his black garb distinctive. Maybe he hadn’t raped me, but he’d definitely been the one who had held me under the water. I rubbed my head, wishing I could make sense of my jumbled memory, because nothing was clear.
Frano took a hold of my face. “What’s wrong?”
“Memories. Some things are coming back in bits and pieces. Unfortunately, they’re all jumbled, though I think you could be right about Christo being the one who raped me. He threatened to do it if I didn’t break up with Jagger.”
Frano’s eyes narrowed. “You sure about this?”
I screwed up my face. “I’m not sure of anything; I keep second guessing my memories, but someone did rape me, that I’m sure of. I also think they broke my mind.”
Frano took a hold of me, locking me in his embrace. “Whoever it was will pay for it. I promise that.”
Noise came from the staircase, stealing Frano’s arms away from me. I turned around. Camila was glaring at me, her face furious.
3
CAMILA
In that moment I had caught Frano holding the FBI agent, I knew he’d been betraying me. He was in love with the troia; that much was obvious. Yet, I wasn’t going to allow my anger to rob me of sense. I wanted him, whether he loved me or not. He was everything a man should be: incredibly handsome, powerful: strong both in body and mind, and also an accomplished liar, who had led me on for far too long. But, if I was going to become the next Signora D’Angelo, I had to play the fool for a little while longer.
I stopped a few feet from him. “Why were you holding her, Frano?”
He stepped away from Rita, looking like a man who’d been caught with his hand in the coochie jar. “Why did you leave my office?” he snapped. “You could’ve been taken by a guard.”
“It hurt looking at my sister,” I said, clamping down my painful emotions. Ghita had been a strong woman, someone I had looked up to, and I would carry on her strength regardless of what life threw at me. “And, Frano, you didn’t answer my question: why were you holding her?”
“Jagger attacked her. I was comforting her.”
My Masters' Nightmare Season 1, Episode 10 Stalked Page 2
