Hostile Takeover: A Just Business Mafia Romance

by Kiera Silver

  As the gun jabbed deeper into her spine, the beginning of an idea germinated. Reluctantly, but trying to hide her true reaction, she started to bob her head and suck. She got through it by pretending he was a banana, and it wasn’t actually his penis in her mouth. If she dwelt on the idea too long, she’d end up vomiting all over both of them.

  As he started to relax slightly, she allowed herself to let out a moan of pleasure. It was completely false, but he seemed to enjoy the sound. He clearly thought she was getting into the blowjob and enjoying it as much as he was. She allowed him to think that as she continued to moan and let out breathy whimpers around his cock, as though she couldn’t get enough of him.

  She worked her mouth down the length of him, waiting for the moment when he was about to come. That would be his most vulnerable, and that was her opportunity. It was dangerous, but she couldn’t not take the chance. She’d rather die trying to escape than accept this fate.

  As his cock started to twitch, she sucked hard. It took him a moment to realize her teeth were part of the deal, and she bit down as hard as she could. He screamed and howled, trying to push her away in his panic. The gun was still pressed against her back, but he hadn’t yet had the forethought to use it.

  She used that to her advantage, dropping forward on her knees as much as she could, pressing her weight against him in the process. He stumbled, not quite falling, so she pushed awkwardly to her feet and bent forward, head-butting him in the stomach and sending him sprawling on the floor. As she’d hoped, he dropped the gun in the process. He was too preoccupied with holding onto his bleeding penis. With a shiver of disgust, she turned her head and spat out the blood in her mouth. She didn’t have time to indulge in the urge to vomit as she picked up the gun and held it on him.

  He was writhing on the floor in clear agony, and she doubted he was going anywhere. Cautiously, she moved away from him, closing the bedroom door behind her. As she’d hoped, there was a lock on the outside. He’d clearly planned to keep her confined in there. It was awkward engaging it with her hands cuffed together and one holding the gun, but she refused to set it down even for a moment. She had no idea of where he had hidden the button he supposedly kept that could blow the property. It seemed unlikely he had it in the bedroom, since he planned to keep her captive there, but she couldn’t be sure.

  She found his cell phone sitting on the coffee table in the living room, and he must have been using it when the car had driven up. He’d been so excited at finally acquiring her that he hadn’t bothered to grab it and hide it from her. She was grateful for that lapse in concentration.

  She was forced to put down the gun long enough to use the phone, and she did so reluctantly. She dialed Larenz’s number, abruptly realizing she had no contact information for Connor or Euan, but she was certain they would be with her brothers.

  “Hello?”

  “Hey, Dom. Do you think you can give me a ride home?” A small laugh, edged with hysteria, threatened to escape. “Beware of the C-4 though.”

  “Sophia, are you all right?”

  She took a deep, shaky breath. “I’m fine. A little disgusted, and worse for wear, but I’m still alive at the moment, and he’s locked in the room. He claims to have rigged the property with C-4 that he can blow if someone tries to rescue me. I don’t know if he’s telling the truth, but I think he might be. He’s crazy.”

  “We’ll have to take the risk. See if you can find the button to disable it.”

  “Um, no. That’s not happening. If I pressed the wrong button or cross the wrong wire, I’ll be a crispy critter along with him. I’ll just wait for you, but I’ll go make sure he can’t get to the button. That’s the best solution. Just be careful when you approach.

  “I don’t like the idea of you being in the same room with him. Are you armed?”

  She looked down automatically at the gun on the coffee table. “Yes, though my hands are handcuffed together. I have no idea where to find the key, so I’m stuck like this until you get here. Try to hurry. I’m sorry I don’t know where here is, but maybe you can lock in on his cell phone coordinates?”

  “We’re doing that now, and it seems to confirm where we were headed. He owns a fishing lodge near the lake.”

  “That sounds like the place. There’s definitely a lake and a dock, and the lodge is kind of rustic. How long do you think it’ll take you to get here?” She hated how pathetic her voice sounded suddenly, but she just wanted the ordeal to be over. Most of all, she wanted a toothbrush and about a gallon of toothpaste so she could scrub her mouth to remove all trace of his taste and his blood.

  The place where the doctor had pulled her tooth was also throbbing and bleeding heavily again, and she disliked the idea of his blood mingling with hers. It wasn’t even so much concern about acquiring a disease as it was just the idea of his blood flowing in her veins. What she had managed to successfully stave off suddenly overtook her, and she bent forward and vomited on the floor.

  “Sophia? Are you all right?” Larenz sounded frantic.

  “I’m fine. I think it’s just all catching up with me. I hope you get here soon.”

  After leaving the phone on the counter, still connected to her brother’s, she spat a few more times to clear her mouth before scooping up the gun. She couldn’t figure out a way to hold the gun and the phone without impairing her ability to use the gun, so she left it behind reluctantly.

  She approached the bedroom cautiously, unlocking the door before stepping back for a moment. She half-expected him to come tearing through it, but there was no sound or movement from the other side. Using her foot, she kicked it open quickly, hoping to take him by surprise if he waited behind the door. It rebounded off the wall and clicked shut. She cursed softly as she had to rearrange the gun long enough to turn the handle of the door, this time easing it open more carefully.

  She re-secured her grip on the gun as she entered the bedroom, laughing when she saw Victor was still curled up in the same place where she’d left him, his hands cradling his genitals. He didn’t look like he had moved at all, and he was pale. She knelt away from him, but close enough to be able to shoot him in seconds if required. “Hang on and don’t bleed to death.”

  His eyes blinked open, and he glared at her. “I had no idea you cared,” he rasped.

  She lifted a shoulder. “I don’t really, but I know Euan and Connor want the pleasure of killing you, and I’d hate to deny them that. So hang on until they get here, and then you can die.”

  “You’re a cold bitch.”

  She beamed at the compliment. “Coming from you, that means a lot. Now shut the hell up. I have a headache, and I don’t want to hear you until the cavalry arrives.”

  He surprised her by going silent, and she assumed he must be in a lot of pain. It was well deserved, and she hoped he spent the rest of his time on earth in a mass of agony. She also hoped Connor and Euan arrived in time to dispatch him, and that he didn’t bleed to death first.

  Who knew a genital wound could bleed so profusely? The thought was meant to be funny, to amuse herself, but instead it just reignited her nausea, spurring her to vomit again. With a grimace of disgust, she stood up and moved to a different vantage point, never letting the gun waiver. If Croft so much as twitched in the wrong way, she was going to shoot him.

  Chapter Eleven

  It all seemed rather anti-climactic in a way. Her brothers and her lovers burst into the cabin, storming through in a similar maneuver to their strike team tactic from earlier. During her wait for them, she had moved to the bed and awkwardly managed to fold the blanket around her, preserving some of her modesty. Her butt was numb, and her mouth throbbed, but those were her biggest complaints. Other than the lingering taste of Victor anyway.

  He was a moaning, sobbing mess by the time they burst into the bedroom. He had no opportunity to set off the C-4, if it even existed, and he seemed completely unaware of Euan and Connor holding guns on him.

  She was startled when they both s
hot him, acting as one, and stepped over him as though he was nothing. They rushed to her side, and she frowned at them. “I expected you to draw it out more.”

  Connor blinked. “Draw what out? Rescuing you?”

  She was feeling a little disgruntled. “No, I expected you to make Victor suffer before you finally ended him.”

  Euan shrugged. “It looks like he suffered plenty, but I don’t give a damn about him. He was just an obstacle to get to you.”

  “But your revenge?”

  Connor was the one answered, lifting his shoulder in a shrug. “It no longer seems that important, babe. Getting to you was the most important thing, and protecting you from him.”

  “Rescuing you,” added Euan with a small grin. “Apparently, we were superfluous for that endeavor.”

  “I still need you. After all, I can’t drive with handcuffs, and he doesn’t have a car here that I saw.”

  Connor and Euan both collapsed on either side of her on the bed, their arms around her as they hugged her tightly. They seemed to need to reassure themselves she was actually there. She felt the same way, and she awkwardly hugged each of them with her cheek against their shoulder, alternating, because she couldn’t put her arms around them with the damned handcuffs.

  Dante stepped in front of them, holding out a key. “I found this in the nightstand. I assume it’s the key to your cuffs.”

  She groaned. “I didn’t even think to look for that.”

  “See, she still needs us,” said Dante with a small grin as he clapped Euan and Connor on the shoulders.

  After that, things moved quickly. Once the handcuffs were off, she was able to dress in the clothes she’d worn before, and she happily let Euan and Connor take her from the cabin, leaving her brothers to deal with the cleanup. They were far more adept at this sort of thing than her lovers, and she just wanted to forget about everything.

  They took her to their home, and after brushing her teeth and cleaning up, she collapsed into the bed. She was too exhausted to do anything more than squeeze their hands lightly before falling into a deep sleep. She expected to have nightmares, but her dreams were clear, and she woke refreshed hours later.

  When she emerged from the bedroom, having woken alone, she was surprised to find her parents seated on the slightly lumpy couch in the living room. A ball of moisture appeared in her throat, and she swallowed it down as she hung back awkwardly. It was only when she saw the hurt in her mother’s eyes and realized Avriella thought she was still acting reserved because she was angry that she forced herself to move forward.

  She’d simply been incapacitated by relief and a swell of love for a moment. Without a word, she threw herself onto the couch between them, hugging her mother as she wrapped her arms around her. “I’m so sorry. I thought I’d never see you again, and I was… I realized what a brat I’d been.”

  “You weren’t a brat. You were hurt. We should have told you the truth a long time ago, and it was my idea not to.”

  She lifted her head to frown at her mother. “But why? That’s the thing I don’t understand.”

  “I didn’t want to lose you,” said Avriella with a sad sigh. “I was afraid you wouldn’t see me as your mother anymore if you knew I was actually your stepmother, and I love you just as much as I love Dante, Armo, and Larenz. To me, it doesn’t matter that I didn’t give birth to you, but I felt threatened by the fact that I didn’t birth you myself. I was sure it would cause a wedge between us, but I didn’t realize how much worse it would be not to tell you the truth, and to have you discover it on your own. I’m sorry, baby.”

  She blinked back tears as she hugged her mother again. “I’m sorry too. I was hurt, but I handled it wrong. I honestly thought you hadn’t told me because you were protecting me from the Thornes.”

  “That was part of it too,” said her father as he rubbed her shoulder, seeming to need some kind of contact to prove to himself she was whole and safe. “I never liked them, and they never liked me. I don’t know if Thorne knew what I did, but I knew what he was. He’s a ruthless bastard, and he would have traded anyone to get what he wanted. He was going to sell your mother into a marriage she didn’t desire to cement some sort of merger.

  “When I married Elisa, she knew I didn’t love her, but I was fond of her. I was rescuing her from a bad situation, and I thought I was giving the triplets some stability since their mother and I had split up. We never had anything much to do with her parents or the rest of that family, because she was no more fond of them than I was.

  “And then she died giving birth to you, and I quickly allowed any contact with the Thorne family to wither and die. It was easier to pretend like they didn’t exist, though I know how unfair that was now, because it was like wiping Elisa away too. She loved you, and she was excited to have you, and you deserved to have known about her all these years.”

  “It was my own insecurity,” said Avriella.

  She maneuvered so she was hugging both of her parents. “It’s okay. Let’s all just agree to forgive each other and move on. I’m glad to know about my mother, and I’d like to know more about her, but I’m happy to pretend like the Thornes don’t exist.”

  Avriella pushed back the hair on her face. “To be fair, your grandfather was concerned when he’d discovered you’d been kidnapped. I guess he saw the pictures in Croft’s drawer. I don’t know what he was doing snooping through his desk, but he came across them and demanded an explanation. When Croft told him you had been kidnapped, he went ballistic. When Croft refused to call the police, your grandfather came to your father and demanded help. Maybe he’s changing some too.”

  She shrugged. “Maybe. He seemed pretty implacable to me, but I’m willing to give him another chance. I’d like to know them and be part of their family, but the most important family to me is you guys and my brothers.” And Euan and Connor, though she didn’t add that part. It was a lot to take in for her parents, and she didn’t think she needed to spring the news she was involved in a ménage relationship on them today. That could wait at least a few days.

  Her parents left a couple of hours later, and Euan and Connor joined her in the living room, seeming surprised. “What?” she asked.

  “I guess we thought you’d go with them,” said Euan.

  Connor nodded. “It seemed logical.”

  Her stomach fluttered with anxiety. “Did you want me to? I mean, if you don’t want me to stay, I’ll call them and have them come back.”

  Euan and Connor shared a look before they both approached her, one putting an arm around her waist, and the other across her back as they hugged her. “Of course we want you to stay. We’d like you to stay forever,” said Connor.

  “We just didn’t know what you wanted,” added Euan. “A lot has happened, and we wouldn’t blame you if you wanted to get away and never look back.”

  She snuggled closer to them. “I’m not going anywhere. As long as you’re fine with that, it sounds perfect to me.”

  “Well, we did plan to keep you.”

  She smiled at Connor. “After all, you went through all that trouble to kidnap me to start with.”

  Euan nodded. “That was a lot of work. I don’t see any reason to start over. I doubt we’ll find anyone who would suit us.”

  She rolled her eyes. “You are pretty tough to live with from what I’ve observed. You don’t even like Monty Python.”

  “But I do,” said Connor. “I’ll make up for all of his deficiencies.”

  She laughed as she bent forward to kiss him on the cheek before turning her head to kiss Euan too. “You two are the perfect complement to each other, and together we fit perfectly.” She pulled away long enough to turn in their arms, so she was facing both of them and could put her hand on each of their cheeks. “Why don’t you take me to bed? I’m simply exhausted after everything I’ve been through, and I could use a nap.”

  “A nap?” asked Euan.

  She gave him a suggestive smile. “Well, eventually.”


  Epilogue

  Since she couldn’t legally marry both of them, Sophia decided not to legally marry either one. Instead, they had an informal ceremony in her parents’ home, and after which she referred to them as her husbands. They had exchanged rings, and they called her their wife. She took their last name, though it might not have been strictly legal to do so, and she happily passed it on when she filled out the birth certificate for their twin daughters a few months after the ceremony.

  She wasn’t entirely certain when she’d conceived, but it had been sometime during that week when they had first kidnapped her. It had happened quickly and had perhaps even too soon, but as her husbands held her daughters in their arms, she realized it was the perfect timing. Everything had fallen into place as it was supposed to, and her daughters would grow up with cousins around their age.

  They’d grow up in a loving family, secure with their place in it, and without any deception. Most importantly, they would grow up with two doting fathers who hadn’t wanted to know which one had fathered the identical twins. That suited her just fine too, and they were both “Daddy.” She couldn’t imagine it any other way. She had been lucky enough to have two mothers, though she had known only one of them, and she was thrilled their daughters would know two fathers as well.

  Surrounded by her family, including her parents and her brothers and their wives and children after bringing home the twins, she was the happiest she’d ever been. She was convinced it was physically impossible to be any happier without spontaneously combusting. Life was pretty damned perfect, and that was the most she could ask for. She was back with her family, her mother was her mother again, and her captors had become her husbands. She literally couldn’t think of another thing she might ever want or could ask for again anyway. She had everything she needed, and more than she’d ever hoped or expected.