“They got her. I wasn’t fast enough. Fuck!” he yelled out.
Gisella jumped and then ended the call.
* * * *
Caprice struck her father in the nose, breaking it and making blood splatter everywhere.
“Let go of me!” Caprice screamed out as Kiernan gripped her wrists and tied them together. As he pulled her back, her father smacked her face, shocking her. She screamed at him.
“I hate you. I hate you so much. How could you do this? How could you beat your own wife and leave her for dead with these goons?”
“You think your mom wasn’t in on it? Think again. She wants the money, too,” he said to her.
“What money? I don’t believe you. She told me you did it. After what my men did for you, and paid off your debt to Billy.”
“That wasn’t the plan,” her father yelled at her and wiped his nose.
The blood spewed and Kiernan pulled her back onto his lap.
“Where’s my money? My wife and I want our split in this,” her father said.
Caprice felt sick. How could they do this? Her mom was in on this too? How?
Another guy, one she didn’t know, handed her father an envelope.
“You disappear and don’t talk to anyone. Don’t show your face, old man. We need a few days.”
“I won’t.”
“I’m serious. No fucking bars. It will take a couple of days to take her out of the state,” the guy said to him.
She wondered what was happening. What did this guy mean, out of the state? The SUV stopped and her father got out.
“You won’t get away with this. You screwed over the wrong men!” she yelled at her father until Kiernan yanked her back by her hair, causing her to fall over his lap and onto her back.
“We got about fifteen minutes to get to the meet-up spot. Maybe we can reminisce about the first night we met, Caprice.” He slid his palm between her legs and she kicked, trying to push him away, but it was no use. Her wrists were tied behind her back. His hand gripped her upper thigh and she knew it would leave bruises.
“Billy O can’t force me to work for him. I won’t sing for him and I won’t let him be my agent. If he thinks he can make me, then he’s lost his damn mind,” she said to Kiernan.
He moved his hand from between her legs and she was grateful. Until he smirked and reached up to undo the buttons on her blouse.
“Hot damn, woman. She is one sexy thing. The boss is going to be so fucking thrilled,” one of the other guys stated.
“I won’t accept this. Stop touching me. Don’t do this, Kiernan. I won’t go anywhere with Billy.”
“Caprice, you’re not going to work for Billy. He already sold you,” Kiernan said to her and cupped her breast.
She tried rocking her body away from him, but he held her breast tight.
“What? I don’t understand,” she said as tears rolled down her cheeks.
“You got no one anymore. Your parents sold you out to Billy, and Billy sold you out to Don Pasanno. You’re going to Vegas, baby, and you’ll never see your men ever again.”
She gasped in shock at what he just told her, then cried out as he continued to cup her breast. His expression changed as he heard them say they were pulling into the hanger to a private jet.
“A farewell kiss. I’ll never forget you, baby.” He forced his mouth upon hers and plunged his tongue into her mouth. She bit him hard and he shoved her from his body, causing her to land on her spine on the floor. He kicked her and she cried out, but then the SUV stopped and two other men were there. They looked at her, and then at Kiernan, who was bleeding from his mouth and holding his jaw.
“Tell Don good luck with this bitch. She needs discipline. A lot of it.”
* * * *
They were patching up Corrano and gathering information from other sources while in the back room at the club. Morano was pacing as his brothers did their thing trying to locate Caprice and Don Pasanno.
“Maverick found the father. He’s at a bar in Queens, drunk off his ass. He’s rambling,” Vito said to Morano.
“We need whatever he can get from him.” Morano raised his voice.
Morano’s cell phone rang and it was Adelina.
“Adelina, what’s going on, honey?” he asked her, putting the phone on speaker.
“I got some information. Kiernan and Marlin are at O’Hare’s. My men took the liberty of grabbing them with their guys and questioning them. Seems that Billy O had made a deal with Don Pasanno for Caprice to sing at the family’s clubs. Billy was going to force her to sign an agreement to keep her parents alive and let him be her agent. Things went wrong when you three got involved with her and paid that debt. Seems Billy was threatened by Don, who decided he wanted Caprice as his own woman.”
“What? Is he fucking crazy? Who does that shit?” Angelo asked.
“Don took her somewhere to the family’s private jet. Easy enough to track down. Looks like they’re headed to Vegas. You guys would know better than I where Don Pasanno would take her. It would have to be a hotel, or a house the family owns. You should know too that Caprice’s parents are both involved and aided in this, including allowing the men to beat her up the way they did. It was all about the money.”
“My God. We have to find out where he took her. Thanks for the information, Adelina. We owe you.”
“No, you don’t. We’re family. Let us know if there’s more you need.”
“I’ve got Frado Pasanno on the phone. He has a couple of ideas about which house his son took Caprice to. He’s sending us the information now, and offering any gun power we need. His son is acting completely on his own and he swears the rest of the Pasanno family has nothing to do with this,” Vito told them.
“Good, then we won’t be killing anyone else but Don Pasanno and whoever he has helping him,” Morano said.
“What about Kiernan and Billy O?” Antonio asked him.
“Call Fedaro and Collin. Vito, tell them what went down and ask them to handle it for us. Angelo, call Mateus and Major, and have them take care of loose ends with Kiernan and Marlin, then take care of Caprice’s parents. I don’t want them dead, just gone from Caprice’s life forever.”
Angelo nodded and walked out of the room along with Vito.
“The jet is fueled and ready boss,” Corrano told him, with his arm bandaged up and looking ready to pass out. He reached out and squeezed his good shoulder. “Stay here and rest up.”
“No, I’m coming, too. I fucked up. If I hadn’t walked away to take that call—”
“Then we wouldn’t have known where to find the guys who did the job for Don. They planned it this way, but we’re going to get the final laugh. No one fucks with the Fiorre family, and definitely doesn’t go after our woman and get away with it,” Morano told him, and they all agreed, and then began to head out to take the plane to Vegas.
Chapter 11
Caprice blinked her eyes open, feeling sunlight shine bright against her eyes. She moaned, feeling a really bad headache. She tried to move her arms, but they were tied to something. She looked down, noticing the different clothes she had on. A tank dress in yellow, short, cotton, and light. She blinked again. The last thing she remembered was trying to fight off the two guys who pulled her from the SUV and carried her across the tarmac, and then up the stairs to the private jet. Once they got her inside, someone stuck her in the neck with something sharp. A needle. Her mind processed her thoughts and she realized they’d drugged her.
Tears filled her eyes. Did they rape her too? Force themselves on her while she was passed out? She panicked and pulled on the restraints, but they wouldn’t budge. The movements caused the dress to lift higher, and then she heard the door open.
“Ahh, you’re finally awake.” She turned to the side and saw Don standing there. He wore a tropical shirt, ugly shorts that matched in blue, and a gun on his hip. The rims of his eyes were red, and so was his nose. He snorted and she assumed he did drugs. Maybe snorted coke or so
He walked to her side of the bed and placed his palm on her thigh. She moved her leg away. “Don’t touch me. What do you want? Why are you doing this?” she asked him.
He clenched his teeth, and then he softened the scowl. He reached out and stroked her thigh again, but this time when she moved, she couldn’t because his hold was firm. He gripped her thigh tighter and eased his hand up higher.
“I like you better when you’re out cold and pliant in my arms.”
Her eyes widened as tears filled them. “You touched me while I was passed out?” she asked in anger.
He stroked higher. His fingers grazed her panties and mound.
“You were moaning and enjoying my touch, but then you said Morano’s name.” He released his hold and stared at her.
“What do you want from me?”
“I own you now. Bought you from Billy O.”
“That’s funny, because Billy O never owned me.”
“You owed him money.”
“Morano, Angelo, and Vito paid that off, and it was my father’s debt.”
“And your father offered you to me for money.”
“He’s not my father anymore. I know he helped you, and my mother, too. You all deserve one another.”
“Do we now, Caprice?” he asked and stood up. He stared out the sliders and then opened them up.
He turned to look at her.
“It’s been two days. I think it’s time the training begins,” he said to her and walked over to the closet. Her eyes widened. He had an assortment of crazy things hanging in there. Ropes, chains, handcuffs, paddles, weird-looking gadgets.
“Where do we start? Let’s see, you first need to accept my touch. To get used to it.” He reached for her leg and stroked her calf. She pulled back and kicked him in the shoulder, just missing his face.
He roared and jumped up between her legs. He gripped them and she screamed at the top of her lungs and started shaking and kicking her legs harder, faster. He couldn’t stop the strike to his head and then he slammed his hands down on her stomach and she gasped for breath. He tore her dress, ripping it open and shoving a forearm to her throat as he lifted his hips.
“Maybe we bypass going slow, and I just fuck you into submission?” he roared as he was undoing his pants.
She could hardly breathe, and couldn’t move her arms and she was trying to maneuver her legs and heels. She was kicking him with her heels and he lifted back, then shoved at her throat again, then straddled her hips and struck her across the mouth. She screamed and suddenly the glass doors shattered and she caught sight of Angelo coming through the broken glass and tearing Don from her body. She was shaking so hard when Morano, Vito, Maverick, and other men came running into the room, guns drawn, and then stopped at the sight of her. Don went down, and Maverick was pulling Angelo away. “He’s dead. It’s done,” Maverick said to him.
“Son of bitch. Look what he did to you,” Morano said, and the men began to slowly undo the bindings as she cried and Vito caressed her cheeks.
“We’re going to get you out of here, honey. It’s over. We found you,” Vito told her.
“He drugged me, Vito. I don’t know how much he touched me when I was passed out.”
“Shhh, baby, we’ll take care of you. We’ll figure it out,” he said and slowly pulled her up into his arms.
Morano took off his shirt and put it on her to cover her body. She locked gazes with Morano and the other men.
“Thank you. Thank you for coming after me and finding me. Thank you.”
Epilogue
Morano, Vito, and Angelo didn’t want Caprice out of their sight. Nor did their guards seem to want that either. Maverick, Corrano, Antonio, and Rogan, were so protective of Caprice that she was starting to complain about having multiple shadows. Then Morano would catch her thanking the men for making her feel safe when Morano, Vito, and Angelo were out of the room or away for business, or on a phone call in the office. She was doing great, and recovered quickly from the ordeal and from her injuries. She was back onstage performing and loving them every chance they got.
Tonight was a special night, as they were all attending Brandy’s performance at the Red Slipper. They’d had to postpone it for a few weeks, but now here they were, watching a burlesque show. All he kept thinking about was Caprice up there, wearing the skimpy outfits, flaunting her body, struggling to make ends meet, and sacrificing so much for parents who’d sold her out and never really loved her.
Morano and his brothers worried that Caprice would ask to see her parents, or even wonder aloud where they were or what happened to her mom in the hospital, but she never asked. She knew they sold her out and almost got her killed. The men were all she had now, and no one would ever get close enough to hurt their woman again.
He heard her laughing and saw her holding onto Gisella’s arm. His cousin Fedaro was watching Gisella, and Collin was, too. Apparently Gisella wasn’t so willing to go on a date with them, or get involved in a relationship. Caprice said Gisella had her reasons, and when she was ready, she would accept them.
As the music started, Gisella took a seat by the booth near Ivan, Victor, Fedaro, and Collin, while Caprice slid in next to him, Vito, and Angelo.
He looked at her and she smiled at him, then leaned against Angelo and held his arm over her waist and smiled as the show began. He would protect her forever, and no one would ever get close enough to hurt their woman again.
* * * *
Caprice took in the old sights and sounds of the Red Slipper. It was where it all started, where she’d hoped to take center stage, to make it big in a solo act and show the world what she had to offer. Very quickly her dreams turned to fantasies that would never be obtained. She’d risked her health, her dreams, to work crazy hours and to pay a debt out of guilt for two people who never really loved her.
She was still trying to believe it and accept that her own flesh and blood, her only family, sold her out to the devil himself. At least she knew for certain that Don hadn’t raped her. She went to her gynecologist, insisted that the men take her right away and ensure she hadn’t been raped. There were no signs of trauma, no bruising, no evidence and in her heart, in her gut she felt the test was true, that Don merely touched her and dressed her. That was something she had nightmares about more often than not.
As she watched the first act and the women dancing and singing, wearing the sexy clothes, part of her missed the show. It was here where she’d met Brandy, where she’d made friends and where she’d danced, got dressed up and pretended to live in a time, a place, a world so separate and different from reality, that it helped her to survive. This place would always have a special place in her heart.
As the act ended and they all clapped, she knew Brandy was coming up next. She was so proud of her and happy for her to have found true love in Ivan and Victor. Victor was definitely a changed man. She smirked and watched him smile the second Brandy came up on stage and began to sing her song and perform her act. She was incredible, a knockout, and by the time she finished her act, the whole place roared and cheered. Brandy smiled wide and bowed and waved. She looked happy, content, and proud. She’d made it, and Caprice knew exactly how she felt. She’d made it, too.
Caprice squeezed Angelo’s arm against her waist, then looked at Vito and winked, then looked at Morano, who watched her closely. She leaned her head against Angelo’s shoulder and whispered, “I love you,” to Morano and Vito.
Because of them, she’d achieved her dreams, she found true love, and they battled the bad guys and would live happily ever after. Who needed a glass slipper, when a red slipper did just fine?
THE END
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