Once we were in the hallway, Harlow dropped the loving mommy act. “Look, you little brat, you need to give your father what he wants, and what he wants is a nice party where he can show you off to the competition and make some new alliances. I’m not going to let you make me look bad,” she whispered so my father wouldn’t hear her venom.
“Fine, Harlow. Whatever. Order whatever food you want. Order what will make my father the happiest, but don’t bother me about this shit again. And, whatever you do, don’t get me called into his office again. If I hear any more of this bullshit about me not cooperating with you, I’ll tell Daddy what I caught you and that bodyguard of yours doing in the stable.”
All the color drained from her face and I laughed as I took off for my room. “You wouldn’t,” Harlow called after me as she race -walked toward me in an attempt to catch up.
I spun around to face her. “Try me, you home-wrecking bitch.”
My phone rang as soon as I crossed the threshold into my room. I locked the door behind me and looked at the screen. It was my friend Alegra. I used the term friend lightly there. As far as she was concerned, we were best friends forever. But as far as I was concerned, I’d been using her to keep my father off my back.
Alegra was a mafia princess too, and her father was Boss of a family that had an alliance with my father. So my dearest daddy viewed her as the right kind of friend.
Personally, I would’ve murdered her in her sleep if it meant I didn’t have to go on one more insipid shopping trip for shoes.
“What’s up, bitchcakes?” she said into the phone as I answered.
“Not much, hooker,” I said back. “Hey, I have an idea.”
“Uh-oh[MS6]. Are we going to get arrested?” Alegra sounded excited about the prospect. Even though she was just a fake best friend, I could always count on her to be down for causing trouble.
“I don’t want to wait for my birthday and my father’s lame-ass party,” I said.
Chapter Three
Salvatore
My second meeting with Mara was in the backroom of a seedy bar two towns over. We weren’t alone, but she insisted that no one who knew her father would deign to visit a honky-tonk bar like the one she’d picked for our meeting.
From somewhere at the front of the bar, country music blared from a jukebox. We were nowhere near the South[MS7], so that place was about as artificial as you could get.
Mara sat across from me in a plunging black top and jeans that looked like they’d been painted on her body. Her boots were that over-the-knee kind I’d only ever seen on strippers, and I couldn’t keep my mind from picturing Mara wearing nothing but them.
She moved her stool over closer to mine. After she hopped up on it, I could tell that Mara could lean over from where she was and whisper in my ear. It meant no one could hear our conversation.
“I don’t want you to take me at home.” I could feel her warm breath on my ear and it sent a shiver down my spine. The electric sensation hit my cock, and I had to adjust myself. Fortunately, Mara didn’t seem to notice, and if she did, she didn’t say anything.
“You’re changing the plan.”
“Yeah, but this will make it easier,” she said with a smile. “I’ve come up with a safer way to carry out our plan.”
“Your plan,” I corrected.
“Okay. Whatever, man. Just hear me out.”
Mara proceeded to tell me about the party she and a friend were throwing on the friend’s yacht. I sat and listened, and after a few minutes, I realized that the scheme made sense. If her father was in the Family[MS8], the house would be well-guarded, but[MS9] if she and her friend were planning a secret yacht party, it would be much easier to abduct her.
“What about the money?” I asked when she finished.
“So, you’ll do this, then?” she asked and then bit her lip expectantly.
“As long as you pay the deposit,” I resigned.
“Let’s go,” she said and stood up.
“What do you mean?”
“I mean, I didn’t bring the cash here with me. I’m not that stupid. We’ll have to go get it. Come on. We’ll take your car, just in case daddy is tracking me,” Mara said and took me by the hand to lead me out of the bar.
“Honey, the kind of people who are tracking me, it would be much better if your daddy caught us.”
“No, honey,” she said with utter contempt, and I could tell that me calling her honey had gotten under her skin. “It wouldn’t. Let’s talk on the way. We’re attracting attention here.”
She was right. Heads had begun to swivel our direction, so I let her lead me out of the bar. What she didn’t realize was that would be the last time I ever let her lead me anywhere. Once the deal was sealed and I had her money, Mara would learn to submit to my commands or I’d turn her over to the police myself. If everything about this job didn’t go right, I’d have no other option than jail or witness protection anyway.
She gave me directions to a place in the industrial district. “Where exactly are we going?”
“I gave you directions,” she snapped.
“I know that, bitch. What kind of place is it.” God, I’d grown tired of her insufferable attitude.
She punched me in the leg, but it didn’t hurt. Still, it took all of my strength not to backhand her. I’d never liked hurting women, but Mara made me want to break something.
“It’s the warehouse I use to sell stuff. I figure if he hasn’t caught me yet, it’s safe from my father’s sphere of influence,” she said.
When we arrived, she pulled what looked like a garage door opener from her purse and opened one of the massive bay doors. “I’m not pulling my car in there,” I said. “I still don’t trust you.”
“Well, you can’t leave your car out here. Pull in fast.” There was something in the urgency of her voice that I decided to listen to instead of arguing more. I knew her family had to be mafia, and I wondered if her father didn’t know about this place because it was in a rival family’s territory. Great.
She closed the door behind my car and I got out. We were in a narrow parking area that contained nothing but a door. “Follow me,” Mara said and she used a key to open that door.
Once we were on the other side, she flipped on a light. It was a dimly-lit hallway with another door on the other end. She bolted the door we’d come through shut.
She had to use a different key to unlock the door on the other end. Her security was severely lacking, but I was still impressed by her attempts to keep the place locked down. Mara wasn’t stupid.
We crossed the second threshold and she bolted that door behind us as well. “The money’s here,” Mara said as she flipped on the lights. “I think you should stay here until the abduction. You’ll be more than comfortable, and I want you off the map until the big day. I’ll get a ride back to the bar from one of my associates. I have people outside of my father’s influence who do me favors.”
“You want me to be your prisoner until I kidnap you,” I said.
“Don’t think of it like that. You’re just laying low. You said yourself that people are after you. I’m going to assume you already have everything in place for my kidnapping. You have a location ready? Someplace not associated with your old work?”
“I do. I have a place.”
It was a place that I’d never wanted to involve in work. The remote cabin was supposed to be my retirement home. It was supposed to be my little paradise where I could go when I’d finally had enough of my life and wanted to disappear.
That was not meant to be. It would be my last stop before I fled the country forever. It was either that or die. I was probably lucky that I’d survived as long as I had.
“Great, I’ll get you your deposit,” Mara said.
She went to another door on the other side of the room and unlocked it. Mara threw me a glance that said don’t even try to follow me and disappeared through the door.
Mara returned moments later with a black backpack
over her shoulder. It made a loud clank and thump when she set it down.
“What is that?” I asked.
“It’s half your payment. Gold bars. It’s heavy,” she said.
“Gold bars?”
“Yeah, do you know how much cash that would be? Movies where they have a million dollars in a duffle bag are not realistic,” she said with a haughty laugh. “Don’t worry, I’m sure you’ll be able to find an enthusiastic buyer when you want to trade them in.”
She was right. Gold wasn’t a hard sell, but how was I going to get out of the country with them?
“I have a friend,” she said, as if she could read my mind. “He’ll get you anywhere you want to go.”
“How do I know I can trust you or your friend?”
“What choice do you have?”
I didn’t have much choice. She had me there, but I didn’t like any of it. I hadn’t stayed alive as long as I had letting other people run the show the way Mara did.
“I appreciate the thought you’ve put into all of this,” I said, “but you need to sit down and let me run this show. I do things my way.”
“You sound like a child throwing a tantrum,” Mara said. “It’s not like you’ve proposed any better ideas. I think you’re desperate, and you need this money. On the other hand, I don’t need you. I could easily find someone else who would probably do the job for half what you’re charging me.”
“You know what, I think you should find someone else. I’m not in the mood for this shit. I’ll get the money another way,” I said and turned to unbolt the door.
“I don’t think that’s a good idea,” Mara said, and all of the sugar-sweet artifice that she maintained most of the time had slipped away. Something dark and sinister had come to the surface.
“Oh yeah?” I knew better than to play anything into her hand.
“Yep. I’ve done a little research on you. I know who you are. I know who is looking for you.” The threat was there just under the surface.
If I didn’t do the job, she’d turn me over to the men looking to kill me. Alarm bells were going off in my head. I’d let desperation blind me to the fact that I had walked into a trap. Hell, in the end, Mara wouldn’t even have to pay me. I’d be lucky to get out of this situation alive.
“Fuck,” I said and pinched the bridge of my nose. “Fine. I’ll stay here, and we’ll do it your way.”
Mara gave me the address of where the yacht would be docked and told me what time to abduct her from the party. When she left, I looked around the warehouse. The area where I was hiding was a swanky apartment, and I had to admit that I’d spent time in worse places waiting for a job.
There was beer in the fridge and a big screen tv in the living area. Mara had an extensive collection of movies on demand, and there was a high-end laptop sitting on the mahogany coffee table. I assumed that it was fine for me to use it during my stay.
I used the computer to research the area where I was to kidnap Mara. I thought about the power play she’d made earlier, and I began to wonder if I had to abduct her for real to survive.
Chapter Four
Mara
Alegra and I each slipped our security detail by telling our fathers that the other’s bodyguard would be watching us during our night out.
“But Daddy, one bodyguard is enough to make me stick out, two bodyguards will make it impossible for us to have a good time. Please, Daddy. Let me have a little fun before I become an old married woman,” I pouted.
“Fine, but let me call Alegra’s father and make the arrangements,” he said, starting to pull out his phone.
“No, Daddy. Oh my god. I’m not a kid.” I stuck my bottom lip out. “I’ll be humiliated. I promise I won’t do anything that will jeopardize my marriage prospects.”
He sighed heavily. “Okay, fine. One last hurrah. Alegra’s father has excellent security. You keep your nose clean, though. I don’t want any rumors getting around about you. I might have a potential husband for you. We might not even have to wait for the party.”
“Thanks, Daddy!” I said and kissed him on the cheek.
Thank god Salvatore was about to abduct me. It sounded like my father was about to marry me off sooner than I’d expected.
I drove over to Alegra’s house to meet up with her and some other sycophants who hung around us hoping to be let into our fathers’ inner circles. I made sure to take plenty of selfies showing Alegra and I with her security guards in the background. They wouldn’t be going with us, but my father had no way of knowing that.
When Alegra’s parents had gone out for the evening, and I felt confident that I’d sent my father enough proof that I was just having a fun evening with my girlfriends, we left for the yacht. A group of guys that Alegra and some of the other girls had invited was waiting when we arrived.
I looked around and smiled. Most of the other yachts in the area were out on the water. It was a quiet and pleasant evening, so the sounds of other parties carried across the water.
The kidnapping was going to be a snap. There was no security and no one to stop the abduction other than the people at the party. I knew none of them would step up because they’d all be running around screaming like a bunch of coddled children. Even the guys at the party were pretty, over-groomed little fops[MS10]. How any of these bitches found guys like that attractive was beyond me.
Any screaming would be written off as dumb kids partying too hard. I predicted that most of the other boats would just move a little farther out in the water instead of calling for help.
I watched the clock tick by as I waited for Salvatore to make his entrance. Goosebumps covered my entire body and my breath quickened in anticipation.
There was still about thirty minutes left before the big event when Dino Dominico sauntered over to where I was standing. I cringed, and all of my previous excitement drained away. The Dominico wasn’t exactly a rival family, but they weren’t on my father’s list of allies.
That was something my dear daddy wanted to change, and I knew that Dino was at the top of the list for potential husbands for me. Did I mention that his presence made me cringe? He wasn’t ugly or anything, but Dino was slimy in a way that was hard to describe. He was the kind of guy who spent more time getting ready than I did, and he used the power he had over dumb girls to be an unrepentant womanizer. There was no way he’d ever be a faithful husband.
“Hey, Mara. What are you doing over here all alone? The party is over there,” he said and pointed to the deck where everyone was drinking champagne and dancing.
“I’m alone because I don’t want to talk to anyone right now,” I said dismissively.
“You’re a beautiful woman, but your mouth gets in the way. You shouldn’t be so rude to me. Your father likes me very much,” Dino said, and I picked up on the warning edge to his voice. He’d definitely had discussions about marriage with my father. It was evident by the way he thought it was his place to correct me.
“Doesn’t it matter if I like you?” The tone of my voice should have said everything he needed to know about how much I didn’t like him.
“Not really,” Dino answered with a chuckle. “What your father wants is more important, and if I have my way, soon what I want will be. We’ve almost reached an agreement, and when you’re my wife, I’ll find much better uses for that smart mouth of yours,” he growled at me.
Dino took a step forward and pinned me against the railing I’d been leaning against before he interrupted me. I quickly looked around to see if any of my so-called friends were coming over to intervene. The only person who saw what was going on was Alegra, and the dumb cunt gave me a thumbs-up. What a stupid fucking cow. I’d told her a million times how much Dino made my skin crawl, and she was acting like he was about to lay a fairytale kiss on me instead of about to commit assault.
He put his hands on either side of me and pressed his body against mine. Dino leaned over and whispered in my ear, “Maybe we should go ahead and get a jump-start on our honeymoo
n. I know you’re a virgin. If I pop that cherry tonight, your father will have no choice but to sell you to me,” he hissed and grabbed my hand.
“Stop,” I said, but Dino just tightened his grip.
I looked around, hoping to catch a glimpse of Salvatore. He wasn’t in the designated spot waiting for the right time. There was still over fifteen minutes until he was supposed to kidnap me, and Dino only had to pull me a few feet to get me inside one of the yacht’s bedrooms.
My attempts to pull my hand free were in vain. Dino reached behind me and planted a hand on my upper back. He shoved me into the bedroom and closed the door.
“Take off your clothes and get on the bed. I’d hate to rip that pretty dress,” Dino said and shoved me forward.
I didn’t lose my balance, and I was glad for it. If I had, he would have been able to pin me face down on the bed.
“No. Get out of my way. I’m leaving,” I said and took a step toward the door.
“On your knees is fine too,” he said with a wicked grin.
“Dino. Get the fuck out of my way. I’m never, ever going to be your wife. I will claw your eyes out if you even try to touch me,” I spit.
“Oh, you’re feisty,” he said. “That’s okay. It’s more fun when you fight back.”
Dino grabbed my hair and wound it around his hand. I kicked him in the shin, and he punched me in the kidney with his free hand. That hurt, and it dropped me to my knees.
With his hand still practically yanking my hair out of my head, Dino unzipped his fly. His tiny erection popped out, and despite the throbbing pain in my head and back, I couldn’t stifle a laugh.
“You’re going to rape me with that?” I asked and cackled hysterically. “Now that’s funny.”
Dino sucker punched me in the face one time before the door burst open. Rage filled Salvatore’s eyes when he saw what was going on. He pistol-whipped Dino, who let go of my hair as he dropped to the floor.
Dino’s flaccid little pecker hung out of his pants. I kicked him hard. He moaned but didn’t wake up completely.
When I was done, I turned to Salvatore, wiped the blood off my lip with the back of my hand, and said, “Let’s do this.”
Hitman's Obsession Page 2
