The handsome devil smirks, the flecks of gold in his dark eyes catching the light.“Where is Anna?”he asks, looking around the spacious and open great room and then to the top of the stairs, past where I still stand clinging to the banister as though not moving will make it all go away.
My brow knits in total confusion while my chest tightens with apprehension at the mention of my sister, who might be pregnant with my little niece or nephew.What the hell is going on?I swallow through the lump developing in the back of my throat, impending fear making it difficult to even whisper.“Why do you want my sister?”
Massimo’s eyebrow turns upward.“Because I plan to take her with me today, at least until your father's debt is paid.”
My blood runs hot, outrage quickly mixing with confusion and fear.“We have no debt to you.”I turn to my father, imploring him to make this go away.“Tell him, Papa.Tell him it’s not true.”
My father simply shakes his head, as though he has no words or at least doesn’t plan to tell me today.He may look resigned in the face of no choice, but I know my father.He’ll no doubt have the capos and soldiers hunting this bastard down the minute he leaves.All we have to do is get him to go.
I glower at the Roselli devil who invades our home, even while my body trembles with the fear of it all.The only reason our soldiers wouldn’t be in this house is unthinkable.They can’t all be dead.My blood runs cold to think of what may have transpired as they fought their way silently onto our property.Still, it’s nothing compared to the fear that claws at my heart for my sister.“Anna’s not going anywhere with you.”
The dark-haired bastard doesn’t seem fazed at all.The flecks of gold glint as his eyes grazing over my body sinfully slow sends a shiver down my spine.“If you don’t watch that tone, your father will lose two daughters today.Call your sister downstairs, Sophia.I know she’s here.”
My legs almost buckle as my heart begins to race.All I have to do is stall, stall until Barcelo gets here.Knowing he’s due to arrive any minute makes me brave.Anna’s fiancée won't let Massimo take her.No matter the bloody fight that will ensue."My sister isn't here.You missed her and were clearly wrongly informed.You should hire better help."
Massimo stalks toward me, his abdomen muscles rippling beneath the crisp white material of his shirt as he strides forward.The gun tucked into his waistband just beneath his suit jacket gives me pause and my chest begins to pound.My father shakes his head, a warning from behind Massimo, a clear message not to antagonize the beast as he closes the distance between us with two long steps.
The fresh scent of his soap reaches my nostrils as he leans in close, sending a shiver of fear and the unknown down my spine as the warmth of his breath caresses my ear.“Do not make this harder than it has to be, Sophia.”
He takes my hand from the banister.His touch, now as gentle as it was last week, sends electric sparks through my skin, a warning though, this man is as dangerous as they come.Smooth and polished on the outside and as lethal as a snake on the inside.This man is nothing like I remembered in the car, at least what I recall after all the drugs in my system.
All the more reason to keep him from taking Anna.The Rosellis are notorious.If I tell him she's pregnant, or at least that she thinks she is, he'll probably think she's worth even more to hold over my father's head.No, her secret can’t come to light.Not until whatever this debt we owe is paid.No matter the cost.
Massimo’s hand settles on my lower back, coaxing me down the stairs while sending a chill slinking down my spine.He doesn’t loosen his grip on my other hand until we reach my father across the marble floor."Your daughter, Cassone.Call Anna to me, I grow weary of the delay."
My fearless father, the head of the Cassone crime family, feared by many himself, seems to age twenty years right before my very eyes.He's going to do it.Something has happened that I don’t understand.Papa has to hand her over, it's how he was raised, a code of ethics, it's what is owed, no matter that I don't understand it or forbid it to occur.
All daughters of powerful men of the underground always know this day could come.I will not succumb to tears or embarrass my family, but I will protect my sister and unborn niece or nephew by any means necessary.I swallow through the thick lump in the back of my throat making it difficult to speak."My sister is sick.If a debt must be paid, I will pay it for my family.Take me instead, Massimo.”
The dark-eyed devil’s eyes heat as he undresses me with his eyes.My traitorous body ignites with sinful desire fueled by the gentleness of memories from that night, but fear of the unknown, and for my sister wins my inner war.“Please?”I mouth silently.Take me.
His dark eyes never waver as he considers my request.“Say goodbye to your father, Sophia.You’re coming with me.”
7
Massimo
The dark gold embers rage in the younger daughter’s eyes.Sophia has no clue what she’ll be getting herself into by coming with me, but a softening look, almost a plea tells me she knows far more than a young woman should about things such as this but even still, she’s willing to make the sacrifice for the honor of her family.“Please?”she mouths.
Her request was unnecessary.The minute I learned a Cassone daughter would pay the debt, Sophia was the one who would be paying it, no matter the charade that had to play about before her father.The softness of Sophia’s skin, the light in her eyes and the gentle way she held herself, it was always going to be her.No matter what my father may say.I turn to her father.“When your debt is repaid, your daughter will be returned to you.”
A curt nod is all I receive from the seething elder of the Cassone crime family.His daughter has his strength, voluntarily walking past her father and out to the car by my side without a tear or a backward glance back.
Georgeo, one of the family’s newer drivers, waits for us right outside the entrance in the running SUV while our soldiers line the long drive, all the way from the house to the gates, each turning to follow us as I put her into the vehicle.Sophia averts her eyes as we head past the gatekeeper’s carnage, stepping past strewn bodies who have long since seen their demise, as the silent but deadly attack on the Cassone estate occurred.
Our soldiers for theirs, it was never going to end any other way.Old man Cassone knew the score before he gave the order for his soldiers to hit our trucks.
Sophia settles into the plush black leather of the back seat, scooting as far away from me as her seat belt will allow.She presses her head against the coolness of the glass, watching the life she knows fade in the distance as our driver makes his way down the long drive.
Soon, she will have a new existence, at least for as long as it takes her father to pay.And knowing mine, a mere exchange of money will not be enough.He is far too sadistic a fuck for that.My chest tightens as I push the thought away of Sophia anywhere near my old man.But still, her father knew what his actions would ignite.
Attacking the Roselli family is something you do not do, no matter who you are, and especially if you are a rival crime family with a wish to continue doing business in the underworld.Everything is about power, and once a couple of Cassone’s soldiers confessed under the blade that her father was behind the heist, she and her sister’s world were never going to be the same.
Now they are merely pawns in a devil’s game.
The dark-haired beauty sits quietly, her arms crossed, trying to hide the heaving of her peach- sized breasts beneath the fitted white T-shirt she wears.She feels my gaze though, and turns.Her brave voice cracks.“The minute this vehicle left those gates, all of my father’s men and all of the soldiers on the street were given an order.They’ll come for me and when they do, they’ll make you pay.”
The younger sister may be well educated in the world outside of mine, and three years in one of the finest colleges around has probably given her a false sense of security, perhaps even believing she could leave this life.My eyes meet and hold hers.“They’ll find you when I’m ready to give you back.Until then, you’ll be mindful of who you talk to like that, Sophia.You wouldn’t want to get on my bad side.”
