“If I were certain you planned it, you wouldn’t be breathing right now. But that doesn’t make you innocent. Now calm down and answer me. What did you say to Carlo?”
“Nothing!” I blurted. “He’s so terrifying I couldn’t even talk.”
I leaned forward, desperate. “And I won’t say a word. I’ll pack my things and leave today. I don’t care why you brought me here. I swear I won’t tell anyone about your family or anything that’s happened.”
He laughed, and it was more chilling than his scowl. “You really think I give a fuck if you open your mouth? Everyone in Italy already knows what we are. The authorities know too, but they don’t have the balls to come after us. You know why? Becauseweare the fucking government.”
He rested his elbows on the chair’s arms. “But as for you leaving, the answer is no. You’re not done here.”
I was unable to hold it in anymore. “What the hell am I supposed to do then? Why won’t you just tell me what you want?”
“First, you’re going to clean up the mess you made today. You’re going to Carlo and telling him we had a stupid argument, and like the drama queen you are, you overreacted. If he even suspects something’s off, I won’t show you an ounce of mercy. Carlo’s smart, so you better be really convincing.”
I wiped my tears, my voice cracking with desperation.“I’ll do whatever you want. I swear I won’t say anything to Carlo. Can I leave after that?”
Tony’s expression didn’t shift.“No. I don’t even know why I’m wasting my breath, but since you keep asking the same stupid question, let me spell it out. Your stay here is going to last way longer than you thought.”
Panic wrapped around me like a vise. My mind started slipping, drifting back to the day I boarded that damn plane with him. I think my soul couldn’t handle the present, so it ran back to the past. To a few days ago, when I was a free girl, stupidly thinking I’d found my prince charming. Now I was humiliated. Beaten. Trapped with a monster.
God, if I could turn back time, I’d never have left my country. Never would’ve trusted a man I barely knew. Never would’ve set foot on that plane.
In a last-ditch effort, I threw out a desperate threat, hoping it would shake him. “You can’t keep me here.”
“I can, and I will.”
“My family, my friends, they’ll come looking for me. They’ll know something’s wrong. They’ll find me.”
He drew in a deep breath and sized me up for a few moments with narrowed eyes. Then stood and started pacing casually, one hand slipping into his pocket. When he stopped in front of the bed, his tone was almost bored. Like he was talking about the weather.
“You know, when people think of the Mafia, the first thing that pops into their heads is drugs. Everyone thinks that’s all we do. But the truth is, it’s way bigger than that. Gambling. Brothels. Underground boxing. Arms dealing. You name it, we’ve got a hand in it. But one of the most profitable, and let’s say...interestingbranches is human trafficking. My uncle Giuseppe’s got a real soft spot for that one. That bastard’s made an art of it. And his business isbooming.”
The blood drained from my face and I swear, everything inside me just stopped for a second. Tony was right. Like an idiot, I’d always thought Mafia was all about drugs.
Once he was sure the blow had landed, he turned to Rafael. “The envelope.”
Rafael opened the drawer of the nightstand, pulled out a white envelope, and dumped its contents onto the bed.
With trembling fingers, I picked up the papers. Photos of me shopping, laughing, living it up in Rome. And then the worst part, printouts of text messages. Supposedly from my own phone. Conversations with Jill, my aunt, even Frank. All of them carefully crafted to show one thing: that I was thrilled to be here. Happy. Eager to spend more time with Tony.
As I stared at the trap he’d laid for me, Tony went on, “These texts and photos prove you’ve come here willingly, and that you’re having the time of your life. There’s also security footage from every designer store you’ve been happily splurging at. All of it documented to seal the deal.” His tone changed. “Now look at me, Emily.”
I looked up with a blank stare. His eyes held nothing but cruelty.
“One wrong move and I’ll hand you over to my uncle as a slave. I’ll find another girl after that who looks just like you. Kill her. Put her in a car, and blow it up. Then I’ll send the charred body, along with your passport and phone, back to the States so your family can bury her, thinking she’s you. And you? You’ll spend the rest of your life in agony, wishing a thousand times you were the one in that coffin.”
He paused, letting the horror settle in. “But if you behave, Rafael will keep texting your family like everything’s fine. And when we’re done here, you can go back to your life.”
I kept swallowing, my throat too dry to draw a proper breath.
“What do you want me to do?” I finally asked in a shaky voice.
“What you were supposed to do in the first place. Be my girlfriend. Be what you really are.”
“For how long?”
“Until I say so.”
“Promise me you’ll let me go after that.” It was a stupid thing to ask, but in that moment, it was all I had.
