But he wasn’t listening. With a single gesture, he signaled Maxim to begin. I shook my head and tried to retreat. But before I could take even a step, Carlo’s arm wrapped around my waist, tugging me against his body. My feet lifted off the ground. His other arm came around my shoulders, firm but controlled like he didn’t want to hurt me.
Maxim moved without hesitation. He opened the cage and dumped the contents of a metal canister over the prisoners then stepped out. The chemical reek of gasoline filled my nose.
The men inside seemed to understand what was coming. They used whatever breath they had left to beg for their lives but it was in vain.
Lorenzo struck a match and tossed it in. Flames exploded inside the cage. Screams, high-pitched, raw, inhuman, ripped through the air. The smell of burning flesh hit next. It was too much. My stomach twisted violently.
The horror, the heat, the sounds, it all crashed down at once and I threw up all over Carlo’s hand. His grip loosened instantly and I bolted from his grasp like a bullet, sprinting out of the cabin without looking back. I tore through the trees until I broke out of the forest, gasping for air.
From a distance, I heard Carlo’s voice calling for his ugly dog again, but this time, his command sounded a little more humane. “Diablo. Bring her back to me, but no touch.”
Like a herding dog steering sheep off their path, Diablo circled and barked around me until he drove me exactly where he wanted, to the spot where Carlo was waiting, calm as ever, wiping his hand clean of what had once been inside me.
I clutched my side. My voice came out in a broken whisper. “What do you want from me? Why did you show me something so horrible?”
“I showed you, so you’d understand the world you belong to now. So you’d know that in this world, a single mistake comes with a heavy price.”
“I don’t want to be in this world!” I yelled out. “I don’t want to be inyourworld! I don’t want to sleep with you! I want to go home! I want to be who I was before! Let me go, damn it!”
“There’s no going back for you,” he said bluntly. “Out there, you’re a target for Mafia hunters, and Giuseppe’s the best of them. You wouldn’t survive a week without me.”
“Liar!” I shouted.
He looked at me with eyes full of warning, and all I could do was shake my head helplessly and take a step back.
Carlo walked past me without another glance. “Let’s go back. I’ve got filth on my hands to wash off.”
But I stood my ground, refusing to take another step. He stopped a few paces ahead and turned to face me, his eyes narrowing as they pierced mine.
“Fine. If you want to go, then go. If you think you can handle Giuseppe’s dogs and every other Mafia family that now knows exactly who you are and will be hunting you, go ahead. But let me be clear. I won’t come after you. I won’t lift a finger to help. If the Giuliano or Sardini families catch you and have their entire army take turns with you every night, I won’t care. If Giuseppe gets his hands on you and drags you into one of his sick games, I still won’t give a fuck. So if you really want to leave, go. The front gate’s open. No one will stop you.”
The moment the words left his mouth, I bolted toward the front door like an arrow shot from a bow. But I didn’t get far before my feet were lifted off the ground. Carlo had thrown me over his shoulder and was carrying me back to the mansion. In response to my screams, he just smacked my ass hard.
“That was a stupid decision, you silly girl,” he hissed. “Didn’t I tell you back at the hospital? That I never let you go? Now I know nothing I say means a fuck to you. Now I see you’re waiting for the next chance to run. And starting tonight, I’ll make sure that never happens. I trusted a woman once and she ruined me. I won’t make that mistake again.”
Another slap landed on my backside. I pounded my fists against his back and sides, but his body didn’t even register it. I might as well have been hitting a wall. As we crossed the threshold of the mansion, a creeping sense of dread wrapped around me. He wasn’t heading toward my room.
A panicked sound escaped me. “My room isn’t that way. Where are you taking me?”
“To your new residence. My room. More precisely, my bed.”
“You promised to give me two months!”
“I’m not breaking my word.”
“You did this morning.”
“As far as I remember, the one rubbing her pussy all over my thigh and cock to get herself off was you. I didn’t break our deal. You did.”
I couldn’t argue with that. It shut me up. When he finally stepped into his room, he didn’t throw me onto the mattress like I expected. He gently placed me down. But I wasn’t done fighting.
The moment he turned his back, I tried to slip off the far side of the bed, hoping to bolt, but he was on me in a second. Fastening something cold and metallic around my ankle. A chain. Tethered to the bedpost.
His hand wrapped around my neck, pressing me down into the sheets. “You’ve been unruly enough for one day,” he growled through clenched teeth. “If you were in one piece, I’d know exactly how to tame you. Now if you don’t want me to rip off your panties and whip your ass black and blue with my belt, stop struggling and shut your mouth.”
Then he let go, peeled off his clothes, and stood by the bed. I scooted back against the headboard, trembling, biting back the cry clawing up my throat.
“Twenty-nine days left. We have an agreement. And I’m a man of my word. But this body is at your service in this bed if you want it.” There was a twisted pride in his voice, like he thought he was doing me a favor. “This is the most generous offer I’ve ever given anyone. So be happy. Enjoy it.”
