When I meet Nina’s eyes again, the fire is gone, and the fear is back. “You’re scared of me,” I state the obvious.
She turns her attention to her daughter, and some of her silky hair falls partially over her face as she says, “You kidnapped my daughter and me. What do you expect?”
I’m quiet for a moment while I think about how to handle this situation because she’s right. I am kidnapping her and Simi. They’re going back to New York with me.
What I’ll do with them once we’re there, I’m still unsure about.
I don’t want to give Nina too much rope because she might just hang me with it, so I end up saying, “Good. That means you understand the kind of man you’re dealing with.”
Nina’s head whips up, and her features draw together with desperation. “You can’t do this to me. Please…just let us go.”
She’s one to demand that of me after she lured me into an ambush. I haven’t forgotten about that.
“Are you hoping I’ll grow a conscience?” I let out a chuckle. “You should know better, Nina.”
“I’m begging you to.”
Anger surges into my chest because I hate hearing her beg. “Enough. Men like me don’t give back what we’ve taken.”
Never.
Her eyes widen, and she looks at me as if I’m insane. “I’m not yours to take.”
“That’s where you’re wrong, baby.” I stare at her for a moment before I say, “You became mine the moment you set me free.”
That’s a lie.
She became mine when she spent the night holding me so I could get some sleep, but I’m not telling her that.
Anger returns to her face, and her voice is much stronger than I’ve ever heard it when she snaps, “I should’ve left you to rot in that basement.”
“Yet, you didn’t, and now you’re mine.”
Disappointment and fear douse her anger. “I’ll never be yours willingly.”
A thick silence falls between us as I’m hit with the harrowing memories of Nina crying on the floor while I could do nothing but watch.
“I’ll never rape you,” I whisper, and it has her meeting my eyes again. “I might be bad, but I promise you, here and now, I will never force myself on you, and I won’t beat you. Those are two things that sicken me.” I can see she doesn’t believe me, and it has me adding, “The Cosa Nostra lives by a code, Nina. We don’t torture our women, and we sure as fuck don’t make them do anything they don’t want to. Boris and Anton are fucking depraved scum.”
When she continues to stare at me, not believing a word I’m saying, I realize it’s probably because every fucking man she’s known has hurt her.
Christ. I saw how the guards treated her.
Boris hit her in front of me and talked to her like she’s shit.
And Anton. That fucking asshole…
“You’ll learn with time that I’m nothing like the men you’ve known.” Closing my eyes, I let out a heavy sigh.
I lie with my thoughts of the past four days, but none of them are about what was done to me. I remember how Nina took care of me. With every passing hour, I was looking forward to the next time I’d get to see her.
In the room, Nina became warmth and comfort to me. She was the only human touch that didn’t hurt.
“Thank you for taking care of me,” I say, my voice soft.
“It was my duty. Nothing more.”
Chuckling, I rest my hand on my chest. “Sure it was.”
