I shove the plate away. “I’m not hungry. And I’m not working for my father. So you can leave me alone now.”
A twisted, dark smile crosses his face. So different from the man who let me into his home that first night. “Fine. Make your choice.” He shuts the cage door, locking me back inside. I can only watch him walk away, leaving me alone once more in this cold, dank basement.
Leo returns later in the day with a pretty gown draped over his arm. Lavender colored. Soft and silky looking. Long and elegant.
“You’ll wear this when I take you to your father.” He opens the cage door and motions for me to come out. My legs ache when I stand, having been sitting all day.
“Why?”
“Because I want to show your father that I own you. That I can dress you how I want. Now, take your nightgown off.”
I turn around and slip it off my body. Leo has already seen me naked. He’s touched me in a way no one else ever has. That memory of the pleasure he showed me is the only thing to bring me comfort at night.
Leo doesn’t say a word and I keep my back to him. I’m not sure I’m strong enough to look him in the eye while I’m naked. That’s all pointless however when he walks in front of me, forcing me to look at him.
His eyes flick down my naked body and I can’t stop myself from covering my breasts.
“Are you shy?” he asks. “Surely a beautiful woman like you has had multiple partners by now. Unless Alessandro wanted you to be a good girl. But we both know you’re not one. Not when you’re working for your father.”
“I’ve never been with anyone,” I answer honestly. Shame fills me. Embarrassment. I’m only reminded of how much my mother took from me by locking me up my entire life.
“Are you saying you’re a virgin, Emma?”
“Yes,” I whisper, blushing.
“So if I claimed you as mine, you would leave my cock bloody?”
I gasp. “How can you speak to me this way? How can someone be so… cold?”
He places his fingers under my chin, lifting my head up. “I am a mafia man. We’re all cold. Only time will tell if you’re truly as innocent as you claim. Now, raise your arms up.”
I do as he says and Leo slips the dress over my head. It fits me perfectly, flowing around my body in soft waves. It’s ironic. I have never felt more like a woman than in this moment but it would just have to happen at the hands of my kidnapper.
“Turn around,” Leo says. I slowly do it until I’m facing him again. “Perfect. Your father is going to learn to not mess with me or Gabriel. Not when we’re in charge of this city.”
“Why is my father coming after you?”
“Gabriel killed his brother, Giovanni. Your uncle. Surely you met him as well.”
“I never met him,” I respond. My mother never mentioned either of these men to me so either Leo has the wrong person or it’s just more lies my mother kept from me.
Leo smirks. “Right. Well, Gabriel killed your uncle and now your father is pissed.”
“Doesn’t he have the right to avenge the death of his brother?”
“No. Not when your father stood back and watched as your uncle brutally murdered Gabriel’s entire family. Gabriel is my best friend. What angers him, angers me. And your father and mother don’t get to just get away with what they did.”
“It’s only ever just been me and my mother.”
“I’m still not sure I can believe you, Emma. That’s the sad part. You seem innocent but are you really?”
“When you find out that I am, I hope you feel terrible for what you’ve done, Leo. I hope you feel so much guilt that it kills you and you end up in Hell.”
His eyes widen just a fraction, clearly surprised by the venom in my voice. “So you do have a dark side. You’ve been keeping it from me.”
“No one has ever made me angry enough to make me speak to them this way.” Granted, it’s only ever just been me and my mother so there wasn’t anyone for me to speak to this way because if I spoke to my mother with this venom, she would have locked me out in the barn to spend the night with the cows.
“I like this fire in you. I like it better than the passive, naïve woman you were pretending to be.”
