“Sounds like you need a vacation.”
“Never taken one.”
“What?! You’re older than me.”
I whip my head in her direction. “Let’s not pretend you won’t touch forty in a month. I’m only forty-two. Black doesn’t crack over here either, Trouble.”
The melody of Bianca’s giggles stirs something in my chest that I push away.
“You need to take one,” she continues, in her pursuit to boss me around. “I’m treating myself to Positano while I’m here. The pictures are gorgeous.”
“Our coasts are just as beautiful,” I mumble.
“Show me. Or do I not get field trips as your hostage?”
“Where did you learn Italian?” I set the heat on low, ignoring her request for a holiday.
“Vince,” she says with affection for a man I might snatch myself. “He’s been my father figure since I was a baby. I spent most weeks at his restaurant in Little Italy.”
I nod. “He taught you well.”
“Thank you.”
She clears her throat. “So multiple businesses. A property that puts you in an elite tax bracket. Where does the mafia fit in?”
“Would you believe me if I told you I’m not in one?”
Bianca’s cheeks dent from laughter that meets silence. “Please,” she snorts. “I saw a man hanging in your basement. What was that, decoration? Have I been fucking the don?”
I shake my head. “Not a don. A crime boss, if you need a label. The Scilari doesn’t use the same structure as what you’d consider the mafia.”
She stills. “You’re serious?”
All playfulness fades when I step between her legs. She inhales at my hands on either side of her hips and cranes back to meet my eyes.
“I told you that you know too much, Trouble. You’re not going anywhere.”
Chapter 19
"Go Toe-to-Toe With the Godfather?"
Bianca
I’m a big heaux for bacon. Mama Vee’s in her good wig, rolling in her grave at my lack of resistance to temptation. I wanted to knock Benny’s teeth out for putting me back in the dungeon last night, because how dare he after he’d fucked and fed me.
I prepared to count the cracks in the ceiling and replay every episode ofThe ParkersI remember. My silent protest ended this morning when Benny came to my cell with a yellow sundress, sandals, and an invitation to join him for the day.
Anger left my body faster than I asked, “Is that turkey bacon?” Thick, savory strips rest next to scrambled eggs, pancakes, fruit, and turkey sausage.
“If I didn’t make you dinner last night, I’d think we were starving you,” he teases from his desk. “Don’t eat the container.”
“Fuck you,” I say to his smirk.
“We already played that game last night. You lost, but I’m open for another go.”
Benny rocks in his executive chair as he twirls a pen between his ring-clad fingers. The look he fixes on me is a dare to act like he didn’t hump the gravity out of my body while I was levitatingin the air. My thighs clench at the reminder of his weight pummeling me into a gate. His scent embedded itself into my skin with his moans after each thrust. Everything about him is a red flag I choose to ignore for reasons unknown to me.
But did you die after he kidnapped you?
