Page 114 of Diary of a Mafia Princess

But the other one was still in here. I was sure of it.

And I’d put my money on it that she was locked in a cage in the basement.

35

NYAH

Dear Diary,

The only man who understands the scars is the one who shares them.

The cold of the concrete floor radiated through my flesh and muscles and settled deep in my bones. The only thing that kept it from completely overpowering my system was the wild anger inside me that burned hot and bright and did its best to keep the chill away.

I didn’t think I’d ever hated anyone or anything as much as I hated Carlos Guerra in that moment. They’d freed my wrists at some point after I’d passed out, and I wished I could stand up. But when I’d tried that, the pain in my chest from the brand burn had me seeing black spots and the dark room spinning. So, I’d sat back down before I’d fallen, not wanting to add to the bruises I’d given myself the first time I’d face-planted.

My lip tasted of blood, and I could feel how fat it was, but it was the least of my concerns.

The cage I was locked in was a different story altogether. “Carlos!” I shouted. “Carlos!”

I refused to be quiet. Refused to be the weak mouse I’d let him think I was. He had no idea the lengths I’d go to make sure this baby survived. It had already been through too much. And so had I. “Fuck you, Carlos!” I screamed. “Let me out, you rat bastard!”

A dark chuckle came from the corner of the room, and I spun, peering into the gloom. “Who’s there?”

The laughter came again.

“Luca?” I could make out the shape of a man but not his features. But of course it was Luca fucking Guerra. He was as big a piece of shit as his father, just in a more attractive package. The flirting we’d done, disguised as hate for each other, clearly meant nothing.

But it was all I had. Screaming obscenities at Carlos for the last however many hours clearly hadn’t gotten me anywhere. I needed to get out of this cage. I’d had no food or water for the entire day and I had no way of knowing when, or even if, I would be offered something. “Luca, please. I need help.”

“Beg me.”

The shame and humiliation burned worse than the mark on my chest. But I had nothing left. I’d been in this situation before, locked away, left to die. I couldn’t do it again. Even if my body survived it, my head wouldn’t. I could already feel the urge to disassociate creeping in, and I knew if I let it, I could be so easily dragged down into that void of nothingness.

I sucked in a deep breath, trying to keep the ringing in my ears at bay. With my wrecked, hoarse throat, I whispered, “Please. Please, Luca. I’m on my knees. I don’t know what else I can do to say I’m sorry. I took the branding. You own me. I understand. Please. Just let me out. I’ll never flirt with another man again. I’ll do anything you want. Just let me out.”

The man stepped out of the shadows, and the words froze on my lips.

It wasn’t Luca.

Enzo stared down at me with pure malice in his eyes. “Just as I thought. A little Matish slut, lying through her traitor teeth, just like her father.”

There was something about Enzo that terrified me. Carlos was scary in an authoritative way. But Enzo looked at me in a way that made me want to back up slowly, for fear that if I moved too fast, he’d strike.

And something told me that Enzo’s bite might just be fatal.

He glared at me with a hate I’d never felt from either Carlos or Luca. “You say you’ll never flirt with another man, and yet what was that? When you thought I was Luca, you were willing to get down on your knees and beg him. Promise him anything he wanted.”

“You said I had to.”

“What were you promising him, princess? Your virgin pussy? You said you’d give that man in the corner whatever he wanted, and what if that is what I want? You’re already naked, all tits and cunt. Practically beggin’ me.”

A tiny voice in the back of my head whispered that this plan I had, this stupid fucking plan to make Carlos believe this baby was a Guerra, could also work if I slept with Enzo.

He was also of Guerra blood, and maybe it would be enough. I didn’t know what we’d do if he demanded a paternity test, but at least by then, this baby would be born. It would have a chance.

One it wouldn’t have if there was no plausible possibility that this baby was of Carlos’s blood.

But I could never willingly let Enzo touch me. He repulsed me in every way, fear lighting up my body every time I was around him. “No.”