Page 53 of Tame Me

What in the actual fuck just happened?

I am realizing a few things. Firstly, he is a fucking psycho. Secondly, he is a freak. Thirdly, if I act willingly, he is easier on me. Lastly, I can see on his face that he is going to torture me. Unless I want that to hurt, I need to lose my attitude and just keep saying ‘yes, Sir’. I have already decided that I am going to cut his fucking throat, but I need to earn his trust so he will drop his guard a bit. That might take some time, so I need to be prepared that I might be with him for a while. As long as he dies and I get to go home one day, I am okay. He has broken me, but no one will tame me.

I am pacing the surgery waiting room, praying Giovanni makes it through. He took a round to the back and one to the belly. Ayla must have been the one to call the cops before she was taken, before they traced the call and found him.

We know that Josh isn’t going to kill her. His goal is to get a baby out of her, so I am confident she will stay at one of his properties. We can’t just go rushing all of them, or we will get her killed, so we have to be patient. She knew what this would look like if he got her, but she can survive this. She will. I won’t accept anything else.

“Family for Davis?” a man says, stepping into the room.

“Yes,” I say. “That’s us.”

“Okay,” he says, coming in and shutting the door. “Giovanni is out of surgery and doing well. He lost a lot of blood, but we were able to get him stabilized. He got really lucky and nothing major was damaged.”

“Is he awake?” I ask.

“Yes, and he is asking for Ayla?” the doctor tells us. “You can go see him. He is in room 303.”

“Thank you so much,” I say.

“He will be here for a few days, so it’s important that he gets rest. If he tears any of those sutures, he could bleed out,” he warns us. Based on how he is looking at us, he knows Ayla is missing, and Giovanni has told him who my family is.

“We will make sure he stays in bed,” I confirm.

When we leave the room and get into the elevator, Reid sighs. “I hate this,” Reid says tightly. “We should be out there looking for her.”

“We both know Josh only wants one thing from her. Dad is on his way up here, but when I told him about all of this, he even said she will survive, but she might end up pregnant in the process. We just need to look for her but not trigger them into panicking and killing her. They don’t know who my family is yet, so we need to keep it that way.”

“Yeah,” Reid says, sniffing back tears. “I don’t want anyone to hurt her again. She’s been through enough.”

“Then we need to set emotion aside for a moment and be logical. I would love to go slaughtering people one by one until I find our girl, but we need to help Gio heal and let Dad help us. Josh Larson has over twenty properties in just the United States alone. He won’t risk taking her out of the country, so he will keep her at one of the houses he has here. He won’t go far, which leaves a few options,” I say. “Let’s just talk to Gio and wait for Dad.”

“I know. I love and hate you can be so level-headed,” Reid says as we step out onto the third floor. We both take a deep breath before we enter, and Giovanni perks up a bit.

“Where is she? Is she okay? You found her, right?” Giovanni asks, his voice slightly slurred from the pain medicine. He tries to sit up, but winces.

“Sit back,” I say, helping to lift the head of his bed before I sit next to him. A sad demeanor washes over him, and he knows. I take his hand as Reid walks around to sit on his other side.

“Is she…”

“She’s gone,” I say. “Dad is on his way up here. I think he likely took her to one of his houses; we just don’t know which one.”

“But can we find her?” he asks.

“We have to do this very slowly and methodically,” I say.

“He’s raping her, Thane. You get that, right?” he snaps at me.

“I know he is, and he will fucking die for it, but right now, we have to be logical,” I say. “My father is the most well-known mafia boss in the country. Meridian is my mother’s last name, and I am separate from them because I wanted to live normally. If Josh finds that out, he will kill her on the spot.”

“Fuck,” Giovanni sighs.

“She’s a strong woman,” Reid says.

“She is. I just don’t want anyone to hurt her. What if he does get her pregnant?” Giovanni questions.

“Then we handle it,” I say. “Biology doesn't matter, and we will raise that baby just the same. If she wants to have an abortion, we will be there for her every step of the way. If she wants to give it up for adoption, we will help her choose the perfect parents. We don’t have to overcomplicate things.”

“How long do you think this will take?” Giovanni asks me.