Snatching a shirt and a pair of leggings from the bed, I pull those on too, covering up everything I don’t want him to see.
“Good girl. I’ll be back…” And with that, he turns around and leaves my cell. The door falls shut, and the sound of the lock clicking fills the small space.
I suck in a deep breath and wrap my arms around myself. Sinking back down to the mattress, I curl up into myself and hope Eli won’t come back today. I want Enzo to come down here and get me. Even after what he did, I don’t think he would be okay with this. Would he?
I’m so confused. Unsure what to believe or how to feel. Is this how Enzo wants it? Was this his plan all along? I can’t fathom him sending Eli here to watch me get changed, but what do I really know.
Maybe that’s how he’s wanted me this whole time—confused, broken, and lost with no purpose here.
The next time the door opens, I’m immediately on high alert. Expecting Eli to return, I stand up from the bed. I know it’s not much, but I feel a little safer like this than lying in the bed.
I breathe a sigh of relief when I see a maid enter carrying a tray. She leaves the door open as she steps inside, Mack is standing on the other side. With his arms crossed over his chest, he shakes his head and gives me a stern look that all but says, ‘don’t even think about it.’
The maid gives me a sad smile as she hands me my lunch before picking up my half-eaten breakfast tray. She turns to leave, and all I want to do is beg her to stay. I hate being alone. I wish I had some company or something to do. I know she can’t stay, though.
“Can you please tell Lorenzo I want to talk to him?” I ask Mack. “Or could you bring me to him?” I know it’s a long shot, but I’ll try anything.
“He’ll talk to you when he wants to, and not when you request it. Now, be a good prisoner, eat your food, and stay quiet, or I’ll have to gag you,” Mack growls and slams the door in my face.
Anger surges up inside of me. I’m done being a good little prisoner. I’ve tried that, and it’s not working in my favor.
Time to change plans.
13
Enzo
It has been almost twenty-four hours since I checked on Amara. I force myself to stay busy with business, but it does me no good. I barely slept last night, fighting with myself not to go downstairs and get her. I wanted her to sleep in my bed… where she belongs.
“She’s demanding that we release her,” Mack explains, entering my office. I don’t look up from my computer.
“Nothing new.” For the past few hours, she has done nothing but demand to be released, which lets me know she hasn’t learned anything yet. I’m not sure if she thought she would get away with what she did, but this will teach her otherwise.
“She screams and cries every time I go down there.” There is a sappiness to his words, and when I finally look up, he looks kind of heartbroken.
“When did you grow a heart?” I joke. This is not like him. Mack has been one of the most ruthless of my family friends. That’s why he is still here, and no one else is. In this business, you can’t bless someone with mercy because if you do, they will take it and run. Plus, if you do it for one person, you have to do it for everyone.
“I didn’t grow a heart. I’m just not immune to a beautiful woman’s cries.” The smile he shoots at me sends a rage deep within me to the surface. Does he want her too? She is mine, and I won’t have any problem putting him in his place.
“Are you attracted to my debt?” I demand an answer. We won’t be leaving this office until I’ve got one.
“No, I didn’t mean–”
“Good. Leave her be. I will go down there in a few and take care of her.” Along with dealing with her and obtaining payment for debts owed, I have to contact Luccio and ask him if he has found anything out about my mother.
I slam the laptop closed and pull myself from the office. I can hear her yell as I draw closer to the basement. If she doesn’t want to be punished, why the hell does she act out in ways that she knows will get her punished?
I push the key in the lock and throw the door open. She has hit a nerve. My eyes land on hers, and her shouting stops immediately.
“I heard your cries, and my cock came to fulfill them,” I announce, smirking at her. I take a step closer and watch her drag herself to the cell’s far wall as if she is repulsed by my presence. She is afraid of me, as she should be.
“You’re a sick asshole…” Her words are flung at me with such intensity, I can practically feel her anger against my skin.
“I already know all those things. You’re not the first to say it and won’t be the last.” I’m being a cocky bastard because her pissed off and angry demeanor make me want to fuck her into oblivion. Crossing the cell, I kneel in front of her.
“Don’t. Touch. Me,” she snarls. There is a fire in her eyes, something I have never seen before. If I were a betting man, which I am, I would bet she is slightly turned on.
“You tell me not to touch you, but your body says differently. Your body says, fuck me. Long. Hard.”
I didn’t come down here to fuck her, but if the situation is right…
“I want nothing to do with you. Nothing. What you did to me…to those people…” Her eyes glaze over as if she is reliving the whole scene. I’m sorry for hurting her the way I did, but I’m not sorry I did my job. People had to die.
She doesn’t understand the business, and I’m starting to understand where her distaste comes from, but she isn’t me, and she needs to understand there are rules that must be obeyed.
“Those people made a deal with me. They broke it, now they’ve paid.”
“What about the man who didn’t owe you anything?”
“Unfortunately, he was at the wrong place at the wrong time. I couldn’t let him go. Collateral damage...”
She shakes her head, a disgusted look on her face.
“I have explained how this works many times…” I stop myself from calling her ‘little one.’ “Amara, I understand that you can’t comprehend any of this, and that’s fine. But you had to be punished for your actions. My job is simple. I’m a leader. If I didn’t follow my own rules, no one else would. There would be mass chaos, and more people would have to die.”
I’m trying to be gentle, which is new to me. Her face lightens just a bit as if she is finally digesting what I’m saying. Her bruise is lighter, and it looks like she is using the creams I had sent down with Eli. Even though she is being punished, I make sure she has clean clothes, food, and whatever else she needs.
“You killed people. People who had families.”
“Families they abandoned for their drug habit. Those people yesterday, their kids were taken away from them because of neglect. No one will miss them. Especially not their kids.”
“What about the other people? People who come to you are in dire need. You’re their only hope. Just like my father…” Tears well up in her beautiful, brown, doe eyes. My chest constricts.
“I don’t have to justify my–”