“You’ve only ever been good for one fucking thing, Maria.” He growls, as he quickly opens the front door and shoves me out into the moonlight. “Being a pawn. A piece exchanged back and forth while the rest of us fight for the real power.” We walk a couple steps across the patio to a car that is waiting. “A power you aren’t worthy enough to ever call your own.”
Forcibly he shoves me at the passenger door and I turn around quickly, needing to see his eyes. Needing to know this is real. That I am not still dreaming. He looks to the floor and slowly grabs something from his pocket.
My notebook.
Flipping through the pages, his sinister laugh rings low through the night as a man I have never met before exits the driver’s side and forces me aside before opening the car door and motioning for me to get in.
“Looks like you did a piss poor job of keeping the one thing you needed to, safe.” Leo says, as he takes a step towards me and shoves the notebook back in his pocket. He grabs me without looking up and slowly helps me into the car. “Can’t say I’m not grateful. But hell if I can just take the book and let you go. Let you live. Remember Maria, the Mafia never forgets. And fuck if I don’t get some sort of sick pleasure knowing that I’m the one that’s bringing you in. The Goddess, high priestess, who always managed to escape what she had coming for her. Until she trusted the wrong man.”
Chapter 24
Leonardo
The basement is cold as I stare at Maria, bound, gaged, and not for my fucking pleasure. A knot forms in my stomach and refuses to give me any rest as she sits in a chair in the center of the room, illuminated by one light hanging above her head. Having passed out in the car, I carried her in here when we arrived and have been standing in the darkness waiting for her to wake up ever since.
She stirs, and my first thought is tormented by the truth. The one last fucking thing I was forced to keep from her last night after talking with Vincent alone in his office before she joined me in bed.
**********
“She’ll only sell it, Leo, if she believes it! Maria has not been around this lifestyle. She’d give away any chance we had at taking Luigi down. She can’t know. You have to kidnap her one last time. Make it believable. Force her to act the part. Otherwise, we are all dead.”
**********
His words come back as vividly as when he spoke them, but I know I will never forgive myself for the things I said, what I had to do and the way she looked at me when I forced her into a lie, like I finally betrayed her the way she always knew I would.
Her head begins to wobble back and forth as her body comes back to life. I cross my arms and tell myself to play the part, no matter what I have to say and do, otherwise we fucking lose. But fuck if I don’t know the truth, that Luigi already won because there is no way I can see her forgiving me, trusting me, being with me after what I was just forced to put her through.
**********
“How will she believe it if you’re all still here?”
“We won’t be. She’ll believe we’re dead. Make her fear what will happen if she fights back. I’ve got that handled. Your only job, scaring Maria into submission. Do you think you can do that?”
**********
Nitti has no idea that I don’t use submission the way he asked me to. Never have. Never will. But I knew he was right. Maria hasn’t the first clue about the way things are run in our line of work. She can put up a good fight when needed, but her innocence to the way things are run around here would have given her away. Given us away.
Luigi would have spotted treason the first second he laid eyes on us. It is better this way. With her in the darkness. Much like she has been forced to be in her whole life. And another reason why I can’t let her live this life after this is all done. I can’t go with her. This is all I have ever known. And she can’t stay. Not if I can’t protect her. After what needs to happen tonight, I am not sure I ever will be able to.
The door opens to my left and I look up. Angelo strides in with a smug ass look about him and comes up to my side.
“She is a pretty fucking Doll, I will give her that,” he says with a little too much enthusiasm for my liking. “Did you get a taste of her before turning her in? You were gone for a while locking up this deal,Amico,” he insists, calling me hisfriendwhen the sorry bastard has no damn clue we are brothers. “Bet she tastes sweet.” His hand goes to his crotch as he gropes himself. “Wouldn’t mind fucking that mouth of hers either, with those big plump…
Before he can say another word, I lose my cool and slam him back up against the wall. My hand holding him tightly at the throat, his eyes look fearful for all of two seconds before he smiles. “You did fuck her, didn’t you?”
Releasing him and trying to maintain my fucking head and stick to the plan, I roll my shoulders and try and act unphased. “She’s Luigis now, Angelo. Don’t get any fucking ideas. We both know you don’t have enough fucking brain power to actually figure out the truth, even if it was right under your fucking nose.”
He steps forward in a challenge, but his actions are cut off as the same door he just entered though opens and two men walk in first, followed by Luigi. The men take their places next to the door as I watch Luigi survey the room before his eyes fall on Maria. My stomach turns as he smiles, a smile I have seen before that always ends with him getting what he wants. He takes a step toward the light and my gaze immediately falls back on Maria as my heart rate quickens. She slowly begins to open her eyes, and I see recognition hit her seconds before she jolts up in her seat in horror.
“Easy now,Bambina,” Luigi scolds, as he comes into the light in front of her. But I stay hidden in the shadows, needing her to face him first alone. Not trusting myself to not save her and fighting with myself to stick with the fucking plan. “It’s nice of you to finally join me, I’ve been looking for you for quite a long time.” I see her flinch as he comes closer. Her body shakes and a tear falls from her eyes. “it’s time we had a little chat, and if you’re lucky, if you tell me what I need to know, give me what I want, maybe I’ll let you live. How does that sound?”
**********
Maria
My heart hammers against my chest as I take in the man in front of me. The one who I have feared coming face to face with over these last couple days. He eyes me up and down as he takes his cigar from his mouth and exhales a cloud of smoke. I watch as it swirls up towards the only light in the room as my chest heaves and I know I have met my end.
Leo sold me out. He went behind my back, my families back, and did exactly what the man in front of me wanted. He took me to him and once he gets his hands on that notebook there will be no reason for him to keep me alive. The thought starts in my brain and soon travels down my spine as it makes my body shake with terror knowing exactly what is going to happen tonight.
