Page 9

Chapter Nine

Nadia

W hen Dante tells me we’re leaving the next day, I think I must have heard him wrong.

“Leaving. To go where?”

“To a friend’s house. I want you to meet the girl your father kidnapped four years ago. I want you to understand what kind of man he is. I want you to understand that your family are the bad guys.”

I clutch the blanket tighter to my chest. All last night, I couldn’t get rid of the desire in my body. Eventually, I fell asleep but not after tossing and turning for hours. Dante has awoken something inside of me and I wish I could bury it back down again.

“I know my father isn’t innocent. You don’t need to punish me for his actions.”

“I need to remind you of your place.” In the light of day, he’s so much colder than he was last night. I wonder what changed.

“I don’t have any clothes. I can’t go over there naked.”

“While that would be amusing, I bought you some clothes.” He leaves the room and comes back a moment later with a couple of shopping bags. “Take your pick.”

Inside the bags are a few summer dresses and bras and underwear. Knowing that Dante picked out lingerie for me makes me flush. He chose these clothing items with me in mind.

“I need to get dressed. ”

He doesn’t move. “So get dressed.” I stare at him until he sighs. “It’s nothing I haven’t already seen.”

He does have a point but that doesn’t make me any less nervous. Last night when he made me touch myself, it was dark. I could hide in the shadows. But in the morning light, there’s nothing to hide me. I’m on full display.

With a deep inhale, I stand up, letting the blanket fall away from me. Dante’s eyes rake over my body. Just in that one look, I already feel my desire creeping along my insides.

I take out a simple blue summer dress and put it on.

“No panties?” he asks.

“I just wanted to cover myself before I put them on.”

“Are you embarrassed of your body? Or do you just not want me to look?”

“Both,” I admit.

“You don’t have to be embarrassed. I told you last night. You’re fucking sexy, Nadia. It’s a shame you can’t see it.”

I quickly put on underwear. “Can we just go?” I’m desperate to get out of this room. It has an ensuite bathroom so I’ve been fortunate enough not to have to do my business in a bucket but other than that, this room is stifling. I know what it’s like to be cooped up most of my life. My father made sure of that.

But I was at least allowed to leave the house. With Dante, that’s not the case. Until now.

“Let’s,” he says tightly, motioning me ahead of him. “If you try to run, I’ll stop you.” He nods at a pair of shoes by the front door. “You can wear those.”

They’re my wedding shoes. Short heels. White. Pristine. They remind me of who I used to be: pure and innocent. But now Dante has tainted me. I’ll never be the same again.

“What’s going on?” Matteo asks, coming out of the kitchen.

“I’m taking Nadia to Elio’s. Make sure no one finds this place while we’re gone.”

“Is this…”

Dante sighs. “What?”

“Is this smart, boss? Taking Nadia from the house. What if she’s spotted?”

“I’ll make sure she’s not. And learn your place, Matteo. Don’t question me again.” Dante doesn’t say it with anger, just with a calm matter of fact-ness about it.

“Sorry.”

“I know you worry but I have everything under control.” He takes my arm gently. That’s one thing I’ve noticed about him. Dante could easily manhandle me but he only ever touches me with gentleness. It doesn’t match up to his words and behaviors. Nothing about him makes any sense to me.

Dante leads me outside and to his car. It’s different from the one he kidnapped me in. That helps calm me just a little.

We’re both silent on the drive. I marvel at the things I see outside the window. An actual change of scenery over staring at the same four walls the past couple of days. Anya is out there right now looking for me. I wish I could tell her I’m ok, just so she’s not hurting so much.

Dante stops the car at a stoplight and for a moment, I consider getting out and making a run for it. But I have heels on and it would be hard to run. If I try to take my shoes off, Dante will notice. I need to wait for the right time to make a run for it. I’ll only have one chance.

We arrive at a brownstone within the city. Anya lives just thirty minutes from here. By car, that’s nothing, but on foot, it would take me a few hours to reach her. I don’t have hours. I don’t even have minutes.

Dante gets out of the car and comes around to my side and opens my door like a gentleman but I know he’s not a gentleman. He’s the furthest thing from it.

He holds out his hand and slowly, I take it. His touch feels good; electric and intoxicating. It helps steady me. Except, I shouldn’t want Dante’s touch to steady me. I should be running and screaming from him.

A middle aged man opens the door after Dante knocks.

“Dante,” he says warily. “And this is… the girl.”

“Nadia, say hello to Elio Romano. The father of Aria Romano, the girl your father kidnapped when she was just twelve years old.”

I get that Dante is trying to make me hate my father but that’s a hard thing to do when I already hate him so much.

“Dante, I’m not sure this is such a good idea,” Elio says but Dante isn’t listening. He just walks right past Elio into the house. I get one more glimpse of the outside world before the door shuts behind us.

“So, this is her.” A young woman stands in the foyer, her arms crossed, with a glare on her face.

“This is her.” Dante nudges me forward. “Nadia, meet Aria.”

“Uh… nice to meet you,” I whisper .

She only glares at me harder. “Your father was the one to kidnap me. He gave me nightmares for years. You should feel terrible being related to him.”

My mouth goes slack. How do I even respond to that?

“Good thing Nadia hates her father,” Dante says.

Aria scoffs. “I don’t believe it. She’s just another member of the Bratva. They’re all terrible people. She’s no exception.”

“I was kidnapped too, you know.” An awkwardness fills the air after I say it.

Aria blinks before rolling her eyes. “I don’t care.”

“By Dante. I was kidnapped by Dante. I’m being held prisoner. I’m not the bad guy here.”

“You’re the Bratva. You’re all bad.”

A flare of anger courses through me. If I were Anya, I’d already have this girl put in her place. I just have to do it my way. “The Mafia aren’t any better. Dante is a kidnapper. That’s not someone to look up to.”

Dante slings his arm around my shoulders. “So, we’re all getting along?”

Aria turns her glare onto him. “Who does she think she is, getting to talk to me this way? She doesn’t seem scared at all. Have you not tortured her yet?”

The anger in this little girl is intimidating. A part of me wants to help her and another part of me wants to run far away.

“I don’t want Nadia physically hurt,” Dante explains. “That wouldn’t serve my purposes. She’s better off alive than dead. The better condition she’s in, the longer I can keep her and use her to my advantage.” The way Dante is speaking so clinically of me is starkly different from last night when he had me touch myself.

It… stings a little, I have to admit.

I’m once again reminded that I mean nothing to Dante. That he’s just using me. He’s trying to punish me because he can’t punish my father.

Aria eyes me over with suspicion. “You never said she was pretty.”

“Why does that matter?”

“Because you’re a man.” She says it like it’s the most obvious thing in the world. “And men tend to think with their penises. She’s your prisoner. You can’t get attached.”

Elio chuckles nervously. “Ok. That’s enough about this. Dante, I really think you should go. I don’t want any of Erik or his men to find Nadia here. They might announce war on me and that’s the last thing I want. So just… go.”

“Elio, I thought your housekeeper was making us dinner.”

He sighs. “She did.”

“So, we’ll eat and then we’ll go.”

“Ok.” Elio seems so dejected as he heads towards the kitchen. Aria continues to glare at me, even after we take our seats at the dinner table.

An older woman puts a plate of food in front of me. Well, more like she drops a plate of food in front of me. The action causes the red sauce on the pasta to land on my dress.

I gasp.

Aria busts up laughing so hard, you’d think she just watched the funniest thing in the world.

I sink lower in my seat. I’ve dealt with my own father despising me but he had his reasons. It’s strange to be sitting at a table with people who hate me on principle rather than for who I am.

“Aria,” Elio scolds gently. “Cool it, please. Dante is our guest. Behave appropriately.”

“He brought the enemy into our house,” she snaps back. “I’m not sure he’s behaving appropriately.” Aria turns her cold eyes onto me. “So, how does it feel knowing that your family is in pain?”

I blanch. “Not good,” I whisper.

“What was that? I couldn’t hear you. Don’t act like you’re some shy, scared little thing. I was twelve when I was kidnapped and I was more brave than you.”

“Aria is a bit feisty,” Dante says. You can say that again…

“So, how does it feel?” she repeats.

“Not good. My sister doesn’t deserve this. She’s a good person.”

“Your sister… married to Erik Koslov, correct? Erik helped kidnaped me along with your father. If she’s married to him then that makes her just as guilty.”

I stare right back at Aria. She’s younger than I am. I don’t have to be afraid of her. “My sister never agreed with our father taking you. We were both horrified when he did that. So no, my sister isn’t guilty. She was forced to marry Erik. She had no choice in the matter.”

Aria scoffs dismissively. “She’s still married to him. So she’s not innocent.”

“You can’t help who your father is. You can’t help that your father is friends with Dante. Just like I can’t help who my father is and who my brother-in-law is. I am not the one to be blamed for their actions.”

“I. Don’t. Care. Your father gave me nightmares for years after it happened. So I don’t want to hear that he’s really misunderstood or whatever. He is not a good man.”

“You’re right. He’s not and I never said he was. ”

Aria’s eyes widen just the tiniest bit. Clearly, she hadn’t been expecting me to say that.

“You think I’m the enemy,” I continue, my voice moving throughout the room. It’s crystal clear for once. “But I’m not. I know my father is a bad man. I know he hurt you. I never agreed with his actions when he kidnapped you. I would never want a young girl to get hurt in this world because men can’t stop their battles.”

I give Dante a pointed look at this and he smirks.

“So, I am sorry,” I say, turning back to Aria. “I am sorry you had to go through that. I am sorry the pain my father caused you. If I could take it back, I would but I can’t. And now Dante has created a vicious cycle where he kidnapped me and is now hurting my family, which will mean they’ll come after anyone he cares about and so on and so forth. It will never end. I know you want justice. But hating me isn’t going to give you that. It’s my father you’re angry with.”

Aria sits up straighter in her seat, tossing her hair over her shoulder. “No. I’m also angry with you. For what you represent. You’re a Bratva daughter. That doesn’t make you a good person.”

“And you’re a Mafia daughter. How are we any different?”

I can tell Aria is wavering. She probably expected me to come in here and beg for my life, crying and kicking. She didn’t expect me to be as calm and collected as I am.

I’ve always been a rational thinker. When Anya married Erik, I knew that would mean my life was in my father’s hands and I was prepared for it.

What I haven’t been prepared for is Dante. He’s thrown me off my axis. He’s made me feel things I’ve never felt before.

And yet, he’s still my enemy and I need to get away from him.

I think Aria might be able to help me, if I can get her to view me differently. “If I could make my father fix his wrongs to you, I would. I would do it in a heartbeat. I don’t care that you’re part of the Mafia. You were just a little girl.”

Her eyes flash. “But you can’t. You’re Dante’s prisoner. You’re not going anywhere.”

“And I know I’m not as young as you were when you were kidnapped. I’m twenty-one. Not twelve. But I’ve been kept sheltered for all of my life. I haven’t seen most of the world. Haven’t experienced it. I am young. And I know what it’s like to be scared. How it feels to have your voice clench because you’re so frightened to speak and how it feels to have your stomach drop to your toes because the anxiety within you is getting to be too much.”

I can feel Dante looking at me but I keep my eyes focused on Aria. “I understand, Aria. If anyone in this room understands what you went through, it’s me.”

She lets out a long breath as her eyes soften. “You’re right. You do understand. But you will always be Bratva scum to me.”

“Ok,” I whisper, all my fight leaving my body. I tried with Aria. Tried to get her to see that I’m in the boat she was once in. But she will never see me as anything other than the family I’m tied to. I’m still paying for my father’s crimes.

“I need to use the restroom,” I tell Dante. If I don’t leave right this second, I’m going to start bawling my eyes out and I cannot have these three Mafia people see me that way.

He nods. “But don’t get any funny ideas.”

“It’s down the hall,” Elio says.

“Thank you.” I hurry out of the room and make it to the hall before I stop and press myself against the wall, letting silent tears fall down my face.

“What was that all about?” Elio asks.

“What?” Aria responds.

I tense as I listen to them. They don’t know I’m here but that could work in my favor. My father would always get so angry with me if I ever eavesdropped but my father isn’t here right now. I have to do what I have to do.

“You need to be careful. That girl is the daughter of Sergei Belov. I don’t want this messing with your mind again.”

“It won’t,” Aria responds sullenly. “I just want her to feel as afraid as I did.”

“Trust me,” Dante cuts in. “She feels afraid all the time.”

“And yet, you’ve dressed her up like a doll and took her to our house for dinner,” Aria snaps. “She looks more like your girlfriend than your prisoner.”

Dante doesn’t respond. What I would give to see his facial expression. To know what he’s thinking.

A chair scrapes back and footsteps head right in my direction. I gasp and hurry to the bathroom but don’t make it in time. Aria finds me in the hallway.

“Where you listening?”

“No,” I say too quickly.

She huffs. “You were listening.” How is it possible that a sixteen year old girl can make me feel so inadequate? Guess it’s just a power teenagers have. It’s one neither me or Anya ever had. Not when our father instilled terror into us every day.

“I am curious,” she says, coming closer. “You said you know that your father is a bad man. Most girls in our world praise their fathers, even if they’re not good. So why don’t you? ”

Here’s another chance.

“Because my father beat my sister almost every day. And when she got married, he turned his sights onto me and used his fists on me too. So I know what absolute fear feels like. While Dante does frighten me, it’s hard to truly frighten me when I know what it’s like to fear my own father. So, you’re lucky, Aria.”

She scoffs. “Lucky?”

“You have a father who clearly loves you. He wants to protect you. He’s worried about you. My father couldn’t even be bothered to meet up with Dante to try and bargain for my life. That’s how little I mean to him. So yes, I know that my father is a bad man. I’ve seen it firsthand.”

She eyes me over with suspicion but I can tell her guard is dropping. “How do I know you’re not lying?”

“I guess you don’t. But look at me. Do I look like I’m lying?”

Aria studies me for a long moment before she sighs. “No. You just look… tired, I guess.”

“You were kidnapped and used in my father’s schemes. Now I’m being used in Dante’s scheme. Can’t you see that I understand you? That it doesn’t matter that we’re Bratva or Mafia.”

“I… guess. My father makes me see a therapist but she doesn’t know what I’ve been through. No one in my life knows.”

“But I do.”

Aria sighs and her shoulders slump like she’s done fighting. “You were kidnapped. Yet, Dante treats you more like his girlfriend.”

“No he doesn’t. Trust me. He doesn’t.” A boyfriend wouldn’t play the mind games Dante is playing with me. He still sees me as his enemy and that will never change.

That finally snaps Aria’s resolve. “It’s not right, being kidnapped. It’s not right that these men have this sort of power over us.”

“Are you sure you’re sixteen? You speak with so much confidence. I’ve always struggled with that.”

“Why? It comes naturally to me.”

“I’ve always been shy.”

“Interesting. You don’t seem that shy to me. You have a… quiet confidence, I guess.”

I take a step towards her and Aria, to her credit, doesn’t step back. “You know this isn’t right. That I’m a prisoner when I haven’t done anything wrong. Would you want to be blamed for your father’s actions? ”

“No,” she admits.

“So don’t blame me for my father’s. But if I could get out of here, I could return to my home and make sure my father is punished for what he did to you.”

“How?”

“Erik could… kill him.” There it is. I’ve finally said it out loud. “If I asked, Erik would end his life. My father has proven a thorn in his side anyway. Erik would do that if it meant peace. But only I can make that happen.”

Aria looks over her shoulder then back at me before lowering her voice. “You could really make that happen?”

“I could. Dante isn’t able to get close enough to my father but I am. You just have to help me get out of here. That’s all.”

“How do I know you’re not just using me?”

“You don’t. But you can tell I’m not lying about my father. He is a bad man. I don’t have any love for him. So help me and I’ll help you.”

“Dante will be angry if you leave.”

“Are you afraid of Dante?” I ask.

A confident expression crosses her face as she smirks. “No.”

“Then help me.”

Aria nods once. “Ok. I’ll go distract the guard stationed at the front door. He’s the only one here today. Once he’s looking away, make a run for it.”

I touch Aria’s hand, startling her. “Thank you.”

Her eyes soften. It’s a good look on her instead of the constant anger on her face. “Don’t mention it. This is the right thing. I don’t want more girls to feel what I had to feel. It’s not right.” She walks past me without another word.

I tiptoe to the end of the hallway and watch as Aria talks to the guard on duty. I notice that she flirts with him and he flirts back. She’s only sixteen. That guard is disgusting but Aria seems to understand that seduction works best when it comes to distracting men.

The moment Aria convinces her guard to step into the living room and away from the front door, is my moment to make a run for it. I stay light on my feet so my heels don’t clack on the hardwood.

I make it to the door, open it slowly, holding my breath, then slip through the tiny crack and make it out onto the street.

Oh my god. I’m free .

I take off running, even in my heels. The fastest way to get back to Anya’s house is to take the subway. I don’t have any money for a ticket though. I don’t have anything except my temporary freedom and that’s all it is: temporary.

“Please,” I say to a woman who walks past me. “I need money for a ticket. I’m running from… an abusive ex. I need help. Please.”

The woman eyes me over with pity before sighing and digging through her purse. She hands me a twenty dollar bill. “There you go. Hope this helps.”

I clutch it in my hands. “Thank you so much.” I’m able to buy a ticket and have money to spare.

I’ve never used the subway before so it takes me a few minutes to figure out which train to take that will get me closest to Anya’s house. Every second I’m figuring this out is a second longer that Dante could find me.

Finally, I figure out where to go and hop onto a train and let it take me back to my sister.

The subway drops me off about five minutes from Anya’s. I use all the strength and speed left in me to make a run for it back to her house.

And then there it is. Safety. My home.

I pound on the front door and one of Erik’s guards opens, his eyes widening. “I need to see my sister.”

The door is wrenched open more and there is Anya. The sight of her fills me with so much relief, I instantly begin to cry.

And without a word, Anya pulls me into her arms and I know I’m truly safe.

“She’s not staying,” a male voice comes from behind me. The guard raises his gun. I look over my shoulder.

Finn is standing in the driveway and the look in his eyes chills me to the bone.