Page 33 of Claimed By the Possessive Mafia Prince

DARIO

D espite everything, my body is still aching warmly as Siena and I walk down the beach together. I’ve got my hand on the small of her back, just above her ample ass. She flashes me a look. “Why do I feel like you chose this dress for a reason?”

“You know me too well.”

It’s one of her summer dresses, the fabric so thin it outlines her shape perfectly.

“Listen…” The fun spark drains from her expression. “I need to tell you something. Maybe I should’ve told you sooner.”

I stop walking. A bad feeling tightening my gut. “You’ve got a boyfriend.”

“What!” She looks at me like I’m crazy. “No. I don’t. I’d never cheat. Never. Jeez, Dario.”

“Shit, sorry.”

“A boyfriend,” she repeats, shaking her head.

“I was about to run into the goddamn ocean.”

“It’s about my boss.”

“Okay…”

“You know I told you that Rocco made me feel uncomfortable?”

“Yes.”

“Well, we didn’t just happen to run into each other. He was in Veronica’s room. They’ve been in a relationship for a while, apparently. It’s how she got this job.”

“Fuck,” he whispers. “That means she could’ve been helping him.”

“I asked her last night if she knew where he was. She said no, and she swore to message me if she saw him.”

“If she’s scared, swearing might not mean much.”

“Please don’t get mad at her or anything.” I plead. “When this is all over, I’ll still need a job.”

“I thought you wanted to work with your mother again.”

She smiles nervously. “Newsflash: that costs cash.”

I almost offer to help her right now, but something tells me she’d be too proud for that. At least if I sprung it on her so suddenly. Or would she? The idea simmers in my mind.

We reach Veronica’s hut, and Siena knocks on the door.

“Yes–come in.”

“Dario is with me. He’s coming in too. Are you decent?”

“Yes,” she replies.

We walk into the hut together. Veronica is sitting on the edge of the bed, her laptop open on her knees. I don’t know the woman well, but she seems skittish, her gaze flitting all over the place, the laptop shifting around as she attempts to balance it on her fidgety legs.

I lean against the wall, thinking about what Siena said. I should question Veronica, but I don’t want to push too hard.

“You look like you’re feeling better,” Siena says, pulling up a chair and sitting opposite her boss.

Veronica laughs shakily. “I was never not feeling better. I mean, I wasn’t feeling bad. I wasn’t ill.”

“Huh? I don’t get it.”

“And I was never in a relationship with Rocco.”

“Then why did you say you were?” Siena asks.

“That’s the story he wanted me to go with.

But the truth is, he’s a small, vicious man who bullies women and terrifies them with disgusting threats of what he’ll do to innocent kids, to my daughter .

He said he was going to… I can’t even finish the sentence.

Then he told me I had to pretend to be ill. ”

“But why?” Siena says. “What would that achieve?”

Veronica just looks at Siena.

“It was you, Siena,” I say.

She twists in the chair. “Huh?”

“Rocco must’ve told Veronica to pretend to be ill so that you would be forced to take solo control over the trip.

That na?ve prick probably thought that you wouldn’t be able to handle it.

He was dead wrong. He didn’t know how capable you are.

How passionate about your work. How diligent and hardworking.

He planned for everything… but not for you. ”

“Mr. Bianchi is right,” Veronica says, her legs trembling even more now. “That was his plan–to exploit the na?ve young girl who, he hoped, wouldn’t be able to handle it.”

“All this time, you’ve been lying here, terrified,” Siena whispers.

“He’s going to hurt my baby girl,” Veronica whimpers.

I walk across the room, kneel so I’m eye level with Veronica. “Miss Lane, I swear to you, Rocco will not hurt anyone you care about. Not your daughter, and not anyone else. You have my word.”

“He’s dangerous.” Veronica’s eyes fill with tears–then she nods to the balcony door. My instincts roar at her unspoken message.

“He’s not as dangerous as you might think,” I snarl, taking my phone from my pocket.

Siena looks at me, confused. I gesture with my hand: keep going…

“What are you working on this morning?” Siena asks, not missing a beat.

Tears are streaming down Veronica’s cheeks now, but she manages to speak with a clear voice. “Finishing touches for the renewal.”

On my phone, I open a note and type.

Is he on the balcony?

Veronica nods.

Is he armed?

She shrugs.

So, possibly?

A nod.

I stand slowly, keeping my voice casual. “We’ve got people searching the island for him. But my uncle thinks he’s left. That would be the smart thing for him to do. Perhaps he could’ve gotten some men on his side if he had fucked this trip up, but he overplayed his hand. He overestimated himself.”

I gesture at them both to act natural.

“We don’t need to worry about that now,” Siena says. “Let’s just make this the best event we can.”

Carefully, I move toward the balcony door, my body primed for violence. There’s a mood that grips a man when he’s getting ready for fighting, a blunt savagery that’s necessary for what I’ll have to do if he doesn’t come quietly.

When I reach the door, yank it open and leap onto the balcony.

No sign of him.

I hear splashing, water sloshing.

I walk to the edge of the balcony and look down at the water, see the ripples, the path they’re taking.

It takes me too long to realize what he’s doing.

My godfather was on the balcony, but he jumped into the water and swam around to the pier, meaning he has access to the front door.

“Siena!” I roar, turning and darting back into the room.

The front door bursts open. Rocco runs in, his shirt stuck to chest, water dripping down his face. It’s a race to see who can get to Siena first.

Siena is closer to the door, Rocco beating me to her before I can make it across the room. I’m about to lunge at him when he says, “Ah ah.” He pulls a gun from nowhere and pushes it against the side of her head, a short snub-nosed pistol, the type that’s easier to smuggle.

“Don’t get any silly ideas, godson,” Rocco says, letting out a cold, hard laugh. I finally see the real him. The mania in his eyes. That he’s enjoying this. “That was pretty slick, huh?”

Siena wriggles against him.

“Don’t,” I say.

“Listen to your man,” Rocco taunts. “Do you want to die, bitch? I’ll blow your goddamn brains out.”

“Rocco, you need to calm down.”

He leans down and whispers in Siena’s ear. I don’t hear the words, but her face drains of color. The fear in her beautiful features floods me with rage, and a need to protect her.

“I don’t need to do shit,” he snarls, then looks down at Veronica.

Veronica crawls to the other side of the bed, her knees pulled to her chest. It’s clear that Rocco has done things to her.

She looks even more terrified than Siena, even without the gun pointing at her.

“What the fuck was that? I told you to act natural. Not tell them everything.”

“It’s over, it’s over,” Veronica mumbles in the corner.

“Far from it. I’ve got the Prince of the Bianchi Family as a hostage.”

“How’d you figure that?” I growl.

He presses the gun against Siena’s head harder. The movement loosens her hairdo, strands falling loose. “Because you care about this girl, or did you forget about all our heart to hearts?”

“Who the fuck are you?” I take a step forward, then stop when he glares at me, his finger on the trigger.

“I’m a man who is going to take what he’s owed.”

“Your plan failed. Your sabotage failed.”

“I’m more than a consigliere. I’m better than that.”

“I get it, Rocco. You thought you could tarnish my father’s reputation. You had a plan… but listen. It’s done .”

“Plan A is done, sure,” he sneers.

“Plan A was sabotaging the event every chance you got. And what about the rocks, you bastard? At the photoshoot.”

He grins, then shrugs like it’s no big deal. “Easy enough to loosen a few of them during the break, sure. Either your mommy and daddy fell off the ridge, or they stumbled and looked like jackasses. Win, win.”

But Siena saved my mother. Just like I’m going to save her.

“Let’s walk it through from here, then,” I say, trying to keep my voice steady, trying to think. How can I get to Siena without him shooting her?

When he jumped into the water, did he keep the gun above the waterline? Perhaps it’s waterlogged and it’ll jam, but I can’t bet Siena’s life on that chance. If I’m wrong…

There’s roughly five feet between us. Too far. Plenty of time for him to pull the trigger.

Fuck .

“I can see the cogs whirring in your head,” Rocco says, chuckling. “You can’t accept you’re beat.”

“Answer my question. What do you think happens next?” A pause. “You don’t have a plan.”

“All I know is, I’m better off with you as a hostage than without.”

“Then take me. You don’t need Siena. We’ll swap places. Siena will do what you say if you’ve got a gun pointed at me.”

“Is that so?” He gives Siena a shake.

“Yuh-yes,” she stutters.

“And why’s that?”

“You suh-said he cared about muh-me.” She bites down, seeming annoyed at herself for the stuttering. “I care about him too.”

“How sweet.” Rocco shakes his head. “I’d be a fool to risk that. You need to sit down on the other side of the room, Dario.”

“If you pull that trigger, there will be ten men here in a minute flat.”

“Excellent. They can help scoop sweet Siena’s brains off the floor.”

“You’ll be killed, Rocco,” I growl. “Even if you use every shot in that gun, that’s six bullets. We’ve got more than six men ready to tear you limb from goddamn limb if you do this.”

“Just sit down. You can’t talk your way out of this one.” When I don’t move, he forces the gun against Siena’s head again, causing her to bend awkwardly. “I will execute her. Sit down .”

I back up, putting even more distance between us, then drop into the chair. Leaning forward, I get my body in a position to spring forward if I need to.

“Good,” Rocco says. “Now, let me think.”

“You can think all you want. There’s no way to leverage this situation to become Don. The best you can hope for now, since you haven’t killed anyone, is exile. That should be your play.”

“Begging for my life?”

“Yes.”

He chuckles. “I’m surprised you’re not trying to use the godfather-godson angle, appeal to my softer side.”

“I clearly never knew you,” I say.

“Does that hurt you, Dario?” He sneers.

When I don’t say anything, he laughs. “I thought you were going to say something like not as bad as I’ll hurt you .”

I glare at him, feeling like I’m looking at a stranger. I’ve known this man since I was a child. At least, I thought I did.

He sighs. “I need to think. There’s a way to leverage this.”

“If you let me go, you have a chance,” Siena whispers.

“How brave you are, girl, with a gun to your head.”

“Dario won’t let you get away with this.”

“Why–because he loves you?”

“I don’t know if it’s possible to love this fast. I know he cares. And I know that when a man like Dario cares about someone, he’ll do anything to keep them safe. He’ll be ready…”

Siena looks at me meaningfully.

She’s planning something.

Before I can tell her not to, she suddenly spins and bites down on Rocco’s gun-wielding hand.

I spring to my feet, time feeling as though it slows down. Rocco yanks his hand away and raises the gun, then he turns it to me, judging me to be the bigger threat. And he’s right.

He pulls the trigger.

Agony seeps through me, blood flowing down my side, getting my shirt wet.

He pulls the trigger again.