Page 61 of Forbidden Sins

ESTELLA

“ Y ou can’t leave him there!” I scream as Vito’s men drag me away, kicking and trying to twist out of their grip.

I try to make myself dead weight, dropping down as they try to drag me along, but all that happens is that one of them—a tall man with broad shoulders and thick muscles—throws me over his shoulder as if I weigh nothing, and keeps on back the way we came.

“You can’t!” I scream again. “He’s going to die?—”

“He’s already dead.” Vito’s voice is harsh and unfeeling.

“Your precious bodyguard is dead, Estella, and you’re mine now.

There will be no more of this foolishness.

We are going home, and we will be married within a few days.

I’m not waiting any longer to make you mine.

I’ve had enough of your rebellion. Waiting will only encourage it. ”

“No,” I gasp. “No, I won’t do it. I won’t say the vows. If you’ve killed Sebastian?—”

Vito gives me a faux-pouting expression, clearly mocking my distress.

“What? You’ve got nothing left to live for?

It doesn’t matter to me, Estella.” He sneers at me.

“You’ll say the vows, if I have to break every single one of your fingers to get you to speak.

And when I’ve had enough of enjoying your body, I’ll get rid of you.

I have no intention of dealing with a disobedient wife.

After all, very soon, I won’t need you in order to inherit Gallo’s wealth. ”

My breath stops in my throat. I’m furious with my father over his treatment of Sebastian and how he’s handled my marriage, but that doesn’t mean that I want him dead. “You’re going to kill him,” I breathe, and Vito shakes his head, chuckling darkly.

“No, Estella. I’m going to give him an incentive to give me my inheritance early, as it were.

Your father will step down, and I will become the new head of the Gallo family.

With my beautiful wife, of course—who, if she causes me too much trouble, will meet with a terrible, sad accident.

Perhaps a miscarriage gone wrong. Something to make me seem very sympathetic. ”

“The other heads of the families will never go along with that,” I hiss, and Vito smiles indulgently at me.

“Of course they will. Your father will help me sell a story that will make sure of it. He’ll do it because he doesn’t want any harm to come to his precious daughter. And now, with your handsome protector gone, there’s nothing to stop me.”

Sebastian . I struggle harder against the man carrying me, but it’s useless. Sebastian would have known what to do, I think. He would have figured out some way to get us out of this. But he’s dead now, lying in that rushing creek, if Vito is to be believed. And I watched him fall. I saw…

No. I can’t think about that now. I’ll break down if I do, and then all will be lost. I need to think, but it feels impossible, with grief and panic weighing me down.

A car is waiting for us at the edge of the forest, sleek and black with dark-tinted windows.

The man carrying me tosses me into the back like a sack of flour, and the door slams shut behind me.

I immediately scramble for the door on the other side, but it opens, Vito sliding in next to me as one of his men climbs into the front, and another slides in next to me.

I’m boxed in, and I hear the locks all click as the driver starts the car.

“Drive,” Vito commands, and the car pulls forward, heading down the dirt path out of the forest.

I sit there, numb, my heart pounding. I’d actually started to believe that we might make it through this—Sebastian and I. That there might be a life, a future for us, in some other place away from all of this. But now it’s all come to a screeching halt. Everything has fallen apart.

Vito has me, and Sebastian is dead. My chest squeezes, my lungs tightening until I feel as if I can’t breathe.

Tears slide down my cheeks, and though I manage to keep myself from sobbing, I can’t stop the tears.

I feel as if my heart, still cracked and tender from Luis’ death, is shattering apart for a second time.

I feel as if nothing will ever be able to put me back together.

The view changes from forest to rural, and then an airplane hangar comes into view.

The moment I’m dragged out of the car and marched toward the waiting jet, Vito’s men surround me, preventing any chance of my escape—although I’m not sure where I would run to now.

I have no money, and I have no idea where we are. I wouldn’t make it far.

Vito motions to one of the men, and a hand wraps in my hair, dragging my head back. Vito comes to stand in front of me, a wicked, satisfied smile on his face. I feel a sharp prick in the side of my neck, and try to jerk away from the hand in my hair, but I’m only hauled backwards as I cry out.

“He loved you, I could see that,” Vito says conversationally, his eyes searching my face with glee.

“Your bodyguard. I could see it every time he looked at you. Pathetic.” He turns, spitting on the ground.

“A man like that, believing he could have someone like you. That he was more deserving of you than I am.”

I try to speak, to say something back, but my tongue feels as if it’s glued to the roof of my mouth. All of my senses are slowing, softening, and I can feel my body going limp. I’ve been drugged, I realize, but I can’t find the energy to fight back.

“I will have what I want,” Vito says flatly. “However I need to achieve it.”

The world swims around me. I try to lurch toward him, to get free, but my knees buckle, and I feel myself falling.

A pair of hands catches me, just before I hit the tarmac. And then everything goes dark.

—

I wake up in a darkened room, blinking awake with sticky eyes and mouth as my head swims, sending a wave of nausea through me. I press my hand to the back of my eyes, pushing myself up on one elbow, and I realize I’m in a bedroom I’ve never seen before.

I’m lying on one side of a king-sized bed, atop a gray silk-velvet comforter. All the furniture around me is dark wood, and there’s a large window to the right, covered with heavy curtains. I push myself up further, testing, and find that I can sit all of the way up with just a touch of dizziness.

As soon as I manage to swing my legs over the edge and stand up, I make a beeline for the door, swallowing back another wave of residual nausea. I grab the doorknob, twisting, but the door doesn’t give. It’s locked.

I go for the window next, throwing back the curtains. It’s daylight outside, but the view is one overlooking downtown Manhattan—and from high enough up that I have no hope of getting out that way, either.

I’m trapped.

I go back to the door, pressing my ear against it. I can hear the movement of people outside—my guard rotation, probably. Vito isn’t going to take any chances on making sure that he doesn’t lose his prize before his plan is finished.

I retreat to the bed, my legs weak and shaky. The reality of my situation is closing in on me rapidly, and my throat tightens, tears welling in my eyes.

They stream down my face, hot and relentless, as I pull my knees up to my chest, my forehead pressed to them. I have no idea if there’s any way out of this—if my father will deny Vito and try to save me, if he’ll even be able to. I don’t know what resources Vito has at his disposal.

A knock comes at the door a little while later, and a guard enters, bearing a tray with food.

It looks like a chicken sandwich with avocado, and lettuce, and bacon, along with a Caesar salad on the side, and any other day, it would smell delicious.

But my stomach revolts instantly, the panic and misery of the day making it impossible to consider eating.

The guard leaves the tray and exits without a word, locking the door behind him before I can say a word, or plead for help. Not that it would matter, anyway. I know they’re not going to help me.

I stare at the tray of food, then out the window, knowing I won’t be able to eat a bite. I can’t stop seeing that last moment with Sebastian, his body in the creek, blood pooling out around him from the wound in his leg.

I wonder if he’s still there. He must be. Vito wouldn’t have bothered recovering his body. The thought makes my heart wrench in my chest all over again, and a fresh wave of tears spills down my cheeks.

“I’m so sorry,” I whisper brokenly. “I’m so sorry, Sebastian.”

The door opens again a little while later, and this time it’s Vito who enters.

He’s changed into fresh clothes, not a speck of dirt or blood to be seen anywhere, his appearance utterly immaculate.

As if everything in the forest didn’t happen at all.

The only sign of it is the sling around his neck, holding his wounded arm in place.

“Have you calmed down?” he asks, stepping into the room and locking the door behind him. “Are you ready to be reasonable, Estella?”

I turn to face him, wiping away tears with the back of my hand as I straighten my spine and tip up my chin. “I won’t marry you,” I declare. “I don’t care what you do to me.”

Vito chuckles, regarding me the way someone might regard a disobedient child.

Or a dog. “You will, after the first broken finger,” he says mildly.

“But we’re not there yet. I still need to speak to your father.

Once I’ve confirmed his cooperation, then we’ll have another talk.

I have a quiet room on the other side of the penthouse where we can speak, just you and I and one of my men.

He’s very good at breaking bones. I imagine we won’t be in there long.

Unless, of course, you promise you’ll cooperate when I come back. ”

“I won’t,” I snap defiantly, but my stomach twists. I want to believe that I can hold out, that I won’t say yes to marrying Vito of my own free will… but I know that’s easier said than done, once he starts to hurt me. And from the look on his face?—

I think he’ll do it.

Fear trickles through me, making my blood go cold. Vito’s gaze flicks to my left hand. “A shame.” He clicks his tongue. “I won’t be replacing your ring, Estella. You should have taken better care of it.”

His gaze sweeps over me, taking me in. “A shame, too, that I won’t be your first. Don’t bother denying it—” he holds up a hand, before I can say a word.

“I doubt that you spent what was it—two, three?---nights alone with your bodyguard and didn’t fuck him.

Little slut.” He spits the word. “I might have a doctor examine you, just to be sure. But I’m not sure I mind as much as I thought I would.

I won’t have to be careful with you.” He smiles, a slow, evil grin.

“I can fuck you however I please. And trust me, Estella, I will. As much and as often as I like, once everything is tied up how I want it.”

He looks at me once more, then unlocks the door, leaving and locking it again behind him. I hear the click , and my heart drops, my entire body wracked with grief as I bury my face in my hands and finally give in to the sobs.

I don’t know how I’m going to survive this.

Without Sebastian, I don’t think I can.