Page 38 of Taken by the Mafia King (Kings of Philly #1)

SERA

“ Y ou misunderstood her,” Tommaso told Delaney without a single shred of kindness. “Sera’s been locked up like you have. She wouldn’t have known if anyone came here. Your father isn’t here and hasn’t been here.”

Delaney pressed on, her eyes wide. “But she said?—”

“No,” I cut in quickly. “Tommaso is right. I’ve been locked up for so long. I think I’m just hearing things.”

Delaney sucked her lower lip and looked from me to Tommaso.

“If your father comes here, you’ll be brought to see him. We’ll get all of this hashed out.” Tommaso pressed what looked like a call button.

A second passed before an unfamiliar man stepped into the room.

“You go eat, Delaney,” Tommaso commanded, his voice dropping into that icy, manipulative tone that always reminded me of what he really was and who he worked for.

The man stepped inside and took Delaney by the arm, escorting her out of the room. He left the door open like I was meant to follow but Tommaso held out a hand, pointing to the door.

“Shut it,” he said firmly.

I licked my lips and did as he said, leaning my weight against the door as I met his eyes.

“You need to get your shit together, Sera. You know the rules. Eventually, someone is going to get sick of reminding you, and you’re going to have nobody there to save you.”

“Why are you lying to her?”

He shook his head, scoffing. “Like I said, you know the rules. You know what happens if you run your mouth. You’re a Bianchi, regardless of how far you’ve tried to distance yourself from your family. You’re going to get yourself killed, and her. Do you understand?”

I wondered if his threats held any weight. At the end of the day, the only person who could lay a hand on me was Killian. And I wanted him to touch me. Tommaso’s threat went in one ear and out the other. “Has my father been here too? Is he dead, like Delaney’s father?”

“No.”

“Are you lying to me? It obviously comes easy to you.”

“I am not,” he sneered.

I believed him, but I was nervous now. I trusted Tommaso only because I’d saved his life, and that wasn’t something this kind of man took lightly. I’d traded in that favor for information, but that didn’t mean he didn’t owe me anything anymore.

“You were at the auction too, weren’t you?” I asked.

“I was.”

“Why was I brought there?”

“We don’t know yet,” he admitted.

I swallowed hard, still pressed against the door. “Why was Delaney brought here?”

Tommaso inhaled sharply, blowing out his breath. “I just told you. You have to be more careful.”

“I need to know,” I pleaded. “Her father is dead. Was he the reason she’s here?

Or did Killian save her like he saved me, and her father couldn’t give him what he wanted?

” Fear tightened my chest, settling like a weight in my belly.

If that were true, what would Killian expect from my own father that Delaney’s father wasn’t able to give him?

“Killian did buy her at the auction,” he said slowly, sitting up a little straighter.

Something like jealousy shredded my senses.

“Not for that reason,” Tommaso continued, likely seeing the way my cheeks flared with heat. He took another breath. “Her father was a rat and stole something from him, selling it for pennies just so he had funds to gamble away. Killian used Delaney to draw Edoardo out of hiding.”

“And now he’s dead.”

“Yes.”

“What will happen to her?”

“You know I can’t answer that. I’ve been stuck in this bed for days, Sera. I know as little about what’s happening out there as you do.”

“I can’t accept that. She’s just wasting away upstairs thinking she’s going to be rescued.”

He shook his head. “There’s no such thing as being rescued from Killian Ricci.”

I pressed my lips together, grinding my teeth. “He’ll kill her, won’t he?”

“Sera…”

I gazed out the window at the tree line beyond the tall grass. “He’ll kill me, too.”

“Killian has his reasons for the two of you being here. He has his reasons for not telling Delaney about her father, and what he did to put his own daughter in this situation. And you will not say anything about it if you want to survive, do you understand? You know how to play this game.”

“I never wanted any of this.” Would they bury me out there in that tall grass?

Nobody would come looking. There’d be no headstone.

No flowers. No trace I ever existed at all.

Would Killian think of me when he looked outside?

Maybe for a month or two, and then I’d be nothing but dirt.

I strode to the door. Thoughts like this weren’t new to me.

I’d wondered over my own mortality when I lived with my father often enough.

“I left because I couldn’t do this. I couldn’t stand the secrets. The strategies and bullshit.”

“You need to keep your head up, girl. Eyes forward. Killian is not your enemy.”

“Don’t you dare say that to me after everything he’s done.”

“He saved you from an unimaginable fate. Show some gratitude.”

I rounded on him. “Saved me? What delusional world do you all live in? Sure, he spared me from Gabriele, only to lock me up here. You want me to believe he’s the good guy when there’s another girl upstairs hanging onto hope that her father is going to save her from this hell ? This is wrong. You’re wrong.”

“There’s nothing I can do about it, even if I wanted to.”

I paused, looking deep into his eyes. I could see that this hurt him as much as it was hurting me. These secrets. This business. This lifestyle that stripped you down until there was nothing left but ash and bone.

“Whose side are you on, Tommaso?”

“Killian’s,” he growled. “Always. And if you were smart and used your fucking brain, Sera, you would be too.”

“What are you not telling me?”

“Nothing you need to know.”

The room felt like it was caving in on me, suffocating me like a wet, cold blanket draped over my skin. I wanted out. I needed to get out of this room and out of this house, Killian be damned. My feelings for him be damned.

“Will my father come for me?” I asked after a long, tense silence.

He studied me, and a debate warred in his eyes. To tell me, or not to tell me. I waited, hanging on the edge of a cliff.

Finally, he said, “I wouldn’t hold your breath.”