Mafia Captive (5 page)

“No. This isn’t working.”

At that, her body stiffened. And he knew what she feared without her verbalizing it. If
this
wasn’t working, would he kill her? Given what she must suspect about his family, it wasn’t an out-there assumption, but he wasn’t in the business of killing women.

“I’m not going to hurt you, but you’re too scared of me. You don’t have the same kinds of needs and desires I have, and while I think it’s possible to train a body to want these things, I’m not a sick enough bastard to do it to you without your consent. Get up.”

She pushed herself up off the floor, still trembling, staring at the ground as if she could become invisible and safe that way. If he went any further he’d break her beyond repair. He found he didn’t have the stomach for it. Why couldn’t she have been a sub? Why couldn’t she have been wired so that they could both find happiness together? He could get his fantasy, and she could get hers. But this wasn’t her fantasy. It was her nightmare.

“Get your cat, and come with me.”

She looked confused and still afraid, so he added, “I’m giving you your own room in the east wing. You’ll be far from me. I’m sorry I can’t set you free, but I’ll let you live here without having to be afraid I’ll touch or hurt you. All right?”

She gave a quick nod and scooped up her cat.

***

The sound system played an ominous version of Carol of the Bells as Leo led her through his massive estate. Faith silently berated herself.

Why couldn’t she give in to him? She’d dated a lot of guys and none of them were as attractive or rich as Leo. Though Italian men weren’t a rarity in the city, Leo made it look exotic and wild. Why couldn’t she do what he wanted? He didn’t repulse her. Wasn’t that something at least?

But she was too afraid. The things he’d hinted he was into… well, she didn’t know a lot about them. But she knew they scared her. She knew the spanking he’d given her the previous night had scared, humiliated, and hurt her. She knew if that was the first thing he did to her, that things would become horrible. Whatever else he had going for him… this was too much. And then there was the
family of killers
. These people weren’t like her. They’d kill anybody who saw too much, knew too much, or got in their way.

Still, if he followed through on his word to let her live in another wing of the house and not hurt her, she found herself extremely grateful—enough so that she wished that what he wanted was normal. If he wasn’t into scary or painful things, she could almost see herself letting him touch her without cringing. If he’d only let her get used to the idea. Give her time.

Leo stopped in front of large, white double doors and pushed them open.

Faith followed him and set her cat on the carpet to poke around and wander, she’d have to go back for the litter box.

The room was nearly as big and nice as Leo’s, with a bathroom and large closets and a fireplace. The difference in this room was the light. There was so much light, and more so with snow on the ground. Three-fourths of the wall space was taken up by windows.

A large Christmas tree with tiny white lights that dimmed and brightened in a slow pattern stood next to the windows. Green and silver ornaments decorated the tree, and a silver- and green-patched skirt was wrapped around the bottom. Squish was already burrowing underneath the tree skirt to take a nap.

“The rooms on the farthest ends of the house are like this, but this one is the best,” he said. “You’ll get a lovely sunrise each morning.”

She knew she should thank him, but she was still too afraid he’d go back on his word, or that he would use all that he was giving her as justification for taking what he wanted later. The way he looked at her, she knew how badly he wanted it. That morning, his erection had pressed up through the sheets, and she’d been terrified he was about to force himself on her. She’d drawn herself tightly into a ball against the headboard, trying to keep her tears quiet so she wouldn’t wake him, her breaths coming out ragged and panicked.

“I’ll have someone bring your things. You can go anywhere in the house, except my room, the cellar, and the back of the house that contains my office and operating theater.”

“Operating theater?” That sounded macabre.

“I’m a surgeon. At least that’s a part of my work. I run a private practice here with a separate entrance in the back. We probably won’t see each other a lot, but if you need anything, use the intercom system.” He indicated a white box on the wall beside her bed. “Someone will come and take care of you. You don’t need to be afraid of anybody who works for me. They’ve all got orders to leave you in peace.”

Faith remained quiet, unable to bring herself to look into his eyes. She was afraid if she did, she’d see the devil trying to drag her into hell.

She’d seen crucifixes in various places about the house and a few other religious iconographies, like a Virgin Mary statue in the entry hall, so she knew he must be Catholic. She was a lapsed Catholic herself, and wondered if being taken was some kind of punishment for her sins. She hadn’t been to church in longer than she could remember. She couldn’t call this place Heaven, but if Leo stayed true to his word, it wasn’t Hell, either. She silenced the voice in her mind that whispered,
purgatory
.

“I’m truly sorry you’ve been taken from your life and your friends. My brother has a bad sense for what is an appropriate gift to give someone. I’ll leave you alone, now.”

“Thank you,” forced itself out of her throat after the door had clicked shut.

Half an hour later servants came through with her things. They’d put her stuff back in the bags and boxes they’d brought them to the house in and left everything on the floor beside her bed. No comments were made, but she wondered how much any of them knew.

Did they know their boss was sexually twisted? Did they know she was meant to be his slave to serve those needs? What would they think about her being moved to the other end of the house? Would they think he found her lacking or that he’d had mercy on her? Why did she care what they thought?

She stayed out of their way until they left without uttering a word to her. She went to work unpacking and arranging everything in the closet. Squish came out from under the Christmas tree to poke her nose into all the empty boxes and bags. Faith put the luggage in the closet, stacked and folded the rest of the containers, and put them outside her door in the hallway. Surely someone would take them away. It wasn’t as if she’d need them ever again. She’d resigned herself to this large, ornate prison. He couldn’t let her go.

Faith sprawled across her bed, and the cat hopped up to snuggle with her. What if Leo got tired of keeping her as a house guest when she wasn’t giving him anything? What if he got tired of feeding her and taking care of any other needs that came up? Would he make her disappear? What if he couldn’t maintain the self-control not to try again to make her his slave? What was she supposed to call him? Did he still consider her his property? It wasn’t realistic to assume she’d never see him again. What would happen when she did?

She reached across the bed to find a remote on the night table. She didn’t see anything it could possibly go to, but when she pressed the button, a large flat screen television rose out of a white chest at the foot of the bed. She pressed the button again to let the screen go back into its hiding space.

Would there be a story on the news? Probably not. In the grand scheme, she was a nobody and people disappeared in the city all the time. Still, she wondered about the reactions of her friends. They might not have been best friends but they’d notice her missing.

She imagined her boss would be angry at first, with plans to fire her when she returned, and then the slow, dawning realization that she wasn’t coming back at all. Would they notice when her final paycheck wasn’t cashed? Would they worry or care? Would anybody file a missing person report?

Her life might not have been much, but it was hers. It was a crappy apartment but she could pay for it on her own. She was frugal and careful with her money, and had some savings. She’d been proud of her ability to save so much… until Leo had taken her. If he knew what was in her bank account, and the fact that she thought it was a lot of money, he might never stop laughing at her.

But maybe, if he wanted… she could use her own money to repay him for what she ate… for a while, at least until it ran out. Maybe if she made an effort, he wouldn’t resent her or grow angry. She couldn’t imagine him being okay with this setup indefinitely.

Chapter Five

It was a full three days before Leo saw Faith again. He’d been careful to avoid her as he was sure she’d been careful to avoid him. But it was inevitable they’d run into each other eventually. As it happened, they both went to the kitchen one afternoon at the same time for a late lunch.

She jumped when she saw him, and he had to bite back a curse. He found himself angry with her. He’d uprooted his routine to stay out of her way. He was letting her live. He wasn’t molesting her. He was taking care of her needs and keeping her comfortable. He wasn’t doing anything wrong. Except keeping her locked away against her will.

He’d seen her naked. Once. And touched her breast. Once. And spanked her. Once. None of that should be cause for this much anxiety or jumpiness, no matter who his family was. He glanced down, noticing his erection and knew she must have noticed it, too.

“I’m not going to hurt you,” he said. But the gruff way he said it didn’t sound believable to his own ears. For the past three nights he’d fantasized about her, jerking off to the thought of her bound and helpless. Of whipping her. Of making her cry and beg and call him
Master
while crumpled at his feet. Even her fear turned him on in the fantasies.

He wanted to take her. She should be grateful and happy to serve him. He’d saved her life. If not for Angelo’s odd early Christmas present and Leo’s willingness to take her home with him, she’d be at the bottom of the harbor right now. And they both knew it.

She turned and scurried off back to her end of the house. She must be hungry so he made them both a sandwich. He ate his in the kitchen, then went to her room. He didn’t have to, but he knocked.

“W-who is it?” She knew very well who it was.

Your lord and master. The man who owns you. The man you owe your life and your body to.

“It’s Leo. I brought you something to eat.” He didn’t wait for her to invite him in or open the door. It was his fucking house.

Once inside, he placed a tray on a small card table. He’d brought her chips, tea, and a sandwich.

“Thank you,” she mumbled.

He noticed that she didn’t address him. But who was he kidding? If he couldn’t bring himself to break and train her, he couldn’t be upset if she changed the way she spoke to him. He found that he missed hearing that word fall from her sweet mouth.

He thought back to a few days ago when she’d been so scared he’d hurt her, when she’d dropped to her knees in front of him. He left her alone with her food before his hard-on could return.

When he got back downstairs, his butler, Demetri, held out a cordless phone. “It’s your mother, Sir.”

Leo took the phone. What fresh hell was this? “Hey, Ma.”

He’d barely gotten the phrase out when she started blabbering in a nonstop string of excited sentences, some of them running on top of each other.

“Angelo tells me you’ve got a girl, now. Says you’re getting married. When were you going to tell your poor old mother? When we all got there? The whole family is dying to meet her now. What’s her name? Faith? Is she Catholic? Is she a good girl, Leo? What’s her family like?”

“Ma…” Leo said, trying to calm her. This wasn’t good. His family would all be here for a week for Christmas. He hadn’t known exactly what he was going to do with Faith. As horrible as it would be for her, he’d considered locking her downstairs in the dungeon for the duration and having Demitri take her meals down. At least he wouldn’t risk questions that way. Maybe by next year he could trust her enough to let her be with the family under one pretense or another, maybe as a new household servant or nurse for his practice.

But he’d already known sending her to the dungeon would terrify her and make him feel like a monster. He was almost glad hiding her wasn’t an option now. Surely Angelo hadn’t implied Leo had known Faith long enough to propose marriage? That had to be something that had gotten into her head from somewhere else.

The women in his family were a bunch of gossips. You could start out with the simplest story and end up with illicit affairs, murders, and a funeral with a missing body by the end of it.

“I mean it, Leo. I’m very unhappy you didn’t tell me about this. And if she’s living at your house like Angelo said, you
better
be marrying her! You know I don’t like my boys living in sin.”

He knew she was thinking of Angelo and Davide. He could practically hear her crossing herself over the phone. The shock of his brother coming out had about killed her and she still wasn’t over it. Of course.
That
was why Angelo had told her Leo was getting married—to take the heat and attention off him this year.

He suppressed a growl. “Yes, Ma. We’re getting married. I already proposed.” If they knew about Faith, he may as well have a sham marriage. He’d never get his mother off his back if she thought they were
living in sin
. He wondered what she’d think if she knew Faith was being held here against her will? Nothing good.

“Without us meeting her!?! We raised you better than that! I can’t believe you’d get engaged without so much as calling your poor mother! Is she Catholic? Please tell me she’s at least Catholic.”

He had no idea one way or the other, but what was another lie on top of the rest of it? “Yes, Ma. Of course she’s a good Catholic girl.”

“What about her family? Are they a good family?”

“She doesn’t have any family,” he said, injecting a drop of honesty into the conversation.

“Oh, that poor girl. Well she’ll have a big family, now.” It was all it had taken for his mother to switch gears. “Is she Irish? I know you’ve dated your redheads, but Sal won’t like Irish blood in the family. Please tell me she’s not Irish.”