My Masters' Nightmare Season 1, Episode 10 Stalked (4 page)

I pulled my arm free.
“
I needed to
tell him the truth about us.”

Frano ran a hand over his face. “Just
don’t go near him again; he’s lost his fucking mind.”

“
Did he hurt me when I was
younger?” I asked,
Jagger’s words coming back.

Frano dropped his hand.
“
Not that I
know of. I wasn’t aware he knew about us until now. Jagger was
always keeping secrets.”

“
You don’t
think he c
ould’ve told the
Padre
about us?” I said, wondering whether he’d set
the
Padre
onto me. I remembered the
Padre
hovering over me, his black garb
distinctive. Maybe he hadn’t raped me, but he’d definitely been the
one who had held me under the water. I rubbed my head, wishing I
could make sense of my jumbled memory, because nothing was
clear.

Frano took a hold of my face. “What’s
wrong?”

“
Memories. Some things are
coming back in bits and pieces. Unfortunately, they’re all jumbled,
though I think you could be right about Christo being the one who
raped me. He threatened to do it if I didn’t break up with
Jagger.”

Frano’s eyes narrowed.
“You
sure
about this?”

I screwed up my face. “I’m not sure of
anything; I keep second guessing my memories, but someone did rape
me, that I’m sure of. I also think they broke my mind.”

Frano took a hold of me, locking me in his
embrace. “Whoever it was will pay for it. I promise
that.”

Noise came from the staircase, stealing
Frano’s arms away from me. I turned around. Camila was glaring at
me, her face furious.

3

CAMILA

In that moment I
had caught Frano
holding the FBI agent, I knew he’d been betraying me. He was in
love with the
troia
; that much was obvious. Yet, I wasn’t going to allow my
anger to rob me of sense. I wanted him, whether he loved me or not.
He was everything a man should be: incredibly handsome, powerful:
strong both in body and mind, and also an accomplished liar, who
had led me on for far too long. But, if I was going to become the
next
Signora
D’Angelo, I had to play the fool for a little while
longer.

I sto
pped a few feet from him. “Why were
you holding her, Frano?”

He stepped away from Rita,
looking like a man who’d been caught with his hand in the
coochie
jar. “Why did you
leave my office?” he snapped. “You could’ve been taken by a
guard.”

“
It hurt looking at my sister,”
I said, clamping down my painful emotions. Ghita had been a strong
woman, someone I had looked up to, and I would carry on her
strength regardless of what life threw at me. “And, Frano, you
didn’t answer my question: why were you holding her?”

“
Jagger attacked her. I was
comforting her.”

My eyes went to the FBI agent,
who was glaring at me. The
troia
wanted Frano too. Whether it was for love or sex,
I couldn’t tell. The woman was a mystery to me, but I couldn’t
blame her for wanting him. The man was too fucking perfect,
everything a mafia woman could wish for. We didn’t fall for
pussycats who romanced us with flowers and chocolates, we wanted a
strong, vicious man, who would kill for us, and who could also lie
through their teeth to achieve whatever they needed to. I just
wished he wasn’t lying to me. I was supposed to be the one he
confided in, someone who would stand by his side, making both of
our families strong once more. The FBI agent couldn’t do that for
him, but what the heart wanted was what the heart went for, and for
Frano, that was this woman in front of me.

“
You should take her to your
room
, where
she will be safe,” I said.

I didn’t want her in his room. I wanted
her stripped of her clothing and thrown back into her cell, but if
I said that, Frano would probably drop the illusion he was weaving
for me and the Landi, and I would be thrown to the wolves to be
slaughtered. And as much as I wanted the woman humiliated, I wanted
to live more.

He blinked in surprise, probably not
expecting my words. Nor did he expect this: I walked up to him and
wrapped my arms around his waist, giving him a kiss right in front
of her. He tensed, but didn’t push me away, even though I could
tell he wanted to. I could also tell he wanted to get the hell out
of here, so he could take her to his room and explain why he hadn’t
pushed me away.

I pulled back from the kiss and
glanced down the passage at the Landi
soldier, who was watching us. Frano
looked at him too, confirming my thoughts. If the Landi found out
he was lying, he could jeopardize his friendship with Pedro as well
as putting Alessandro’s life at risk. Such a loyal man to the
people he liked, but a
bastardo
to the ones he didn’t.

I started talking to him in
Italian, knowing damn well the
woman understood me, but pretending she
didn’t. I told him I was looking forward to our honeymoon night. It
wasn’t loud enough for the Landi guard to hear, but definitely loud
enough for the FBI agent to fume over.

Frano tensed even more. “I need to return
to my room,” he said, “so I can call the priest to arrange our
marriage. I will talk to you later.”

“
Okay,
amore
, I love you,” I said, smiling inwardly as
the woman’s hands formed into fists.

Frano nodded, but didn’t reply
back with an ‘
I love you’
. Instead, he ushered the woman to his room. As soon as the
Landi soldier closed the door behind them, the FBI
troia
started shouting,
then suddenly went quiet. I could imagine Frano covering her mouth
with his hand, pleading for the woman to see sense; that he was
only pretending. He would be whispering it, so that the guard
wouldn’t hear. Though, it would do no good, because I would drive a
wedge between them, this being the start.

I turned to Jagger’s door, now
ready to take my anger out on the
bastardo
within. I didn’t want to hurt Frano for
his deception; knew that would be stupid, but I could hurt Jagger
all I wanted. Although I was grateful for what he’d done for my
sister Ghita, what he was doing to my niece was a different matter,
and something I couldn’t allow to continue.

I slipped my hand into my
tan-colored
slacks and gripped onto the hilt of the knife I’d stolen
from Frano’s office, making sure that Jagger didn’t stop me from
freeing Teodora. I slipped into the room, stopping at the sight of
my niece lying on the bed naked. She was cuffed to the bedrail with
a ball gag in her mouth. Her eyes went to me instantly. She started
yanking at the cuffs and trying to speak to me, but the gag stifled
it. I glanced at the bathroom, the sound of running water
suggesting Jagger was showering.

I rushed over to Teodora. “Whisper only,”
I said, keeping my voice low. I yanked the gag out of her mouth.
“Where are the keys for the cuffs?”

“
In the drawer next to the bed,”
she whispered
back.

I opened the drawer, tensing as the
shower turned off.

“
Please hurry,” Teodora
said
. “He’s
crazy.”

“
Did he rape you?” I
asked,
pulling out the keys.

“
No.”

Breathing out in relief, I slotted one of
the keys into the first cuff, but it was the wrong one. I pushed
the other one in. The cuff clicked open at the same time as the
bathroom door. Jagger stepped out naked, the man absolutely
mouthwatering to look at.

I froze as he smiled at me. “I’m taking
her,” I said.

“
Okay,” he
replied.

I remained still, surprised by his
words.

He jerked his head to the
door
. “Go on
then, set her free. I really don’t give a fuck.”

Not needing to be told
twice,
I
freed Teodora’s other wrist, constantly flicking my gaze to Jagger
to make sure he wasn’t tricking me. He remained still, just
watching us, those golden eyes of his emotionless. For some reason
it made me feel even more disconcerted that he wasn’t trying to
stop me. I couldn’t believe he was going to let me walk out with
Teodora after the way he’d acted the day before.

I moved to Teodora’s ankles, freeing them
too. She jumped off the bed and hugged me as though I had saved
her. But, she wasn’t safe until she was out of Jagger’s room and
safely deposited with Alessandro, whom I now trusted. The way he
had put himself in danger for my sister Andriena had gained him my
respect.

I hugged Teodora back for a moment,
keeping my eyes on Jagger. Something wasn’t right with him,
especially with the way his gaze was completely fixated on my face.
The intensity of his stare was making me shake, and I never
shook—unless I was in front of Christo, my uncle the only person
I’d ever been terrified of. And right now, Jagger had that same
scary calm Christo had, which never led to anything good. I always
thought Jagger was a touch crazy, but I was wrong: he was a touch
sane.

“
Go to Alessandro Santini’s
room,” I said to Teodora. “He’s looking after Andriena and another
woman. He’s honorable and I trust that he will protect you. Turn
left, it’s near the end of the passage.”

Teodora
pulled back. “Aren’t you
coming?”

“
I will soon, but I have some
unfinished business with Jagger.”

“
Y
ou can’t be in here alone with him, he’s
crazy.”

“
He won’t hurt me,
sweetie, I’m Frano’s fiancé.”

“
His pretend fiancé,” Jagger
interrupted. “But feel assured,
schiava
,” he said to Teodora, “I will treat your
aunty with the respect she deserves.”

I gritted my
teeth
,
knowing he was being sarcastic. Regardless, he still wasn’t
attacking us, so maybe he was respecting the fact that Frano had
told him not to touch me.

“
Go, Teodora,” I said, giving my
niece a kiss on the forehead. “I’ll be perfectly safe.”

Teodora let go of me and grabbed a sheet
off Jagger’s bed.

“
Put that
down
!”
Jagger snapped, making both my niece and I jump.

“
But, I’m naked,” Teodora
said.

“
Put it back now or you’ll be
naked and under me.”

She dropped the sheet on the bed and ran
for the door, slipping out of the room before I could blink. I
pulled out the knife from my pocket.

Jagger
held his arms out wide, the man truly
breathtaking. He was shorter and less muscular than Frano, but
nonetheless, he was perfectly proportioned, his body a work of art.
“I would never turn death away,” he said, his voice
eerie.

“
I’m not going to kill you,” I
said, “
and
you’re nuts if you think death is a good thing.”

“
Then why are you
here?”

“
I want something from you,” I
said, intending on bribing him, which I hadn’t planned on doing
until I saw Frano hugging the FBI
troia.
I needed her out of my way, or I was going
to end up in a slave cell or dead.

He touched his cock. “Well, I’m
attached to this, so you’re not getting it.”

“
Don’t be ridiculous, I’m not
after revenge. My uncle deserved what you did to him. Instead, what
I want is for you to kill the FBI agent.”

He pulled a face. “You have got to be
kidding.”

“
I will pay you ten million
dollars.”

“
I don’t give a shit about
money, and why would you think I would ever agree to something like
that?”

“
Because
you almost killed her seven
years ago.”

His eyes widened, confirming what my
uncle had told me.

I walked around the
bed
,
stopping a few feet away from him, making sure that the knife was
between us. “My Uncle Michael covered for you, letting everyone
believe it was him who had ‘killed’ Sophia Salvi. But it was you.
It may have been an accident, you may not have meant to do it, but
you still did, and since you knew my uncle loved you, you went to
him, asking for his help, knowing he would do anything for
you.”

Jagger screwed up his face. “You’re
talking shit.”

“
You know I’m not. My uncle told
me that I shouldn’t feel so sorry for you after I called him a vile
pedophile. He told me that you weren’t such an innocent young
boy.”

“
Your uncle is a lying monster
who abused me for years!” Jagger yelled, his whole body shaking
with anger, his calm now completely gone.

“
I’m sorry for what he did to
you, he deserves to die for that, but you are still lying about
what you did to Sophia, and if you want me to keep your little
secret, you will finish the job you started seven years
ago.”