Revenge Vows: A Forced Marriage Mafia Romance (Ruthless Mafia Sinners)
Chapter 5

“Shhh,” I chide Laura as she weeps in my arms. My mother stands at the door with a faraway gaze in her eyes.

“We don’t have all day, lady. Can you hurry it up?” one of the three men waiting by the door asks.

They’re the same thugs who came the first day to wreck my home. I turn to them. “Give me a minute,” I say shortly.

He scoffs. “You said that ten minutes ago. We don’t have all day.”

I turn to the now-sobbing Laura. It was three days ago that the men said they would return, and since then, I have done all I can to prepare her for today.

“Laura, you have to listen to me,” I say, holding back the tears in my voice.

She looks up at me. Her face is red and swollen.

I whisper to her, “If you ever need anything, ask Ray. I asked him to keep an eye on you and Mom. I stuffed some envelopes. You’ll replace them under the bed,” I pause. “I’ll send some more cash over as soon as I can, okay?”

She shakes her head in tears. “Don’t go, Alyssa. Mama and I need you.”

Tears sting my eyes. “You’ll be okay. Make sure Mama takes her medicine before bed every night. We don’t want her to get worse.”

I turn to my mother, but I don’t dare look her in the eyes because I know that I’ll break.

I swallow. “Mama, I’ll be back soon.” It’s a lie. We all know it’s a lie. My mother’s chin wobbles as she holds back her emotions.

The man behind me chuckles. “Now, don’t make promises you can’t keep, baby girl.”

I shoot a poisonous glare at the man, and something in my gaze makes his eyes widen. He can’t hold my gaze and he looks away.

I press a kiss to my sister’s forehead and then rise. “I’m ready to go now,” I say, my voice sounding queenly and strong. Even I’m surprised at how confident I sound.

“Finally,” the man by the door grouses. I’m about to leave when Laura grabs my arms.

“For the love of God,” the man mutters under his breath, walking up to us, but I quickly snatch my hands away from Laura.

“Let’s go,” I say.

I hear Laura’s sobs rend in the air behind me as I leave with the men. A car is waiting for me outside the apartment building.

The men open the door for me, and I get into the back.

“Giovanni’s got good taste. I’ll give that to him,” the driver says, looking at me in the mirror.

“Just drive, you damn pig,” the man who I stared down says, creating another round of laughter.

We drive for what feels like forever. The man beside me is dozing off, and I lean away from the foul smell of this breath, wrinkling my nose.

For a split second, the thought of opening the car door and jumping out crosses my mind, but I shove the thought away. If I get hurt or killed by these angry men, I’ll never see Mama or Laura again.

If I see Giovanni, maybe I can make a deal with him. I could work for him until I paid off my debt. I know that he has clubs. I made a lot of money for Gracie and Antonio. There is hope, or at least I delude myself that there is.

The car suddenly comes to a bumpy stop, and the man beside me sits up instantly.

“Sorry boys, we might have stumbled upon a little difficulty,” the driver says, taking off his seatbelt and getting out of the car.

The man in the front seat gets out of the car with the driver. They open the hood and they are checking out something in the engine when there are two quick gunshots.

The man beside me grabs my hands immediately, and chills run down my spine.

“Don’t fucking move,” he whispers, whipping out a gun. Suddenly, the car is surrounded by men who seem to have popped out from the bushes.

There are two quick gunshots, and through the window, I see the driver’s lifeless eyes as he drops to the ground.

“Shit! Shit! Shit!” the man beside me curses as he fumbles in his pockets. The men approach our door and break the window with the butt of a gun, forcing the door open.

The man holding me points a gun at them, but a punch from the man who broke the window knocks him out, and his body flops onto me.

I open my mouth to scream, but only a helpless gasp comes out. The man who has broken the window smiles at me.

“We have her here!” he calls out to the men outside.

“Get her out before they get back up,” someone calls to him.

He looks at me with a grin on his face. He pushes the unconscious man away from me, and his body hits the floor with a thud.

“You’re coming with us, sweetheart,” he says.

I shake my head in fear, crawling back as he brings out a handkerchief.

“Say night-night, angel,” he smirks. He grabs my neck, holding me in place, and presses the handkerchief over my nose.

I fight to hold my breath, but his grip on my neck tightens, and I finally cough, inhaling the choking smell of whatever is on the rag. I wriggle violently to get free, but the darkness steals in quickly, and soon, I feel my body relaxing against my will.

When my eyes open again, they open to complete darkness. My body is sore and heavy, and I feel like I have been tied down by a thousand bricks.

I can’t see, but I can make out that I’m on the floor. I struggle to get to my feet, and this is when I realize that my wrists have been zip tied together.

The ties are tied so tight that they have cut into my skin. With all my strength, I pull myself up so that I can sit. I happen to be near a wall, so I lean on it.

Where am I? How did I get here?

Suddenly, I recall a big man looking down at me and pressing a handkerchief to my nose.

Have I been kidnapped? But I was already being kidnapped. None of this makes any sense.

I hear a faint squeaking sound, and something climbs over me. I wriggle in fear, and I cringe when I realize it’s a rat.

Suddenly, the stench of the place hits me. It smells like a mix of so many horrible things.

Rat poop, dried blood, and urine.

I feel the walls to make out what they’re made of. It’s rough beneath my fingers, and I would guess the surface behind me is made of stone.

Suddenly, I hear footsteps approaching. Before I can prepare myself, the door flings open, and I hear a switch click.

Light suddenly fills the room, and I close my eyes in pain.

I slowly open my eyes as my pupils adjust, and I finally look at the person who entered the room.

My mouth drops open in shock as his face registers.

His face shows surprise, too.

“You?” he asks. The man looking down at me is none other than Viper.

He looks like some kind of avenging pirate from an overblown romance novel with his unruly, dark brown hair, and his tidy, thick beard. This might be the first time that I have ever seen him surprised despite working in his club for years.

His dark eyes are fastened on me with unblinking intensity, and I quiver a little in fear and desire. There’s something predatory and dangerous about him that is even more intense now that I am seeing him illuminated by bright lights for the first time.

His full lips compress into something like a scowl as he folds his arms over his muscular chest, and I notice for the first time that his legs are quite long but clearly muscular beneath the drape of his expensive suit.

I’m terrified and don’t understand why I’m here with Antonio Russo, and for some reason, I feel wetness at my core as he stares at me. If he were to yank me to my feet, press my face against the wall, and fuck me right here, I’d not only let him, my traitorous body would love every second of his attention.

He paces the room, looking down at me as he seems to think. He keeps driving a hand through his hair. I notice in an abstract way that his hands are beautiful, and desire spirals through me again in a dizzying wave. What is wrong with me?

“So, you’re Giovanni’s new girl?” he asks.

I swallow.

“It’s—it’s not what you think,” I say. My voice sounds strange and sharp to my own ears and I swallow.

He lowers himself to my level.

“Go on then, clear things up,” he says.

I close my eyes, pleading for heaven to help me because I am done for.

I asked Ray about Giovanni before his men came to fetch me, and he went into great detail. The most important piece of information he shared with me was the feud between Antonio and Giovanni.

How is a nobody like me caught in a feud between these two powerful men, and how do I escape them?

“I know what Giovanni does at his clubs. He’ll pimp you out for a while, make some money off you. He probably heard you’re a virgin, so I assume he’ll sell your V-card to the highest bidder before he’s through with you. Too bad he won’t be able to do that now,” he says with something that looks a bit like a grin.

I feel angry at his presumption. It hurts to think that my first time being with a man could be reduced to something so transactional.

He moves close to me and grabs my chin in a strong grip. I struggle to break free, but his fingers only dig in deeper. “Unless he sent you to spy on me before he called you back home. Is that why you’ve been in my club all this time?”

No, no, he has it all wrong. I fight to shake my head because I can’t speak.

He pushes me away, and I fall to the floor again.

“Damn you, Giovanni, you bastard!” he shouts, kicking the wall.

He returns his attention to me. “How much do you know?”

“I—I’m not a spy. I swear,” I say, realizing that I am crying. I don’t even know why I’m crying, but I can’t seem to stop.

He laughs. “Of course, Giovanni would pick a convincing liar. He really outdid himself this time,” he says harshly. “He knows my type, too. He picked a girl I would enjoy staring at, enjoy fucking, who would make me feel kindly toward her because he knew I would protect her.”

I shake my head fervently, but I know that nothing I say can help me now. “Please, listen to me, Antonio,” I cry, fighting to stand up.

He glares at me with hate-filled eyes, and suddenly he smiles. “You can call me Mr. Russo.”

“Mr. Russo,” I squeak out, panting with the effort of getting to my feet. The room spins around me a little, but I manage not to fall over.

Antonio steps closer to me, his dark brown eyes that look nearly black running over me. I had always expected that they might have flecks of color in them if I saw them away from the dark interior of the club, but they didn’t. They are fathomless, dark as night, and dangerously perceptive.

“Whatever plans Giovanni had for you end here. From now on, you’re no longer Giovanni’s girl. You belong to me. We don’t need to kid ourselves about whether or not that’s true. I’ve already had you, inside and out.” He rakes his eyes over my body, and I feel disgusted instead of heated. He chuckles and leaves the room, flicking off the lights and shutting the metal door hard.

I look around in panic. Why is this happening to me?

Thoughts of my mother and Laura cross my mind, and I start to pull at the bindings on my hands.

“No! No! Let me go! I am not a spy,” I cry. “I can explain!” I scream into the nothingness.