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“I’m sorry, what makes you think I’ll be here long enough to learn anything other than the fact you’re crazy?”
He took a long drag off his cigarette before stomping it out on the floor. “Oh, I’m not crazy, Niki; just the opposite in fact. I’m methodical and I don’t take shit from anyone, least of all a ninety-pound ballerina.”
Liam was a man on a mission, but for how long and to what end?
“What’s your plan, Mr. Man? Just going to keep me tied to a chair for the rest of my life?”
“Tied, yes. To a chair, no. You’ll be in my bed spitting out babies like a Pez dispenser. You’ll be far too exhausted from fucking and birthing to think about anything else but the life you have with me.”
He lit another cigarette and regarded me from where he stood. Was he expecting a reaction from me? If so, he would be disappointed. I’d kept a secret from the two people I loved the most for twelve years. If Liam Kelly thought a few words would make me break, he was sorely mistaken.
I’d been part of the Vitale household long enough to know that they always won and there was no way they’d believe some bogus note. They’d come for me, of that I had no doubt. I just hoped they wouldn’t be too late to save me from Liam’s threat. The last thing I wanted was to carry his offspring in my womb.
“Well, if you don’t mind your mightiness, I’d like a drink of water, a hot shower, and a nap in that order.”
Liam’s eyes remained open, but his hungry expression morphed into a calculating stare. He was a predator. Always had been and still was and would not give me what I’d asked for.
“To get anything from me, Nicolette, you’ll have to prove you’re a good girl.”
Oh-oh. I didn’t like the sound of that. I gulped, not trusting myself to speak.
“I can see I have your attention. You will not speak unless spoken to. When you are addressed, you will call me Captain or Sir. Understand?”
I chose not to answer. There was a masochistic need to find out just how far he’d go to get me to obey him.
“You are being addressed directly, Nicolette. I suggest you respond.”
If this situation had been different, and I was in the hands of Marko or Gio, a spanking and edging would be my punishment. With Liam, anything was possible, but instinctually, I knew it wouldn’t be sexual in nature. He’d waited for too long to sample the goods to use sex as a punishment now.
He pulled a gun out from his waistband. “I’ll let you choose which one I kill first. Marko or Gio?”
Oh crap.
“Neither, Captain! Sir!” I used both for good measure.
Liam chuckled darkly. “You’ve lost that privilege, at least this time. You want to test me, Nicolette, then fine, but every time you do, someone will die.”
He opened the door and dragged in one of the Vitale guards.
Bang! He shot him in the head, spraying blood over me. I screamed, choking with tears and outrage.
“Now you get it. Bring her!” he ordered some nameless, faceless person on the other side of the door.
The way the body of the dead man had fallen, I could now see his face. Shock, and then horror, battled within me as I took in the lifeless eyes of Amergio, my driver and Gio’s younger cousin.
Something inside me snapped. I would never forgive myself for what had just happened, never. Niki Swan disappeared, and Nicolette Angelucci who loved Gio Vitale and Marko Marino disappeared with her. The young Niki, the tough, angry one no one could touch, the one who’d existed before the boys—was gone. All that remained was the shell of the vibrant woman I’d once been.
Whatever Liam Kelly thought he’d captured, it wasn’t the frightened girl who’d run from him twelve years ago. She was gone.
Chapter 15
Giovanni
I’d been poring over the profiles of everyone connected with Empire Ballet, and our crew, trying to find the mole. I knew we were missing something, but no matter how many times I sorted through the hundreds of dossiers, none of them offered the link I was looking for.
Pieces of information and names that rang a bell sifted through my mind. Papa had known she would come back one day, but how? Had it been his years of experience speaking, or did he know something else?
How had a punk kid with no parents like Kelly risen to be the cream of the steaming pile of dung known as the Éannas? How had someone been able to navigate the home of Empire Ballet without ever being seen? Simon had gone over their limited security footage and found nothing, but also said it hadn’t been tampered with. How was that possible?
