Page 104 of His Kidnapped Queen
“You expected me to trust you? You tried to fuckingkillme.”
“If I’d wanted you dead, you would have been,” Nico says dismissively.
I hear the engine of a car rev up and drive away and I just know they’re taking Sophia. Determination replaces the despair. I’ll find her. I’ll find her, then I’ll kill every man who harmed her. Who dared to take her from me.
“You don’t go down easy, do you?” Nico asks, and he pistol whips me again. I almost welcome the darkness.
29
SOPHIA
I scream and kick at the trunk but to no avail. Whoever is driving doesn’t lose a beat, speeding down the street. I’m rocked around in the trunk, rattling around, and it makes me nauseous.
I breathe in deeply through my nostrils, trying to calm down before I throw up all over myself. I’d grabbed Luca’s phone, texted Scott three words.
It’s Soph. Help.
I can only hope that he can track Luca’s phone. If he does, it’ll take him to the cottage, but maybe from there…
I don’t know. I don’t know if I’m going to get out of this.
Rosie girl, I’m so sorry. I tried so hard to get back to you.
The trunk swings open and I throw out my fists, connecting with some masked man’s face. He yelps and punches me in the face, and all the sound goes out of the world.
All I can hear is a distant ringing in my ears, my vision blurring as he scoops me out of the trunk, walking me up steps into ahouse. Soon enough, I’m tossed into a room, and I bounce off the wall, crying out as I bruise my hipbone.
I pace around, trying the window. It’s painted shut, much like the cottage. I look up at the high ceilings. This place is about five times bigger than the cottage, with vaulted ceilings. I try to look out of the blinds, but it’s pitch-black outside. I don’t even know what time it is. Scott will probably be asleep. Maybe the text didn’t even send…
I slap myself across the face, feeling my heart race, starting to panic. The pain brings me back around and I try the door. Of course, it’s locked. From the outside. A deadbolt, like the one at the cottage.
This has to be Nico’s doing. What if I’m at the Rossi mansion right now? It’s not like a SWAT team is going to come in and save me, not here. They won’t risk coming in, not like this.
I have to stop thinking so negatively. I have to fight to get back to my daughter, fight to get back to Luca. I almost told him, almost told him that we have a daughter, that I want him to meet her.
Because I do. God help me, I do want them to meet. I do want him.
I don’t know how to reconcile that with the part of me that’s a cop, the part of me that wants to take down his entire empire. But I want him. I love him.
But he hadn’t said it back. Maybe he doesn’t feel the same way, or maybe we just got interrupted. I guess I’ll never know.
“You will,” I say to myself out loud, trying to figure something out. I pace around for a while before banging on the door. “I have to pee!”
“I’ll bring you a bucket,” the voice from beyond the door says, and my heart drops. I don’t recognize the voice, but I wouldn’t. I only knew mobsters from dossiers, not from real life. Except for Luca and Diego, now.
I have to be ready.
I sit on the edge of the large bed in the center of the room, coiled and ready to strike. When the deadbolt clicks open, I sprint toward the door and end up banging against a solid chest.
When I look up, I recognize the eyes. Green, like Luca’s. Like Rosa.
“Nico,” I breathe.
“I see my reputation precedes me.” He smiles as if we’re old friends having a conversation.
“You tried to kill him.”
Hetsks. “Like I told my brother, if I’d wanted him dead, he’d be dead. I just wanted to give him a little warning.”
