Page 96 of Bound in Obsession
I give him a cold look. “Don’t insult me by suggesting I need to cheat to beat you.”
The table laughs, tension easing for a moment. I sip my drink, then push my chair back.
“That’s it for me tonight, gentlemen. I’m calling it.”
As I stand, Nikolai rises with me. We walk a few steps away from the table, out of earshot.
“It’s good to see you out here,” Nikolai says quietly. “Shows strength.”
I nod. “Have you heard anything?”
Looking ahead, he nods. “Yeah.”
We move to a private VIP booth. I signal the waiter for two fresh drinks as we sit down. Once we’re alone, I lean backwards.
“So… what do you know?” I ask.
“Gallo is getting impatient,” he says. “Since Sienna is nowhere to be found, he no longer wants her. Now he wants Eleonora. He’s pushing Massimo hard to get her back and hand her over as his bride instead.”
My grip tightens on the glass. The thought of Andrea Gallo even thinking about touching Eleonora makes something dark and violent uncoil in my chest.
I don’t give a fuck who it is, Gallo, her father, or any other man still breathing on this earth. She’s mine. No one else is going to have her.
Nikolai continues, unaware of the storm building inside me. “From what I’ve heard, after he saw her at the masquerade and with the way you fought him over her, he’s become obsessed. He’s spreading word that he’s going to get her back from you at all costs.”
I set the glass down before I crush it. My jaw is clenched so tight it aches.
“That’s not going to happen,” I say, voice flat and cold.
Nikolai studies me for a long moment, then asks carefully, “Do you like the Caruso girl?”
I don’t answer.
He leans back. “You don’t have to say it. But I’ve known you a long time, Nico. The way you look at her… it’s not just business anymore.”
I stay silent.
Nikolai sighs. “You need to be careful. There might be a war coming. Gallo is dangerous when he wants something. And right now, he wants her badly.”
I nod once, but my mind is already spinning. I don’t care about the original plan. I don’t care about the deal with her father. Eleonora is not going back. Not to Massimo. Not to Gallo. Not to anyone.
Nikolai watches me. “So what’s your plan? You kidnapped her as leverage… but now?”
I stand up abruptly, unable to sit still any longer.
“I have to get going,” I say.
I don’t answer his question. Because the truth is, I’ve been asking myself the same thing every single day.
I sit in the passenger seat as Marco drives us back to the estate, taking one of the Syndicate’s protected routes far from the mainroads. Only a handful of my most trusted men know the way in and out.
The route cuts through isolated backroads, stretches of forest, abandoned service paths, and unmarked roads hidden from public maps.
We can’t risk using the normal highways. Not when both the Gallos and Massimo’s men would kill for the chance to trace the route back to the estate.
He’s talking about something, but I’m barely listening. My mind is stuck on what Nikolai told me.
Gallo wants her.
