Chapter 5: Adjusting to captivity....or not

My eyes fluttered open to the sight of an ornately carved ceiling above a plush, king-sized bed. Sunlight streamed through the gauzy curtains, casting a warm glow over the lavish bedchamber. For a moment, I was disoriented, unsure of where I was or how I’d gotten there.

Then the memories of the previous night came rushing back - the masquerade ball, Viktor’s repulsive advances, the explosive altercation between him and Kian. I shuddered as I recalled the wild, possessive look in Kian’s eyes when he proclaimed I belonged to him. His searing kiss, demanding and uncompromising, raising an unsettling mix of fear and desire.

“Are you outta your friggin’ mind, Kian?” A gruff voice snarled from beyond the bedroom door. “Bringing in some random piece of ass off the streets like that? For all we know she could be a fuckin’ rat planted by the Feds or one of the Dmitri’s button men!”

My blood froze at the venomous accusation. I strained to make out Kian’s response through the thick oak barrier.

“Watch your tone, Paulie,” he growled in that dangerous timbre that brooked no argument. “She’s no setup, I can assure you that. The little bella was just in the wrong place at the wrong time when that butcher’s sale went down.”

“That’s what you said about that puerto rican puttana, and she damn near took us all down with her games!” Paulie shot back heatedly. “We can’t afford anymore liabilities when things are this tense with the Russians!”

There was a tense pause before Kian spoke again, his voice taking on an edge that made the hairs on the back of my neck prickle.

“Isadora is under my protection, Capo,” he stated, the danger in his tone unmistakable. “Which means she’s off limits to being iced, even for you. The first button man who so much as looks at her cross-eyed won’t live to see another dawn, capisce?”

I could practically hear Paulie swallowing hard. “Loud and clear, boss. I’m just lookin’ out for the family, you know that.”

“Then pull your head outta your ass and let me handle my own affairs,” Kian snarled. “We’ve got enough grief with Dmitri’s crew trying to muscle in on our territories. I won’t have my own wedding party going sideways on me too.”

With that, his footsteps retreated down the hall, leaving an uneasy silence behind. I let out the breath I hadn’t realized I’d been holding, my heart racing. So it seemed even the most powerful capo dei capi had to deal with dissent and power plays within his own ranks.

The bedroom door opened and Kian strode in, his chiseled features set in an inscrutable mask. When his gaze settled on me, something flickered briefly in those obsidian depths before the shutters slammed down once more.

“I trust you slept well, bella,” he said in a deceptively mild tone, closing the distance between us with a few lazy strides. Up close, I could see the quintessential mafia don persona was firmly back in place, his imposing aura crackling with barely restrained menace.

“I have some…ground rules to establish,” Kian murmured, reaching out to grasp my chin and force me to meet his stony gaze. “For your own safety as much as anything else.”

I tried not to tremble at his iron grip, reminding myself to stay calm and reinforce to Kian that I posed no threat if I hoped to stay on his good side.

“You are never to leave the compound unescorted by one of my capos or button men, is that clear?” His grip tightened infinitesimally, sending a shiver down my spine. “Even if that snake Viktor managed to get his greasy mitts on you…”

The memory of Viktor’s vile taunts made me flinch. Kian’s jaw clenched at my reaction.

“You’d be safer in his clutches than wandering around unchaperoned like a dumb sissy,” he growled. “Too many eyes out there looking to make a score by snatching you out from under my nose.”

A sharp rap at the door cut off whatever else he’d been about to say. With a curt “Enter,” Kian turned as a hulking figure filled the doorway.

The man who ducked through had to be pushing seven feet, his massive frame all bulging muscle and inscrutible ink sleeves. He made Kian look almost delicate by comparison, which seemed an impossible feat.

“Yo boss,” the giant rumbled in a surprisingly soft baritone. “You wanted to see me?”

“Kyle,” Kian said by way of greeting, not even attempting to mask his smug satisfaction at his new hireling’s sheer size and presence. “This is Isadora. From now on, she doesn’t so much as take a piss without you or one of the other button men being within five feet, capisce?”

I couldn’t quite contain the shudder of discomfort as those impassive dark eyes shifted to bore into me. Something in that inscrutable gaze made me feel like a prized show pony being evaluated.

“You got it, boss.” The giant inclined his head deferentially to Kian before turning that heavy-lidded stare on me once more. “Don’t you worry, principessa. Ol’ Kyle here will keep you safe and sound.”

Somehow the endearment, rumbled in that disarmingly mild tone, was even more unsettling than outright menace would have been. I mustered a faint nod, keenly aware that Kyle’s very presence had transformed my lavish bedchamber into a cell where I was the prized captive under constant guard.

“One more thing,” Kian added in a tone that made the hairs prickle on the nape of my neck. “The only hands you’ll allow on that luscious body of yours are mine. Any button man so much as breathes the same air too close, and you come straight to me, capisce?”

My cheeks flamed as mortification and revulsion churned through me at his crude possessiveness. But I had no doubt Kyle’s presence was meant as an implicit warning that any refusal to cooperate would be…dealt with accordingly.

I could only nod tightly, barely repressing a shudder at the grim promise in both men’s expressions.

“Good girl.” That sensuous rumble, darkened with hints of steel, sent an involuntary thrill down my spine. Callused fingertips brushed my cheek in an unsettling mockery of affection. “We’ll make a fine Macriata out of you yet, mia cara.”

He sealed the declaration with a feather-light caress of his lips against mine, a lingering promise of the dark delights to come. Before I could so much as process the encounter, he swept from the room in a swirl of expensive cologne and roiling danger.

Left alone with my new, hulking shadow, I sank onto the bed and hugged my knees to my chest, feeling more like a captive than ever before. One thing was abundantly clear - surviving in this glittering underbelly would require sacrificing the last shreds of who I’d been. The question was whether any part of my former self would remain once the metamorphosis was complete.

I shivered again at the thought, catching Kyle’s gaze lingering on me with that disconcerting intensity that made me feel like a caged animal on display.

This was my life now, at the whims and mercies of the very bastions of brutality and violence. If I didn’t play by their twisted rules, the consequences didn’t bear contemplating.

There had to be a way to escape this nightmare, I told myself desperately.

….Isn’t there?