Seconds later, the fear that wracked my senses began to fade away. Warmth enfolded me, and I sagged against him. One final whimper of protest slipped through my lips, but my tongue was too heavy to form the pleas for mercy that tickled at the back of my mind.
“Everything will be okay.” His promise floated down to me as I sank into darkness.
Corded arms closed around me, catching me before I fell.
“You’ll be with Joseph again soon,” he said, his voice smooth and oddly comforting. “We’ll keep you safe.”
Safe. With that strange reassurance, I surrendered to the darkness, and the world disappeared.
Chapter Two
Joseph
“I got you a present,” Marco said, a sly smile on his lips that I didn’t trust for one second.
I shrugged, unimpressed and uninterested. Nothing interested me these days. Not since I’d lost her. I’d tried to run away and find a normal life, and I’d found Ashlyn: my pure, perfect angel.
Then, Marco had tracked me down and dragged me back into my own personal hell. I didn’t want this life of violence and cruelty. All I wanted was to be free of it all. I thought I’d had a chance at that when I had met Ashlyn, and now that the dream had crumbled, I was hollow and apathetic.
So I didn’t really give a fuck if Marco had gotten me a golden unicorn. Nothing would faze me now.
“Is that why you made me come here?” I demanded, wondering why he’d invited me to his family’s estate on Long Island. I’d been with my father in the city, trying to defend his claim as the head of our family, once the current boss—Victor Lombardi—passed. And Victor’s death of natural causes was imminent.
Unfortunately for my blood relatives, there were other powerful men within our mafia family who wanted to take power. That was why Marco had dragged me home: to protect my dad and his presumptive position. And they’d all been worried that I was dead, so I supposed it was a small mercy for them that I’d finally been found after months of hiding out around the Harvard campus.
Besides, I might not like my life, but I didn’t hate my father. I didn’t want to see him dead.
And I didn’t want to put Marco at risk, either. The man who’d been my lifelong surrogate brother might have been killed if I’d stayed away. He needed me to watch his back, and I’d abandoned him. I knew that must have hurt him, and I still carried guilt over my decision to leave him behi
nd.
So why the fuck had he gotten me a gift?
The sly smile was still fixed on his hard face. “I told you, I got you a present. I had to stash it here. Come inside and see.”
I blew out an exasperated sigh, but I stepped across the threshold and entered the ostentatious mansion. There was enough white marble and gold gilding in the décor to blind a man. The effect was overwhelming, but Marco’s father, Leo De Luca, had never been a subtle man, and this was his home. Even if he rarely came here these days. He was too busy defending my father’s position from within the city, too. As Dad’s best friend, Leo would die to protect him. Just as Marco would do for me.
Marco began walking toward the elegant curved double staircase, and I followed. Curiosity stirred somewhere deep inside me, but it was faint. Nothing really caught my interest these days. Not since I’d lost Ashlyn and my dream of a normal life with her.
When we got to the top of the stairs and turned toward Marco’s bedroom, I stopped. Anger—my one familiar emotion—bubbled up.
“Do not tell me you have a girl in there,” I said through gritted teeth. If a three-way was Marco’s idea of a present, he’d fucked up big time. I wasn’t interested in anyone but Ashlyn. The idea of touching another woman made my stomach twist.
His smile sharpened as he turned the knob and pushed the door open. “As a matter of fact, I do.”
Just before my rage could rise, all the air was knocked from my chest. I reeled back a step at the horribly entrancing sight before me. She was even more beautiful than I remembered: alabaster skin contrasting with her silky dark hair. Her lovely eyes were closed, her long lashes resting on her cheeks.
“Ashlyn,” I rasped her name when I finally remembered how to breathe.
I didn’t realize I moved, but suddenly, I found myself at her side. I fell to my knees beside the bed where she was laid out on her back. I grasped her hand in mine. It was just as warm and delicate as I recalled in my fantasies.
She didn’t respond to my touch in any way; she remained still, her breathing deep and even. Like an enchanted fairytale princess, waiting for her true love’s kiss.
The idea turned my stomach. Because she wasn’t unconscious from some fantastical spell.
Marco had drugged her.
I rounded on him with a snarl, but I didn’t move away from her. I couldn’t. “What did you do?”