Feelings that are going to destroy me.
I’m still lost in the blazing inferno of the kiss when Nero yanks away. I feel ashamed when I see the lack of emotion in his eyes.
“Let this be a lesson for you,” he says grimly, releasing me. “The next time you run, you won’t live to see dawn.”
The rideback to his place is heavy with silence as before, but it doesn’t bother me this time. I’m too busy thinking about my impossible situation.
Right now, I’m a dead woman walking. By all the mafia rules, I should already be bleeding in a gutter somewhere. My father betrayed the Barrettis, and that’s a debt that needs to be repaid—not just as revenge against my family, but as a message to everyone else:
‘Fuck with the Barrettis and suffer the consequences.’
I thought I could reason with Nero, charm him into letting me and my brother go. But clearly, that plan isn’t going to work.
So, I need a new plan. One that keeps me breathing—and protects my brother, too.
But how?
The city blurs outside the windows as I turn over every possibility in my mind. I need to be smart if I’m going to get out of this mess. Flying by the seat of my pants isn’t cutting it, as tonight proved beyond a doubt. Being reckless and impulsive won’t help me get away from Nero, and besides, even if I do escape him again, where would I go? I need money, a safe place to hide, friends to help me…
And I have precisely none of the above.
There’s no escaping it: For now, I’m a prisoner. His prisoner. And if I’m going to walk away from my captivity, I need to do it with Nero’s blessing.
Because I know in my bones, if I run again… He would never stop hunting me.
So how can I convince him to let me go? To even keep me alive another day long enough to think about it?
“Out.”
I look up to find we’re back at his place, in a parking garage. I get out of the limo and follow him upstairs to his loft. I don’t have handcuffs binding my wrists anymore, but we both know that I don’t need them.
I don’t have a choice but to stay.
Nero leads me back to the same bedroom I was in beforehand. “This will be yours,” he says in a curt voice. His face is expressionless. “If there’s shit you need, make a list. Someone will get it for you.”
“How long am I staying?” I ask, looking around with new eyes.
“Until I decide you’re done here.”
“Nero—”
He walks out, leaving me alone with my questions. I half-expect to hear a lock turn in the door, but that doesn’t happen.
Nero’s icy pledge to hunt me down and kill me is enough of a padlock to keep me in place.
I want to get out of this dress, so I head straight for the closet, pulling it open to find it full of clothing in my size. Everything is brand new, and I wonder who bought it all. It has to have been purchased in just the last few hours.
Grabbing a pair of comfy yoga pants and a loose T-shirt, I change my clothes. When I take off the necklace and earrings, I’m tempted to throw them in the trash, just to spite Nero, but I know I’ve probably pushed my luck enough for now.
Taunting the beast won’t get me anywhere.
But what will?
Pacing the room in my bare feet, I think about what he said in his office earlier tonight.
Everyone has a price.
What that really means is that everyone has something they want. Something they’re willing to bargain for.