14
Nicole
“Can you please remove the handcuffs? I swear I won’t try to run again,” I say.
He doesn’t answer me.
We pull up out in front of Dante’s home.
It’s beautiful from the outside, old and large. I’m surprised it’s a log cabin, but it’s huge. It easily stretches on for two properties in a typical residential area.
However, he doesn’t live in a city or suburbia.
We are out in the wilderness. Dante probably owns hundreds if not thousands of acres.
The windows are dark but made of glass that goes from floor to ceiling along the road-facing entrance.
It is serene and peaceful and offers a false sense of security.
There is nothing peaceful or calm about Dante.
He kidnapped me, bought me, and has now handcuffed me as he drags me inside his home.
Does he plan on parading me around in front of his staff?
Dante leads me out from the car, his hand around my arm as he guides me up the steps and around the wrap-around porch to the entrance.
“What’s downstairs?” I ask as he unlocks the door.
Dante exhales a sigh and flips on the light. He pulls me inside the house and turns me around while he disarms and then resets the alarm, not letting me see the code.
The same man who I saw Dante with at the bar that night strolls over toward us. He has a crooked nose, something that I hadn’t noticed earlier from a distance. He smiles warmly at the two of us.
“Boss.”
“What is it, Moreno?” Dante asks, his tone clipped. He sounds every bit like how I feel, tired, exhausted, and ready to sleep for the next century.
Dante shoves me at Moreno. “Take her upstairs, show her the guest quarters. I’m going to call the doctor and see if I can have him drive out tonight.”
“Tonight?” Moreno asks, glancing at the clock on the wall.
“Yes. She took a nasty spill, and I want to make sure she’s all right,” he says. “I’ll call from my office. Make sure that she has everything she needs for the evening.”
My hands are still bound behind my back. It’s uncomfortable, to say the least, and after stumbling down the mountainside, my shoulder is a bit tender too. I have a few bumps and bruises, but my vision is better than it was earlier.
“Of course, Boss,” Moreno says.
Dante tears off down the hallway, and I’m whisked up another staircase.
“This way,” Moreno says. He takes my arm to guide me up the steps and down the long hallway. To the left is a balcony that overlooks the entryway. To the right, door after door is shut.
Past the balcony, there are four additional doors on the left. Moreno opens the second door on the left and leads me inside.
Once inside, he retrieves a set of keys and gestures for me to turn around.
I breathe a sigh of relief when he unclasps the handcuffs that Dante put around my wrists. While the collar had been far worse, the cuffs weren’t exactly pleasant either.
“Thank you,” I say, and pull my arms around in front of me. I rub at the red marks and grimace.