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What Has to Be Done
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Taken by the Mafia King A Lot Has Changed
PaigeI tugged on the handcuff. It was stainless steel, the good stuff. There was no point even wasting my time trying to break it.I stared at Tommaso, who was on the phone with the airport again. He’d given me a long-chain cuff, so I could move around a little. My whole body ached even worse than it did when I got up this morning, but I meant it when I said I’d rather take my chances with the Egyptians.I looked at Tommaso again. He’d dropped those bastards like an action star without even breaking a sweat. He’d taken a gun out of a holster under his jacket a few minutes ago and locked it in an under-bed safe. Six enemies, and he didn’t even pull it. Nobody had protected me from anything in a long time, and certainly not like that.All on behalf of Sera Bianchi, who I hadn’t seen since I was eight. I still remembered that day, the very last day we spent as part of Dad’s old world. She’d invited a dozen kids to her ninth birthday party at a nearby park where a little carnival had bee
Taken by the Mafia King Flight Risk
TommasoThe second I closed the bathroom door behind me, the handcuff chain I left lying on the bed to alert me if she got up rattled.Dumb. She clearly didn’t trust me, no matter how many times I told her the truth. Better to find out here than in the airport.I sprang out of the bathroom and grabbed her just as she wrenched the suite door open. She glared back at me, the fire I remembered from her Polaroid burning bright in her dark eyes.“You lied,” she said.“No.” I pulled her back inside. “I went to the bathroom.”“It was a fucking test.” She squirmed in my grip. “That’s not trusting me.”I shut the door. “If you’d stayed put, I would’ve. You lied to me first.”She lapsed into furious silence while I chained her to the bed again.I scrubbed a hand over my face. “Once we get to Philly, I’ll take these off. For now, you’ve left me no other choice.”She rolled her eyes.The haunting rhythm of the five o’clock call to prayer began outside. I walked to the window and stared out over t
Taken by the Mafia King All Aboard
PaigeI crossed my legs on the hotel bed, and for the first time in five months, denim scraped against my skin. None of the bastards let me wear pants—when they let me wear anything at all. Between that, the snacks, and the totally private shower, I watched Tommaso pack up the room with a little less of a glare than I had an hour ago.My stomach grumbled, and he glanced at me. There was something in his eyes, around his mouth, that implied a smile. It would be hard not to notice that he was handsome. His soft green eyes balanced out the sharpness of his jaw and his bushy eyebrows. None of the other bastards had spent so long with me and not used me. Tommaso had barely touched me, other than all the time he’d spent dragging me around.I ripped my eyes away from him and looked back at the bedspread. Stupid. He was a bastard, just like the rest, and I needed to focus on myself. Despite the snacks I’d crammed down my gullet, I was still hungry. A perfect cheesesteak appeared in my mind’s
Taken by the Mafia King Up in the Air
TommasoI dropped into my seat next to Paige and breathed a sigh of relief. We’d made it through the airport. They’d checked my M9, but Marshal Evans wouldn’t complain, so I didn’t either. Now that Paige was sitting next to me, I knew I wouldn’t need it anyway. It was all part of the ruse, and they’d believed it.We couldn’t get first-class seats, but even here in business, Paige and I had the row to ourselves. I stretched my legs out as much as I could—never enough room on these damn things—and I glanced at her. The early morning sun cupped her profile. She’d tied her long hair back in a ponytail, allowing the rays to shine over her jagged cheekbones and the dark circles under her eyes. She might have had a few damaged petals, but this delicate flower was still stunning. Even ignoring me or seconds away from biting my head off, I enjoyed being around her.“Do you need help setting up a movie or something?” I asked.She shook her head and stared out the window. Right. I could take a h
Taken by the Mafia King Homecoming
Paige“Stop crying,” the bastard snapped. “Or I’ll give you something to really cry about.”A whip cracked through the freezing air, and just before it was about to land on my naked skin, I woke up.The world of the dream melted away even with my eyes still closed. A soft blanket was wrapped over my legs, and a pillow was warm and soft under my cheek. I would probably have to be up for work in a few minutes, but first, I had to figure out where that wonderful smell of cinnamon was coming from.Wait. Cinnamon?I opened my eyes, and everything came rushing back to me. I didn’t have a job anymore. I’d spent the last five months in captivity. That dream had been a memory. And I’d fallen asleep on the shoulder of the bastard who’d most recently bought me.I shot up and rubbed my cheek. The bumpy weave of his polo indented my skin, a sure sign I’d been asleep for a while. Hopefully, that would cover the heat rising to my cheeks. Shame was a four-letter word to me now, but I still felt stupi
Taken by the Mafia King New Normal
Paige“Paige!” My mom leapt out of the wide front door of Tommaso’s house, tears dragging mascara streaks down her face.“Mom!” How could she be here? I didn’t care. I took a step to run toward her, and the cuff still around my wrist held me back.“Shit. One moment.” Tommaso pulled the key out of his pocket, unlocked my cuff, and waved me forward.I took one step up the stairs, and Mom hit me like a linebacker. Her warm arms wrapped around my waist, thin but strong. I stumbled back down, thankful that she was even shorter than me. The air filled with the same floral perfume she’d been wearing for as long as I could remember.I sobbed.“I’m so sorry, partridge,” she whispered. “I’ve been looking for you all this time, trying to get you back. I missed you so much.”The nickname made me cry even harder. It wasn’t just a childhood nickname. It was Dad’s nickname for me.He started using it after a preschool teacher reported that I sang so much in class that it distracted the other student
Taken by the Mafia King Thank You Cards for the Mafia Princess
PaigeSera Bianchi was all grown up. Her brown hair was just as long as I remembered it from when we were kids. She used to brag that she could sit on hers when no one else could, but now it flowed down her back in a complex lattice of braids. Her day dress—God, how long had it been since I knew anyone who wore anything as ridiculous as a day dress?—shimmered in the light pouring in through the windows in the living room, highlighting her skin.Then, I realized she had her arm through Killian Ricci’s. Of fucking course. From one totally lethal mafia don to the next. Whatever would keep her in the lap of luxury.On the rare occasions I came over to the Bianchi mansion to play, she was exactly the same. She had a whole playroom, painted soft pink and covered in windows, but as a kid, I only cared about the fact that she had every toy I’d ever even heard about. No matter the toy, the line of dolls, or the board game, Sera shared freely until it got to the very best stuff, or the stuff sh
Taken by the Mafia King Long Road Ahead
TommasoI paced back and forth in the main sitting room in the guest wing, trying to enjoy the sweeping Byzantine arches I’d requested instead of worrying about what was going on the bedroom down the hall. Dr. Martinez had told me on the way in that she thought a private area would be important for the check-up, but that she didn’t think it should be the bedroom Paige would be sleeping in long-term so as not to form immediate bad memories. I’d sent her all the way down the hall, as far from the guestroom with the kitchenette as I could manage, had Olivia show Natalia the kitchen so they could talk through Paige’s favorite foods, and immediately posted up here with my scotch. It sat, untouched, on a mosaic coffee table. I couldn’t risk letting my guard down with Paige in my house for the very first time.I wanted to be excited to be home, wanted to run around seeing how all my designs turned out, but my every thought bent toward her and what nightmares Dr. Martinez might be uncovering.
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Taken by the Mafia King Epilogue
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Taken by the Mafia King Big News
Taken by the Mafia King Checking Up
Taken by the Mafia King Humdrum Excitement
Taken by the Mafia King Perfect Fit
Taken by the Mafia King Beginning of Forever
Taken by the Mafia King The Only Ones
Taken by the Mafia King Peace Time
