Page 77 of The Last Vendetta

I could only pray that Giulia was safe and doing all that she could to survive on her path back to me.

25

GIULIA

Giulia

The longer I waited in the cell, the more my hopes faded.

I’d made up my mind. I would die before becoming Nickolas’s woman.

But I had no clue how to make that happen.

Renzo would know that I was missing. Hours had passed, and he would’ve realized that the bed was empty within minutes of their taking me out of that Bernardi villa.

And if he knew I was missing, he’d be hell-bent on finding me.

But then what?

His Family was the one that kidnapped me. I had to assume this was Giovanni’s doing. He called the shots. He wasn’t retired yet, and per that call I overheard, he didn’t seem to trust Renzo or agree with his style of taking over what Luka used to handle.

If Renzo learned that his Family’s men had snatched me out of that house, what could he do about it?

It was way too soon for Renzo to have obtained the loyalty of any of the men yet.

There was no way he’d be able to overpower his father’s men. While Gio was in charge, he’d order these guards to keep me here and hand me over to the Romanos.

To Nickolas.

No. I’ve got to get away.

I couldn’t fathom being with that man. Not for one second. Now that I knew how good it was with Renzo, I didn’t want anyone else to ever touch me.

So far, though, they were stalling.

They moved me from one cell to another, and while this one had a door to close and lock, they left it open. One small mercy was the absence of blood and excrement on the floor, but I couldn’t—and wouldn’t—get comfortable.

I had to stay on guard, even though the soldiers drank and snorted coke in the bigger hallway space outside my cell. With the door open, I could hear and see them as they passed by, and more than once, they taunted me to join in.

“You sure you don’t want to loosen up?” a Romano soldier teased. “I heard Nicky likes it hard and rough.” The others laughed along with him. “Might make it easier when he breaks ya in.”

I kept my lips clamped shut. They’d get no response from me. I wouldn’t give them the satisfaction.

As I waited for them to make a move or to transport me, I tried to cling to the strongest sense of calmness that I could. I had to be logical and alert, not emotional and scared. Terror coursed through me. I was absolutely afraid, but I couldn’t show it or let it get to me.

“Eh, they’re still meeting,” one said eventually when they discussed whether they should start more lines of coke or they’d need to move me to the Romano residence yet. “They always got their meetings and shit. We’ll get a text when to bring her to the car.”

The they these men referenced had to be Nickolas or Marcus Romano and Giovanni Bernardi. It should have helped to know who I could hate and blame for taking me from Renzo. But it didn’t comfort me much. It hardly mattered who’d conspired to keep me and my lover apart. The biggest detail I had to pay attention to was getting out of this situation and avoiding being in the Romanos’ custody at all.

Renzo’s face stayed in my mind, and when I thought back to the strength that man gave me, I felt more confident deep inside. Just thinking about him helped my wounded heart. When I replayed the sweet, sincere words he’d shared with me, my determination to get out of here rose higher.

“I will always need you.”

I didn’t doubt him. I believed Renzo when he swore that his affection and desire for me would remain permanent. We might have started with a fling, getting frisky at the wedding and then when he snuck into my house, but it had solidly and steadily developed into something far more lasting.

Something like love. Forever.

I didn’t have a chance to think and dream about him. My fantasies of his rushing in here and rescuing me faded.

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