Page 6 of Kidnapped Wife

“No, you didn’t. You believed the lies Isabella told you, and instead of coming to me, you decided to run.” He tutted. “We’re not leaving until you say you believe me, and you know I’m not ever going to leave you.”

“Don’t you think this is pointless?” she asked.

“No.”

“You’re being stubborn.”

“No, I’m not. I know Isabella is going to be a pain in the ass. I know she is up to something, and as much as I’d love to kill her, I’m not ready to start a war.”

“A war?” Elsie asked.

“Killing fellow capos’ daughters doesn’t come without consequences,” Massimo said. “I had told you this on many occasions. There is a certain level of finesse, and with Isabella as popular as she is, there would be consequences, and I will not allow anything bad to happen to you.”

“You know I don’t get all your mafia politics.” She blew out a breath.

“You don’t need to.”

“I don’t know. What if I was to slap her?” Elsie asked. “Would I then be whipped or killed?”

“Would you slap her?” Massimo asked.

“That’s beside the point.”

“I have yet to see you hurt a fly.” Massimo smiled.

“Look, I know … I don’t like it, okay. Trust me, when you don’t have a choice, and it sucks, it’s not a good feeling.” She felt herself tensing up. There were some things she had never told Massimo. “I was about fourteen. I can’t even remember what foster home number it was. I lost count after ten.” She stopped and took a breath. She couldn’t bring herself to look at him. “It was a mixed house. Boys and girls. It’s not unusual. I mean, there were some places with all girls, so I assume there were all-boy places as well.”

“You don’t have to tell me,” he said.

She knew that was a lie. Massimo always wanted her to tell him stuff from her past. It was strange, as he always seemed to listen.

“The guys were slightly older, sixteen, seventeen. They kept talking about life outside the home, and getting their own place. Anyway, they were mean. They were bullies, and I wasn’t the new girl. I’d been with some of the guys a few times at other homes, I’d even run with a few of them. We always got caught. Anyway, there was a new girl, she’d not been in the system long. Some kind of mess with Social Services and her mom. I don’tknow the details. All I know is she wasn’t supposed to be in the system. One of the guys, the leader, took a liking to her. It wasn’t reciprocated. One night, he … tried to … rape her.”

Elsie stopped. It was a memory she hated.

“I heard the screams. The foster parents weren’t home. It was just me and a couple of the guys, and, well, they didn’t stop him, but I did.” Elsie looked over at Massimo. “He wasn’t going to stop, so I had no choice. I grabbed his knife and jammed it so hard into his side, punctured his lung, and I’d already taken the other two by surprise. They were not expecting me to fight.”

“You shouldn’t have had to go through that,” he said, wanting to kill the kids. “None of this is on your record.”

She laughed. “You had me checked out.”

“I needed to know who you were.”

“I’m not surprised. It was … covered up. The girl was taken the next day back to her parents. She was actually rich, and something had gotten messed up. To thank me, she made sure I didn’t have a criminal record, and she also paid me.”

****

Massimo had known his wife didn’t have the greatest start in life. She’d never been quite so trustworthy of anyone. Even when he visited the café just to see her, she never believed he was there just on business. She had a right not to believe him, because he hadn’t just been there for business, but because he couldn’t help himself. He’d literally fallen for her from the first moment.

“Did the state take your money?” he asked.

“No.”

“The system?”

“No.”

“A caregiver?” he asked. He was going to find everyone who did this woman wrong, and he was going to kill them all.

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