Page 31 of The Sicilian's Obsession
"Don't you wonder where Daddy Dearest is, little butterfly? He misses you and wants to see you."
I was officially freaked out. Arturo had pulled software up on the computer. I tried to keep the caller on the line. "What did you do with my father?" I tried to slow my breathing down, counting in my mind, trying to calm the panic that had gripped my heart like a vise.
"All in good time, little butterfly. Just know I'm coming for you."
The line went dead, and I collapsed on the floor. I tried to center myself, but Arturo was barking commands on his phone. I could barely hear him over my ragged breathing. The thoughts were swirling in my mind. My father was in the clutches of some maniac. I was beating myself up. While I was out having fun and fucking my security, my dad had been kidnapped. I had barely spared him a worried thought. Instead, I was having family dinners with Arturo and living my best life, all while he was being tortured, or worse. My father. My only family.
"We need to find this guynow." I tuned in enough to hear Arturo barking into his phone.
He dropped on the floor beside me. "This is not your fault, Katima. Look at me." I hung my head lower, leaning away from him. "Baby girl, look at me." I looked up at Arturo. "This is not on you, baby girl. We are going to get your dad back; don't worry. I will make this asshole pay."
Pretty words, but I just couldn't put my hopes into believing them. I nodded in response, hoping Arturo believed that I believed him. All the while, I started planning. I was going to save my father, no matter what.
Arturo left the house but didn't leave me on my own. He had a ton of guys from his security firm in the house and outside of it. I guess that made the house less nondescript and more suspicious, but I don't think he cared at this point. Even though Sweets Incorporated was closed for the foreseeable future, I still had work that needed to be done. As I went through the emails left and ideas of new flavors, my cell phone pinged. Arturo had updated some of the security on the property so that we could follow anyone who was trespassing. I pulled up the cameras to see Rebecca running into the building. What the hell was she doing there? I had a bad feeling and asked one of the guys to take me back home. I figured a quick two-day trip would do it, just to make sure Rebecca wasn't on the property and hadn't tried to take anything. She had tried to access my office, but I was smart enough to remember to revoke her access card. I just forgot to take it from her, so she could still get into the building. Of course, none of the men would agree to take me without permission from Arturo, so I had to find a way to sneak out that night. I grabbed the keys to the vehicle when no one was looking and hurriedly put them in my pocket. Later, when I was supposed to be sleeping, I quietly opened the window and climbed out, then ran to the car, which was hidden from sight a little way away from the safe house. I jumped in and headed out, breathing a sigh of relief when I hit the freeway.
The next morning, I arrived back in town and sent a message to all the other employees about Rebecca being dismissed. I asked them to contact me if they had seen her on the premises. My security detail stood guard as I entered my father's office to see if anything had been messed with. Nothing looked like it was out of the ordinary. Before I could access his computer, a thud came from outside the room. A stunted grunt and then another thud. I poked my head out the door but didn't see anything. Security must have been looking to make sure there was nothing out of the ordinary happening. Shrugging it off, I went through my dad's computer. The only thing that stuck out to me was a file labeled Kat. That had to be me, right? I opened it and started poring over the information. There was a ton of information, but the most important were the articles that hadn't been published about my mother's murder. I stood in horror glaring at the screen, tears blinding me. My father had lied to me. He told me my mom had died in a car accident. Mutilated beyond recognition, was not a car accident. I heard a squeaking sound behind me and turned just in time to see Rebecca swinging a tire iron toward my face.
"Fucking bitch," she yelled just before it was lights out. The blackness took me swiftly.
* * *
I awoke with a throbbing skull, on a bed covered in silk sheets. What fresh hell was this? There was something vaguely familiar about my surroundings. I couldn't quite put my finger on it. Before I could analyze my surroundings any longer, the door swung open to reveal a triumphant Rebecca standing there.
"Are you my stalker?" I blurted out. The disgusted look on her face made me think I was completely off the mark.
"Uhm, no, delusional much?" Rebecca laughed and sauntered over to me. She patted me on the head like a dog. "I just needed to get you out of the way. With no one at the helm of Sweets Incorporated, the shareholders will freak out. That will leave me room to take over. I've been there forever and most know me. Funny, you never paid attention to any of that, but I made sure I went with your father to every meeting. I flirted, I suggested, and I made a name for myself with them. Most of them expected me to take over when your father stepped down, but no, you got in the way, you stuttering, dumb bitch. Then you had the audacity to fire me.Me?Fuck you, cunt. If it weren't for me, I doubt you'd be able to function. I took care of everything you didn't want to, while you basically rocked in a corner, hiding away from the world." She slapped me in the face.
I whimpered and she grinned and slapped me again. Then she closed her fist and hit me hard. "I've been wanting to do that for years. Do you know how awful it is to work for someone as broken as you are? You are beneath me." She accented each insult with another hit to the face. I couldn't even defend myself. I curled into a ball to try to get away from the hits that were raining down on my body. It hurt so bad. Then abruptly, they stopped. I glanced back with my one good eye that wasn't closed over, to see a huge man with his hands around Rebecca's throat.
"Arturo?" I whimpered.
"No, little butterfly." He threw me a savage grin but kept tightening his hand around Rebecca's throat. She was turning purple, and I could see that his trousers were growing tight. "I told you not to touch my little butterfly." He didn't yell. He didn't scream. No, he was menacing and overpowering by sheer size alone. He shook Rebecca like a rag doll, not allowing her to draw any breath. At this point, I couldn't keep my mind awake any longer. I guessed I was going to be asleep for the torture part of my abduction. I just couldn't bring myself to care. With that, I promptly passed out.
* * *
Arturo
"Where the fuck is she?" I ran into Sweets Incorporated with a new team as backup. Those other idiots had let her get away, and now she'd been taken. I could barely see straight. I was raging. Brendon was in the building, trying to track down anything we could find on Katima. I brought a bunch of guys from my old unit who were at the home office to help work this, because I needed people I could trust to find my woman.My woman, the one I couldn't protect just like… no, I couldn't think about that now. I shook off the past and tried to focus on the present.
"We got something, boss." Jake ran up to me, showing a video pulled up on his tablet. Rebecca, that stupid bottle-blonde bitch and some guy in black were dragging Katima to a dark vehicle. They dumped her inside with no regard to whether they were hurting her. My stomach clenched. I had a bad feeling, a very bad feeling. The office door swung open and in walked the missing and elusive Charles Sweets.
"Where the fuck have you been?" I barked at him. I was at my limit. I'd had enough.
"To hell and back," he said ambiguously.
Oh no, that shit was not going to work. I grabbed him by the collar, completely over his attitude. "Katima is missing. Do you even give a fuck? She's been worried sick about you since we lost track of you in England. Now you choose to just waltz in here and act like you haven't been gone for almost a month. Not going to fly. Katima has been taken, and I would bet my company the reason is you."
Jake laid a hand on my shoulder, trying to calm me down.
Charles had gone green at the gills at my outburst. He sank to the floor, and I let him go, still pissed about his nonchalance. "A high-ranking hitman in the family," he whispered, his dark hand covering half of his face.
I wanted to rush him, to tell him we didn't have time for him to tell long ass stories. Katima's life was at stake. I knew this wasn't how to get information, so I let Jake take over while I stood still at the doorway. I needed to hear him out, but I couldn't be near him.
"Before Katima's mother died, I was working for the Sicilian mafia."
I closed my lips tightly. I didn't want to interrupt and say anything to him. I couldn't. I needed all the facts.
Charles sighed at our silence. "My primary job was to make sure all the money that came in left clean. That way, there wouldn't be any feds or anyone else on our tail. I had fallen on some hard times, so I figured I could skim a little, just enough to get my family back on their feet. I figured no one would be the wiser, but someone ratted me out to the big boss. I had never met him, but he sent a triggerman after my wife and daughter. That was the time Katima can't remember. I let my wife get mutilated while I got my daughter out. He had them for a few weeks and Katima was traumatized by everything she had seen. I ran with her, started my company again, but as you know, you can't ever run from the mafia. That's what I was doing overseas, trying to find some help when they nabbed me. Luckily, I did find help and was able to make a deal with boss man. The problem is his rogue assassin. This guy was just supposed to watch and report back. He doesn't have orders to take Katima. I'm not sure where his obsession stems from, but he's not working with the family on this. He doesn't have their backing."
