Page 114 of Captive Vow (Mafia Marriages 2)

The anger builds inside of me. “So, you thought you’d snatch my daughter and take her what for a joy ride up to Jaxson’s place?”

Paige lets out a heavy sigh. “That isn’t what happened.”

“Then give me your side, Paige. I’m dying to hear what made you kidnap my daughter,” I snap.

She grimaces, and her eyes crinkle at my words.

“Vance and his men forced me into their vehicle this afternoon.”

That fits the story that I know and why she didn’t come home, but I can’t help but doubt her words. “Forced or you went willing? You do work for him.”

“They held me at gunpoint,” she says.

“And?” I need more out of her.

She’s hesitating. Her eyes twitch, and she shifts uncomfortably on the floor, unfolding her legs and then pulling them up to her chest.

“And nothing. You want to lock me in here. I deserve it. I was played,” Paige says. She rests her chin on her knees. “I was stupid enough to walk through that front door at the agency and request a job. I believed Vance’s threats were real. There probably wasn’t a traitor in your house or a bomb set up to go off. He played me.”

“It was stupid to listen to him,” I say, but the anger that I harbor slowly begins to dissipate. “There was a bomb, but it wasn’t here.”

“What?” Her eyes widen in clear shock. She had no idea what I’d been through. One glance over her filthy and torn clothes, the red marks and dried scrapes of blood, and I don’t know what she went through either.

“DeLuca tried to kill my men and me,” I say. “Dante’s lucky he wasn’t nearly blown to pieces too.” I run a hand through my hair.

I can still feel the wave of the blast and the heat that threw me down to the ground.

My men would never betray me. They know the cost, their life.

“Are you still working for Vance DeLuca?” I ask again.

I need to know without a doubt that Paige is loyal to the Ricci family and me.

Her eyes are wide and bright as she stares up at me. “My only connection to him was the nanny agency, and you provide me my paycheck. I don’t have any further ties to him.”

She’s right. I paid Nanny Agency, Inc. handsomely for hiring Paige. I had no idea who I was funding.

I believe her, but it still doesn’t take away the anger and pain, the betrayal that burns inside me.

“Does he call you? Text you?” I ask.

“No. He kidnapped me off the street and had his men chase me through the forest. I swear I haven’t been in contact with him since I walked into his office and requested a job.”

It’s all a game to Vance.

Manipulation.

Fear.

Power.

He wants control of Dante’s empire and the Ricci family. But he’ll never get it. He tried to tear us apart, destroy our family from the inside, starting with Paige.

Well, he failed.

I unlock the metal door of the prison cellar and help Paige to her feet.

“Where are you taking me?” she asks. Her voice quivers, and as I help her up the stairs, she’s shivering.

Is she afraid of me?

“Upstairs to shower and then to bed,” I say. We still need to talk. There’s a lot to be said but not here, not in the prison cellar with her caged like an animal.

I want to apologize, but I can’t.

She took Nova.

Paige worked for Vance, and while she may have had good intentions, I’m still reeling inside from her actions.

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