Page 2 of The Don's Captor

I had no idea how long I had been sitting there before footsteps made their way toward me. Instinctively, my muscles tightened, waiting for a blow I couldn’t see. I felt a grip on the bag, and a second later, it was pulled off my head. I had to blink a few times at the harsh light now hitting me. Once I could see again, I knew exactly how screwed I was. Right before I stood six men, and none of them looked friendly.

“Natalie Grant, we need to talk.” The thick Italian accent told me exactly how screwed I was.

Chapter two

Armando

“Who are you?” she asked, doing her best to keep the fear from her voice.

This was fucked up, but there was nothing I could do about it. Dominic had given the order to grab Natalie and bring her here. With Dom being the head of the West Coast faction of the Italian mafia, I wasn’t in a position to argue with him or go against his orders, even if I had a issue with him kidnapping a newly pregnant woman.

“Dominic Russo. I am the Don of the Italian mafia all along the West Coast.”

The confusion was evident in her eyes. She didn’t expect that answer to come out of Dom’s mouth. I had no idea if she even fully understood the situation she was in. Most know about the mafia, generally the Russian faction, but what they knew was from movies like the Godfather.

There was a lot of violence in this world, but there was also a lot of paperwork and business running. Very mundane stuff that never gets talked about. There was also the darker aspect of this world. The stuff that never made it into movies because it was too dark for anyone to watch. Natalie was smack dab in the middle of that darkness now.

“I don’t…why am I here?” she asked. I could tell she was trying to process what was happening.

“The good news is you didn’t do anything wrong. The bad is that you have a piece of shit father who doesn’t seem to care about paying his debts.”

“You’re still not making any sense. What do my father’s debts have to do with me?”

Unfortunately, it had everything to do with her. Different factions of the mafia all had their own rackets. The most common were underground casinos. Others were drugs and arms trafficking, but they were more dangerous in terms of getting caught by law enforcement. Underground casinos were easy. You could set one up within a day and move it a few days later. Hell, the unpredictability of it is what made it so exciting for customers.

“He is a regular at my casinos. He’s got to be the unluckiest man in the world, though. He can never seem to win, and he never knows when to quit when he’s ahead. He’s a hundred grand in debt, and it is time to collect.”

“He doesn't have that kind of money. I don’t either. How do you even let someone get that far in debt?” she asked with a slight edge to her voice. I had the fight not to smirk. She was scared, but she had some sass to her. It wouldn’t save her, but it might help her get through what was to come.

She also had a point, one I had asked when I first arrived at Dom’s faction three years ago. It was typical to allow customers to rack up a pretty impressive debt; however, you could never let it get too high. There is a balance you have to walk. You need to know the customer’s income level and then weigh that against the debt to see how long it would take for someone to pay it off or if they are even capable of paying it off.

You always cut them off before they reach the point where the debt is out of their league. Dom didn’t have that business model. He had no problem allowing customers to rack up an astronomical debt. He did so because it got him what he truly wanted.

“I am not my customers’ accountant. What they do with their money is up to them. I presented your father with a suitable alternative, and he accepted. Unfortunately for you.” I could hear how pleased he was. Drawing it out just so he could get his rocks off. I was going to enjoy killing him.

Unrest within the mafia was a given. However, I couldn’t care less about running the show. I had my own show to run out East back home. I wasn’t working under this despicable devil to make money. I was here for revenge to finally get to kill the man responsible for me losing the love of my life. I was buying time until I could get close enough to him. I could have killed him long ago by shooting him from a safe distance, but that wouldn’t be good enough for me. I wanted to feel his neck snap within my hands. I wanted to see the life drain from his eyes.

“I don’t have that kind of money. I work as a receptionist.”

The poor girl still thought this was about money. She had no idea that Dom had a sure-fire way to make triple the amount he was owed.

“I have no need for your money. Your father signed away your first born. That baby growing inside your belly right now belongs to me,” he said with a deadly smirk.

My eyes flickered over to Natalie, and I could see horror flooding her eyes. The realization of what her own father had given up just to save his own ass. It wouldn’t work, though, as Dom would kill him on principle. He couldn’t risk any of his past customers growing a conscience and calling the police. Dead men never tell tales.

“I’m not pregnant. I don’t know what you are talking about,” she tried to deny, but there was no denying what Dom knew. He never left anything to chance.

“Of course you are. You just left the doctor’s office where you received the grand news. I run a lucrative business with a large number of connections. I knew you were pregnant a couple of days ago, compliments of the lab rat that ran your blood. You’re one lucky girl. If I had to wait any longer for you to finally get knocked up, I was going to kill you and your daddy,” he said with a chuckle.

He turned to glance at us before giving Natalie his full attention again. I knew he was loving this. It was one of his favorite parts: to see the fight drain from his victim’s face. This was generally the part where the women begged him to let her go and leave her baby alone.

“You think I’m going to hand over my baby to you?” she said with an edge filtering into her voice. That was surprising; it would take more time for her to accept her fate. Dom would like that. He always liked it when they fought. He was a sucker for a challenge, and she was a stupid girl for giving it to him.

“You don’t have a say in the matter. I don’t let my debts go unpaid. Especially after all of the time I have put in just to get you pregnant. I mean, this has been in the works for a year now. Week after week, sending in one of my guys to fuck you. It was getting tedious. Now that you are finally pregnant, you will be placed in a secure house and guarded until you pop the baby out. Afterward, you will be free to go back home and live your life. It’s just that simple.”

It wasn’t that simple. He would never allow her to leave. Once the baby was out, she would be killed. She wouldn’t even get to hold her baby before her heart stopped. The baby would then go to the highest bidder and, with great luck, to a loving family. Dom didn’t care who they were or what would happen to the children; he only cared about the money.

“I will never give my baby to you,” she said, determination deep within her voice.

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