Page 18 of Claimed by my Stepbrother

“I can see why Gallucci wants to keep you around. You are one prize piece of ass,” the man says and puckers his lips. Another man on the other side of the room laughs at his sideways compliment, letting me know I have at least three captors.

“I want you to know that I don’t want to hurt you. If your boyfriend follows my instructions and does as he’s told, you’ll be back in his bed in no time.”

“Do you even know Giovanni Gallucci? He doesn’t take orders from anyone,” I spit back.

The man leans in close to my face and says, “There’s a part of me that hopes you’re right. Imagine how fun it would be to keep you and have you around.” Something glints in his eye, and he licks his lips slowly. I fight back the urge to regurgitate my breakfast.

The third man hands me a glass of water. As much as I’d like to throw it back in his face, I have to quench this insatiable thirst I feel so I gulp it down quickly. As I hold the glass, I begin to consider using it as a weapon, but they’re one step ahead of me. The man pulls it out of my hand before I have enough time to act.

“Get comfortable, girl. You’re going to be here for a while and don’t do anything stupid or Dominic here will have to tie you up.” He points to the man who drugged me in the car. “I don’t know, maybe you like that kind of thing, but you have to behave yourself for now,” he laughs again and his hired henchmen chuckle along with him.

“Screw you,” I mutter.

“What’s that? Ho! American girl! Damn, you have a dirty mouth on you. I like it. I like it a lot,” the choir of laughter begins again.” Dominic will be right outside the door so behave, American girl.”

The three men leave the room, and I hear a total of four bolts click when they lock the door. I know I should be terrified right now, but that isn’t what I’m feeling. I’m angry at myself for disobeying Giovanni’s orders. If I would have just stayed at the house, I wouldn’t be in this mess. I know he won’t stand for it. I have no doubt he’ll come to my rescue. I just hope he doesn’t hate me for putting myself in this position in the first place.

11

GETTING GABBY BACK

GIOVANNI

“You’re not thinking too clearly, boss. We can’t go off half-cocked and expect a good outcome. You know how these things work,” Vito tells me but I’m wound up so tightly I want to go on a full-scale killing spree. This is war and I’m not taking any prisoners.

“Giovanni, listen to Vito. At the end of the day, this is still business. They wanted something, so they took something of value to you for leverage. The only way they can get what they want now is to set terms with you. We wait until they contact us with those terms and then we make our move,” my father adds.

I know they’re right. This is the way things have been since before my grandfather was the boss of this family…but at this moment, I don’t care. All I care about is Gabby. I’m gonna lose my mind if I don’t hold her soon. I have a duty to protect her, and right now, standing here doing nothing feels like a failure of that duty. I won’t fail.

If I have to burn villages and kill every member of the Caspia crime family, I will. My only solace right now comes from the fact that my father gave his wife some sleeping pills and put her to bed before her hysteria caused me to break my rule about respecting women.

“So when the fuck is this call gonna come?” I mumble mostly to myself but Vito answers anyway.

“You know how this goes. They’re gonna take her somewhere and secure her while they give us time to figure out that she’s missing. Then, when they’re sure their location can’t be compromised and that we’ve been chasing our tails for a while, they’ll reach out with their demands.”

“Yeah, Vito. I know how this goes, but it’s been four hours. How long…” I’m in the process of shaking my cell phone when it begins to ring. I stare down at it as though it’s a venomous creature about to take a bite out of me.

“Answer it, son,” my father’s voice jolts me back to reality.

I hit the answer button and say, “Yes?”

“I assume by now you know why I’m calling. I have your girl.”

“I know and you’ll be lucky if you live long enough to do anything with her.”

“How do you know I haven’t already?”

Straightening my back and clenching my fists, I can feel boiling fury swelling inside of me. I want to scream. I want to tell him how much I’m going to enjoy ripping his limbs off, but I hold my breath, biting my lip so hard that I draw blood.

“Wow, I was aiming for your pops, but now, I’m thinking the girl was the best target after all. Relax, I haven’t tasted your little honey pot, yet.”

“What do you want?” I ask.

“You back down. Stop trying to sabotage my business and join me instead. Your crew can keep their original territory and kick up the usual fee to me.”

“You must be crazy. We’ve got you on the ropes, and you think I’m just gonna back down? I’m gonna get my girl back and then I’m gonna kill you. You hear me?”

“Suit yourself. Stew a little longer if you want but not too long or you’ll find your used-up little American sweetheart in a ditch,” he tells me and ends the call.

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