Page 20 of Bound By Her Mafia Bosses

“Cola, we have to go. It’s not safe to stay here,” she insisted. “You helped me to escape, and they’ll be looking for you too.”

“I know and I have someplace safe that we can hide,” Cola said. “My brother told me about a little cabin that he keeps as a safehouse. He’s even given me the GPS coordinates to get there. We can finally be together, Capria.” She stopped tugging him along and turned to face him. She hated to do this to him before they had even gotten out of the building, but she was tired of pretending.

“Why would I want to be with you, Cola?” she spat. “You’re one of them.” She pointed back to the compound where she had been kept and almost felt glee at seeing it burning to the fucking ground. “You were a means to an end, Cola. I needed you to help me with my plan to escape, and you did. Without your key to my room, I’d be burning with the rest of that place. You saved me—my hero,” she pretended to swoon, and he dropped her hand. Yeah, Cola Gallo was getting her message loud and clear.

“You did all of this to escape?” he asked. “You led me on for months, letting me think that you actually were in love with me.”

“I never claimed to be in love with you,” she said. “All I want to do is go home to my family. They must be so worried about me.” Her poor mother having to deal with her kidnapping, must have been awful for her. Her mom had a heart condition that only worsened with stress and her being help captive must have put a lot of stress on her mother.

“You’d think so, but you’d also be wrong, Capria. You see, I know something that you don’t,” Cola said. The smug look on his face had her wanting to know his secret, but maybe that was just her playing right into his hands.

“Oh, what is it you think you know about my family, Cola?” she spat.

“I know that your father didn’t even barter to get you back. In fact, he told the Gallos to sell you off to the highest bidder, as they were threatening to do. I overheard the boss saying that your father cut off all communication and told them to keep you,” Cola said.

“You’re a fucking liar,” she shouted. “How dare you tell such lies about my father. He'll have your head for saying such things.” Cola’s laugh was mean, and she suddenly regretted telling him how she really felt about him. Maybe she should have played along for a bit longer before giving him the boot.

“What you need to know, princess, is if you go home to your father now, he’ll have you killed. He thinks that the Gallos have brainwashed you and that you’re a spy for them now. Leaving here wasn’t a bad plan. Ditching me would be your last mistake.” Capria looked him over as if trying to decide whether or not to believe him. She hurt him, so maybe he was lying to her to get back at her. Maybe he wanted to take her back to the Gallos and earn points or something with them.

“You have nothing to lose,” he said. “I believe that the Gallos knew that I was going to help you. Tony asked me a lot of questions today that didn’t make much sense. I think he figured it out and they won’t let me live if they think I betrayed them. I was on my way to your room to tell you that when I noticed the smoke coming from your room. Either way, I have to go underground. They’ll be looking for me now that you’ve escaped. I’m just offering you a safe place to lay low until you can figure out the rest of this for yourself. You don’t have to believe me—just take a few days to figure out if what I’m telling you is the truth or not. You might not love me, Capria, and that’s something I’ll have to learn to live with, but I still love you. I don’t want to find out that you went back to your family and ended up dead. It would destroy me.”

She could tell that he meant every word. The one thing she did like about Cola was that he wore his heart on his sleeve, and she could tell if he was lying just by looking into his dark eyes. He wasn’t lying to her now, she was sure of it.

“I’ll go with you, but just until I can figure out my next move,” she insisted. “This changes nothing between us, Cola. I’m not in love with you. I was using you to gain my freedom, and I won’t be made to feel bad about that.”

“I wouldn’t dream of making you feel bad about anything, princess,” he drawled. “We need to get going before the Gallos stop worrying about the compound burning and start looking for us. I’d like to get a good head start to Colorado.”

“Is that where we’re going?” she asked. Capria had never been outside of Chicago, but that was because of her overly protective father. What would she do now that she was finally going to be on her own, making her own decisions? The one thing she was sure she wouldn’t do was fall for Cola Gallo—no matter how charming and sweet he seemed to be. No, her heart belonged to her and that was how things were going to stay.

Bound by His Mafia Princess (The Bound Series Book 2) Universal Link->

What’s coming up next from K.L. Ramsey? Check out Thorne’s Rose (Savage Hell MC Book 8), coming September 2023!

Rose

Rose Savage walked into her cousin’s bar knowing that she shouldn’t have been there but daring to break all her father’s rules. Her dad and Savage’s father had a falling out years ago before Savage’s father passed. Her dad had forbidden her to step even one toe into Savage Hell, but really, she had no choice. If she wanted to keep her little girl safe, she was going to have to face down the man her father swore was the devil himself.

“Can I help you?” a handsome man behind the bar asked.

“Um, I’m trying to find Savage,” she said. “I need his help. Is he around?”

“Well, I guess that depends on who you are,” the man challenged. Rose put her hands on her hips and flashed him her best smile. “That’s not going to work, honey,” he insisted. “I appreciate the pretty smile and all, but no one gets in to see Savage without my approval. So, what’s your name, honey?” he asked.

“Rose,” she breathed, giving up on her attempt to act sexy for the guy behind the bar. Apparently, he wasn’t buying what she was selling. Hell, she hadn’t sold anything since before Sadie was born, and that had been going on for two years now.

“Rose what?” the man asked. He was starting to sound a bit annoyed with her and she wondered what that was about.

“Rose Savage,” she said. “I’m his cousin.”

“I see,” the man said. “Stay right here, Rose,” he ordered, “and don’t talk to any of the guys if you know what’s good for you.”

“What’s that supposed to mean?” she shouted over the music, but the guy pretended not to hear her.

Within minutes, the handsome bartender reappeared holding hands with her cousin. At least, Rose thought that it was Savage. He had aged some and was bigger than she remembered him being ten years ago when she last saw him.

“Rose,” he breathed. She nodded and Savage picked her up and spun her around. “This is my husband, Bowie,” he said, introducing her to the handsome bartender. “I’ll introduce you to our wife, Dallas, when she comes in. What are you doing here?” Savage asked.

Hearing that Savage was married to both a man and a woman didn’t surprise her much. She had known that her cousin was bi for years. He shared that with her when she was a kid but told her not to tell anyone else. “I need your help,” she breathed.

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