Mafia Captive (30 page)

She tried to ignore everything but Leo. Even the priest’s words blended and mixed with the warm summer breeze. It was only because she’d heard the marriage rite many times that she was able to keep up. Her eyes widened when she heard “obey” had been slipped into the bride’s wedding vows. How Leo managed to get the priest to deviate from the traditional Catholic rite to include “obey” she didn’t know, but if the ceremony was merely legal and not a sacrament, perhaps he’d decided they could do what they wanted.

Leo smirked as she repeated the obey part. She glanced out at the guests, but no one noticed the addition. As she recited her vows, her fingers strayed to touch the platinum at her throat, and Leo smiled a secret smile meant for her.

When rings were on fingers and vows had been exchanged and the kiss had been shared, they were announced as Mr. and Mrs. Leo Raspallo. They turned as the reprise of the wedding march began. Faith looked into the sea of smiling faces and something low in her gut twinged in panic. Her gaze was drawn to the left side of the crowd, the face that didn’t fit.

A man dressed in a dark suit stood at the back. Faster than seemed possible, a gun was out of his jacket and aimed at Leo. Faith didn’t think; she just moved in front of her husband.

A spray of gunshots rang loud and hollow in the air, silencing the orchestra and bringing screams from the guests. The roses escaped her grasp and fell to the ground, and then she fell, barely feeling the hands around her waist that cushioned her as she hit the ground. Vaguely she could see color in her wedding now. Drops of red on her roses, on her dress, on the white runner she’d walked upon.

Black, red, and white were very elegant colors for a wedding.

***

Leo had been looking at his mother when Faith suddenly jumped in front of him. Then those terrible sounds and the surreal gasp from the guests. He looked up in time to see a man running from the scene, most people too hysterical to go after him. Except for his brother.

Angelo shot him a brief, black look and followed after the gunman with Davide in tow. Leo moved quickly, his hands barely spanning Faith’s waist in time to catch her.

“Sal, call my blood guy! I need a lot. I don’t know her blood type. Have him bring everything.” That panicked, out-of-control shout had come out of his mouth.

“But Leo, on short notice, I don’t know if…”

“He’s got access. He will bring me the blood or he’ll spend the rest of his life running from me. Be sure he gets that message.”

Sal pulled out his cell phone.

Uncaring of how it looked, Leo ripped the gown apart to find where the bullets had hit. One had grazed her head, another had gone through her shoulder, a third had embedded in the muscle of her calf. Terror froze her features as she gripped him. He tore his coat off and wrapped it around her to hold off the shock.

“Why would you jump in front of a gun for me?” But he knew the answer. She’d confessed her love for him a long time ago. The words had never made it past his own lips. But she had to know. How could she not see it?

Her voice came out shaky. “I-I thought some day you might love me back.” The last part faded out as she said it; she was already getting too weak to talk.

“You think I don’t love you?” Perhaps what he did to her downstairs was too confusing for her to ever hope it could happen inside love.

The nurses rushed toward him to offer assistance.

He held up a hand. “No! I’ve got her. A through and through and a graze and one in her calf muscle. Nothing vital hit. It’s the blood loss. Set up the operating theater. Get the machines and anesthesia and the IV fluids ready to go. Bring all the artificial blood from the lab. And prepare for a live transfusion.” He’d never been so happy to be a universal donor.

The women scrambled toward the house.

It was risky doing a live transfusion and then operating. He’d have to be careful not to weaken himself too much. He had to hope the blood guy got there in time.

He couldn’t stop this bleeding, he had to get her to the operating theater
now
.

Leo flung her over his shoulder, fireman-style, and strode with grim determination to the separate entrance at the back of the house. Family and friends jumped out of his way, looks of horror and pity on their faces. Looks that said,
poor bastard doesn’t realize she’s not going to make it.

Faith’s blood ran down his back, soaking his linen shirt as she went limp.

Chapter Twenty

Leo sat in his den with Angelo over copious amounts of alcohol. “Well?”

Since the previous day, he’d been a crazed lunatic, intent on revenge and blood and death for the bullets that had been meant for him but had hit the woman he loved instead.

“It was Emilio’s cousin. When I caught up to him, he wouldn’t talk. Davide and I had to overpower him and tie him down. It took hours before I got the full story.”

“And?”

“You won’t like it. Caprice told him what you did to Gemma’s husband.”

Leo paced the floor, regret and the weight of responsibility crushing him. Caprice should never have been at their family Christmas. But even so, if he hadn’t played with her, used her body and screwed with her mind, she might not have gone to Emilio’s cousin set on instigating violence.

“I know Vinny is your best friend and you and Caprice have history, but she’s a loose cannon. She’s dangerous to all of us. I have to…”

Leo finished the sentence, “… kill her.” Something wild and evil rose from the depths of his soul, single-minded and obsessed. “Yes, I know. But don’t just put a bullet in her head, Ange. Make her suffer first. I don’t care what you do, but make sure she suffers. And before you kill her, tell her the order came from me.”

Angelo’s eyes widened before his face went back to its normal, cold perfection. They embraced and kissed, then his brother set his glass on the side bar and started toward the door.

“Ange?”

His mirror image turned back to him. “Yeah?”

“Vinny can never know.”

Angelo gave a short nod.

When his brother was gone, Leo went to the east wing. The pain and memories rose in his chest, a physical thing threatening to take his breath. The memory of her lifeless in his arms.

As she’d gone still, he’d snapped into focus, like a robot, seeing her no longer as the woman he loved, but as a broken piece of flesh to fix.

Leo leaned his forehead against the door to Faith’s room and took a long, shuddering breath, to pull himself together. Thinking of all he could have lost was pointless torment. He hadn’t lost her. No thanks to his own foolish choices that had put her in harm’s way.

He’d thought it best to keep her in the glass room during recovery. The sunlight would do her good. Leo knocked, then turned the knob without waiting for a reply. She was still too weak to call out. A nurse sat on the sofa reading a book, and his ma sat in a chair beside the bed, watching over Faith as the machines beeped away.

The room overflowed with balloons and flowers and stuffed animals from all of the family. If Uncle Sal or Uncle Bernie, or even Angelo had doubted Faith’s worth, they were her biggest fans now. The word
liability
would never cross their lips again.

Max sprawled across the foot of the bed, guarding her, while the two cats cuddled into her side. The animals kept their vigil, and no power on earth would have removed them from their stations.

Faith’s eyes fluttered open as he approached the bed. He took her hand and leaned in to kiss her forehead.

“I’m going into town. Do you need anything?”

Her heart rate beeped erratically on the machine. “No! Don’t go out, you might… he might…”

“Shhhh, sweetheart. Angelo took care of it. It’s safe. It was personal. It was one mistake. I have no other enemies.”

After a few moments, she released her death grip on his hand.

“Now, do you need anything?”

She shook her head.

Leo turned to his mother and the nurse. “I need to speak with my wife in private.”

Looks were exchanged, but the two women removed themselves from the room. When the door clicked shut, Leo said, “As soon as you’re better, I’ll take you to the church so Father Joseph can bless the marriage properly. Then we’ll have the reception. I’m flying everyone in. They all want you to have your party.”

She gripped his hand tighter than her strength should have allowed. “You’d have the marriage sanctioned?”

“I was so busy thinking of it as a sham and you as an unwilling prisoner, that I didn’t stop to consider how both of our feelings had changed. I don’t want it to be a lie.”

“Me either.”

“Then it’s settled, and we’ll attend St. Stephen’s.”

“Thank you.”

“But Faith, being my wife doesn’t change our relationship.”

She touched the collar at her throat almost unconsciously. “Yes, Master.”

He squeezed her hand. “Good girl. I’ll be back soon. I promise.”

The day had been filled with rain and gloom, the perfect, bright sun of the wedding refusing to return. Leo drove to St. Stephen’s and sat outside the building for a long time.

He pulled his cell phone from his pocket and stared at Angelo’s name in his contact list. He knew he couldn’t stop his brother from killing Caprice, but he could remove his blessing. He could stop the rest, whatever Angelo would do to her that would go far beyond a quick shot to the head. He could be merciful and make sure she never saw it coming.

He closed the phone and cursed when the call went to voice mail.

Inside, the church was quiet, but Leo knew someone would be there. He opened the door to the confessional booth and sat. Cloaked in the warm, tight darkness, he breathed in the smells of the incense and candles.

“Forgive me, Father, for I have sinned.”

If you enjoyed Mafia Captive, please consider some of Kitty's other titles:

(note: links go to the US Kindle store)

Comfort Food:
A woman held captive by a man who refuses to speak to her. Touch is the only form of communication he’ll offer.

Guilty Pleasures:
Vivian is sexually shut down until she meets massage therapist, Anton, who will go to any lengths to awaken her body to him.

Tender Mercies:
Grace doesn't want play kink. She wants a real master. But will it cost her everything?

The Last Girl:
Juliet is haunted by dreams of a man who once broke into her home but left her unharmed. He's been waiting for the right moment to come back for her.

Big Sky:
Veronica is deep in debt until an attractive rancher comes along with an offer that is too good to be true.

Submissive Fairy Tales:
A collection of novellas: The Auction, Awakening, and The King's Pleasure

The Auction:
Belle lives on a planet where women are auctioned off as slaves on their 18th birthday, but the rich girls don't have to worry as they are soon set free. Belle has bargained to get a friend to buy and release her, but her plan goes awry when one of the alien creatures on the planet outbids him.

The King's Pleasure:
Abigail is moments from losing her hand for stealing bread in the castle, when the King is awakened by her screams and decides he'd rather have her as his slave.

Awakening:
Nerina is a mermaid unfamiliar with the sexual ways of humans, until she washes ashore and a wealthy landowner becomes determined to awaken her in order to turn her human.

If you enjoyed Mafia Captive, it would mean so much to me if you would leave a review at the place that you purchased it and tell your friends via Facebook and Twitter! :)

Learn more about me and my other books at:
http://www.kittythomas.com
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Thank you so much for supporting my work!

Thank you to the following people in no particular order:

Robin for cover art!

Natasha for copyedits and developmental edits and help with Catholic and Italian stuff.

Annabel, Claudia, Michelle, and Matthew for beta reading.

Thanks also to Matthew for his help with medical expertise and Italian stuff.

Tiffany for blurbing.

M for all his emotional support and for digital formatting. Love you!

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