Placing the glass down, I drew in a breath. The other Dons must be passing word to their capos and soldiers. I would now be targeted for having her in my presence. There were many that wanted to make Carmine pay, many who wanted to watch him suffer at their hand. Leda was an easy way to make that happen. Some might kill her outright, send her head to Carmine's prison cell.
Others might marry her off to their sons, so their worthless heirs might plant a brat in her belly and extinguish the D'Agostino bloodline altogether.
Some would want her to hurt, to pay for his crimes.
Me?
I wanted to make her submit to me in every way a woman submits to a man.
I wanted Carmine to know that his little girl was worshipping someone else, someone who would take her fears and craft them in a way that would have her crawling to me for protection instead of defying me.
That was my plan for his little girl, and unless I wanted to have others attempting to kill me, I needed to start executing my plan.
"Boss."
I turned to find Rocco at the door, his bulky frame filling up the space. "What is it?"
"Guards are all in place," he stated, his eyes piercing in the dim lighting.
Where I was fucking great at my knives, Rocco could kill a man ten different ways with his bare hands. A former Navy SEAL, he had taken up with the Cavazzo Mafia when his fiancée had been killed in a turf war.
Cosimo had told me many times that he had never seen such a big man move with such stealth or elicit such screams from his victims. I had the good sense to keep Rocco on as my second when Cosimo died.
"Good, because word is out."
He chuckled. "Did you think it wouldn't be? You practically rub your balls in their faces and dared them to come after you."
I gave him a rare grin. Rocco was the only person that would ever see me like this, not as the powerful Don but as a man who was hell-bent on making a name for himself. I knew he wouldn't betray me and would take a bullet for me if there ever came a need to do so.
If I had been keen on having friends, he would have been the closest person to take that title.
"Did you expect me to do it any differently?"
He shook his head, his eyes flickering to the ceiling. "Want me to put a guard on her too?"
"No," I stated, the grin fading. "I'm about to handle her myself." My cock ached at the thought of her on her knees, big eyes looking up at me while her plump lips were wrapped around it.
Rocco shrugged. "I'll be around then."
I waited until he had left before I exited the office, and headed toward the stairs. Leda was mine. I didn't need anyone to help with watching out for her, which was one of the reasons that I had left her door unlocked.
I wanted to see how far that defiance was going to be pushed. I had expected a meek and mild Mafia princess, knowing she had grown up in a world where she had always expected to be a trophy wife one day.
I hadn't expected a hellcat with claws, but that only made me want her more.
I liked the challenge. Hell, I relished in it.
It would make breaking her in the end so much more rewarding, and she was guaranteed to give me a fight.
The thought of her trying to fight me made me fucking hard as a rock.
I reached the second landing, passing by my bedroom as I walked to hers. Likely by now she had found the lingerie in the wardrobe and knew what my plans were for her.
My cock throbbed as I thought about which outfit she was wearing or if she was wearing anything at all.
Would she give herself to me to get out of this situation? Would she be lying on the bed, those hazel green eyes flashing at me warily as I entered the room, her body primed for my touch?
Fuck, I hoped so. It had been some time since I had buried myself in a woman with some fight in her, and Leda was already driving me wild.
The door was still closed, and I turned the knob, pushing it open slowly in case she had decided not to give in and had found a weapon instead. Rocco had walked through the room himself, removing any chance of her arming herself. But she was crafty, and I left nothing to chance.
There was no attack, but my feet faltered on the plush carpeting when I saw the open balcony door and the flash of a leg as Leda heaved herself over the railing.
Fuck me. I raced over, my heart fucking stopping in my chest. She had jumped.
But then the gleaming white sheet caught my eye, and I came to the railing just in time to watch her shimmy down the rest of the sheet. She looked up, and I wanted to smirk at her.
"Run if you want," I called out. "You won't get far."
Leda's eyes narrowed, and she shot me the middle finger before taking off across the grass. When she was out of earshot, I chuckled to myself, watching as she disappeared into the night. A monster stirred in me and I felt my balls ache for release at what was about to happen.
I liked when they ran.
I loved a good chase.
And when I caught up with Leda, she was going to wish she had never run.
Leda
The ground was hard under my feet as I ran down the grass and onto a rough gravel road, realizing that it was surrounded by woods. The road sloped downward, but I didn't let up, hoping that I could get to the end before he came after me.
Valentino had seen me. More specifically, I had flipped him off for seeing me, for what he was doing to me and how he was treating me like he owned me.
I guessed for twenty million, it was easy for him to believe that he owned me.
Believed, not did in truth. No one owned me. I was my own person, and not even my father could lay claim to me completely.
A rock bit into my heel and I cried out, limping a bit as I continued to descend. Suddenly, I wished that I kept those slippers on.
I couldn't give up. I wouldn't give up. He was going to find me, but I was going to give him a hell of a time before he could.
I couldn't stay here. I couldn't let him catch me.
The gravel road ended at a paved one and I looked over my shoulder, not seeing lights behind me. Maybe he was going to let me go. Maybe he was going to wash his hands of me and leave me to my own fate.
A hysterical laugh left me. No, he wasn't. He was making some point that I didn't fully understand.
I was part of a bigger plan.
One that I wasn't going to like at all.
My feet slapped against the cool, paved road, and I nearly cried out in joy as I saw lights up ahead. I knew I looked a fright, wearing a skimpy chemise and nothing else, but maybe they would take sympathy on me and I could get a chance to call Nico.
No, I couldn't call Nico. I couldn't drag him into this mess and potentially put his family in danger.
I would call Vincent. Vincent DiMara was Nico's second-in-command, having chosen to stay on as his personal bodyguard even after Nico quit the Mafia life. Vincent could keep my secret from my brother and get me somewhere safe until I could figure out what to do next.
The building came into view, and I saw that it was a small diner instead of a house, with no cars in the parking lot. What the heck was a diner doing out here in the middle of nowhere?
Still, I could see someone moving inside. I forced myself to run faster and rapped on the glass door once I arrived.
"Please!" I cried out, startling the woman inside. "Please let me in!"
She hurried over to the door and unlocked it, her eyes wide. "What on earth?"
I rushed inside, nearly knocking her over in the process. "I need help. Do you have a phone?"
"What happened to you?" she asked as I hurried behind the counter. "Where did you come from?"
I found the phone cradle but not the phone. I looked at her in desperation. "Please," I croaked. "I need a phone. I need to call someone."
The door opened behind her, and I gasped as Valentino strolled in.
"Sir," the woman whispered, and bowed her head.
"Martha," Valentino replied evenly, his hands in his pockets, his eyes on me. "Thank you for finding her for me."
The woman didn't even bother meeting my gaze, and I fought the urge to scream as the strength sapped out of my body. Was there no one that could help me now?
"Forgive us for interrupting you," he continued, his eyes hard. "Come, Leda. You are bothering Martha."
"I'm not leaving," I growled, gripping the worn counter. "He's kidnapped me! Please don't make me leave."
The woman continued to look at the floor, and I heard a faint sigh escape the Don's lips. "Don't make this hard," he stated, holding out his hand. "I can either have you walk, or you can be dragged out of here. Either way, you are coming home."
Home. Tears smarted in my eyes. That was not my home, nor would it ever be. My home was with my brother, with Rory and my nephew.