The Submission of a Mafia Princess (10 page)

“I love you, Antonietta,” he whispered through his orgasm.

Toni choked back a sob. “I love you.”

He held her tight to his chest and she pretended to fall asleep until she heard the steady rhythm of his breath. When she was sure he was asleep, she turned to study him one last time. The break of dawn began to impose its light through the window over the city and she knew her time was up. A tear rolled down her cheek. Maybe, just maybe it could work. Her gaze washed over the planes of his chest and arms but stopped in horror at the heart tattoo on his bicep. Angelo’s words from the pool house rang through her as though they had just been spoken. Nice tat. Fitting too because Vic here is going to break your heart and every bone in your body. However, this time they wouldn’t allow him to live. She traced the jagged scar on his lip. No, this time they’d kill him.

Toni slipped through his arms and scooted to the edge of the bed. The cool air bit at her skin and she wrapped her arms around her chest. Quickly and quietly, she padded into the bathroom with her clothes and was dressed and slinking out the door in record speed. She slowed only to take a rose from the vase on the dresser. She didn’t dare to look back at the only man she’d ever and would ever love. He’d given her a gift she would always remember and in turn, her gift to him was his life.

Chapter Thirteen

Toni hurried to the elevator and poked at the down button until the doors opened. Her heart raced. It was just a matter of time before Brax woke and noticed she’d left. With her head down, she rushed the elevator doors as they opened at the lobby floor. She didn’t see the couple waiting to get in until it was too late and she walked directly into them.

“Excuse me,” she said bumping through their shoulders. Her eyes remained fixed on the revolving door.

“Toni. Hey, hold on,” a familiar voice called out from behind her.

Shit. She turned and looked at Mia and Asher standing in workout clothes with confused looks on their faces.

“Hi. Sorry, I didn’t have time to say good-bye but I need to go,” Toni said and glanced down. “Thank you both, for everything.” Toni shuffled to Mia and gave her a quick hug.

“Did everything go okay with you and Brax? I hate to see you run off so fast; come back upstairs for some breakfast so we can talk.” Mia took her hand.

“I can’t. Everything was perfect last night. Brax was incredible but I need to put distance between us now. My fate is sealed but Brax’s isn’t. I have to leave, for his benefit and mine.” Her eyes flitted from Mia to the glass doors.

“We’re sorry to see you leave but we need to make sure you’re safe. Let me call my driver and you can take the limo home,” Asher said and pulled his phone from his pocket.

Toni gave him a small hug and shook her head. “I need to clear my head and walk for a while. It’ll do me good to walk the five or so blocks to Grand Central. I just texted my girlfriend and she’s going to pick me up at the train station on the Jersey side. I’ll be fine.” Toni lifted her hand with her telephone to ensure them she’d contacted a ride.

Asher’s gaze moved from the phone to Toni. Concern filled his eyes.

“I’ll be fine, really. Angelo won’t hurt me, he needs me. I’m going to talk to him and let him know I’m putting the brakes on the wedding for now. I know now it’s the right decision.”

Asher’s eyes went back to the phone in her hand. “Excuse me.”

He turned, slid his finger over the screen and tapped the display.

“Are you sure I can’t talk you into staying for a while longer?” Mia asked.

Toni shook her head. She was afraid the host of emotions churning in her belly would erupt if she continued the conversation.

Mia sighed. “Okay, stay in touch, sweetheart. We’re here if you ever change your mind or just want to talk. My door is always open to you.”

“I know I keep saying it, but thank you.” With a last hug, she pulled away. “I better go.”

She flipped her sunglasses to the bridge of her nose, squared her shoulders and pushed through the revolving door onto Lexington Avenue.

Toni took her time finding her way to Grand Central Station, stopping to look in a few boutique windows on Fifth Avenue. At the second window, she’d noticed two familiar men from the corner of her eye. Shit. How’d he find her? Toni’s pace quickened in tandem with her heartbeat. The light changed on Forty-Sixth Street where she crossed to find herself staring at yet a third Manzanno goon. She turned to run when two men hooked their hands around her arms and escorted her to meet the third man on the other side.

“What do you want from me? I’m on my way home,” she spat at them between her teeth.

“Angelo misses you, Toni. He’s decided he can’t spend another minute without you. Let’s go.”

She tried to pull her arm free. “Where are we going?”

“To the airport; you’re taking a little vacation.”

“Like hell I am, let go of me.” A scream formed in her throat only to be stifled by a clammy hand when an SUV pulled alongside of them.

“Shut up and get in.” She struggled to free herself, while two of the men stood with their backs to Toni, blocking her from onlookers. The other one kept his hand clamped over her mouth and pulled her into the SUV. He released her once the doors were closed.

“Mother fuckers,” she spat.

“Sweet Toni has a dirty mouth. I’m sure Angelo has plans to keep that pretty mouth busy.”

“You disgust me. All of you. My father would have you all die a slow painful death if he were still alive.” Her words fell on deaf ears. The Chief was dead. The Azzari name was no longer one to be feared.

“I’m sure he would but it’s about time you realize you’re no longer the Mafia Princess, dear Toni. Your next purpose will be to marry Angelo and have a baby.”

She sat silently, quickly devising a story and escape plan. She’d assumed they were taking her back to Jersey, either to her home or Angelo’s but her heart dropped when she glanced out the window and saw signs to JFK. Her phone vibrated in her pocket.

She leaned forward to the driver and casually placed her hand in her pocket. “The airport? What’s going on? I demand you tell me where we’re going.” She swiped the screen where she estimated the placement of the answer button. It was a far-fetched plan but she’d assumed it was Brax and possibly, she could send him clues to her location.

“Take me home, damn it! I don’t want to fly anywhere with Angelo Manzanno!” she shouted.

“I’d hate to ruin the surprise but The Chin is taking you far away from here. Today’s your wedding day, sweetheart.” He laughed and stopped at the parking garage ticket booth.

“Why are we going into the garage?” asked the guy with a sweaty grasp on her arm.

The driver looked in the rearview mirror. “I dunno. Angelo said to meet him on the top deck. I think he wants to make sure she don’t bolt.”

A grunt indicated his acceptance of the explanation.

The SUV drove up a series of ramps and pulled alongside a second identical truck in the far corner of the almost empty top parking deck. Angelo emerged from the passenger side and glared at Toni through the windshield. She cleared her throat uneasily as the goons unloaded their hulking masses from the SUV. One of them tugged her out of her seat and planted her on her feet.

“Here’s your special delivery, boss. Safe and sound.” They pushed her toward him as bile rose in her throat. Glancing from side to side, she considered her options. Five against one were not good odds any way you looked at it, especially when the five were armed and dangerous. Toni slipped her hand into her pocket and fingered her cell phone. She still had a slim chance.

“Good work, men. I’ll take her from here. Oh, before you go, take her cell phone. She won’t need it where she’s going.”

Her shoulders slumped in defeat. Rather than allowing a cheap feel from filthy hands, she pulled her cell phone from her pocket and glanced at the display. Although she didn’t recognize the phone number, the call had been connected for fifteen minutes. Ending the call, she handed it to the nearest man. He took it and grasped her upper arm, pulling her to Angelo who hooked his hand around her other arm.

“Get the hell out of here before we attract attention. Except for Max. You need to take my bags in and ensure Miss Toni here doesn’t do something stupid,” Angelo called out to the men. All except one of them piled back into the SUV and left within seconds.

Angelo backed Toni up against the passenger side of the truck. Cool metal jabbed her from behind as his fleshy body sandwiched her against the truck. He glared down at her with a mix of lust and hatred in her eyes.

“I hope you enjoyed your little tryst last night. I’ve sat back and watched you do whatever you want for years but from now on you’re under my control.”

“Never. Let me go, Angelo and we can talk about this reasonably.”

“We’re long past talking, Toni. There’s a reason your father is dead and it’s not so we can talk.”

“What do you mean? He died of a heart attack,” she sputtered.

“You’re not that naive, are you? He was poisoned, my dear. Under my direction from a guard who owed me a favor. The heart attack was just a cover-up.” He grinned at her and all she saw was pure evil.

“No. You’re lying,” she said with tears forming in her eyes.

“Hardly. Now it’s time for phase two of the takeover. Marrying you. Our plane leaves for Italy in an hour. You’re going to be a big girl and walk with me into the airport and board that plane. It’s simple. If you cooperate, you live and if you don’t you’ll be dead and missing before sunset. I’ve already concocted a story about you moving to Italy to start a new life, so no one will suspect a thing. In fact, I don’t think anyone will miss you. So what will it be? Are you coming with me peacefully or would you like to get up close and personal with Max?” His question rang through her. She spat in his face.

“You’re a monster. How could you do it? You were like a son to him.”

She detected a second of sadness passing through his eyes before he resumed a mask of evil.

“What will it be, Toni?”

Toni sighed. “I have no choice then, do I? What about my passport and my things?”

“All taken care of.”

“Fine, let’s go.” She tugged her arm away and began to walk toward the parking deck’s elevator.

He yanked her hair and pulled her in; his foul breath blew into her face. “Not so fast. Listen to me and listen good, you’re going to stay close to me. I mean real close. I want to feel the heat of your plump ass on my side the whole time we’re in the airport. If you don’t, if you make one wrong move, Max is under instructions to take care of you. And if you wait until we’re on the plane, I’ll sedate you with the syringe I have in my pocket and I promise you, princess, you’ll never wake up.”

He kept his fingers wrapped in the hair at the base of her neck and pushed her toward the exit. Toni stumbled a few times on the journey across the parking lot. Between the pain of the constant tug of her hair and being plastered along his bulky mass, she found it difficult to talk.  They finally reached the single elevator on the parking deck. Max pulled the suitcases to the concrete wall and tapped the down button with a meaty finger. Swallowing hard, Toni’s mind worked on overdrive.

They stood in silence. The only sound was the elevator chugging slowly to the top floor. Finally, the doors creaked opened and Angelo’s body stiffened against her. He grabbed her hair tighter when two men walked off the elevator. Toni’s eyes flicked to the men and she tried to choke down her excitement. Brax and Asher. How the hell? She sucked in a breath as she searched Brax’s eyes. A mixture of sadness, hurt and what she’d hoped was love silently messaged her back.  As if in slow motion, Brax yanked her arm, pulling her out of Angelo’s grasp; at the same time Asher pinned Max against the wall, his fist finding the goon’s temple before Max collapsed to the ground.

An arm snaked around her neck as a cold metal cylinder poked at her head. She was dragged backward. Brax held on and she suddenly became the rope of a tug-o-war game.

“Get your hands off of her or I’ll put a bullet in her pretty head right here and now. Don’t tempt me because she’s already pissing me off. You’ll just be giving me a reason to do it,” Angelo snapped.

Brax let go of her arm and held his hands up.

“Don’t hurt her. Let her go and let’s talk about this, Angelo,” Brax said slowly.

Toni yelled out in pain as Angelo loosened his grip on her neck to grab a fistful of hair. He yanked her backward into the elevator.

“Please, Brax. Just go. You don’t know what he’s capable of,” Toni pleaded.

“I know exactly what he’s capable of,” he sneered.

“Brax? Now why does that name sound familiar? Oh yes, the pool boy. You still have a hard-on for my plump little girl, don’t you? I should’ve taken care of you when I had the chance.”

“I’ll say it again. Let. Her. Go. You know she doesn’t want you. Let her live her own life.” Brax walked slowly toward the elevator.

“You’ve got some balls, boy, considering you’re throwing around orders and I’m holding the gun. Say good-bye to your boyfriend, Toni,” Angelo chuckled. The gun moved from her skull to point directly at Brax’s chest.