Caught:A Dark Mafia Romance
By: Piper Stone“I don’t know for certain, but I’ll venture a guess that it belongs to a family member of a friend of mine.”
Everything about this was horrifying.
“Come on. We’ll stay in the living room where I can at least see any vehicle approaching.” He didn’t wait for my answer. I trailed behind him, unable to shake the uneasiness. He’d managed to find a few candles. They were lit, flickering as we walked into the room. I glared at them for a few seconds, inhaling the sweet scent of jasmine and lavender. The simple action filled me with sadness. The window flanking the front door was larger than it had appeared, a second one on the side. What few furnishings were there were well worn but everything was neat and tidy.
“You really think they’ll try to hunt us down?” I eased down onto the couch, sitting on the edge, my eyes pinned to the window.
“They have a contract. Unless they finish the job, they won’t get paid.” Jagger yanked one bag onto the coffee table, shoving the small trinkets aside. Unzipping, he pulled out what looked like a semi-automatic, as well as another handgun.
“A contract. A hit man.”
“Likely two.”
I winced every time he checked the ammunition, clicking everything into place. I watched as he positioned the bag just so between the table and the wall, the rifle against the doorjamb, one handgun in the middle of the table. The other I knew would be kept close to his hand.
He darted a single look before moving out of the room. I didn’t try to follow. In his hand was a small but powerful flashlight. This was where we’d stay the entire night. That much I knew instinctively. He could keep an eye on the front and back doors, the short hallway and three windows. I heard his footsteps but only because there were no other sounds in the house. Everything about his demeanor had changed, his actions more like a trained soldier than a businessman or lover. Perhaps I didn’t know him at all.
After dumping an armful of pillows and blankets onto the floor, he pointed. “Get down. If you need to go to the bathroom, you crouch low and stay near the wall.” In tactical mode, he moved to the side window, closing the blinds then took position just to the side of the front window.
I slid onto the floor, arranging the pillows and fluffing the blankets. There was no covering in the house that could take away the cold sweeping through every cell in my body. I concentrated on the flames, praying they would mesmerize and take me to a faraway location. The quiet was deafening, lulling me into a vacuum.
“You’re awfully quiet,” he murmured.
“What am I supposed to say?”
He snorted, his body shifting. “You always ask questions about everything, one of the reasons I adore you.”
Why did the term seem so obligatory? “Well, you’re not going to tell me anything so I’m not wasting the effort.”
“Don’t allow this to change you, jade you in any manner. Promise me that.”
It was my turn to issue a guttural sound. “None of your concern, or at least it won’t be after tomorrow.”
“Do you really think I’m doing this on purpose?”
Normally, given his caustic personality, he would have spit out the question with at least some margin of venom. Tonight, all his words seemed haunted. “I don’t know what to think. You say we’re in danger. I’ll believe you.”
“Ask.”
“Ask what?” My eyes were weary, my head aching, and I was in a foul mood.
“Anything, Lola. I’ll answer.”
“But truthfully is the question.”
Jagger turned his head beseechingly slowly, his eyes locking onto mine.
And suddenly, I felt like the bad little girl all over again, second guessing my master. “Fine. What happened to the woman you cared for, the only woman you learned to love.” I could tell the question threw him and I’d gambled that this had as much to do with shaping the man as his underworld family.
He lifted an eyebrow and scratched his forehead. “Women are far more intuitive than men.”
“You loved her, and she submitted to you. Yes?”
“I believed that I was in love with her, yes, but she never submitted to me. She wasn’t the type. She was powerful, or she was until she was stupid enough to get involved with me.”
