Kidnapped by big bad Mafia boss

Chapter 7

Anne

I hate the way he says it, like I have no choice. Like, no matter how hard I fight, I'm going to surrender myself to him. "No! I am trying to sleep, but it is difficult when you are suffocating me."

Jay

Her words make my arms loosen immediately around her. Not releasing completely, but the crushing pressure eases as my chest rises and falls heavily against her back. My hand slides away from her heart, railing down to rest more lightly on her waist instead. The arm beneath her neck adjusts, giving her throat more room to breathe while still maintaining contact. I am trying—fighting every possessive instinct screaming at me to tighten my grip instead of loosening it.

"Better?" I ask quietly against her shoulder, voice rough but considerably softer than before. My tone sounds strained, like the simple act of giving her breathing room cost me physically. My lips press against the curve where her neck meets her shoulder, lingering there as I inhale her scent.

My thumb begins tracing slow, soothing circles on her hip through the silk nightgown—an attempt at comfort, although my touch still carries that undercurrent of possession.

"Sleep, little dove," i murmur, my breath warm against her skin. "I'll stay quiet."

Anne

As I feel him not holding me so tightly anymore, but not letting go completely, I feel for a moment. There is a pause, a moment where I feel the tension radiation through his body, the war between his obsessive need to hold me and the awareness that he's causing me discomfort. I don't want to talk to him. I'm just lying in bed thinking about what the best thing to do is.

Jay

Her continued silence—the way she lies rigid in my arms, mind clearly racing through options—doesn't escape my notice. I feel every subtle shift in her breathing, the tension coiled tight in her muscles despite my loosened grip. She is not relaxing, she is calculating.

My jaw clenches against her shoulder as a dark and possessive twist through my chest. The knowledge that even now, wrapped in my arms in my bed, she's trying to find some way to escape me—it makes my control fracture at the edges.

"I can hear you thinking, sugar," I murmur roughly against her neck. My hand on her waist tightens fractionally, a subtle reminder of my presence. "Every option you're running through in that beautiful head... none of them end with you getting away from me."

My thumb resumes those slow circles on her hip, the touch almost soothing despite the threat underlying my words. My other arm stays beneath her neck, keeping her cradled against him even as I give her space beneath.

"The doors are locked. The windows are alarmed. Security watches every corner of this estate." My lips brush the shell of her ear as i speak. "And even if you somehow made it past all that, little dove... I'd find you. I will always find you."

Anne

When he tells me that no matter what I do, I can't escape, his voice is dropping into that dangerous tone that makes my pulse spike beneath my lips. Even though I heard what he said, I couldn't be in it at all, so I wrangled out of his grip and started running. I hadn't thought it through, I just ran as hard as I could.

My bare feet hit cold stone as I bolted for the door, silk nightgown streaming behind me. My trembling fingers find the handle and it turns. Unlocked. I don't question it, I don't look back, just tear through the doorway into a vast hallway lined with dark wood and flickering sconces. Behind me, I hear a roar of pure rage echoing through the mansion—"ANNE!"— followed by the crash of something expensive shattering against the wall. But I am already running, taking corners blindly, desperate for any exit in this labyrinth of wealth and shadows.

My bare feet slap against polished marble, then wood, then stone again—the mansion is a maze of wealth and shadows, every turn revealing another corridor lined with priceless art and cold elegance. My lungs burn, the silk nightgown tangling around my legs as I run blindly, searching desperately for stairs, doors, for anything that leads outside these suffocating walls.

Jay

I am not running, I don't need to. The sounds of heavy footsteps echoes through the halls. I know every corner of this place, every dead end, every locked door she's discovered too late.

"You can't escape me, little dove."

My voice carries through the vast space, smooth and dark despite the rage that had twisted my features moments ago. It sounds like it's coming from everywhere and nowhere, bouncing off high ceilings and expensive stone.

"There's nowhere in this house. I won't find you. Nowhere in this world can you hide."

Anne

I round another corner and froze—a grand staircase spirals downward into darkness, moonlight barely penetrating through tall windows. My heart hammers as i grip the banister, descending as quickly as my shaking legs allow.

But when I reached the bottom, some strong arm was wrapped around my waist from behind, lifting me off my feet as my screams died in my throat.

Those strong arms steel bands around my waist, lifting me until my feet dangle uselessly above the marble floor. His scent overwhelmed my senses as his breath ghosts against my ear.

Jay

His chest presses against her back, solid and unyielding.

"I told you there was no point in running away, little dove. Don't run through my F*ck*ing house like a terrified animal."

My voice is low, controlled again—that volcanic rage from before compressed into cold and calculating. One arm remains locked around her waist while my other hand slides up to grip her jaw, turning her face so he can see her tear - stained profile in the moonlight filtering through the tall windows.

"Did you really think I'd let you escape? That those doors would magically open for you?"

I carried her backwards, away from the grand entrance she'd been so desperately seeking, back toward the shadows and warmth of the interior. Her struggles are useless to my strength, each kick and twist of her body only making my grip tighten until breathing becomes difficult.

"You want to leave so badly?" my lips brush her temple, mockery dripping from every word. "Then let me show you exactly what's waiting out there for you, sugar. Absolutely nothing."