Twisted Desire (25 page)

He walked off, saying nothing more, leaving me with my fists clenched at my sides. Son of a bitch. He had never planned on letting her go.
 

What reason could he have for keeping her, unless he planned on killing her?

Over my dead body.

Unclenching my fists, I pressed a button on my phone. “We’ve got a problem,”
I told the other line when they picked up.

I was deep inside her, thrusting harder and harder. Her moans and begging for me to go faster, harder, were bringing the tingling at the back of my spine to a full blown orgasm.

I cried out in ecstasy, shouting her name over and over. Her legs were wrapped around my waist, and she was planting kisses across my jaw. When my spasms subsided, I collapsed on top of her, then pulled her with me so I was on my back and she was draped on top of me.

We were sweaty from our hard lovemaking. When I’d returned to our room from my conversation outside with Roman, it was all I could do not to rip her clothes off and bury myself inside her while pushing her against the wall. He had gotten me so worked up, so worried for my sweet girl, I had to be with her.
 

I was never letting her go.
 

And I was making damn sure she was never taken to Majorca.

Looking up at her face, seeing her beautiful eyes staring down at me, made my throat constrict. I loved her so damn much. Pushing some of her hair behind her ear, I pulled her head toward me and kissed her lightly on the nose.

“I love you so damn much, querida,”
I whispered gruffly.

She rested her head in the crook of my neck and pressed a kiss there. “I love you too, baby,”
she replied. “So, so much. When we get back home, we will start our life together. Daddy will hire you in one of his businesses, I know it. We will be happy.”

I was tracing circles on her back and didn’t say anything. Daddy won’t be hiring me to work for him, but I didn’t tell her that. I wouldn’t burst her bubble until I absolutely had to.

“Tag?”

“Hmm?”

“You’re going to stay with me, right?”

Not again.

“Querida, I’ve told you—nothing will stop me from being with you.”
 

Except death.

She sighed, her warm breath hitting my neck. Soon enough, her back was rising and falling in rhythm, telling me she’d fallen asleep. I didn’t move, didn’t want to lose this time with her. I had no idea what would happen to us, to me, once we broke out of here, but one thing I did know was that Roman would never have her. I’d take bullets before letting him take her to his home on Majorca.
 

Or he would.

Images of putting bullet holes all over his body flooded my mind. The man would be lucky if that
was all I did to him. Once I got Penny home safe, I knew I’d come back and change him.
 

There was never a doubt.

Roman Vitale had no idea what he did when he brought me into his cartel. He had no clue who he was playing with. Roman Vitale didn’t know that bringing me in would be his downfall.

And the decision to kidnap Penny, well, that only solidified it. The man was greedy, and it was finally going to put him where he belonged.
 

In hell.

Chapter 25

It was coming.

The time for us to make our escape was close, Tag told me.

While I was so excited to finally get back home, I was also scared to death. I didn’t say much to Tag, but I knew it was dangerous. I knew we could die.

I also knew what he wasn’t saying. I knew he was worried he wouldn’t make it, that he’d give up his life for me. What he didn’t know was that I wouldn’t let that happen. He would not lose his life trying to save mine.

“Penny, are you listening to me?”

I looked back over to him, sitting at the large desk in our room. He had three different types of guns laid out, trying to explain how each worked. It was like trying to learn a foreign language. I’d never get it.

“Yes.”

He chuckled and leaned back in his chair. “No, you’re not, Penny. But you need to. You need to learn how to use one when we make our escape.”

I picked one up and examined it. “Don’t you just lift, aim, and shoot?”

He leaned over and took the gun from my hold. “Oh, querida,”
he sighed. “You have so much to learn.”

He spent the rest of the afternoon teaching me as best he could how to aim and fire. By dinnertime, we both felt comfortable enough that I had the basic gist of it. I groaned when he told me we’d practice more tomorrow.

“Listen,”
he told me, his gaze beating down on me. “We can’t ever be too careful. You need to be one hundred percent comfortable carrying one, let alone using it. Our time is getting short, querida. We don’t have long to do this.”

While he hadn’t given me an exact time of when we’d leave, it was close. He’d told me to be prepared to leave any minute, in only what I was wearing at the time. We had to be on our toes at all times.

We were walking along a cobblestone path to the dining patio. It was dark, and the sky was clear with the stars shining bright. The ocean waves could be heard in the distance, and in any other setting, it would be the most romantic place in the world. I had everything I needed there in Tag, the only issue being that I was being held hostage by a psycho cartel leader.

When we reached the dining area, Roman stood up to greet us. “Tag, Ms. Santoro, please have a seat.”
We each crossed to where we were told to sit, Tag pulling my chair out for me. Roman kept his eye on me, watching Tag push me in gently.
 

“Will anyone else be joining us tonight, sir?”
Tag inquired.

“Yes, Theo should be here in a few minutes. He had a last-minute issue to attend to. How are you enjoying your stay here, my dear?”
Roman suddenly turned to ask me.

For reasons unknown to me, an anger so deep, so sudden, burst in my soul, and it was all I could do not to lunge across the table at this vile man. He was acting as though I was his
guest
, and not his hostage. It was as if we were all enjoying a tropical vacation together, and that infuriated me more than anything.

“It’s nice to be off the yacht, to be honest,”
I spat out, barely hanging on to the last of my control. Tag raised a brow at me, instantly knowing something was up, but I ignored him. I turned back to Roman to see his reaction.

Roman looked annoyed for a brief moment, then smiled. “I can imagine. Well, we will be flying to Majorca soon, to my home there. I think you’ll enjoy it over there.”

He took a bite of his salmon, as if announcing that was entirely normal. My eyes widened as I looked at Tag. Majorca? When did this come about? No way in hell was I going to Majorca, was I?

Tag just gave a slight shake of his head, his way of telling me not to freak out. Roman was chewing on his bite, his lips curving into a smile. As he looked at me, his eyes turned darker, as if in lust. It made my bite of seasoned potato come back up my throat.

“You will enjoy Majorca, I guarantee it, Ms. Santoro,”
he spoke huskily. I saw Tag twitch as I grabbed my glass of water to swallow my bite down. I knew without a doubt Roman’s meaning, and it made me gag. The man was positively sick.
 

Before I could respond, Tag spoke up. “Penny’s been having a hard time adapting to her new surroundings.”
I jerked my head to him, shocked he said something to undermine what Roman said. Was he insane?

Roman shrugged as he took a sip of wine. “That will change.”

He didn’t seem annoyed Tag had said anything; he just kept staring at me over his glass. I pushed my food around my plate with my fork, what appetite I’d had completely gone. We had to get out of here; I couldn’t take it anymore.

Theo came then, apologizing for being so late. He sat down and dug into his food, oblivious to the tension around him. Roman continued to talk about the island of Majorca and how beautiful it was. It was like he was a travel agent trying to sell some clients on the place. He made my head swim, and not in a good way.

Just as I was about to declare I was full and wanted to go back to my room, a movement in some bushes next to me caught my eye. I looked around but couldn’t see anything, so I chalked it up to a small creature or the breeze. When it happened again, my eyes darted to Tag. He raised a brow in question, and I nodded my head in the direction of the noise. His eyes squinted, as if trying to figure out exactly what I was trying to tell him, when I heard something again.

“I’m sorry, but do you all hear that noise?”
I interrupted Roman’s spiel, and all three men’s eyes darted to mine.
 

“What noise?”
Roman asked as Theo and Tag stood up, drawing their guns out of their waistbands. Before I could reply, an image of blonde hair and something red fled across the lawn, Theo and Tag immediately running after it. The person dashed through the trees and bushes so fast, I couldn’t get a good look, but something about them seemed familiar.

“Jamille,”
Roman uttered, then swore.

My head turned to him, forgetting my thoughts for a moment. “What? Who’s Jamille?”

His eyes blazed at me, the anger making me cower in my chair. “Hush, Penelope,”
he hissed, standing up and walking to the edge of the patio. His hands were clenched at his sides, and I could hear him mumbling something in Italian under his breath.

He suddenly turned around and looked right at me. “Come with me,”
he demanded. I knew better than to ask or argue, but the feeling of fear gripping my throat overcame me. Not saying a word, I stood and followed him inside the main house. He took a few steps before he abruptly turned around and grabbed my hand, forcing me to follow him down a large hallway.

Barely keeping up with him, I stumbled behind him as he dragged me to a large room with at least eight TV monitors behind a huge desk, and a plush sofa on the side. He dropped me on the sofa and headed to the desk, resting his hands on top of it and looking at the monitors.
 

When I had caught my breath and adjusted my position on the sofa, I looked up at the monitors too and gasped when I saw Tag and Theo on one. Theo was holding someone by the arm, but I couldn’t get a good enough look before Tag stepped in my view, blocking them. They started walking the person away from the monitor, into what looked like the main house that we were in. Roman turned on his heel, stopping in front of me.

“I need to go address this situation, Ms. Santoro. You need to stay here. Do not leave this room, do you understand?”

Only nodding, he surprised me when he didn’t leave. His eyes were still blazing in anger, which made me sink back in the sofa. They softened at that for a moment, then the anger was back.
 

“I’m going to lock you in here, only to ensure your safety. There is a bathroom over there and plenty of books to look at. Do not make a noise, or I’m afraid you’ll regret it.”

My jaw dropped, but he was already out the door. What the hell was going on, and who was that person? A sick feeling came over me that I wouldn’t like the answer.

I wracked my brain to try and figure out why the figure was so familiar. The brief sight of seeing blonde did nothing to help me. Millions of people had blonde hair. The way they ran made me think it was a girl, as did the name Roman said in anger.