????????MAFIA POSSESSION ????????
( HIS ADDICTION ????)
BY, ROYAL DIADEM ❣️
CHAPTER 7
Copy and have your life shortened ????
(AND YOU’RE SUPPOSE TO KILL ME?)
LUCA ANALYZED all of Caroline’s reactions to him. Most of them were fearor anger. And while he didn’t mind if she was a little bit afraid of him, andhe knew she had every right to be angry, he still didn’t really like it. He
tilted his head where it rested on his hands. He didn’t want her to freak out.
If she freaked out she would do something silly like jump out a secondstory window or try to stab him with a steak knife. He couldn’t have that,couldn’t let her hurt herself or someone else. But in their current situation,what could he do to put her at ease?
“Will you talk with me, Caroline?” he asked.
He made sure his voicewas soft and soothing and his posture remained unthreatening. She stillseemed scared.
“I don’t have a choice, do I?” He could hear the panic clinging to thecorners of her words.
She didn’t realize how lucky she was. If any of Luca’sbrothers had been sent to kill her, she would already be dead. They
wouldn’t question their father’s orders, they wouldn’t hesitate. She wouldhave been in a car accident, or a tragic fire, or else no one would ever findher body.
Things could be so much worse for Caroline and if she only knewthat she wouldn’t be so frightened of him. Comparatively, he was aharmless lamb when she could be facing a lion.
“You do have a choice,” he said.
“You always have a choice.” He satback, keeping his hands on the table where she could see them. A small
gesture of goodwill.
“If you don’t want to talk to me, you can go back to
your room and I’ll let you out for breakfast in the morning.” Her expressiondidn’t change. Wariness on the edge of panic.
She didn’t trust him. Hesmiled gently.
“But I would like it if you would talk with me.”
She blinked and her hands fidgeted in her lap.
“What are we talkingabout? Why you kidnapped me?” A breathless laugh pitched her wordshigher than her usual speaking voice.
He winced at the accusation. It was absolutely true, but hearing itspoken out loud stung a little. He didn’t want to be a kidnapper.
“Yes.” Hetook a breath.
“I know who you are,” he began. “I know where you work,where you live, and what you eat for breakfast.” It sounded a lot creepierwhen he said it out loud.
Her eyes wide-ned.
“Stalker,” she hissed under her breath.
Luca laughed. “That’s fair.” He folded his hands together on the table.
“You’re a good journalist, Caroline. Too good.” He watched her reaction,still wary and on the edge of panic, but with a curiosity that tilted her head
forward.
“You made waves. Rubbed the wrong people the wrong way.”
“So you’re going to kill me?” Her voice was flat, dead, emotionless.
Her eyes were not. They were frightened and pleading and it was all Lucacould do not to pull her into his arms and comfort her. Tell her he couldnever hurt his little gattina. But he knew she wouldn’t like that and wouldprobably bite him, so he remained still in his seat, squeezing his handsaround each other to focus himself.
He w-et his li-ps. “I should. I’m supposed to,” he admitted.
“But if I don’thave to, I won’t.” He hoped she understood how much he meant that. Sheflinched away from him in her chair. When she met his eyes again, she stilllooked wary, but most of the panic had been replaced by curiosity. He couldwork with curiosity.
“I have a question for you too.” She raised her
eyebrows, every muscle in her body so tense he worried one of her tendonsmight snap.
“Why do you hate me?” His voice sounded less curious andpoutier than he intended, but it made something flash across her face thatwasn’t fear or anger. He suspected it was the same attraction he’d seen at
the cafe. The attraction she wouldn’t admit to herself now that he hadkidnapped her. He coughed to clear his throat and forced his tone intosomething more authoritative and appropriate.
“What is your vendettaagainst my family?”
She sat up straighter in her chair.
“You’re the mafia. You do terriblethings to innocent people for selfish reasons.”
Luca’s li-ps split into a smile. First, the people they did terrible things towere not usually innocent, and the reasons were not purely selfish. She hadthe Morettis to thank for taking some deranged criminals off the streets.
Second, that wasn’t her reason. Her voice changed when she was lying. Itbecame more performative, more exaggerated.
“That’s all well and good,darling, but that’s not the reason you try to slander the Moretti name.”
“Don’t call me that,” she muttered to the tablecloth.
He said ‘darling.’ Noted. No pet names. Luca would remember that.
“Try again.” He carried on as if he hadn’t heard. “Don’t lie to me.”
She looked at him like a child with her hand caught in the cookie jar.
People probably always told her that she was a good liar. She wasn’t a badliar, but Luca had been lying his whole life and he knew how to recognizeit. He also knew how she lied from that morning when she told him hername was Emily and she wrote screenplays.
She looked away again.
“I had a bad experience with the Moretticompany, and I wanted revenge.”
Luca laughed out loud. That wasn’t even a good lie. She was the type ofperson who accepted the wrong order to avoid confrontation with the kiddelivering her pizza and still tipped generously. In no world would she want
revenge for a negative customer service experience. “Come on, Caroline, dobetter than that.”
She huffed a breath and looked him in the eyes, still very tense and veryafraid, but more frustrated than anything else.
“I’m part of a rival mobtrying to take you down.”
He tilted his head to the side with a wide smile. “And you think that’sgoing to save your life?” Her face lost all color and terror took over again.
Luca regretted his teasing immediately. But the more she lied about herreason for going after his family with such ferocity, the more he wanted toknow the truth. What could she be hiding? What terrible secret was soimportant she would rather admit to being a rival of the Moretti mafia whilebeing held captive by the son of the Don? He leaned forward, the hint of a
threat in his voice.
“Don’t lie to me, Caroline.”
She flinched away and whispered,
“Will you return the favor?” Fearfluttered behind her long eyelashes.
“Yes,” he said softly. “There’s no reason for me not to be honest withyou.” He might have been good at lying, but that didn’t mean he liked it. Healways preferred the truth. It was a lot easier to keep track of and
remembering all his lies could get tiresome after a while.
Caroline wrapped her arms around herself.
“And you’re supposed to killme?”
He already told her that. “Yes.”
Caroline swallowed around a thick lump in her throat. “Then just killme and get it over with.”
He blinked at her and leaned forward over the table. “No.” There wa-ssomething inherently attractive in her defiance. She was so scared of him,but she still lied to his face and taunted him. She didn’t actually have a
death wish,
he could tell, but she wouldn’t compromise her values no matterwhat he put her throu-gh. That was part of what drew him to her. Hewatched her stand by her beliefs no matter the cost. He admired her for that.He couldn’t just kill someone he respected and admired as much as
Caroline. “I think not.”
TBC