????????MAFIA POSSESSION ????????
( HIS ADDICTION ????)
BY, ROYAL DIADEM ❣️
CHAPTER 8
Copy and have your life shortened ????
(I’M GOING TO kis-s YOU ????)
IF CAROLINE DIDN’T KNOW what she knew about the Morettis, she wouldhave been delighted to eat dinner with Luca and talk with him afterward. Ifhe hadn’t drugged and kidnapped her, she would love the way he looked ather like she was the only girl in the world. But she was a captive, and shedidn’t like the intensity behind his eyes.
He’d said multiple times now that he wasn’t going to kill her, but shedidn’t believe him. She could feel how he was capable of murder, probablyhad killed before, or at least beat someone to a bloody pulp with the same
hands he now folded innocently on the table. The light caught the veins andtendons just right, the neatly filed fingernails, the hook-shaped scar justbelow the first knuckle of his right hand.
Caroline could fixate on any one of his features without feelingoverwhelmed or paralyzed, but when she took in his whole being, her bloodrushed past her ears and her lungs refused to hold air. She could only
describe the look in his eyes as hungry when he considered her suggestionthat he just kill her now and get it over with.
“I think not.” The way Luca’s li-ps parted around the words, the waythey dripped danger and honey in equal parts, and the way he looked like alion playing with his food set off Caroline’s fight-or-flight reflex. She
jumped to her feet; breath caught in her throat. Her chair clattered to thewood floor behind her. The noise startled her and in the split second beforeshe could feel his amused smirk, she was angry about it. She wasn’t reallythinking, panic made sure of that, so she wrapped her hands around theedge of the table, preparing to fli-p it and run for the door.
It all happened so fast. One moment, freedom glimmered on the edge ofthe horizon, and the next his hand clamped around her wrist and the edge of
the table dug into the side of her hip and she could feel the heat of his bodythrou-ghthe few inches that separated them.
She had to crane her neck to see his dangerously calm expressionlooking down at her. If she couldn’t breathe before, she existed in an airlessvacuum now.
“I want you to think about the consequences of your actionsbefore you do anything,” he said, enunciating each word with carefulintention. She shivered. He wasn’t quite touching her except for his handaround her wrist. His grip wasn’t painful, but it could be. It held that threat.
He leaned his head down to continue speaking.
“We can do this the easyway, or we can do this the ha-rd way.”
She would have felt better if he squee-zed her wrist or jerked her aroundor something, but he remained perfectly still. A consistent pressure aroundher wrist, straight posture towering over her to make her feel tiny andpowerless. If he would move, even if he would hit her or push her down,she would have something to deal with, something to hate him for. He juststood there with so much power despite not doing anything, keeping herrestrained despite only touching her at one point, knocking her heart intoher throat with his stillness, his complete control, complete calm. It felt likethe quiet before a storm. It reeked of the sharp smell of lightning beforethunder to-re across the sky and rattled your bones.
He lowered his voice to an intimate murmur.
“The Don of the mostpowerful mafia in New York wants you dead, Caroline.” She couldn’t lookaway from him, he’d turned her to stone, and she could only watch hismouth wrap around his words. It was such a pretty mouth, and the wordswere pretty if she dared to believe them.
“But I don’t.”
She didn’t dare to believe him. The way he said her name sent tremorsthrou-ghher body. The warmth of his hand around her wrist traveled up herarm and swam throu-ghher chest, undecided whether it was fear orattraction or both. His posture bent to bring his face closer to hers, but soslow and smooth she almost didn’t notice. Her gaze was still locked on his
mouth when his tongue darted out to w-et his li-ps. She didn’t know what shefelt. Fear, or else something she wouldn’t put a name to, but the fact thatshe felt something made her tremble.
Luca’s other hand brushed her cheek. “I’m going to kis-s you.”
Maybe if she hadn’t been frozen by panic, maybe if she listened to thatlittle voice inside her saying ‘run,’ maybe if she hadn’t been looking at hisli-ps when he said it she could have stepped backward, could have said no,could have run away. But she didn’t.
She felt a puff of warm breath before his li-ps covered hers. His kis-s wase-xactly like his appearance and his manners; sweet, pretty, gentle, but withan underlying threat, a power that rippled beneath the surface ready to breakfree and devour her. That carefully restrained dominance was sointoxicating Caroline’s brain ceased all cognitive function. He might havepulled away after that initial press of his mouth against hers, but she caughthis lower li-p between hers before he could leave and su-cked it between herteeth.
He inhaled sharply and the hand that had been a featherlight touch onher cheek wrapped around the back of her neck to pull her closer. Just ataste of the power he kept reigned in, but it was enough to make her kis-shim back. He wasn’t in any hurry and she lost herself in the intentionality ofit. He meant it. Every move was a careful consideration, and that thrilled
her like nothing else. Until her tongue touched his. That snapped her out ofwhatever trance she’d been under. She took a whole step back and slappedhim across the face. The sound of that smack seemed to echo around theroom in time to her heartbeat.
He flexed his jaw, regarding her with amusement. “Worth it,” he saidand finally released her wrist. He nodded his head toward the stairs, and shewent without having to be told. He locked her in the pastel bedroom withthe promise that he would bring her clothes up in the morning.
She wrapped her arms around herself and sank onto one of the beds.She couldn’t fight her way out of this, and even if she could they would justsend someone else to kill her. Running led to the same end. Even if she
called the police, even if Luca were arrested, he would post bail and beback with more motive to kill her. She really had no chance.
Caroline wanted to cry. If she could cry, she could release all theemotions and think clearly. Crying was good for you, she’d read. Cryingeven helped your skin look brighter and your eyelashes grow longer. But
bouncing between panic, terror, and anger all day was exhausting andCaroline didn’t have it in her to cry.
She let her body tip over to the side and pressed her cheek against thepastel quilt. She was going to die here. Stronger, smarter, more powerful people than she had tried to go up against the mafia and failed. She didn’tstand a chance. Her eyes fell closed. He kis-sed her. She slapped him and hedidn’t kill her. What did that mean? He liked her to some degree. He kept
saying he didn’t want to kill her. It would be so easy for him to throw heraround and threaten her physically and emotionally, but he treated her witha roundabout sort of respect.
“Sleep off the drugs,” “Eat something, you’llfeel better,” “I would like it if you would talk with me,” “I have no reasonto lie to you,” “I’m going to kis-s you.”
She shivered. He liked her. He was into her, at least enough not to killher yet. Luca Moretti, a pretty boy with millions of dollars at his fingertips,more influence than he knew what to do with, and the most powerful mafiain New York at his back was into a mildly successful investigativejournalist. It was laughable, but something nagged at the edge of Caroline’smind. None of those powerful people who tried to take down the mafia hadan in. Luca could be her in. She could use him, play his game and win.
She could finally expose the Morettis for the monsters they were. Andfinally get justice for her dad
TBc