Owning the Mafia Don

Lucien

His gravelly voice came over the phone and Danielle scowled, expecting a reprimand.

But there was only the sound of his breathing as he waited. After a while, he rasped out tersely,

“What?’

‘Boss’ she said, her palms sweaty, not sure if she was doing the right thing, lending hope to his man who was going through his own private purgatory.

‘Boss, I …think…’ She began.

He roared,

‘The f*ck you called me, woman, to tell me what you f*cking think?’

She glared at the receiver, muttering choice expletives to herself.

Then she went on, gripping the phone tightly,

‘ Boss, keep your shirt on. It’s about some information that Sophie gave me. She told me…her sister…’

There was a silence. She had got his attention.

Lucien was listening intently.

‘Go on,’ he growled.

She went on, excitement creeping into her voice. Then she spoke, all in a rush,

‘She said that there is a place where they keep the women who they bring from …other areas. Before…’ she paused, it hurt to think of Proserpina in that situation, but swallowing, closing her eyes to shut out the pain, she went on gruffly,’…before selling them.’Nôvel/Dr(a)ma.Org - Content owner.

Lucien was silent for so long that she thought for a moment that she had lost the connection.

But the sound of his laboured breathing made her confident.

Then he bit out sharply. Just one word, loaded with meaning,

“Where?’

***

Aiyana

She stared at her erstwhile partner, Ben Church in frustration. They were on a video call and she had been asking him to get information that would help to save Proserpina.

But Church was stubbornly refusing to help.

‘He’s a mobster, Ay!’ he said, ‘Since when did you begin to help gangsters?’

She scowled at him, her lovely face hardening.

“What is with you, Ben?’ she snapped.’ This is a kidnapping, plain and smple. So theman is a mob Boss, so what? That woman is pregnant, Ben! For …!”

***

They had been arguing for an hour now. He was adamant about refusing to help a gangster, he claimed but she knew him better. There was more to this.

Finally she said,

“Higher ups leaning on you, Church?’ His face whitened and he glared at her. And she knew that there were people who wanted to put Lucien Delano through hell, people who had scores to settle with him.

Sighing, she cut the call abruptly and began to pace about. She was in the Delano mansion, helping to keep the kids safe. From somewhere upstairs, she heard the sound of pattering feet and giggles.

She shook her head.

The woman needed to be found.

And Fast.

The longer they took, the slimmer the chances of getting her back.

***

Proserpina

I lay on the bed that night, unable to sleep. The words in the small note made sense to me, frightening, terrifying sense.

Dmitri Rudenko would have the ultimate revenge if he sold me.

***

It was a little after daylight the next day that the door opened. A woman entered, and I stared at her.

Unlike the defeated young woman I had seen earlier, this woman was definitely not of European descent. Middle Eastern, I reckoned. She walked in a sassy, confident manner, rolling her hips. She had obviously used some enhanced surgery on her body; her thighs and breasts were large, more than was humanly possible. In a tight-fitting t-shirt and low waist jeans, she sauntered in holding the plate of food for me in one hand.

She tossed the tin plate of sandwiches on the bed dismissively and stood, looking at me.

With her olive skin and brown eyes, her heavily coloured red hair and confident strut, she was totally different from the meek little woman I had seen before.

A cigarette dangled from the corner of her heavily painted mouth and I stiffened instinctively.

I met her eyes as she walked to the centre of the room, her cold eyes assessing me.

“Stand up!’ she barked, in heavily accented English and I saw the man with the rifle appear in the doorway. He had a smirk on his face as if he expected to enjoy this.

I stood up slowly, my heart beating faster.

Something about this woman scared me but I was determined not to show it.

She came forward, her hard eyes assessing me.

To my shock, she reached out and touched my face, gripping my cheeks, turning my face from one side to another. Her long fingernails painted a deep plum colour, dug into my cheeks. I knew I would have marks on my face from the way she was holding me.

“Hmmm… good skin, good features.’ She observed, her lips twisting. Up close, I could see she was older than what I had thought she was, around fiftyish perhaps. There were wrinkles around her mouth and eyes and she had a cold, calculating look.

Reaching down further, she squeezed a breast and I gasped in pain.

‘Good tits.’ She announced and the man came closer. I shrank back.

Her hand moved further down and I felt my breathing escalating.

Tilting her head to the side, she said, almost as if I was a cow on display, she went on,

‘Good hips. Hmmm…legs also.’ She frowned at my swollen belly in annoyance. Placing her hands on her hips she spoke, almost as if I was not there,

‘Children? This c*nt is with child?’

She shook her head, and I knew she was making some kind of calculations in her mind.

She turned to the man beside her who was picking his teeth, his greedy look on my half-naked body and I struggled to stand still without trembling.

And then, she turned to leave.

‘Please…’ I cried, imploringly. ‘Please…what are you going to do to me?’

She stopped in midstride.

Turning, hooking an elegant eyebrow, she smiled,

” You are Lucien Delano’s whore, aren’t you?’

I flushed and raised my chin proudly.

“I am his wife.’ I said clearly, with emphasis.

Her smile grew broader.

Without taking her eyes off my face, she addressed the man beside her, who was grinning lasciviously at me,

‘This one will fetch a good price. She has spirit. ‘

And then, almost as though she was talking to me, she said in her guttural voice,

‘Men like to break women with spirit. And with a body like that, when the children are gone…’ she chuckled and I felt the dread spreading within me.

She tossed her mane of dyed red hair and laughed loudly, a throaty sound that chilled me.

The man burst out in a guffaw, his eyes on my face, clearly enjoying my distress.

I stood, my fists clenched as the reality of what she had said sank in

And then with a malicious smile, she looked me in the face and went on mockingly, wagging her finger at me,

‘ Your HUSBAND, ‘ she said the word contemptuously,

‘Your beloved husband, Lucien Delano, he make many enemies, my dear.’

She smiled, puffing at her cigarette viciously,

“Powerful men who want to hurt him. Now they can hurt him. Through YOU.’

And then, flicking the ash from her cigarette butt onto the floor carelessly, she said, venomously.

“There are many men who are willing and ready to buy his cherished wh*re. They will enjoy you, enjoy breaking you…sharing you before they discard you. Maybe even get rid of you.’

I sank to my knees and whispered,

‘But my children..’ I looked at her, my eyes wide with my anguish and fear.

‘My unborn children, please…have mercy…’

She shrugged her shoulders nonchalantly and smiled, speaking to the man again,

‘See, Pablo, see how good she begs, eh? She will be a treat to watch.’

And she turned to leave, throwing over her shoulder, drawling as uncaringly as before,

‘They will decide. Your buyers. Maybe someone who likes a pregnant cow with big, leaky tits will snap you up?’

Dimly, I heard her speak to him,

“Get her cleaned up. ”

And with those crushing words, she left, slamming the door after her as I dissolved in tears, sobbing loudly.