Age 17
“Sofia, are you listening to me?” Renato, my older brother, snapped his fingers in front of my face, pulling my attention to the present. “You’re really out of it lately.”
“I’m fine,” I said, pushing his hand away and blinking out of my daydream.
I stood in the middle of the workout studio in Casa Nera. The studio was buried on the third floor of the central mansion in the De Sanctis family compound, deep in the old Italian heart of New Jersey.
My black workout clothes clung to me and I had a liccasapuni in my hand. It was a wooden version of the stiletto knife used for the practice of paranza corta, the Sicilian art of knife fighting. An old bodyguard of ours had taught Renato and me since we were children. Twirling the knife adeptly, I forced my attention to my brother. He wasn’t training today. In a jet-black bespoke suit sharp enough to cut, he looked dangerous and powerful. Every day that passed, the aura of boss seemed to seep into Renato, preparing him for the day he’d lead the De Sanctis family.
Maybe I had zoned out again, but in my defense, my life had veered off track since that night, a whole week ago, in the underground gambling den. Since then, a certain tattooed someone had haunted my thoughts every waking second.
“Okay, well, as you know, I’m leaving this afternoon.” Ren was quiet for a long moment as his dark gaze searched my face.
He was my favorite person in the world. Since my mother had died, he’d been my only ally, even if his influence was limited. Every single time Antonio lost his temper with me and Renato stepped between us, Ren bore the harder punishment. Antonio had no patience for compassion, and he didn’t like being defied.
Now, my only protector was leaving.
“Are you going to be okay here?” Ren asked, his tone telling me he knew I might not be.
I shrugged, trying my best to seem more confident than I felt. “Of course. I’ve got school, and soon I’ll be graduating and heading to college. Life is great,” I told him brightly.
He studied me, waiting to see if I’d drop the cheerful act and be honest. I held the smile on my lips until it tasted bitter.
“Va bene. I’ll call you every week to check in. If you need me …” He shoved a hand through his dark hair, knowing that the rest of that sentence was pretty discouraging.
“If I need you, you’ll be in Italy,” I pointed out. “Don’t worry, fratello mio. I’m fine. I know how to stay on Papa’s good side, remember? Just worry about keeping up with my knife skills, or I’ll destroy you when you get home,” I teased him, brushing aside my melancholy.
I wasn’t lying. I had a full life—well, as full as Antonio allowed me to have. I was about to finish high school and had been accepted into art school. In my free time, I had a couple of security-approved girlfriends I could see. Life wasn’t terrible, and it could always be worse.
“You can try.” Renato finally smiled back at me.
I soaked up that last affectionate look. It’d be a chilly day in Hell when I got the equivalent from anyone else in my family.
He reached out and squeezed my shoulder. “Take care of yourself, Sofia. When I come home, everything will be different, don’t forget that. When things are bad, don’t forget,” Ren said, leaning in to press a brotherly kiss to the top of my hair, “Antonio won’t be boss forever.”
I let out a shuddering breath. He was right. I just needed to hold on until my brother became capo, then I’d have no reason to be afraid in my home.
I nodded, smiling and waving him off until he left me alone in the dimly lit studio.
I turned to my reflection again, looking like a shadow against the white wall.
What would Renato have said if he’d known what had happened last week? He’d have been furious with Silvio for taking me out in public without bodyguards. I had a feeling he’d be even more furious about letting me come into contact with someone from a rival family.
Someone like Nikolai Chernov.
I couldn’t get the man out of my head. Like a dark poison that had seeped into my blood, thoughts of Niko bloomed inside me whenever they had a chance. I was curious about him, drawn to his damaged darkness. I’d die if anyone knew the things I thought about when I was alone at night. Nikolai’s handsome face and powerful arms haunted my dreams, leaving me a sweaty mess of tangled sheets in the morning. I’d never let anyone know how he had crept into my head, and I knew without a doubt that I needed to stay away from him. Anyone who had grown up like I had, always walking a razor’s edge between safety and danger, would sense the trouble a man like Nikolai would bring. The kind of trouble where you were lucky to make it out alive.
That didn’t stop the thoughts, though.
I never had been good at staying away from trouble.
After school on Wednesdays was one of my Antonio-approved days to hang out with a friend under my bodyguard’s watchful eyes. Today, I trailed after Chiara as she skipped down the impressive stone steps leading from my exclusive girls-only school to the New York sidewalk.
“You want to go shopping?” she asked, turning as she walked to grin at me, snapping gum as she went. “Ask Angelo to drive us.” She nodded over my shoulder at my hulking bodyguard, following right behind us.
“No, that’s not fair to him. Let’s hang out at home.” I was tired. I hadn’t been sleeping well, thanks to the intrusive thoughts of Nikolai Chernov, and studying for final exams was taking up every second.
Chiara sighed dramatically. “Whatever you say, boss.”
I stopped, feeling guilty. Chiara was the daughter of a De Sanctis made man, someone high up and close to my father. It was one reason I was allowed to be friends with her. Was she only friends with me because her father told her to be? Insecurity plagued me as I clutched my bag to my chest.
“Come anyway, whatever we’re doing!” she called, still walking backward. Her frown had melted, and the storm passed.
I swallowed down my doubts and shouldered my bag, suddenly realizing how light it felt.
“Damn.” I stopped to dig inside the backpack. I was always leaving my water bottle in the gym hall, and today was no different. “I forgot my bottle again.” I turned to Angelo. “I’ll run and grab it,” I said, just as Chiara stumbled over a crack in the pavement and screeched loudly.
Taking the opportunity of Angelo being distracted, I turned and hurried back up the stairs. I was used to bodyguards following me everywhere except inside Casa Nera, but that didn’t mean it wasn’t exhausting.
I ran up the stairs, my bag bouncing on my back as I reached the top and strode inside. The hallways were quiet now, with the occasional teacher sitting at their desks as I moved down the hall toward the gym.
I pushed through the swinging doors and started across the polished wooden expanse when I felt it.
Eyes on me.
It was that stone-cold certainty in the pit of your belly that you were no longer alone.
Still walking, I looked over my shoulder, expecting to find other students setting up sports equipment, but the gym was empty. There weren’t any teachers tidying up or anyone at all that I could see. Silence echoed through the cavernous room; only the hard strikes of my loafer heels against the floor filled the air.
I halted, my heartbeat ticking upward and my palms dampening. It was a fear reaction. One of prey sensing that a predator had caught their scent. That creeping sensation of being watched by someone you couldn’t see. I wished I had my knife right now, tucked comfortingly in my palm.
“Hello?” I called before I could stop myself.
Great, Sofia, why not audition for the dumb heroine in a horror flick while you’re at it?
I stayed frozen to the spot for a long, painfully slow minute, listening intently. Nothing.
Blowing out an annoyed huff, I turned and started forward again. I wasn’t sleeping well and it had me jumping at shadows. Great. Reaching the back wall of the gym, I bent and picked up my metal water bottle and spun around.
I didn’t have time to scream before his hand clamped across my lips.
Nikolai Chernov loomed over me. I didn’t know how he’d crossed the gym floor so quickly, but there was no denying that he was there. He pressed the length of his hard body against mine, trapping me effortlessly against the wall. One hand was tight over my mouth, and the other grabbed the hand holding the water bottle and pinned it to the wall beside me.
“Hello, lastochka, have you missed me?” he drawled.
His faint accent made his speech more attractive and exotic, reminding me of how sheltered and untraveled I was. I swallowed hard against his hand and shook my head as much as I could considering the pressure of his hard grip.
His full lips twisted in a mocking grin. “Liar,” he whispered.
My cheeks burned with guilt, adding to the heat from his hand across my face.
His grin told me he knew exactly what was going on. “I think you’ve thought about me more than once… isn’t that right, Sofia?”
His words were spoken right into my ear, sending tingles of awareness rippling down my spine, chased by the sensation of his hot breath. My chest rose and fell too quickly. He leaned away, keeping his hand over my mouth. His eyes dropped to my body, and a low grunt left him. He took a step back, his gaze hungry as he took in the short plaid skirt of my uniform, knee socks, and tight white shirt. His gaze trailed over me like a caress, and I shivered.
He grinned. “I’ve thought about you, lastochka.” He tore his dark, starving eyes off my body. “My runaway prize.”
Prize?
His hand had loosened a fraction on my lips, and I turned my head to get my words out. “I’m not your prize—” I sucked in a breath, forgetting what I was saying as his knee slid between my legs.
He pressed me back into the wall, his face only inches from mine. “Yes, you are, Sofia De Sanctis. I won you, fair and square. You’re mine. You belong to me,” he breathed.
The dark possessiveness in his tone made me shiver for an entirely different reason. It was fear and something far more dangerous. Excitement. I was terrified and turned on, I realized with detached clarity.
Shaking my head, I wet my dry lips. It was a nervous habit, and his eyes fell to my mouth. “No, I’m not.”
“Yes, you are. Don’t make me prove it to you here and now, I’m a heavy-handed teacher,” he murmured, leaning his forehead against mine. “You know, I’ve never had someone belong to me before. I’ve never had anything of my own. It’s more distracting than I imagined it would be.”
His hot breath felt like it was melting my skin. He smelled good, but he shouldn’t. The scent of oil, like he’d gotten gas on his hands and not washed them, cigarettes, and something sweet and musky. None of it should be addictive. And yet, I found myself sucking great, panicked lungfuls of him. He was danger and sin. All the things I’d been hidden away from my entire life, and some perverse part of me wanted to tell him to take whatever he wanted. Burn me deep enough to leave a mark, so everyone would see.
But the logical part of my brain that sensed the strength of the predator currently nosing through my hair, breathing me in as much as I was breathing him, screamed at me to run.
I looked up at him. “Nikolai…” I started and jolted as his dark-gray eyes fixed on mine.
“Yes, lastochka? Tell me,” he said, matching my husky whisper.
That was as far as I got before my hand was moving. It was my right hand, and though I was missing my knife, I had the metal water bottle. The rounded end smashed into his temple and I twisted away. An explosive curse left him as his body shifted from mine, and I stepped past him.
I ran with all my might. I was fit, worked out, and trained in a deadly sport.
I got halfway across the gym floor before he caught me.
His arms went around my middle, spinning me around before we fell. I landed hard enough to knock the breath from my lungs and was crushed further by his weight.
He straddled me, his thighs hard against my waist. He pinned my wrists above my head so he was face-to-face with me. “That wasn’t very nice, Sofia. I’d expect better manners from a little Mafia princess like you.”
Blood dripped down his temple and splashed onto my cheek. I twisted my head, thrashing at his hold like an animal, my fear taking me over for a second.
A surprised chuckle left Nikolai as he took in my feral movements. “My, my, you aren’t what I expected at all, Sofia. Don’t tell me there’s something wild beneath that good-girl exterior? Something that longs to be let out.”
I stared at him, my arms growing exhausted from fighting against his superior strength. My chest rose and fell harshly as I panted from fear and exhaustion. He watched me with something like fascination. I was bloody, smeared from the steady drip from his chin. My hair was wild, and my skin heated.
“Beautiful,” he muttered, using one hand to hold both of mine and the other to run carefully through the red on my cheek.
“What are you doing?” I demanded at the methodical way he was touching my cheek.
“Making sure you remember who you belong to. I’m sure your little watcher will be along any moment. Angelo, wasn’t it?” Nikolai said conversationally.
It was terrifying that he knew my bodyguard’s name. How long had he been watching me?
“But since it’s not the time to start problems between our families, I’ll be going now.”
Relief filled me.
Nikolai finished with his design on my cheek, and before I could stop him, he slipped his red-stained finger into my mouth. I nearly retched at the metallic tang. I tried to turn away, but he gripped my chin and held my face toward his.
“Don’t be too relieved, Sofia. This is a momentary respite. You belong to me. I won you. I own you… and I’ll collect you when it’s time. Until then, keep dreaming of me, and I’ll do the same.”
He leaned in and pressed his lips to mine before I realized what he intended. My gasp of shock only allowed him entry, and he wasted no time slipping his tongue into my mouth. His blood mixed between us, and I felt a horrible heat that had nothing to do with fear. His kiss was bold, as darkly delicious as he was.
My first kiss.
I nearly arched into him. I nearly reached for him and pulled him closer, lost in the sensation of his body against mine, my carnal instinct driving me on, regardless of the danger.
“That’s right, Sofia. Don’t lie again that you don’t feel it, too,” he muttered against my lips.
The words were a shock of ice water splashed on my heated skin. What the hell was I doing? If this man didn’t rip me apart when he was done with me, then my father would if he knew what was happening right now.
I sank my teeth into his lip as hard as I could.
He pulled back as more metal filled my mouth. He sat back on his heels, wiping his lip. His chin was red, and I could feel warmth on mine as well. He stared at me, raising an eyebrow. I braced myself, wondering what he’d do in retaliation. I’d cut him deep; I could see yet more red dripping down his chin.
Instead of looking angry, he chuckled. “You’re going to be a wild one, aren’t you? It’s always the quiet ones. Good,” he said after a moment and pushed himself up with long, black, jean-clad legs. He looked down at me with demented fondness. “Save that for next time. We’ve no time for it now.”
“You’re crazy,” I heard myself say as I pedaled back like a beetle that had fallen on its butt.
At that incredulous statement, Nikolai threw his head back and laughed. It was rich and mocking, tempting and depraved at the same time. “Are you just figuring that out?” he asked, his eyes sparkling with amusement. “See you soon, Sofia De Sanctis.”
He turned and strode away as approaching footsteps echoed heavily in the silence that had fallen. I watched Nikolai boost himself effortlessly out of a shoulder-height window, slithering through lithely.
“Miss Sofia?” Angelo’s voice called to me from the door.
I shot painfully to my feet. I turned away from him, hiding my face. If my father found out what had happened, he’d never let me out of the house again.
“I’m coming. I need to run to the bathroom,” I tossed over my shoulder, quickly making for the small bathroom off the gym.
Inside, I turned the light on with trembling fingers and braced myself for my reflection. I flinched when I caught the first glimpse of myself in the mirror.
I looked far wilder than I could have imagined. Blood ran from both corners of my mouth like macabre Halloween makeup. But worse than that was the shape on my cheek.
A red-painted letter on my unblemished skin. A brand of ownership.
N.
You’re mine, Sofia. You belong to me, my prize.
