CHAPTER 005

Anna stirred awake as her eyes fluttered open to darkness. A blindfold was pressed tightly over her eyes, trapping her in darkness that made her heart race. Her head throbbed, dull at first, then sharp, overwhelming her senses and making her groan from the pain.

She tried to move her mouth, but she couldn’t. A thick cloth gagged her, pressing against her tongue. The taste of chemicals still lingered. Her body felt both weightless and heavy, like she was floating through fog. Her limbs were numb, her skin cold, her breathing shallow and faint.

She tried moving also, but her wrists wouldn’t budge. They were tied tightly behind her back. Rough rope bit into her skin, binding her ankles just as firmly.

Panic swelled in her chest immediately, tightening her breath until it hitched in her throat.

Anna was upright, seated on a chair, her body heavy with stiffness. Every muscle throbbed, like she’d been out for hours.

She held her breath, listening, but nothing came. No footsteps, no whispers. Just silence, thick and still, pressing in like the world had stopped.

She inhaled sharply through her nose, her heart slamming harder as the memories came back in fragments. The message from James. The park. Someone placing a cloth over her mouth. Then nothing.

“Mmhhf!” Anna tried to speak, but the cloth gagging her mouth muffled it.

Anna’s pulse quickened as a heavy door creaked open behind her. Footsteps followed, slow, deliberate, and more than one. The sharp click of shoes on marble echoed through the space. Then came the soft thud of the door closing again.

The footsteps closed in, unhurried and heavy, stopping just in front of her. She could feel the presence looming, calm and terrifying in its stillness.

Then a voice came, deep, commanding, and stripped of all emotion. It shattered the silence and filled the room with a weight that made her stomach twist and her blood run cold.

“Remove the gag.”

A man in a tailored suit stepped in front of Anna, leaned down, and gently pulled the cloth from her mouth. Her lips parted, dry, sore, and trembling slightly. Her jaw ached from being clenched shut for too long.

“Aruhhggg,” Anna rasped.

“You’re awake,” the same voice from earlier continued, flat and unreadable. “Good.”

“Why am I here?” Anna asked, her voice shaking.

“You are here because you now belong to me,” the voice said again, cold and flat.

“What do you mean?” Her voice cracked. “I… I think you have the wrong person.”

The voice chuckled, low and calm, almost amused. “No, I don’t.”

Anna blinked, her throat burning. “Look, I don’t know who you think I am, but you need to let me go. This is illegal. I’ll report you to the police.”

The voice let out a louder laugh. “The police?” The voice scoffed. “The police can’t save you, dear.”

Her chest tightened. “Who the hell are you?” she snapped, but her voice wavered.

“Vincenzo Romano,” the voice said flatly.

Anna’s mind blanked. Her eyes widened, panic crawling up her spine. The name hit her like a punch to the chest.

Vincenzo Romano?

That name was too well-known to forget.

He was no ordinary man. He was dangerous.

He was known across the criminal world as La Bestia. As the Mafia Don of the Romano Empire, he ruled a vast underworld of power and violence that stretched across Europe and into America.

His organization controlled everything from arms trafficking and money laundering to private security firms, luxury hotels, and international shipping.

The mere mention of his name made powerful men rise to their feet or drop to their knees.

And women? He took them, used them, and threw them away like they meant nothing.

Anna’s breath caught in her throat.

“No,” she whispered. “You’ve made a mistake. I didn’t do anything—”

“You didn’t,” Vincenzo said, cutting her off. “But someone else did.”

Anna’s lips trembled. “Please… I don’t understand. Just let me go. I haven’t hurt anyone.”

Vincenzo stood and stepped closer to Anna, his movements slow and deliberate. Anna could feel the heat of his presence despite the chill clinging to her skin.

“You’re not here by accident. You were delivered to me.”

She blinked rapidly beneath the blindfold. “Delivered?”

“To settle a debt,” he said. “The one million dollars James Carter owed.”

The words didn’t make sense. Her mind scrambled for something solid to hold onto.

“That’s not possible. James—no, he wouldn’t—”

Vincenzo’s tone didn’t change. It stayed steady and low. “He did. Signed the deal himself. You were the payment.”

Anna shook her head, slow at first, then harder. “No. No, he wouldn’t. He would never. He is my f—”

The words caught in Anna’s throat before she could finish and a sick feeling rose in her chest as she tried to piece it all together. James breaking up with her. His last text. His invitation to the park. The sudden change in his attitude. Then a cloth pressed over her mouth with James standing there, watching with a smile on his lips, her breath hitching violently before everything slipped into darkness.

“You’re lying,” she whispered, but the words were weak.

Vincenzo stepped back, the measured sound of his shoes echoing softly against the marble floor as he returned to the chair he’d been sitting in before. A low creak followed as he sat down again, calm and unhurried.

“I have no reason to lie,” he said, his voice smooth. “You’re already here.”

Anna tried to move again, but the ropes bit deeper into her wrists. Her fingers tingled with numbness as panic tightened around her throat.

“Please…” she said, her voice cracking as she choked on a sob, tears slipping beneath the blindfold. “I don’t know… I didn’t know anything. Let me go, please. I won’t tell anyone.”

Vincenzo ignored Anna’s pleading and turned slightly, speaking to someone behind her. “Remove the blindfold.”

A man in a tailored suit stepped behind Anna. His movements were precise and controlled. Gloved fingers slipped beneath the cloth and loosened it. The fabric fell away from her eyes.

Blinding light stung Anna’s vision, making her blink rapidly, as her surroundings came into focus slowly. She was in a large sitting room that was elegant and luxurious. The ceiling was high, painted in dark golds and creams. A crystal chandelier glowed above in the center of the room, dim but warm. Thick velvet curtains lined the windows. Expensive artworks hung on the walls. The space was spotless, not a speck of dust in sight.

Her gaze shot forward and landed on four men standing in the corners of the room like bodyguards. They were tall, dressed in suits, and visibly armed. Their expressions were blank, their posture rigid and still with military precision.

Anna shifted her gaze and met the eyes of the man sitting across the glass table in front of her, and in that moment, something inside her froze. His presence was dominating and suffocating, the kind that swallowed the air from the room. The cold, unblinking control in his eyes told her exactly who he was. He was Vincenzo Romano.

He had the same dark eyes that had pinned her in place last night. The same tattoos that had traced fire down her skin. The same sharp jawline she had kissed in the dark. The same mouth that had whispered things she couldn’t forget. The same hands that had gripped her hips and held her down while he wrecked her and fucked her senseless.

There was no doubt. It was him.

The man she’d met at the club.

The man who had taken her to the luxury suite.

The man who she had a one night stand with last night.

Suddenly, all the memories from last night surged through Anna. She remembered Vincenzo’s deep voice laced with a heavy Italian accent whispering things she couldn’t understand. Her eyes welled up with pleasure as her face was pressed into the pillow. How he flipped her over, his dominant body looming above hers as he drove into her, wild and desperate, like a starving beast.

“You…” Anna breathed out, her voice barely there as her heart pounded in shock.