CHAPTER 2

DOMINIC’S POV

It was her.

Seeing those forest green eyes, I was dragged back to that night five years ago.

Back then, I was still my father’s enforcer, and he had sent me on a mission to collect a hefty debt owed to him.

I succeeded in collecting the debt from the debtor, and even spared his life out of the goodness of my heart. But the bastard dared to send thugs after me to steal back the money.

The thugs stabbed me before I could react, yet I managed to kill them all and retain the money. After losing a lot of blood, I became weak, and that’s when I ran into her.

I pleaded for her help, but the little snake hit me unconscious with the briefcase of money and ran off with it.

My hand subconsciously brushed against my chest, and even through my suit, I could still feel the bullet scar located just a few centimeters away from my heart.

The mark wasn’t from those thugs, but from my own father. “I don’t mix family with business, figlio,” were the words he had said before shooting me for losing his money.

It took me six months. Six fucking months filled with pain and rage to recover in physical therapy.

I swore to find her, and it took five years, but here she was.

She didn’t recognize me, but I couldn’t take my eyes off her. My eyes trailed down her body, taking in every curve.

Her full, round breasts teased me as they threatened to spill out of the two sizes too tiny bra she wore.

Her small waist gave way to wide hips that made my mouth water as I imagined digging my fingers into them while my head was buried between her thick thighs.

No. I shook my head, bringing myself out of my lewd imaginations. I shouldn’t be feeling this way. She nearly cost me my life.

I wanted to slowly break her and watch her unravel before my eyes. To make her pay for what she did.

“$100 million going once…going twice…” The auctioneer’s voice snapped me out of my thoughts.

Hell no. There was no way another person was getting the highest bid on my property.

My gaze flickered to the old fucker who had made the previous bid and my lips tugged into a smirk as I raised my placard. “$500 million dollars!”

The hall went silent and I could see the rage in the old fucker’s eyes, but he didn’t try to make another bid.

Good. He knew better than to challenge me.

The auctioneer gulped audibly, his voice quivering as he announced, “$500 million going once…going twice…Sold to Dominic Silvetti, don of the Italian mafia!”

My smirk widened, and my thumb slowly grazed my bottom lip as my gaze moved to my new possession.

A sadistic thrill shot through me the moment we made eye contact, and I watched her face drain of all color.

MILA’S POV

My heart momentarily sank as I stared at the man who had just bought me.

The level of intensity in his hooded eyes drew me in and sent a shiver down my spine.

The problem was I didn’t know if it was purely out of fear…or something else.

Something about his face looked so familiar, though I couldn’t place it.

All I knew at this moment was that I might never get my freedom again, and this made my vision cloud up with tears.

A hand suddenly clamped onto my arm, and I stiffened in surprise.

“C’mon, doll. Let’s get you ready for don Silvetti,” a tattooed, bald man muttered in a thick accent as he dragged me away.

I risked a glance over my shoulder and I found my buyer’s intense gaze still on me. And he didn’t look away until I completely disappeared from the auction hall.

The tattooed man opened a door and shoved me inside. I lost my footing and a soft whimper fell from my lips as I landed on the thankfully carpeted floor.

“Why me?!” I whispered bitterly, and the tears that had been threatening to spill, fell freely down my face.

I didn’t realize there was someone in the room with me, until a throat cleared behind me.

I whipped my head around to see a tall, slender, sharp faced woman standing next to a dressing table.

“You must be the latest purchase,” she acknowledged in a heavily accented voice as she approached me.

“I’m Patricia, and I’ll be getting you ready to leave with Don Silvetti,” she said in a monotonous voice as she pulled me up by my upper arm.

Leading me to the vanity table, she sat me down in front of it and retrieved a key from her fanny pack.

“Don’t try anything funny,” she warned as she unlocked my chains.

I sighed in relief as my wrists became free and I wriggled them a bit to get the blood circulating back again.

“Patricia….please help me,” I croaked out, clutching onto her hand desperately. “I can’t be here. I have a sick father who needs me or he’ll die. Please, I need to escape.”

Patricia’s gaze softened for a brief second and I was filled with hope, but then she shook her head, and her expression hardened again.

“There is no escape,” she said bluntly as she tore my fingers away from her hand. “This is your life now.”

My hope was snuffed out at her words, and I helplessly watched her get to work fixing me up. Within a few minutes, I was dressed in a tight dress that revealed all my curves.

I didn’t bother to resist as she restrained my wrists with the chains again, this time my hands were bound in front of me.

“C’mon, get up,” she clapped her hands impatiently. “It’s time to go.”

I got up reluctantly, wincing as the cold metal dug into my wrists. When we neared the door, she gave me one last unreadable look.

“Goodluck, girlie,” she muttered dryly before opening the door and pushing me towards the tattooed man.

He grabbed my arm and started dragging me down the dimly lit hallway. I could feel Patricia’s eyes digging into my back as we went further and further down the hallway.

“Wait!” I tried wrenching my arm from the man’s iron grip. “Where are you taking me? Please stop!”

The man completely ignored my pleas and kept pulling me until we got outside.

When I looked around and saw no one in sight, I decided to put my escape plan into action. This might be my only opportunity.

“Ouch,” I doubled over suddenly, preventing the man from taking another step forward, and I clutched my stomach, pretending to be in pain.

The man hesitated before turning towards me, and before he could utter a word, I brought my right knee up, hitting him in the groin.

The man’s eyes bulged in surprise and he instantly let go of my arm.

“Puttana,” he cursed in a strained voice as he doubled over, clutching his family jewels.

Taking his disorientation as a chance, I turned in my heels and made a run for it, but I didn’t get very far as I bumped into a very hard surface.

I stumbled backwards in surprise, and it was only when a large hand grabbed my waist to prevent me from falling that I realized I hadn’t bumped into a surface, but a person.

The hand pulled me into a hard chest and I gasped, my eyes instinctively shutting out of fear.

“Trying to escape, Tesoro?” A husky, deep accented voice growled in my ear, and my eyes shot open.

Tesoro…I had heard that nickname before…

My breath caught in my throat as I finally looked at the man I bumped into.

His stormy gray eyes…

The cross tattoo on his cheekbone.

My heart rate picked up and all the color drained from my face as I finally remembered why his face looked so familiar at the auction.

“You…you’re—”

But, the words died in my throat as I felt something sharp prick the side of my neck.

I struggled to stay awake, but a dizzying numbness overtook me, and my eyelids became droopy.

The last thing I saw was his smirking face before I fell limp in his arms.