Chapter 2

Hailey

My heart was beating like a drum as I was reluctantly escorted to the interrogation room on the arm of Giacomo DiNardo. I refused to think of him as ‘Jack.’ It was a far too innocuous and innocent name for the son of a mafioso Don.

Fear dried the inside of my mouth as we walked through the cops, most of whom looked up and smiled at him—not the smiles of men acknowledging an acquaintance but fearful smiles of men who wanted to curry favor. I was all too familiar with those smiles.

They made me more fearful as well.

Surely, Giacomo wasn’t dragging me off to my death in a police interrogation room. That would be far too brazen. Murder in the middle of a precinct was not something that would—could—be overlooked, no matter who he was. At least, that’s what I told myself, though, by my shaking limbs, I was not entirely convinced.

Bruce, who had made me feel so safe only a few minutes ago, was left behind. He’d said nothing. Did nothing.

If I lived through this, he better not expect to have that dinner. I doubted I’d ever talk to him again, not after this, not after seeing what a coward he truly was. Maybe that wasn’t fair. It would take more than bravery to go up against someone like Giacomo DiNardo.

I desperately tried to remember everything I could about the DiNardo Family, but it had been so long since I’d had anything to do with the Familias, all I could remember was Giacomo was the Don’s only son. I’d never met or seen a picture of him, and the only reason I even knew him was his family was among the five that had divided up New York into their own territories.

Part of the reason I chose New York City as my final destination—other than its distance from Chicago, while still being familiar in many ways as only large cities could—was because I’d figured families sharing a city would be too busy warring with each other to pay attention to anything else. I certainly hadn’t expected to find one of them hobnobbing with the police.

Once we were inside the room, Giacomo’s grip on my hand loosened, and I finally yanked it away, although there was nowhere to run. There was only one door in and out of the room. A large glass window covered the side of one wall, from about the waist up, and I could see the chief strolling in to stand on the other side, Bruce following behind him.

Something inside of me relaxed. I wasn’t as alone as I thought. I was still mad at Bruce but felt a little less abandoned. After all, what was he supposed to do after Chief Barnes had given the okay? I couldn’t forget how Bruce had sucked up to Giacomo, though.

The constant back and forth of my emotions was wreaking havoc on my equilibrium. Crossing to the other side of the table in the middle of the room, putting some distance from Giacomo, I turned and took a deep breath to balance myself. Standing in front of the now-closed door, the mafia heir crossed his arms over his chest, his gaze intent like a hawk’s, studying my every movement.

“What can I do for you, Mr. DiNardo?” I tilted my chin up, proud my voice didn’t waver. Even though I was scared, I didn’t have to show it. I also knew I wouldn’t have been quite as bold if the chief and Bruce weren’t on the other side of the window.

Jack

I smiled at the show of moxie from my soon-to-be wife, enjoying the flash of fear that crossed her face before she covered it again. Her eyes flicked to the window as if reassuring herself Chief Barnes and her boyfriend were still there, watching. They were, of course. I’d specifically told Barnes to be there and to have Officer Ward join him, though Ward would not be allowed to interfere once I got started. I wanted both of them there.

I wanted her to know how little their protection meant.

“Miss McQueen, is it?” I asked, still in front of the door. Another flash of fear crossed her lovely features. “Or should I call you Miss Bianco?”

Hazel eyes widened in shock. She hadn’t expected me to go for the jugular so quickly, though she didn’t seem surprised I knew who she was. Brains and beauty to go with her backbone.

“I-I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

“Miss Hailey Bianco, granddaughter of Don Giuseppe Bianco of Chicago.” Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Officer Ward jerk in reaction. He hadn’t known. Hailey saw the movement as well. Her head turned, distress registering on her face before my words drew her attention back to me. “Moved to New York after the murder of your parents and ended up working… here.”

I moved toward her frozen body. Her eyes widened even farther, and she swallowed hard. The folders she kept pressed up against her chest as a shield made a crumpling noise.

“What is a granddaughter of the Familias doing working in a police precinct?” My voice purred, seductive and dangerous, as I advanced on her. It wasn’t until I was within a few feet of her that she realized it, but before she could back away, I shot forward the last few feet, wrapping my fingers around her bicep.

The papers she was holding fell to the floor, scattering. Neither of us even glanced down. Her little pink tongue flicked out to nervously lick her lips, and I had the sudden vision of it licking over the head of my cock. Blood shot to my groin as arousal surged, but I ignored it. I’d already known I was attracted to her and wanted her in my bed. Now, there was a little more urgency to my desire.

“I-I… I’m not…” Her voice trailed off, eyes darting to the side, looking through the window. I glanced over.

“Officer Ward doesn’t look happy, does he?” I asked, maneuvering her in front of me, so we were both facing him through the window. He glared at me over her head, jaw clenching, his posture stiff with his arms crossed over his chest, displaying his anger. Anger at her, but directed at me, for revealing who she really is, for putting his reaction on display. “I guess he didn’t know you’re mafioso.”

“I’m not!” The words tore out of her, a desperate denial filled with a desire to reject the truth.

She tried to pull away from me, but I wrapped my arm around her waist, tugging her back against me. My cock nestled against the sweet curve of her bottom, and she froze again.

“No, doll, you are.” My words were almost gentle. “You may have turned your back on your Family, but your grandfather hasn’t forgotten you.”

“No,” she whispered, but there was no strength behind the word.

I could feel her trembling against me, like a frightened bird, but there was nowhere for her to fly away to. Turning my head, my lips almost touched her skin, and her hair brushed over my face.

“Your grandfather has decided it’s time for you to marry.” I kissed her temple. “I am looking forward to our wedding.”

Hailey

This can’t be real.

This can’t possibly be real.

“You can’t make me,” I blurted out, unsure of where my sudden courage came from, perhaps not courage but pure panic, making me rash.

“Yes.” His voice was oddly gentle. “I can. I can do anything I want, Hailey. No one is going to stop me.”

His free hand cupped my breast.

The world froze.

No, I froze.

Bruce, who was looking directly at me, froze.

Chief Barnes froze.

Giacomo didn’t. His fingers squeezed. Fondled. An unwelcome warmth rushed through my body as his touch sparked unexpected and unwanted pleasure. Arousal stirred, shocking and horrifying me.

The police chief and the officer who wanted to date me stared at me, watching as Giacomo kissed my neck, his hand still squeezing and kneading my breast, while his arm around my waist held me pressed against him. His manhood, already hard, seemed to harden even further, nestled between my buttocks.

No one had ever touched me like this.

No one would have dared.

Just him.

I opened my mouth, but my plea came out as a whisper, not the scream I wanted.

“Help me.”

“Ah, mio tesoro.” My treasure. The translation automatically zipped across my mind. Giacomo nipped my neck, his fingers pinched my nipple, and tears stung my eyes at the tiny pinches of pain, as well as the endearment. “They cannot. They belong to me. Just like you.”

I whimpered. Chief Barnes and Bruce both looked away, averting their eyes as I cast my gaze between them, silently begging either of them to intervene—to save me.

If Giacomo hadn’t outed me as a mafia Don’s granddaughter, would they have stopped him?

Did it matter?

Either way, I clearly had no standing with them anymore, no protection. They were exactly as my grandfather had described. Paid for Pawns.

Just like me. I was a pawn and had no doubt I’d been paid for. Sold. That was how my grandfather operated. He’d sold me to Giacomo DiNardo.

“Let me show you,” Giacomo said, and I found myself being moved to the side, then pushed forward.

I gasped as he bent me over the table, facing Chief Barnes and my former beau. They were still watching without actually looking at me, silent witnesses of how easily Giacomo overpowered me and proof no one would help me. My breast still throbbed from where he’d touched me, my nipples pebbled and hard.

My helpless position, pinned down in front of him, sent a shocking surge of heat through me. Even though I hated everything he represented, already hated him, I was also more aroused than I had ever been in my life. No one had ever touched me so familiarly, so intimately. No one had fondled me the way he had. He’d known exactly what he was doing.

When he lifted my skirt, revealing the tops of my stockings and my garters, I tried to push up from the table, but his hand pressed on the center of my back. There was literally nothing I could do to stop him.

“Stop,” I begged. As much as I didn’t want him to touch me, I didn’t want him to know what his touch had already done to me. “Please, stop!”

I cried out when his fingers brushed against the wet fabric stretched over my netherlips, the touch shocking and humiliating.

“Ah… already wet for me, cara?” The amusement in his voice was evident, and I flushed with shame.

Movement distracted me, and I looked up to see Bruce storming out of the room on the other side of the glass. For a moment, hope rose, thinking he was going to come through the door of this room to save me, but when a few seconds went by, and he didn’t appear, that hope died. No one was going to stop Giacomo DiNardo from touching me.

No one would save me from marrying him.

Fingers pushed past my sodden underwear and stroked through sensitive folds that had never known any touch but my own. I cried out, shutting my eyes against the shame, against Chief Barnes’ gaze, against Bruce’s absence, leaving me with nothing to look at, nothing to distract me from the sensation of fingers caressing slick, sensitive flesh, stroking me knowingly, intimately.

“No!” I protested against the sensations rising inside me, my voice breaking on a sob. I was guilty of the sin of self-abuse, even occasionally reveled in it as a kind of rebellion against my strict upbringing, but it had never felt like this—never felt this good.

Where I had tentatively explored, Giacomo boldly caressed, and where I had lightly fondled, Giacomo brazenly probed. He pushed a finger inside me, and my body clenched around him, shocked at the intrusion yet unable to deny the heat curling inside me.

He leaned over me, his large body pressing me down onto the table, his finger moving in and out of me. Invading me. Claiming me.

“You are going to be my wife, cara,” he whispered in my ear, his finger pushing deeper, punctuating his words. “I will touch you however I want, whenever I want.” His deep, low chuckle sent a shudder up my spine. “And no one will stop me… especially not you.”

Teeth nipped my ear, sucking on the lobe, and his finger twisted inside me. Something rubbed up against the little pleasure nub at the apex of my womanhood, and I cried out as the humiliation, the heat, the shock, and the pleasure came together in a crashing, shameful burst of ecstasy.

Tears leaked from my closed eyes, my degradation complete as I climaxed all over his hand.