Her Mafia Daddy - Chapter 5: Chapter 5

Ever since then, I've loved dirt and rocks and fresh air. First I had to escape the estate. Then I would need to stay hidden, change my name, and never contact my sisters. I couldn't allow Papà to find me, not until the threat had long passed. Still, I could do it. No, I had to do it. I had to leave all this behind and become my own person. Find happiness for myself, as my mother had urged me.
Never settle, Valentina . Be your own woman. She said those words when I was a young girl, and I hadn't understood them at the time. But I did now...and I would heed her advice. I followed the well-worn path to the wall and into the trees, where the cameras couldn't see. I chucked my satchel over the wall first, then I used the footholds to climb up. At the top, I threw my legs over and held on with both hands so I could jump the rest of the way down.
Except fingers wrapped around my legs, startling me. They didn't let go. I kicked hard. But it did no good. The hands only tightened. "Stop it! Let me go."
"Not a chance, Valentina ." No, no, no. This couldn't be happening. How had Ravazzani found me here? It was impossible.
I struggled to get away but my arms weakened and I was quickly forced to let go of the wall. I fell into a hard, male chest, arms folding like steel bands around me. "Get your hands off me. I'm not going with you."
He didn't budge. "You are coming with me. Even if I must drug you to do it." I gasped. "Drug me? Is that what you Italians do to unwilling women?"
His lips met the edge of my ear. "I could not say, " There are no unwilling women in my life, Valentina ." Was that...sexual? My mind remained confused, but my body must have been on board because it went up in flames. I was close enough that I could smell him lemon and mint and maybe green apple and my nipples tightened. I shut my eyes, humiliated.
Why was I having this reaction, especially when this man wanted to kidnap me and force me to marry his son? Using all my strength, I bucked against him. "Get off me, you dick."
He gave a soft chuckle. "Drugs it is." I tried to push away to see his face. "No, please. Don't….." A sharp prick in the back of my neck was followed by a cold rush in my veins. "What was that? Are you serious….?" And the world went black.
Valentina's POV
The dream wouldn't let go. As I struggled to wake up, my brain felt as if it was swimming through molasses, sticky and thick. Where was I? I heard murmurs and a rumbling underneath me. Was I in a car? My body felt heavy and my limbs were cement. I couldn't seem to open my eyes.What was my problem?
Then I remembered. The wall, Ravazzani, the needle. Shit! He drugged me. That asshole. I concentrated on my breathing and willed the drugs out of my system. I needed to fight whatever was happening to me. "Good. You are awake."
I would have started if I'd been capable of moving my limbs. Was he spying on me while I slept? Just my luck to get kidnapped by a murderer and a creeper. Great, I was on a mattress, the sheets crisp and cool beneath me. "You...kidnapped...me," I forced out.
"And...drugged me." Large fingers brushed the hair off my face. "I retrieved my son's fiancée by any means necessary. Let that be a warning to you." A tiny shiver went through me. None of this made sense. Ravazzani could choose any woman to marry his son, and most would probably come willingly. "Why...me?"
"Don't you know that you and your sisters are legendary? Your mother was very beautiful and famous. Tales of her daughters have been spread across the globe." I swallowed against a dry throat. My mother hadn't wanted this for me, for any of her daughters. Have your own life, Tina , and never give it up for any man.
I knew I looked like her. Everyone told me as much and I had seen enough of her modelling photos online to notice the resemblance. Still, that wasn't a good enough reason for ruining my life. Blinking, I finally pried open my lids. Ravazzani's gorgeous face filled my vision, his lips twisted into a smug smile as if I amused him. As if my resistance was nothing but a joke. I held his gaze steadily. "I will never marry your son."
The smile dropped instantly. "Never is a long time, Valentina , and don't forget you are at my mercy. You'd be wise not to make an enemy of me." The threat rolled so easily off his tongue, and I didn't doubt him for a single second. Even still, I would not bend.
He could try to break me, try to force me into a marriage I didn't want, but I would never stop resisting. "What will you do, threaten to shoot me? Torture me?"
"That depends on you, monella. Because if you refuse, I will consider the debt unsettled. I'll be forced to retaliate against your family. Is this what you want?" Brat. I knew that word, one I had been called before by Papà's men. "You won't hurt my sisters."