Conquered by the Mafia Boss

“Where the fuck were you last night, huh?”

“None of your damn business.”

“You were fucking some other guy, weren’t you?”

I say nothing.

His face twists in rage. “You fucking whore!”

He aims a boot toward my ribs, but I spring to my feet and grab the closest thing-a crystal paperweight on my nightstand that I use for decoration-and I hurl it into his face. Rafael clutches his nose and screams, and I jump on the bed, bouncing toward the entrance.

It was so fucking stupid to come back here.

My feet pound the wooden floorboards as I race down the hallway. His heavy footsteps tell me that he’s not far behind. My voice stabs my ears as I scream down the hall, hoping that someone, anyone, will hear me.

“HELP ME!”

“FUCKING CUNT!”

A violent force rips me backward as Rafael takes the back of my collar and wrenches me. My hands fly out in front of me, trying to grab something to break his hold on me, but he’s too fucking strong. A surge of self-hatred for my weak body makes me scream, and then my side crashes against the wall, shattering a photograph. A volley of French voices makes Rafael freeze behind me, his hands still balled in my hair. “Mind your own fucking business!”

Two men stream inside the apartment, guns drawn. I flatten against the wall, but Rafael advances toward them.

Please, shoot him. Please.

“This is none of your fucking business!”

One of the cops raises his gun to Rafael’s chest. “HANDS BEHIND YOUR FUCKING HEAD!”

I place my hands behind my head, trembling as they tackle Rafael against the wall. His head crushes against the plaster. He gives me a look of potent rage. It’s more than that, though. He just looks-evil. There’s nothing behind those eyes but ill will.

He won’t stop until I’m buried in the ground.

“Mademoiselle-Miss, are you okay?”

The cop touches my shoulder, giving me a puzzled look. I swallow hard and let my hands drop from my head as a snarling Rafael is dragged outside.

“BITCH!”

I flinch at the angry sound.

“Miss, you want to press charges?”

I gaze around at my apartment, which looks as though a tornado blew through it. I’d like nothing better than to see that fucker locked up, but I know that he’ll just come after me once he gets out. Or his boss might do it for him.

Numbly, I shake my head. “No.” I take the card he gives me in his shaking hands. Yeah, I might be able to live for a few days until Rafael finds a way to bribe one of the cops here and gets its location.

“Take care.”

He gives me a sad smile and leaves my apartment. I look around, knowing that I should clean up, or pack, or something, but I just can’t bring myself to do any of it.

The best-the only-defense I can come up with is to pretend that everything’s normal. That my ex-boyfriend didn’t just track me down to my apartment to kill me, and I only just got away. If I accepted the seriousness of it, I would panic.

Panicking doesn’t help.

They’ll probably keep him in lockup for a day or two for resisting arrest, so that’s a small comfort.

The door swings open for me as a man steps out. The din in the bar swallows me like a shroud, and I feel safe surrounded by so many people. I scan the mass, my eyes cutting through the crowd of testosterone to find the man I found last night. It’s too much to hope that Tony will be here tonight, but even if he was here, what could he do for me?

My gaze passes over Tommy, whose penetrating stare eats right through me.

What the hell does he want?

He jerks his head toward the back of the bar. Swallowing down my heart, I brush past him and squeeze my eyes shut when I hear him follow. I bend down, changing my shoes in the back as I imagine him standing over me, his arms folded.

“What is it?” I finally snap.

“Your boyfriend came in here last night, not long after you left with Tony.”

I didn’t want to hear that. He knows where I work and he knows where I live.

I’m fucked.

“He’s not my boyfriend.”

His hazel eyes narrow at me. “Are you sure you told him that, because I don’t think he got the memo.”

The blood pounding in my head is painful. It’s as though there’s a sledgehammer smashing my skull. BAM. BAM. BAM.

I swallow hard as I raise a shaking hand to my temple. “I was pretty fucking clear. He’s just crazy.”

Tommy rolls up his white sleeves and bends down to my level, a tinge of emotion shining in his eyes.

“If he finds out you went home with Tony, he’ll fucking kill you.”

“W-well, he tried and I’m still here.”

For some reason, his concern brings me another thrill of fear. My eyes search his desperately, but I know he won’t stick out a limb for me. Yeah, he helped put a Band-Aid over the situation, and Rafael ripped it right off.

“What the fuck are you talking about?”