I step inside the room and my gaze locks on her.
There are three of our men in the room. They stick to the shadows and the only thing they do is incline their heads in my direction once- a short nod, in greeting- before they continue to not exist.
Nicole Salvatore has just come to after I made her pass out earlier and she's in our fortress now. After carrying her out of King's Park two hours ago, I made sure she was comfortable in the back seat of one of our cars and then I directed two of our men to bring her home while I stayed back with the rest and dealt with the Sacra men that were in King's Park. The interrogation room she's in currently is dark and the only visible light is on her and the table and chair that share her space with her.
She doesn't see me arrive just yet. It is when I am before her that I notice her stop short and stare. Her eyes widen and then an unreadable expression comes on her face.
She seems to shrink away from me; flinch. I stare at her critically. She doesn't say a thing and my gaze roves the room.
“Why did you bring her here?” I ask no one in particular, yet all three men rush to answer. “One answer.”
The man closest to me speaks.
“Sir, Marco asked us to bring her here. He thought you might have a few questions for her.”
I nod.
“When I'm done, get her somewhere more comfortable. She's our guest.“ I turn to Nicole. She flinches again and it annoys me. The dark gaze I level her has her averting her eyes.
She looks cowed, but I know better. I can see it burning just inside those to-die-for sapphire eyes of her. Hate.
It doesn't matter, because she will be mine anyway.
I tug at the ropes around her wrist. She jerks forward. My eyes are on her as I carefully loosen the ropes around her wrist. The insides of her wrists are red and I smoothen my thumbs over them in order to soothe.
“Don't touch me,” she snaps.
It's the first she has said since I entered the room. Yet her thoughts were spilling all over the place earlier. Hearing her echo those thoughts is the least to say, fulfilling. Because finally, she is reacting. And fuck me, I would go to the ends of the earth to hear that voice.
“Am I a stranger now?” I ask her. “Don't you know me?”
“All too well,” she says, the vitriol dripping. “You're the one that has been breaking into my house. You took me home from the club. You've been stalking me.”
“I couldn't stay away.”
She looks at me like it's the most insane thing she has ever heard.
“I saw the picture the sketch artist drew,” I inform her. “You made a report to the police about me. Surely, I am better looking than that description you gave the sketch artist.”
She doesn't say anything for a few seconds and then she does. “You're a criminal, that's what you are.”
“Am I a good-looking criminal?” I pin her with a gaze and she stares back at me, indignant, fire burning somewhere in her eyes.
“Narcissist much?” Some of her confidence comes.
I grin. I already have my answer. It's in her eyes. “We’ll have very cute kids together.”
“We will not!”
“You don't want kids?”
“Who says I want them with you?”
“Who says you have a say when it comes to being with me?”
She looks unbelieving. “What?”
“You can't escape me.” My voice is so low it is a vow. "You're mine."
Her hands are on the table. They're shaking. Her fear is back. “What do you want from me?” Her voice is a whisper. It seems like she is choking on a sob as she averts her gaze from me. “Can’t you find someone else to bother?”
“I want a lot of things from you, Nicole.” I sit on the table before her. I lean downward to stare in her eyes so that I'm all she sees. It's deliberate. She needs to see that she cannot avoid me, escape me. There will be no averting her gaze from me if I have anything to do about it. “But first, let's get your dear older brother back home, shall we? I'm sure you've missed him.”
Her gaze is sharp on me. “What do you want with him?"
“He stole something from me and I want to get it back.” I lean back from her and fold my arms across my chest.
Her eyes follow my actions but she says nothing.
“You know about it,” I state.
"I don't.”
“Don't lie to me, Nicole.” I lean in close to her and whisper in her ear. “I don't like liars, but for you I'll make an exception.”
“Maybe I know he took something from you," she retracts. "But I don't know where it is. I don't know what I'm doing here."
“I need your brother.” My hand caresses the side of her face and I focus on how the Cartier on my wrist reflects in her eyes as she freezes. "And I need you to get him."
“Please don't kill my brother,” she whispers. I rub my thumb over her cheek, tracing the tear trail there and she averts her gaze from me.
I grab her jaw, her cheeks puffing in my palm. I angle her head to face me. “Eyes on me, baby.” She freezes again and I let out a grin. “After what José Salvatore did, he deserves to die. To deter others. To send a message to our enemies. Nothing I can do about that.”
Fear clouds her eyes. “What did he do? You said he stole from you. Can't he return what was stolen?” Her voice sounds desperate and I realize that José Salvatore has told her so many lies.
“He did not just steal from me; but he stole from my family. The Mazza.” She gulps as she absorbs that information and I continue. “He is a traitor. A member of The Sacra and he joined us so he could steal our information for the Sacra.”
She looks like she knows a bit about the families and it shocks her to know that her brother is a member of the criminal underbelly of the city.
I look at her seriously. “Nicole, do you know how much we fucking hate the Sacra? Do you know how dangerous that kind of information is in his or any other person's hands but ours?”
She doesn't say anything.
“Do you now see why he deserves death?”
Her eyes grow wide again and they are brimming with tears. “Please. My brother would never do this. You've got the wrong guy. José is too boring to be in the mob. He's just a police detective.”
“You're lying again, Nicole.”
“I don't know what the truth is!” She buries her face in her hands as she sobs some more.
“I'm telling you the truth. Listen carefully.”
“Do you think I trust you?” She snaps at me. You want to kill my brother and you'll probably kill me too. And you expect me to believe you?”
“You know I won't hurt you.” I watch her squeeze her palms into fists.
“And my brother?”
When I do not respond, she says: “I would kill you. If given the chance. I would. You're a creep. A heartless, ruthless creep.”
“You should watch that tongue of yours,” I tell her. “Over here, you don't go around saying things that could get you killed.”
And she's instantly quiet. I almost grin at the transformation.
The door opens and Javi enters. I turn to watch him. Unlike me who is dressed in a black shirt and black dress pants, he's in a sweatshirt and sweatpants. He had literally been pulled out of bed when the men arrived with Nicole.
“Roman, she looks scared to death. What did you tell her?” Javi says drily as he saunters towards the table.
“Only all the things I plan to do to her when we're alone together.” I watch Nicole’s face as she takes in a sharp breath. Her back is stiff and her hands have curled into two little fists. A grin curves my lips.
“Dickhead.” Javi is standing next to me in a few seconds. He peers down at Nicole. “Hello there.”
She doesn't respond.
“Apparently, she only talks to you,” Javi notices.
“My baby doesn't like strangers.” I bury my hands in my pockets. Nicole throws me a sharp gaze but doesn't say anything.
“Your old man is still counting on your one day pledge,” Javi continues. “He doesn't find it impressive that all you did was capture a girl.”
“It's only been twelve hours. Give me another twelve and José Salvatore is ours.”
Nicole follows our conversation, eyes moving from speaker to speaker.
“You have her phone?” I ask my cousin.
Javi nods and produces it from his pocket.
“I don't mean to scare you,” he says, facing Nicole. “But I want you to know that your leaving this place in one piece heavily depends on your brother's cooperation.”
“So you're going to kill me?” She demands.
“Only if we need to,” Javi says.
She grows pale. Fucking, bewitchingly pale.
“You're scaring her,” I tell Javi.
“Your brother loves you, right?” Javi asks Nicole. “He loves you enough to cooperate?”
She stares back at him, her eyes blank.
“José Salvatore is a dick. But he loves his sister.” I meet Nicole's shadowed gaze, then turn to Javi. “Call him.”