Chapter 192: I got you kidnapped
Aurora
“You always make such a fuss when I touch you,” he mused, tilting his head, “but when that damn Leonardo lays his hands on you, you don’t, do you?”
His grip on my chin tightened painfully, the pressure biting into my jaw, and I hissed at the sting. Then he leaned down, pressing featherlight kisses against the curve of my neck, each one making my stomach roil. I wrenched at the restraints, panic clawing at my throat, but his hold kept me steady, immovable.
“Careful,” he breathed against my skin, his tone mockingly tender, “you wouldn’t want to move too much… or those binds might scar your beautiful skin.”
I glared at him through the haze of helplessness, heart pounding. He opened his mouth to say something more, but a shrill ring cut through the air. He straightened abruptly, irritation flashing across his features before pulling the phone from his pocket.
“I have to take this,” he muttered, throwing me one last, lingering look. “But I’ll be back, alright?”
And just like that, he turned and strode toward the door. Eleanora followed, casting one fleeting glance back at me—something unspoken in her expression that I couldn’t decipher—before disappearing behind him.
The room fell silent.
My head slumped forward, breath trembling in and out. The stench of damp concrete clung to my senses, heavy and suffocating.
How did it come to this?
Every thought felt jagged, slicing deep as I tried to process the layers of betrayal. Eleanora. Dario. All those days, the laughter, the stupid selfies… Were any of them real? Or was I just a pawn?
Leonardo’s face flashed in my mind, bringing with it a sharp, twisting ache. I had chosen to keep this from him, all because I was afraid of how he’d react. God, why didn’t I tell him?
Time lost all meaning. I drifted in and out of fitful dozes, my head jerking every time a sound echoed too close. Minutes, maybe hours passed—I couldn’t tell.
A sudden rush of footsteps snapped me back to awareness.
The door flew open, spilling a sliver of light into the room.
“—Aurora!”
Eleanora’s voice, breathless, urgent. She rushed toward me, still in the same clothes, her hair wild around her face. My heart jolted, confusion tangling with the bitter sting of betrayal.
“What—” I began, but she cut me off, her hands already fumbling with the knots biting into my wrists.
“There’s no time to explain,” she panted. “I’m sorry—God, Aurora, I’m so sorry. I didn’t mean for it to get this far. I didn’t mean for any of this.” Her words tumbled over each other, frantic.
I stared at her, wide-eyed, torn between disbelief and desperate hope.
“I actually wanted to do it at first,” she admitted, her voice breaking, “but after spending time with you… I couldn’t. I swear I couldn’t. Then I overheard Dario—he plans to take the empire for himself, after I’ve handed it over. He was just using me. Using us. And I thought I had the upper hand since I knew but it seems I was wrong.”
Her fingers shook as they worked the ropes. “I never even wanted the empire that much, Aurora. It was all my mum’s doing. I just—” Her voice cracked. “I just wanted him—my Dad—to notice me, for once in my life.”
The last knot gave way just as a heavy creak echoed through the room.
We both froze.
The door swung open again.
Dario stood framed in the doorway, eyes narrowing, a smile that promised blood curving his lips.
Oh God.
“You’re turning your back on me, are you now, Nora?”
Dario’s voice slid through the air, smooth and menacing. He stepped fully into the room, the dim light catching the edge of his smile—sharp, amused, and utterly cold.
Eleanora cursed under her breath, a small, bitter sound. Her hands went instinctively behind her back as she began to edge away, her gaze locked on him like she was trying to calculate every possible escape route.
I was still standing, wrists burning where the ropes had been, my mind racing. Untied. I’m untied. If I can just—
The thought cut off as the heavy tramp of boots filled the hallway.
A wave of Dario’s men marched in, faces blank, movements mechanical. Before I could even react, one of them seized my arm, twisting it behind me. I struggled, but there were too many—rough hands pinning me down, rope biting into raw skin all over again. Beside me, Eleanora’s sharp inhale turned into a hiss of pain as they bound her, jerking her down until we were both kneeling side by side.
One of the men pulled a phone from Eleanora’s hand—hers, obviously—and tossed it to Dario.
He twirled it lazily between his fingers, his gaze sweeping over us with mocking amusement. “Next time,” he said, his voice low, almost pleasant, “try not to bet on the losing team.”
The words hung in the air, heavy with finality, before he turned on his heel and strode out, the door slamming shut behind him.
The silence that followed was deafening.
“We are done for,” I whispered, the words falling out before I could stop them.
“I know,” Eleanora breathed, her voice breaking. “I’m sorry, Aurora. I should have never done this—I should have never agreed to any of this. I don’t even know what I was thinking—”
“What you did wasn’t nice,” I said flatly, staring at the grimy floor instead of her. The distance in my voice surprised even me, but I couldn’t bring myself to look at her, not now.
“I know,” she said again, softer this time, like the admission itself hurt.
We sat in silence for what felt like minutes, the ropes digging into my wrists, the air around us thick and stale.
Finally, I turned my head slightly. “Where are we?”
“One of Dario’s bases,” she replied quietly, “where he handles his… dirty work.”
A groan escaped my throat. “Leonardo must be so mad at me right now.”
“Yeah,” Eleanora said with a humorless laugh, “he’s gonna be mad that you didn’t tell him about me. And just to confirm his worst suspicions…” She exhaled, her eyes closing briefly.
“I got you kidnapped.”