Page 48 of Captured Innocence
Her smile.
Her voluptuous body.
The obsessive need I’d felt before came crashing down again, threatening to crush my resolve. Fuck. “How?” My growl was dark, ominous, and extremely possessive and I could tell by the shocked look on Dar’s face that he’d had no idea.
The fact the woman I continued to crave was in danger brought an immediate level of rage that I hadn’t experienced in a long time. I took a deep breath, holding it in my lungs. But I sensed my body was shaking involuntarily, dissolving the promise I’d made to her sister under duress.
“If you dare touch my sister, I will do everything in my power to destroy you, Mattia. Now I have the method of doing so. All I need to do is explain the situation to D’Artagnan and you will be exiled.”
“I don’t give a shit about money or power, Lucia. I care about Sophia.”
“Fuck you. You’re nothing but an animal. I will never allow you to touch her.”
The ugly words had remained in the forefront of my mind on purpose. I’d finally honored a pledge I’d made to her, even though everything in my soul had balked against it. Fate was a cruel beast.
I allowed the six years to retreat if only for a few seconds, the contract I’d signed with her father for her hand in marriage something I pulled out of my safe every so often. Fuck. The dark craving I’d had for her years before returned in full force, something I’d promised myself I wouldn’t allow and couldn’t afford at this point.
Dar studied me carefully, narrowing his eyes. “I hadn’t remembered you’d thought of her fondly. In fact, I was told you couldn’t stand her. Interesting.”
“Don’t go there, Dar. Let it alone.”
“Unfortunately, that’s not possible.” He narrowed his eyes, studying me carefully. “This danger can’t be avoided.”
He had no understanding of what had occurred between us six years before. Sophia had sworn she hated me, running away from everything including her family. Then the shit had hit the fan less than two years later, her father murdered. Since then, I’d tried to stay away even though I wasn’t entirely certain why. I had an ironclad contract. Fuck. The past was coming back to haunt me.
“What the fuck happened?” I hissed.
“The circumstances are sketchy at this point.”
I closed my eyes, rubbing the ache behind them. She’d made it perfectly clear all those years ago that she’d never wanted to see me again. What Lucia had threatened meant little in comparison to the vile hatred Sophia had of me.
While I wasn’t entirely certain of the reason, given what had occurred over the last few years with both our families facing tremendous tragedies, I’d honored her demands. Given the fact we’d formed the alliance, the additional uptake in business taxing as well as the battles with the Bratva, I’d had little time to think of a personal life.
But that hadn’t kept me away from her, at least not entirely.
I’d stalked the beautiful princess, remaining obsessed with her, my hunger often out of hand. And it had taken every ounce of strength in what had been left of my blackened soul to walk away. It had seemed necessary at the time. Now I wasn’t so certain. She’d remained a sitting duck, a weak link to the entire family.
After her admittance of hatred, I’d thrown myself into keeping one woman on my arm or another, my blind attempt at soothing the ache that had never healed. No one could compare to my beautiful princess so I’d stopped trying. Christ. I still had it bad for the woman but my sense of obligation to the alliance had prevented me from fulfilling a promise I’d made to her. Hell, I wondered if she even remembered or cared at this point. Other than hating me, of course. “Why is she even on the radar?”
“I’m not entirely certain of everything that went down, but she was abducted. Of that I’m certain.”
“What the fuck? For what?” I slammed my hand on his desk.
“Calm down, Mattia. Ransom doesn’t seem like the reason, but so far, her disappearance remains a mystery.”
“Was she still in school? Was she taken from the campus? Doesn’t she have a security detail?” I’d purposely done everything I could to shut her out of my life. If not, I’d have lost my mind. However, I still knew every detail about her existence, but that wasn’t something I was willing to disclose to Dar or anyone else for that matter.
He looked at me in amusement, his brows furrowed. “She’s almost twenty-five, old man. She’s a highly successful business owner, her art brokerage firm making millions. She also dabbles in security. And yes, of course I keep soldiers watching her. But you already knew all this. Didn’t you?”
I looked away.
“Didn’t you?” he demanded.
“Yes. What kind of security is she involved in?” That part I hadn’t known. Security. That was out of the blue. I’d learned about her penchant for computers years before but had assumed she was doing so because of college.
“Clueless. Even Lucia doesn’t know. Sophia was determined to have a life entirely on her own and I allowed it with Lucia’s encouragement. What don’t I know?”
“I said leave it.”