Elodie came awake slowly, as if waking from a long-lasting deep sleep.

Blinking rapidly, she groaned and shifted, wincing at the sharp bursts of pain from her lower jaw. All that did was make her aware of her split bottom lip, along with the blisters under her feet from running barefoot on the Marina.

The light that accosted her upon opening her eyes was brighter than she expected, a silver hue that glowered down upon her from somewhere high. She titled her head back and stared at it, waiting for the fixture to come into focus. A line of bulbs floating down from thin string-like wires had been programmed to hover a good twenty-five feet in the air, bathing the section of space she was in so she could just make out every detail.

The room had a gorgeous white and gray heavy colour scheme, and a uniquely designed curved half wall where the bed she was laying on was located. The black brick Tuscan style fireplace which had above it a large, flat LED TV had a touch of sophistication to the already stunning room. There was a sitting area in the corner, anchored by a beautiful Persian rug. In the center of the room, however, was a rain shower with clear glass panels on all sides. They weren't even frosted.

A breeze blew in through the opened double French doors that led onto the balcony to her left, cold skating across her bare skin causing her to shiver.

It was only then she realized she'd been stripped down to nothing but her bra and panties. The matching black lace set winked at her.

Elodie swore and pulled at her wrist, cursing when she almost dislocated her shoulders in the process. A quick glance showed her the thick metal securing her wrist to the wall above the bed. She tugged again furiously, hoping her shackles would give way.

It was hopeless.

"I see you're finally awake, Strega." That cold, emotionless voice, one that was fast becoming familiar even though they'd barely known each other for a few hours, came off somewhere to the left.

A second later, Angelo walked in through the French doors holding a whiskey glass. He took a deep swallow from his half-filled glass, eyes on her the entire time.

"You hit me with the butt of your gun." Elodie remembered what had happened at the marina after she'd leapt off the yatch in hopes of escaping him. She felt so foolish doing that now. She should have sent the video to Sonia instead of calling.

Angelo's expression darkened as he approached."That was me being merciful to you. I could have done a lot worse than that, but I was awfully in the mood to give you another chance."

Elodie frowned. She'd seen what he could do first hand, of course. So his threat didn't look so empty now. So, if he hadn't been in the mood to give her another chance, would he have thrown her back into the water and let her become fish food?

"I can see the cogs cranking in there," he said, circling a finger at the side of his head, and then crouched down across from her. "Should I help you out?"

Elodie eyed the bridge of his nose, calculated the distance between her feet and it, then came to the conclusion that it would be a waste of energy to try to kick him, so she refrained, conserving her energy for another time. "Do tell me," she said through gritted teeth. "But get these damned cuffs off me first."

Angelo clicked his tongue and shook his head as though he was talking to a toddler. "I like you where you are now, Strega. Your freedom can be earned, of course, but let's not get ahead of ourselves. We were discussing what happened on my yatch."

"You tortured a man while he was still breathing," Elodie accused, "couldn't you have just handed him over to the authorities? Cutting his flesh was barbaric."

"I am barbaric," he confessed shamelessly, swirling the content of his glass absently as he rested his wrist on his knee. "He knew what he was getting himself into when he agreed to take little children for his pleasure. He was no match for me. And neither are you, Strega. I knew you were watching me and put on a good show for you. So, did you enjoy it?"

"You played me." The words tasted bitter on her tongue, and she cursed how foolish she'd been to even leave the safety of the cabin. In fact, she was so stupid for taking this job in the first place.

"Don't feel so sad," Angelo told her. "I played with you. They're two different things, and you never stood a chance against me. There's no need to beat yourself up about it, though, seeing as I'll be doing that for you for the rest of our time time together. I like the way your eyes fire up when you get angry, so direct all your anger and frustrations at me, sweetheart."

"Don't call me that." Elodie clenched her fingers so tightly that she felt her knuckles cracking.

"You're wondering why you allowed a murderer to kiss you," Angelo stated, trailing his gaze down her body. The lust that came alive in them made her go still, blinking like a deer caught in the headlights of a car. "And now that you know what I am capable of, you're regretting it."

She pursed her lips, heart racing. "So, what are you planning to do with me?"

He met her gaze once more. "Not killing you is at the very top of that list...at least not yet."

Elodie sucked in a breath. What promise can a murderer make to be believed? "Why?"

"Truthfully?" Angelo smiled; It was dark and twisted, the promise of something lurking behind it. "It appears that I'm a little bit obsessed with you, Strega."

Elodie was so fucked up because those words sent a little thrill of relieve coursing through her veins.

Relief? E2 mocked. Here you are, chained to the wall in an unknown place with a criminal before you, and you're relieved?

She was also psychotic, it would seem.

"And if I tell you I hate your fucking face so much I want to gouge your eye out with a steak knife?" Elodie goaded, only to wince when Angelo began to laugh.

He worked his bottom lip between his teeth, biting down as if trying to rein in his mirth before finally replying in a smoky voice,"No woman has ever talked to me like that before, and I must admit that it's so hot hearing you  threaten me with a good time. Say something else, Piccola strega."

Elodie scrunched her face up like she'd sucked on a wedge of lime. "You're even more sick than I thought."

"I'm the Don of the The 'Ndrangheta," he stated plainly. "It takes a certain kind of someone to enjoy the things I do to people. I am the most powerful man in the world at the moment, and you've also gotten a glimpse of my work. So, you should understand better than anyone what I am capable of."

Elodie's stomach turned and for a minute she was afraid that she was going to throw up."You—you're a Mafia boss?"

She'd gathered that he was a prominent man who wielded enough power to be allowed into Il VELENO, sure, but she'd never thought that he was some underworld lord. If he was what she imagined he was, then she was in deeper, murky waters than she'd previously thought.

Angelo closed his eyes and let out a soft sound that came really close to satisfaction. "Your disgust is showing, Strega," he said. "But your fear..." his nostrils flared like an animals. "It's aphrodisiac. I like it."

"I don't want to do anything you like," she snapped, trying to stifle her urge to scream for help.

"That's too bad." Slowly, he rose to his feet. "From now on, I am the master of your fate. I own you and everything you own. It will be in your best interest to keep me happy. But," he closed the distance between him and the bed, setting a knee on the mattress, the material deepening beneath his weight, "in the spirit of keeping me entertained, I do hope you fight me tooth and nail. I hope you dig those claws of yours deep into me enough to draw blood, Strega, because if it'll make you cry out for me that will be more gratifying. I hope to get my money's worth or else... Well, it's obvious, isn't it? We both know who has the most power in the room."

Yeah. He'd kill her and make it look like an accident. Or he'd do something more worse than killing her. Either way, there was no positive outcome for her.

Elodie was so embarrassed that she'd been so taken in by his words that she hadn't even noticed that he'd closed the remaining distance between them enough for her to kick his stupid nose in. By the time she realized her mistake, he was already straddling her midriff, settling himself over her.

"It's coffee," he told her, holding the rim of the cup to her lips. "You slept all through the rest of the night and hadn't had anything to eat last night. It's afternoon now and your body needs a little pick me up."

"Why?" Elodie stubbornly asked, refusing to drink from the glass pressed so firmly against her lips that her teeth kept catching on the flesh as she talked. "To keep me alive enough to deal with whatever it is you've planned?"

Angelo tilted his head to the right, his face deviod of all expression. His molten golden eyes locked on hers.

"You really shouldn't test me," He told her, "or I'll like it too much."

Elodie kept her lips tightly locked together, staring up defiantly at him. "Fuck. You."

In a move so fast that she didn't even catch it, Angelo's hand shout out, wrapping his fingers around her throat. With his right thumb, he forced her chin up and squeeze the bruise from the hit of his gun so hard that she gasped, eyes watering from the pain that traveled up her face to her brain and every part of her body.

Without skipping a beat he tilted the glass and poured the contents of the glass down into her mouth, holding her head in that position as she gurgled and choked on the bitter liquid until most of it made its way down her throat.

The second he released her, Elodie coughed, loud hacking sounds that brought tears leaking out the sides of her eyes. There was no doubt there was coffee swirling around in her lungs now. She glared up at him.

"I'm disappointed that you're beginning to cry, Strega," Angelo cooed, voice going soft. "We haven't

even started yet. Besides," he waved the empty glass at her, "I made sure to make it just the way you like it. Not sweet, but all bitterness."

"You bastard!"

He snorted. "I've been called worse. Devil. Asshole. Sick. Pyscho." He leaned closer as though he wanted to divulge a secret. "I'd hoped you'd learn by now that your insults do not phase me."

Elodie saw her chance and took it.

He said he wanted to bleed?

She'd make him.

She reared her head back, then threw her weight forward. The sickening crunch of broken bone filled the room just as she also hissed in pain right along side him. It was worth it.

At least, she thought it was at first, until the spots in her vision stopped its tap dance and she was able to get a good look at the man.

She'd managed to get him good, knocking his nose slightly off the center so that a trail of blood rolled down the cut on the bridge of his nose and down to the top of his lip.

Holding her gaze with his own, Angelo ran the tip of his tongue along the seam of his top lip, licking the blood off clean and sweeping it into his mouth. "Score one, Strega."

"You almost made me choke on coffee, so forgive me if I'm not smiling up at you and calling you daddy."

Angelo eased off of her and left the mattress, heading straight for a closed nondescript door she hadn't noticed earlier. He opened it by placing his thumb on the scanner on the door handle, and disappeared into the room.

Fear racked up within Elodie as her mind provided her with vivid images of what he went to get.

She swallowed the lump in her throat, regretting the head butt, because she had been too hasty. If she was going to fight back, then it should have been when she knew it could cause an actual damage.

The thought flew from her mind when Angelo returned with a very wicked looking knife in his left hand. He turned it this way and that, admiring the way its silver tip caught in the light.

"This is called a Civivi Baklash," he told her, eyes glinting. "The last man I used this one peed himself. He died a thousand death that day. It was too much too messy." He wrinkles his nose as though he was talking about a poop stain and not human blood.

Elodie's eyes widened as her stomach dropped into infinity. She was beginning to regret her bravado now. She should have just kept quiet.

She had Mace to think about, forget all that was happening to her, and yet she still poked the beast.

Angelo returned to the bed, crawling between her thighs. He placed the blade on her left thigh.

Her body was so rigid that she'd have put a statue to shame in a contest. Her eyes became riveted on the blade as he ran it up from her knees to mid-thigh. "Want to know what he did?"

She didn't dare breath a word.

"He trafficked human organs," he began, "babies organs to be exact. You see, I may traffic drugs, launder money and do many other illegal things, but I do not condone human trafficking." He slipped the egde of the knife under the hem of her panties on the life. "There are wicked people out there, Strega. People who don't give a fuck about what's right and wrong."

He gripped the elastic edge of her panties and slowly began to run the sharp edge of the blade against the material. He did it so carefully that—although she could feel the cold steel against her thigh—it felt as though he was cutting a whole dress.

"Monsters hide in plain sights," Angelo continued although she was only half listening. Her pulse spiked as each thread got loose. "How to pretend. There are many others who would have killed you outright after you disobeyed a direct order. Hell, I'd killed for less."

Elodie gulped. His threat from earlier came rushing to her mind, and all she could see was Luca's flesh as he cut through it.

The material of the panties came apart with a small snap, the other had just covering her shaved middle. Without skilling a beat, he moved to the other side to do the same.

"I expect you have questions, Strega. I'll take them now."

Elodie clenched her jaw, as a silver of that anger from earlier slithered its way through the panic that had engulfed her. It was tempting not to play directly into his hands, but he had a point.

If she was going to die, she should at least know the man responsible for it, shouldn't she?

"If you're as powerful as you said you are, why do you have to pay for an escort service?" Okay, maybe that question wasn't the one she should be asking, but she was curious.

He stopped his task, pausing to hold her gaze. "You would be right about that, Strega."

"Then why?"

The corner of his lips lifted up slightly. "Do you think it's a coincidence that all the Dark Angels were suddenly in short supply?"

Her eyes widened at that. "What are you...?"

He raised the knife at aimed it above her heart, gaze piercing into hers, holding her spell-bound.

Her lips parted on a silent gasp as it dawned on her that she'd been a pawn all along.

Boss had betrayed her in exchange for whatever this man gave her in return.

"I paid for you."

A/N:

Okay, okay. Who was expecting that?

What do you think of the new development?

Is Angelo truly a psychopath?

Do you think he'll hurt Elodie or he was just bluffing?

Will Elodie retaliate, too?

What do you think she'd do with the information about Boss selling her out?

Don't forget to vote, comment, comment, comment and share!

Thank you for reading ❤️