A Treacherous King- Dark Mafia Romance

seventeen

Maeve

Caine leaves me standing alone in the kitchen. My heart feels like it was beaten, blood spilling out of the hairline cracks.

I my close eyes and try to find some sort of resolve, but whatever was left of it vanished the moment Caine brushed past me.

I have never felt so hollow. So empty, like my own organs have abandoned me. Like they stopped caring whether I took another breath or not.

I drag my feet along the cold tile and practically crawl up the staircase. I lay on the bed beside Nadia. Reaching over and brushing her dark hair away from her face. The moonlight dances shadows across her serene features. It reminds me of when I brushed Simon's hair back, right before his heart had stopped. I grimace, curling up as close as I can get to her. Her warmth giving me solace.

I wake hours later to find Nadia missing from my side. Her lavender scent still heady on the pillow she had slept on. I groan, rubbing my crust filled eyes. I reach over and grab the cell phone Nadia had lent me and check the time. It was noon. I had missed breakfast, but was just in time for lunch. My stomach growled in response.

I hoped I wouldn't have to see Caine, the pain still too fresh too bare. He stayed gone during the day most of the time so the possibility of running into him was unlikely.

I change into a pair of jeans and a light sweater, throwing on a pair of chunky brown boots. I wander out in the hall and pass by the bedroom to the left of mine. The door is ajar, Nadia is sitting on the bed next to a very pale Simon. I think about knocking to check in on him, but Nadia spots me standing in the doorway. She smiles brightly and motions me in.

Simon is sitting up in the bed, a bandage wrapped around his chest. His head is resting against a pillow propped up behind him. He gives me a weak smile as I approach.

"You can sit down." Nadia says, patting the spot next to her. I ease down on the bed next to Simon's legs.

"There's my angel." He says. He must note my confusion. "Nadia told me what you did for me. How you restarted my heart. So romantic." Nadia smacks his hand lightly, and I smile.

"I'm glad to know your still making bad jokes even after being gifted a second chance at life." I say.

Nadia sniffles. I glance over at her as she dabs her eyes with a Kleenex. "Ignore her, she's all weepy. If she's like this with me still living, I can't imagine what she would have been like if I would have actually died." Simon says. Nadia gasps.

"Don't say that!" She wails.

"I'm sorry Nadia. I shouldn't have made a joke like that." I say, rubbing her arm.

"The joke was for my benefit and I appreciated it. Now stop crying Nadia before I get Igor to kick you out again." Simon says, rolling his eyes at Nadia's concern over him.

"You can make light of this situation Simon, but I will not. Caine slipped out this morning before I could catch him, but he will answer for what he's put you through." Nadia fumes.

"Nadia, I've already told you. I convinced Caine to let me go to the shipment. He had no idea that Vlad's enforcers would attack us. It was all by chance." Simon says, wincing as he tries to sit up a little further. Nadia notices and jumps up, fluffing his pillow.

"Who is Vlad?" I hear myself asking. Nadia grimaces and Simon clenches his jaw, but he answers my question.

"He's Caine's arch nemesis. Well first he was Caine's father's, then when he died he became Caine's. It's all very confusing, but basically Vlad has been plotting to overtake Caine's organization for years. Last night was not the first attack he's made, the others just weren't as...deadly." He glances over at Nadia when he says the last word.

"It's true. Vlad is a direct threat to Caine and obviously us. It's time he takes him out once and for all." Simon and I both exchange a surprised look. It wasn't like Nadia to encourage violence.

"Look at you being all bloodthirsty." Simon says. I burst out laughing, unable to contain it. Simon chuckles, but then winces and has to stop. Nadia looks at us both like we've lost our minds and then bursts out crying again.

"Jesus. Go back to bed." Simon groans as Nadia buries her head in the crook of his arm. He mouths, "I've got this," so I quietly leave the room and head downstairs to the kitchen. Irina looks like she is just finishing up lunch, the smell of carrots and potatoes filling my nose. She turns as I approach the counter.

"Hungry?" She says, motioning towards the stew she has on the stove. I nod in response. She gets me a bowl from the cabinet and spoons me out some, placing the bowl in front of me.

"Spasibo." I say. She looks at me with a delighted expression and bows her head.

After lunch I go back upstairs to make sure Simon and Nadia are okay. I find them both asleep, Simon is still sitting up with Nadia's head resting on his shoulder. I decide to sneak back to the library and grab the copy of Pride and Prejudice I had been reading all those nights ago. Irina winks at me as I slip back out of the door, two classic novels under my arm. I go back up to my room and read by the window in the wingback chair.

Hours pass while I read, the sun ever slowly sinking below the horizon. Right before nightfall, Nadia had come in asking if I was hungry. She was planning to force feed Simon who had no appetite. I had told her that I would eat in my room and not to worry.

Before dinner I walk out to the garden and find the alcove I had discovered the other day. It's a beautiful sunset, hues of oranges and pinks, painting the garden in breathtaking light. A cool breeze blows my long hair around my shoulders, making me wish I would have grabbed a sweater before coming out here.

Out of all the thoughts nagging me, the only one that my mind seemed to want to revisit was how my body had reacted to Caine in the kitchen.

I felt ashamed, being close to him made me feel things. Feel things that were forbidden for someone to feel about their captor. I start to wonder if maybe I was beginning to have Stockholm Syndrome, but I knew that to be untrue. My body reacted that way the night I met him in the bar. He was attractive, handsome even. With a sharp jaw, full lips, dark brows over his ominous gray eyes. Eyes that I couldn't discern.

His appearance screamed authoritative, being around him made me feel powerless. Like all my strength instantly flows out of me and into him when I'm in his presence. It would be so easy to let him have control over me.

I had noticed his want for me too. His erection straining against his pants. I was surprised by it and so turned on. For a split second, I wondered what it would feel like to touch him. For him to touch me. To let him have complete control over me, but then he opened his mouth and his calloused words pushed those thoughts away as quickly as they had come.

I lean over, burying my nose in the succulent roses. The petals tickling my nose. I have the urge to pick a bouquet of them to make a flower arrangement but they're so pretty on the bush, I can't bring myself to do it. I only notice when I lean back over, a tall foreboding shadow befalling me. I gasp, jerking my head up to find Maks standing over me, a set look on his face. He really does look menacing with that scar across his eye.

"Maks?" I say confused. I notice too late the contents in his hand.

"I'm really sorry about this." He says, a look of regret coasting his features. He reaches forward and puts a piece of duct tape over my mouth and forcefully pulls a bag over my head, tying it tight around my neck. A muffled scream escapes me as I jerk around blindly, trying to fight him off. He pulls my hands behind my back and zip ties my wrists together. Then he makes quick work of my ankles. He lifts me up in his arms like I weigh nothing and carries me off.

I scream, hoping that Nadia will hear me, but she's upstairs with Simon, and there's no way she would be able to fight off Maks.

A dread chills me to the bone. This is it. Caine is making promise of his word.

He's going to kill me.