Seized Mafia Bride by Mae Doyle

Lorenzo

I’d been surprised last night at how light Mia was when I picked her up. She needs a good meal, someplace safe to sleep to get rid of the dark circles under her eyes, and someone to make sure that she isn’t hurt ever again.

I’m that man.

That’s why I took her.

“You’re going to get hurt walking around like that,” I tell her, scooping her up into my arms and carrying her back to her room. Well, it won’t be her room forever. I want her to have someplace nicer where she can feel like she really belongs, but for right now, this is the best place to keep her.

I won’t have to worry about her trying to escape from a window, and I certainly won’t have to worry about her accidentally getting hurt. I want to keep Mia for my own, and that means taking care of everything that she may need.

When I put her down on the bed she sinks into the mattress, curling her legs back up to her chest like she’d been sitting before, then she turns away from me. Before speaking to her, I take a moment to really enjoy how gorgeous she is.

Her chest rises and falls rapidly with her shallow breaths and I know that I need to get her to calm down so that she doesn’t make herself sick. Reaching out, I grab her by the shoulders and flip her down onto the bed so that she’s laying on her chest. She squirms against me when I do, obviously trying to keep me from pushing her down, but I keep my hand firmly on the small of her back.

“Relax, Mia,” I tell her, rubbing my hands up and down her back. She’s tight, her muscles all bunched together, and she feels wound up like she could burst free from this bed as soon as I let her up, but I’m not going to allow her to do that. She needs to calm herself, and since she can’t, I’m going to help her do it.

“Please,” she gasps out, putting her palms down on the side of her body. “Please, don’t hurt me. I don’t know what you want.” She sniffles long and hard but I ignore it, working my hands along her shoulders by her neck.

This makes her stiffen more and I trace my finger up her neck, feeling her pulse slam against it. She’s terrified, and holding her down on the bed like this is only making me more hard. My cock aches to be free and I groan as I press against her.

I could take her right here. The thought flits through my mind but I push it away as I concentrate instead on making her feel better. “You need to relax or you’re going to be sick,” I tell her, still rubbing her back. I carefully trace my fingers along her spine, not wanting to hurt her, then reach her hips and massage them, as well.

“You’re safe here,” I tell her, working her muscles in my hands. She’s thin—too thin—like she hasn’t had a really good meal in a while, but that’s something that I can take care of later. Mia belongs to me now and I’m going to do everything in my power to make sure that she’s healthy and taken care of.

“Why are you doing this?” She whispers, but I feel her body start to melt under my touch. Where she was holding herself tight and hard a few moments ago, like she couldn’t wait to make a run for it, she’s started to relax. I move slowly, still rubbing her muscles, but really taking my time now to get out the knots.

“You needed someone to take care of you,” I tell her. “That’s my job now.”

She shakes her head, raising herself up a little bit by pressing down on the mattress. “You killed him.” Her voice shakes a little and she sucks in a deep breath.

“I saved your life,” I correct her, taking her by the hips and flipping her back over. She’s relaxed now, putty in my hands, and she stares up at me from the bed like she can’t believe that she just let me touch her like that. “Sit up, Mia, I brought you something for your pain.”

When I turn to hand her the meds and the glass of water, I make sure to keep one eye on her so that she can’t make a run for it. She watches me, her eyes wide in her pale face, but she doesn’t twitch a muscle as I reach for what I brought her.

“How do I know that this won’t kill me?” She asks, sniffing the water. “Is it really just water?”

Grabbing it from her, I lock eyes with her and then take a huge gulp. The water is nice and cool and fresh from the tap, no poison added. Mia gives a little nod when she sees me drain part of the glass, then reaches for it.

“Fine. And this?” She eyeballs the two small tablets in my hand.

“Just a pain killer. You need me to take one of them, too? I will, although I think that you’ll be much better off if you take both of them.”

“That’s fine.” Her fingers brush against my palm as she takes them from me and I feel a burst of electricity shoot through me. Everything about Mia turns me on, from the way she needed me to protect her, to how she looks at me through her dark lashes like she’s afraid to make full eye contact.

When she’s taken the pills and finished the water I take the glass from her and then stand, headed towards the door.

“Wait!” Fear enters her voice and I turn to look back at her. She’s perched on the edge of the bed, staring at me, chewing on her lower lip like she can’t quite believe what she’s about to say. “You’re not going to leave me here, are you? Why did you bring me here in the first place?”

She’s silent while I consider my response. Sure, I could let Mia go. I have enough money to get her back on her feet, make sure that she has a great apartment, hell—even to make sure that she never had to work again. But that’s not what I want. I knew from the moment I saw her that I was going to have her, and now that I have her in my house, there’s no chance in hell I’m letting her go.

“I brought you here to save you,” I tell her, leaning against the doorframe as I speak. I’m not really worried about her making a run for it, but she looks like she’s considering it. Even if she were able to reach the door, I’d have her back on the bed before she knew what was happening to her.

“Then let me go. You saved me. Thank you, Lorenzo, I can’t thank you enough, but you can’t just keep me here.”

“That’s exactly what I’m going to do.” The words are out of my mouth before I even really have a chance to think about what I’m saying to her. “I saved you and now you belong to me, Mia.”

She shakes her head like she’s trying to clear it. “I don’t belong to anyone.” Her voice is suddenly sharp. “You can’t just...keep a person like that. What the hell do you think is going to happen? You’ll lock me up and throw away the key and all of a sudden I’ll...fall for you?” She scoffs and stands up.

Mia is still a little unsteady on her feet but the look of anger on her face tells me that she’s not sitting down and backing off anytime soon.

I love it.

“That’s exactly what’s going to happen,” I tell her, crossing the small room to her and taking her by the shoulders. She sucks in a breath when I touch her, tilting her chin up as she looks at me like that’s going to stop what’s about to happen.

Nothing can stop this. “This was all put in motion from the moment I saw you at work. Everything in my life—and yours—has lead up to me finding you and taking you for myself. Don’t fight it, Mia. You can’t win.”

Her eyes snap angrily and she looks like she wants to hit me, but before she has the chance, I push her back so that she falls onto the bed. “Sleep,” I tell her, turning and leaving the room. “Get some rest and then you’ll be able to think things through more clearly when you wake up.”

“Fuck you!” She shoots the words at me and pushes herself back up on the bed. Perched on the edge of it, she trembles like she’s trying to talk herself out of doing something stupid.

“Do it,” I tell her, desire coursing through my body. “I want you to do it. You want to try to fight me, darling, do it. I’m going to come out on top and you’ll be screaming my name before you even realize what’s happening.”

She relaxes a little, her body curling up on itself but she still stares at me like she hates me. That’s fine, I’m fine with being hated. As long as it means that I get to keep her for myself, I don’t care how she feels about me.

She’ll come around.

That thought ringing in my mind, I turn and leave her room. Dane and the rest of the guys are probably wondering what the hell happened last night, and the meds I gave Mia will make her pass out sooner rather than later.

I don’t want her drugged all the time, but if she’s going to act like this then I need to show her that she isn’t in control. As soon as she gets her head out of her ass and settles down then the two of us are going to be just fine.

I’ll make sure of it.