When He Takes (Fallen God, #2)

by Gabrielle Sands

“Blake. Listen to me,” my kidnapper says. My captor. Not Rowan Miller, the man I fell for, but Nero De Luca, the man I don’t know. “I’m going to step out of the car and come around to your side.” His voice is low and steady. It infuriates me how he can sound so calm while he’s destroying my life. “Don’t run, and don’t try to fight me.”

At first, I tried to run each time we stopped at a red light, but I can’t do that anymore. Not since Nero attached my wrist to the door handle with a zip tie.

“Ungh!” I trip on a pothole and tumble to the ground. Pain explodes through my right knee. I push myself up, my palms scraping against the rough pavement. My heart thunders in my chest as I try to scramble to my feet, but a strong hand grips my arm and yanks me up. “Goddamn it, Blake. What was that?”

A pathetic escape attempt

“I not only forced Blake to marry me, I also set her house on fire so that she’d move in with me.” Rafe makes a surprised huff. “I didn’t realize this was a competition, but all right, you win.”

In my worst moments back in Darkwater Hollow, before I moved in next door to Blake, I indulged myself in fantasies of how Rafe would slowly lose his grip on his kingdom without me by his side. I thought I was important. And maybe I was for a time. But everyone is replaceable.

Dude, you couldn’t even last 6 months in your undercover gig…how good could you really have been?

My father would have never put my mother’s life above his own, and Nero is just like him. A criminal who thinks about himself first and foremost.

Nothing he has done supports that statement

Since when do you want a simple life? What happened to your thirst for adventure, passion, romance?

Isn’t that exactly what she wanted? She want to live in her small town and open a bookshop… That doesn’t sound that thrilling in the grand scheme of things

“I work for Gino Ferraro now.” He doesn’t sound upset, just resigned. “The man who you said wanted to kill you?” “That’s the one.” He rakes his fingers through his hair. That doesn’t make any sense. “How did he go from wanting you dead to wanting you working for him?” He shrugs, looking exhausted. “Beats me.” I frown. That’s not an explanation. “I don’t understand. So that’s it? Everything is fine now? You’re back to business as usual?”

It seems really odd to me… I don’t feel like made men can just switch allegiances just like that… Especially not this resigned.

“You can be mad at me,” he says in a low voice. “You can hate me. You can wish me dead. But you will never threaten to hurt yourself again. If you do anything to put yourself in harm’s way, I swear to God, Blake, I will build a cage and lock you in it.”

“This is my next task? Boxing with you?” Alessio shrugs. “I need a partner. My brothers are busy, and I don’t have many friends.”

“Why is everyone treating me like I’m radioactive?” Alec clears his throat. “Maybe it’s better if you ask your husband.” “I’m asking you,” I insist. I feel stupid, like I’m missing something. Alec tugs on his collar. “You are the wife of a very dangerous man, Mrs. De Luca. No one wants to risk doing or saying something that might offend you.”

That smile vanishes the moment he sees Alessio standing at the foot of the bed. Nero tries to sit up, emitting a pained groan. “What are you doing here? How the fuck did you get in?” I place my hand on his shoulder. “Careful.” “I was just telling your wife you should keep your door locked.”

The tattooed man crosses his arms over his chest. “Didn’t know you were married.” Nero blinks once, twice, as if convincing himself that this is real. Alessio tilts his head. “You didn’t come in to work. I thought I’d give you a courtesy call before coming over to kill you, and Blake picked up and explained the situation.”

What is this? The mob version of The Devil Wears Prada? Alessio Ferraro is a fucking diva. The coffee shop he sends me to is on the other side of town.

I know how to deal with pain. What I don’t know how to deal with is my wife.

“I won’t hurt her. I like her.” I narrow my eyes at him. “Why?” “She wasn’t scared of me. Most girls are scared of me.”

Alessio pops the apple core into his mouth. What is he, a fucking horse? “Go ahead. You can take breaks, you know? Wouldn’t want your wife to yell at me again about the working conditions.”

What would have happened if he’d never met me?

Oh, we’re back to this nonsense again

“That works great for me.” Her full lips stretch into a thin smile. “Maybe I’ll find a sidepiece as well.” A deep laugh comes out of me. “You have no idea how this works if you think anyone in this city would be stupid enough to touch my wife. They know I’d kill them, Blake. I might not be a consigliere anymore, but my reputation didn’t disappear overnight. If another man touched you, I would cut off his dick before I killed him and deliver it to you in a box.”

My finger pulls on the trigger, and the gun recoils. A small hole appears in the outline’s chest.

On your first try? 😒

“What if someone steals it?” I whisper. Nero huffs a low laugh. “That’s not going to happen. No one’s that suicidal.” He lifts my hand and presses his lips against my knuckles, making me lose my ability to breathe.

I lower my lips to Blake’s ear. “They just walked in. The wife is wearing a green dress.” Blake gives her half-empty glass to a waiter and throws a discreet glance toward the other side of the room. “Yeah, I see. I recognize him from the photos. He looks older though.” “Maybe it’s the stress from the last few weeks. The Ferraros have been picking off their vors like flies. The pakhan can’t be happy.” “Then why does Gino need us if he’s capturing so many of their men?” “Because the pakhan has a near endless supply of soldiers he can throw at the problem. He imports them from Siberia, where his brother has built a private army.”

Why are you discussing this where anyone can overhear you??

“These people don’t matter. There are only two we need to pay attention to. They’re three tables to our right.” Her brows furrow as she searches for Maksim. She confirms she found him with a small nod. “I see them.”

Worst spies ever!

“Don’t worry. There’s no confusion at all.” “I think there is. You can only touch me when it’s mission critical, got it?” “Understood.” She gives me a wary look. “Really?” “Yes. We just might disagree what mission critical means.”

“Dorogoy, chto ty tut delayesh'? Ya uzhe nachala volnovat'sya.” Maksim sighs. “Pochemu? Ya zhe tebe uzhe govoril pro knigu. Posmotri syuda.” He points at the book and then lifts his gaze to me. “Ty vidish', kakaya ona krasivaya?” Ekaterina scoffs at the display case. “Gospodi. Kniga kak kniga. Zachem tebe eto nuzhno?”

“Time will tell.” “I just wonder if your wife will be patient enough to wait,” Sergio chimes in, tossing his chips into the center with a clatter. “If not, and if she’s as beautiful as Maksim says, tell her I’ll be happy to take her off your hands.” Chuckles erupt, but they’re tense. Probably because they can tell I’m contemplating murder. “You say one more thing about my wife, and I’ll break your neck.”

“When are you going to understand that other women don’t exist for me anymore? There’s only you. There will only ever be you.”

“You belong in my bed, beautiful wife,” he murmurs. “But since you won’t come to me there, I will make you come for me right here.”

“We’re so overdressed.” Nero grabs the whiskey and leans against the bar. “It’s better this way. If you were wearing any less, I’d have to kill any man that looked at you, and it would turn into a whole mess.” He takes a sip of his drink.

“I find you incredibly fascinating, Mrs. De Luca,” Maksim murmurs.

Maksim lifts his hand and trails a knuckle over my cheek. “What I want is one night with you.” A crater opens up inside my gut. “Wh-what?” Maksim’s eyes bore into me. “One night, Blake. Don’t you love your husband enough to do this for him?”

Suddenly, the French doors swing open, and Nero strides in. “I’m finished, and I’m getting a bit bored of this scene, so let’s cut to the chase, Maksim. Why did you invite us here?” “I was just talking to Blake about that.” Panic swirls inside my chest. What will Nero do when he finds out what Maksim wants? He’ll probably lose it. But what if he doesn’t? What if he thinks it’s a fair price in exchange for getting what we want? “Blake?” I stare at my lap, my vision turning blurry. There’s a loud whooshing sound inside my ears. And then Nero’s right there, kneeling beside me. He cups my cheek with his warm hand and forces me to meet his worried gaze. “Blake.” A tear slides down my cheek, and his concerned expression turns to pure stone. “What happened?” he asks in a rough voice. When I can’t get an answer past my tight throat, he directs his attention to the man beside me. “What the fuck did you say to my wife?”

Rafe narrows his eyes. “Your brother’s marrying my sister. Tell him if he gives her chlamydia, I’ll cut off his dick, sauté it, and force-feed it to him for breakfast.”