Mafia Captive - Julia Sykes Page 0,59
a lead weight in my stomach, and I managed to tear my eyes from the nauseating sight of his ruined face. Frantically, I searched the cramped bathroom for my savior, the man I loved.
But Joseph wasn’t there. I was alone with this monstrous man, completely powerless to escape him.
“You’re very pretty,” he said again, his tone roughed with sick hunger. “Maybe I’ll pass you around to my friends until they get bored, and then I’ll kill you.”
Shadows thickened in the corners of the small space, growing into dark, indistinct silhouettes of towering men.
A second hard length pressed into my hip, larger than the gun shoved into my side.
I thrashed like a trapped animal, and my shriek echoed through the bathroom, rebounding against the tiles to pierce my eardrums. The shadows closed in on me, trailing frozen fingers over my flesh.
My wordless scream coalesced into Joseph’s name, begging for him to save me…
“Ashlyn! Wake up, angel.” The strong fingers that closed around my shoulders were warm and calloused; nothing like the icy, grasping claws of my shadowy attackers.
My eyes snapped open, and I finally found the intense, flame-blue stare of my savior.
“Joseph!” I half-sobbed his name and buried my face against his chest, breathing in his comforting, masculine scent.
His steady heat sank into my frigid flesh, but the shadows still clung to my mind with icy, dark tendrils. I pressed closer to him, struggling to fully surface from the nightmare and ground myself in the safety of his strong arms.
I barely had time to register two of Joseph’s thundering heartbeats beneath my ear before a deafening bang tore through the room. The feel of my attacker’s gun was a phantom pain rammed into my side. The terror that’d barely begun to ebb away surged again, and I cried out as the nightmare eclipsed reality.
“Jesus, Marco!” Joseph snapped. He pulled me tighter to his chest, and the pressure of his muscular arms around my shaking body reassured me of his protective presence. “It’s okay, angel,” he murmured, pressing a tender kiss to my forehead. “You’re safe.”
“I heard screaming.” The rough growl should’ve made my insides quake, but I recognized Marco’s rumbling voice.
My face lifted from Joseph’s chest, my eyes searching for my other fierce savior. I hadn’t longed for Marco in my dream, but now that his powerful aura pulsed into the room, I was desperate to catch sight of him. I wanted to reassure myself that he was real, too. That both of these immensely strong men were here to shelter me, like they’d promised.
My eyes found Marco, and my breath caught in my throat. His ripped, muscular body was impossibly broader and more intimidating than I’d ever realized. His sculpted chest was bare, and his defined abs bunched tight with coiled aggression. He wore nothing but a pair of black sweatpants slung low on his hips. His massive physique was on full, hulking display.
The sight of his towering frame swelling to fill the doorway should’ve been scary as hell, but I released a shuddering sigh as relief rolled through me.
“It was just a nightmare.” Joseph addressed Marco in clipped tones, and he pulled me closer to his hard body.
The cold light that glittered over Marco’s obsidian eyes melted, and the ferocious snarl eased from his rough-hewn features. “You had a nightmare, princess?”
He took a step toward me, and my surroundings finally solidified. I was in Marco’s bedroom, where I’d been sleeping with Joseph.
At some point after he’d whisked me away from the dangerous encounter at the restaurant, Marco had carried me up here and tucked me beneath the plush duvet, ensuring I was warm after my bone-chilling confrontation with their enemy. I barely remembered falling asleep in Joseph’s arms, exhausted and shaky from the frightening experience.
The trauma of being cornered and threatened by a mobster must’ve followed me down into sleep, triggering my night terror.
Marco took another step toward me, moving with slow, easy grace that was entirely at odds with the pure menace that’d rolled off him in waves only seconds ago. He’d stormed in here and rushed to my defense after hearing me scream.
I noticed the dent in the wall behind him, where he’d flung open the door with enough force that the brass handle had damaged the plaster. All that strength, all that ferocity…
For me. He’d come running to protect me the moment he’d thought I was in danger.
My stomach did a funny flip, and a small shiver raced over my skin. I wasn’t scared of Marco. Not at all. But this display of his brute strength and intense protectiveness made me quake for darker, more feminine reasons.
Joseph misinterpreted my trembling and rubbed his big hands over my pebbled flesh. My cheeks burned as I realized I was ogling Marco while clinging to Joseph. I tucked my face closer to his chest, hiding my confusing response to his best friend’s powerful presence.
“I’ve got this, Marco.” Joseph’s warning words rumbled through the room.
Marco’s low grunt snagged my attention, and my eyes were immediately drawn to him once again. He’d stopped dead in his tracks, still as a granite statue. His jaw ticked, and his black eyes raked over my trembling body before returning to my face. He studied me with that unwavering, penetrating stare for several unnerving seconds.
His fists flexed at his sides just once before he gave Joseph a curt nod and turned on his heel.
“Wait!” I called out, the plea bursting from my aching chest before I could think better of it. Less than a minute ago, Marco had been all softness and concern when he’d asked about my nightmare. Now, he was stiff and cold again. Aloof after Joseph’s sharp dismissal.
Joseph thought he was sheltering me from further distress, but Marco was the one who was upset.
Something tugged at my heart when his hulking body jerked to a halt, and he turned back to face me. His dark brows were drawn low over his eyes, the glower shielding him from me.
But that glower didn’t frighten me anymore. I’d seen him turn the same ferocious expression on Joseph when he was upset, not enraged.
“Thank you,” I said softly, compelled to convey my gratitude and my newfound trust in him. My belief that he wasn’t an evil criminal.
I’d been so blind to his better nature, simmering in resentment over his decision to kidnap me. But when he’d comforted me in the car last night, letting me cry against him as he held me with aching gentleness, I’d finally understood why Joseph cared so much about his intimidating friend.
Fine lines appeared around Marco’s mouth on a small frown, and he cocked his head at me.
“Thank you for coming to check on me,” I explained. “And for getting me away from…that man.” I shuddered at the memory of their enemy’s knuckles raking down my cheek in a perversion of intimacy.
Joseph’s long, sure fingers trailed through my hair in comforting strokes, and I relaxed into his arms as the last of my residual terror drained from my system. Suddenly, exhaustion sank into my bones, and my head felt too heavy to stir.
The warmth returned to Marco’s eyes, and he relaxed, too. “Go back to sleep, princess. I’m right down the hall if you need me. I won’t let anyone hurt you.”
“I know,” I murmured, my eyelids growing heavier with each stroke of Joseph’s fingers through my hair. “Thank you.”
His answering, low hum followed me down into warm darkness, and I slept peacefully through the night.
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Also by Julia Sykes
Mafia Ménage Trilogy
Mafia Captive
The Daddy and The Dom
Theirs to Protect
The Captive Series
Sweet Captivity
Claiming My Sweet Captive
Stealing Beauty
Captive Ever After
Pretty Hostage
Wicked King
Ruthless Savior
The Impossible Series
Impossible
Savior
Rogue
Knight
Mentor
Master
King
A Decadent Christmas (An Impossible Series Christmas Special)
Czar
Crusader
Prey (An Impossible Series Short Story)
Highlander
Decadent Knights (An Impossible Series Short Story)
Centurion
Dex
Hero
Wedding Knight (An Impossible Series Short Story)
Valentines at Dusk (An Impossible Series Short Story)
Nice & Naughty (An Impossible Series Christmas Special)
Dark Lessons
RENEGADE
The Dark Grove Plantation Series
Holden
Brandon
Damien
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