Fuck him.

He won’t find her so he won’t be able to take her away, and if he somehow ends up in Sicily, his men will be murdered before they can arrive at the Vitallios’ lands. There’s a reason why no Costas come over.

“Keep an eye on Lucio,” I tell him before I leave his mansion as quietly as I got in.

I find Angelo waiting in the car by the back entrance. Now that I started the dent between Paolo and his fucker of a brother, my first mission is done. I should head back to the airport and leave before I catch Lucio’s attention.

But instead of heading to the airport, I ask Angelo to stop in the shitty neighborhood I never wanted to return to again.

And yet here I am.

Angelo waits for me in the car as I take two steps at the time to my little Petal’s old fucking apartment.

Soon enough, the tenant will empty it and put her things up for sale. Not that she has anything to root her to this place. Her new home is Sicily whether she likes it or not.

I use the spare key under the fire escape and open her apartment. Pads of feet run in my direction before the two cats surround me, mewling like fucking crazy.

“Mr. Bingly, Mrs. Hudson,” I greet. “Get your shit, we’re going somewhere.”

They follow me all the way as I grab their things and her laptop and some of her clothes. I was in a hurry the first time so I only brought her mug and a few clothes.

The cats caress my legs, looking up at me with big fucking eyes. Judging from their half-full cans, Dinah and that Russian nurse have fed them, but they must miss my little Petal as much as she misses them.

I caught her playing with Salli’s grandkid’s cat the other day and telling him how much she misses her own cats.

“You owe me,” I tell them as I usher them into their cages. They don’t protest as they go in there.

I throw one last look over at the apartment as I balance a bag on my shoulder and the cages on either of my hands.

This is where my obsession with my little Petal started, where I first watched her, fucked her, tied her up, and made her fantasies — and mine — come true.

Or rather, no, maybe my obsession with her started since she was little Joe, as fucked up as that sounds.

Angelo raises an eyebrow but says nothing as I place the cats and the bag in the back seat.

“Gifts for the woman.”

He merely nods as if saying, Really? This is what we took a detour for?

I close the back door and I’m about to settle beside Angelo when I notice a movement to my right.

A black car passes by and its window rolls down before gunshots shower the street.

I jump inside, firing one of my own and shout at Angelo, “Go! Go!”

Our car revs in the streets as the gunshots echo behind us. I roll my window down and fire at one of its tires, making it swerve to the right.

Fucking Lucio. I knew he’d find me one way or another.

As the car loses our trail, I stare back at the cats. One of them is staring with wide eyes, but the other is sleeping.

Fuck. I can’t believe I’m worried about the cats’ well-being.

“Boss…” Angelo’s frantic eyes study me.

It’s then I see it, the red covering the fucking seats. I follow the trail to find my jacket soaked at the shoulder level and a hole punctures the skin.

Fuck.

At first, I don’t feel it, but then the burn grips me like a son of a bitch. The pain explodes all over my skin and more blood leaves me.

I attempt to squeeze the wound, but that doesn’t stop the bleeding. My vision starts doubling and I breathe through my nose. This isn’t the first time I’ve been shot, but it’s the first time I’ve lost so much blood this quickly.

Fuck, again.

At this rate, I’m going to faint and that’s never good.

“I’ll take you to the hospital,” he says.

“No.” I shake my head once. Lucio will find me in no time and kill me. “Take me home.”

“But boss…”

“Home. Sicily.” I croak.

Home. Petal.

10

Georgina

I tell myself I’m only upset because I can’t escape.

Because even though Jasper left, Enzo is here and he’s watching me like a hawk.

Jasper went out early this morning with Angelo, and while he always goes out to work, this time was different. One, they seemed tense. Two, he usually returns to have lunch with me.

Not today.

It’s already night time and there’s no trace of him.

Everyone refuses to tell me where Jasper went as if this is some sort of a secret I can’t be privy to. Even Salli says she doesn’t know and that these things are none of her business.

I thought Jasper’s absence would give me more incentive to escape, but I find myself by the window watching for a car to arrive or something.

It’s getting late and yet I can’t sleep. I feel like something is missing.

Or wrong.

I did lay in bed but without his warmth in it, it felt empty, almost too empty.

What is wrong with you, Georgina?

I force myself to go to bed and lie on top; my hands are crossed over my stomach and I keep staring at the ceiling. Images of when Jasper spanked me then fucked me raw on this same bed trickle back to memory.

Letting my hand trail to my neck, I touch the collar and sigh. It’s like I always have a part of him with me in the form of this collar.

I immediately drop my hand.

Happy thoughts. I need happy thoughts.

Today, I managed to spy a back way through the fields. It’s where the trucks load the supplies and leave. They’re not farm people so they don’t work for Jasper and his family — whom I discovered is super big around here.

According to Salli, people consider the Vitallios their benefactors, and that’s why they respect Jasper to the point of reverence.

Or rather Alessio.

No one calls him Jasper here. It’s either Senior Vitallio or Alessio. I like his other name.

“Alessio…” I murmur as if I want to get a feel of it on my tongue.

I still like the fact I’m the only one who gets to call him Jasper, though. Just like he’s the only one who calls me Petal.

Closing my eyes, I decide that I’m going to forget about Jasper as soon as I’m out of here. I’m going to forget about his firm hand and consuming kisses and the way he brought each of my fantasies to reality.

I’m going to forget about his wicked tongue and the gleam in his icy blue eyes or how his thick hair feels beneath my fingers.

As soon as I’m out of here...

I doze off or I think I do.

Instead of dreaming about an escape, I dream about Jasper lying beside me, slowly waking me up so he’d thrust inside me and make love to me.

Wait. Make love?

“Miss!”

I jolt awake at the harsh accented voice. I’m disoriented from sleep, I don’t focus for a bit, and when I do, I wish I didn’t.

Angelo is wrapping his arm around an unconscious Jasper’s shoulder. Blood drips down his white shirt soaking it in red.

His head lolls to the side and his eyes move beneath his lids.

My heart nearly stops beating and it takes everything in me to form a voice. “W-what happened?”