Bones (Bonetti Brothers #1)

CHAPTER EIGHTEEN

ATHENA

I hold the gun in my hand, pointed at Luca’s employee, the one that kept bringing me food I’m not going to eat.

The other one stands watching, while his buddy kneels on the floor as he was told. I’m not going to kill anyone, but I’ve been trying to get the other one to shoot me to save his friend. The guy standing by the door, I think his name was Jimmy, says, “Phone call, Mrs. Bonetti. I’m not coming any closer. I’ll put it on speakerphone.”

Mrs. Bonetti.

Those two words make me feel physically ill.

“Butterfly.”

My hands shake uncontrollably. “Hang it up.”

“Baby, please put the gun down. I’m afraid you’re going to hurt yourself.”

The pounding in my head intensifies, my arms and legs tingling as I listen to his voice. The one I never want to hear again, yet also need near me. Confusion scrambles my brain as I sob. “Hang up the fucking phone.”

“Princess, open your mouth for daddy.” I’m only six years old, I don’t understand why, but I do as I’m told. Daddy says I’m a good girl and I always do as he says.

“Butterfly, please put the weapon down.”

He snaps me back to reality, but then something keeps pulling me back to that dark place. I cannot control it.

“Princess, get in the cage.”

I cry out, “Please daddy, I’ll be good.”

He drags me by my hair, and throws me inside the metal that’s so cold and scary .

This time it’s not his voice that brings me back to the here and now. It’s the loud sound from the gun. I glance around, trying to figure out what happened, when the man on his knees falls to the ground and the other one shouts, “She fucking shot him!”

“Oh my God. Oh my God.”

The firearm falls to the floor as I back up against the wall, and the fear swallows me whole. I hear Luca in the background, but he sounds far away.

“Pick up the gun. Get Eduardo medical attention, and don’t fucking touch my wife.”

Jimmy walks over and picks the gun up, and tucks it into the back of his pants, then he squats in front of me and gives me a terrifying glare. “You may be the boss’s wife, but I promise you if he dies, you will not be safe.”

Gritting his teeth, he continues while spit flies from his mouth, “You can cry for Luca as much as you want, but I’ll kill you myself, Princess. Don’t worry, you can call me daddy while I’m fucking you first. I hear that’s kind of your thing.”

He calls for help on his radio for his friend as he walks away from me, chuckling like a psychopath.

I cover my face as my lips tremble like I’m cold. I’m not. My eyes dart from him to the other guy as my pulse races. Suddenly, I can’t catch my breath. Clenching my fists, I sit in my spot while the men get him out of here, and probably to a hospital. I can’t stop thinking about what he said about me calling him daddy. That can’t be a coincidence.

BONE S

A five-hour flight from Las Vegas to New York has never felt longer than this one did. I don’t honestly know what she was thinking. There was no part of me that thought she’d actually shoot anyone, but I was concerned she might hurt herself. Jimmy was told, in no uncertain terms, that he is to not touch her, and normally he follows orders. However, it’s not lost on me that my wife shot someone that means a great deal to him. If it had been anyone other than Athena, I myself would seek vengeance. I’m more than a little anxious as I growl at my driver to drive faster. I torture myself with watching the recording from earlier, of Athena holding a gun on Eduardo. I pause the screen and stare at her beautiful face. Tears streak her cheeks and she appears withdrawn. Lost. I’m an asshole, generally speaking, but seeing her like this fucking hurts. I press play again and watch her shaky hands around the gun. So frightened. And then she cries out that if they don’t kill her, she will shoot him. She wanted them to kill her. And that’s the worst part of it. Did I drive her to this? Or was it something from her past?

I pull up the current video to check on her. Physically, she appears to be fine. Emotionally is an entirely different case. She sits huddled against the wall, as her eyes dart back and forth constantly, like she’s looking for a threat to appear.

Finally, he pulls up to my property and parks at the back. Wasting no time, I race inside and down the stairs to the basement, finding my wife in the same spot, even though she has plenty of length on her chains. I’m not prepared for the emotions that all but attack me, when I gaze at her while we’re both in the same room. The effect is more powerful than looking at my damn phone screen. I move to her and unlock the wrist restraints, and then the ones on her ankles. Her lashes flutter as she raises her gaze to mine. “Luca,” she whispers, and I still can’t figure out why I like hearing that so much from her, but I do. I’ll never get enough of it.

I take her face in my hands as I kneel in front of her. “Butterfly. Beautiful Butterfly. ”

Slamming my lips to hers, I kiss her aggressively while she cries into my mouth, causing me to groan into hers. Athena lifts her hands and runs her fingers through my hair, and Jesus Christ, my wife makes me weak as hell, which is not something I can afford.

I ease one hand under her ass and the other around her back, and lift, as I rise and go up the stairs. She gazes at me in question. “Where are we going?”

Athena likely thinks I’m going to fuck her, and I want to more than I want to take my next breath, but right now there are more important things to deal with.

“For you to eat. You’ve been so bad, Butterfly. When I am not here, you are expected to take care of your basic needs. Every meal you were given, you refused.”

“How?” She gasps. “They told you?”

I shake my head as I reach the kitchen. “Have you not learned yet? Cameras. They are everywhere.”

Setting her on a chair at the table, I get her a plate of food, placing it in front of her, and I narrow my gaze at her. “Eat.”

“I can’t,” she whispers so softly it’s barely audible.

“Butterfly, I swear to you if you don’t eat, you will regret it.”

She sticks her fork into the steak, takes a bite and sets her fork down. “There, I ate,” she says after she swallows her food.

“Athena,” I warn.

I have no fucking clue why she isn’t eating, but it won’t be tolerated.

“I need to know, Luca. Did I kill him?”

Shaking my head, I say, “No. It’s only a flesh wound. Eduardo will be just fine.”

Placing her hand over her heart, she breathes a sigh of relief. “Thank God. I never meant to fire the gun.”

Taking a seat across from her, I watch her continue to eat. “We’ll be doing things differently. It’s clear you cannot be left alone. ”

She glances at me and trembles slightly. “I’m sorry. It won’t happen again.”

I scowl at her. “No it won’t, because I won’t allow it. You could have hurt yourself, Butterfly.”

“If you aren’t leaving me alone, then what’s going to happen to me?”

Smirking at her, I say, “You’ll come with me wherever I go. It means you may see things you don’t want to, but there’s no other option.”

Setting her fork down, she gazes at me. “I’m full.”

I nod. “Come here.”

Standing up, she walks over to me and I move my chair back, and pull her onto my lap. Placing my hand on her chin, I tilt her head back, forcing her eyes to meet mine. “Are you having flashbacks, Butterfly?”

“No,” she whispers, and it’s obvious to me she’s lying. Whatever this Manny asshole did to her must have been worse than I knew. Eventually she’ll open up to me and tell me everything, but for now I’ll let it go.

“I’m mad at you,” she breathes.

“I know, Butterfly.”

Wrapping my arms around her waist, I pull her into my chest. She’s reluctant at first, but eventually lays her head on my shoulder. With a long drawn out sigh, Athena says, “How can you miss someone you hate?”

I chuckle softly. “You can’t. Wife, you don’t hate me. You only wish you did.”

“Something is obviously wrong with me,” she says, and I feel the warmth of her breath on my neck, causing me to grit my teeth. I’m trying to not act like an animal, as she calls it, with her tonight but she’s making my cock so hard, sitting on my lap like this.

“Why? ”

She giggles softly. “You forced me to marry you. Kept me in a cage, then chained me to the wall, like someone does a pitbull they’ve grown tired of. Had sex with me whether I wanted it or not. I am nothing more than your captive. You don’t care about me, but then I miss you when you’re gone. I don’t know what mental illness that is, but it’s definitely one.”

I grab her face in both my hands, and my voice comes out in a far more threatening growl than I intend. “You think I don’t care about you? I was fucking terrified you were going to get hurt.” I swallow hard. “Or worse. You are nothing more than my captive? You’re my goddamn wife, and I’d lay down my life to protect you, without a second thought.”

A tear rolls down her cheek, and I pull her closer, running my tongue up her cheek to taste her beautiful tear.

“Why do you do that?”

I groan quietly. “Because I’m obsessed with you, Butterfly. I want to take everything you have, including your tears. When I’m deep inside you, I want more. If I could crawl into your soul, I would. If you cry, I’ll consume your tears. If you bleed, I’ll take that too. There is no part of you I won’t devour. Everything you have to give, I now own. I don’t deserve it, but I’ll take it anyway. Every man who has ever harmed you, dies. Anyone that considers it now, dies. Protecting you is the only thing that matters to me now.”

I run my hand down her body until it settles on her stomach. “And our baby, that I have every intention of putting inside you.”