Page 133 of Captivated

Rich scowled, and tipped his head to the side. A warning if Liliana ever saw one. She was not interested in getting his desires beaten into her, so she decided to play along. If only for a few minutes, and maybe it would keep them in place for a while longer.

That way, they were standstill, and not still on the move.

It was something.

“You know what, yeah,” Liliana said. “How did you find me?”

“It started with him, actually,” Rich replied.

He couldn’t even say Joe’s name. Liliana could practically feel Rich’s jealousy and disgust radiating from his body. It was a dangerous game to play with him because the wrong step or word would find her bleeding on the backseat of the car while he forced her to apologize.

She’d done that before.

She wasn’t doing it again.

Rich didn’t seem to notice Liliana’s distraction because he was too busy talking about all his amazing accomplishments where she was concerned, and his disconcerting obsession with having her back.

Surprise, surprise.

“And so yes, I had been watching you for a good while—a year, or so,” Rich said. “From the moment that bastard let you out of the limo, I had been keeping an eye on you … waiting.”

The driver, he meant.

Liliana swallowed her discomfort. “He was trying to help me, Rich.”

Rich’s gaze cut back to her, silencing her instantly. “Yes, and his help earned him an early grave. He had no business stepping in, and worked for our family long enough to know his place.”

Jesus Christ.

This man was sociopathic.

He waved a hand, adding, “And then I noticed you had a … friend. The first one since me, it seemed. Here I was thinking you were pining over me, but no, you were just biding your time before you skipped off to play the whore again.”

Liliana clenched her hands into tight fists, and forced herself to stay quiet. Even though every part of her wanted to tell him to shut his goddamn mouth.

“I saw him on the street with you, and had reports he was going into your building at night. Showed up at your shows, and even visited your family. The charity event was my final straw—I needed to know who he was, so I … had someone look into him, we’ll say.”

Nothing had been safe, she realized.

All of her father’s plans, while possibly not known to Rich, had been being crept on from behind anyway.

“Joe Rossi—Chicago, affiliated to the mob,” Rich said dryly, giving Liliana a raised brow. “Color me fucking surprised. Is that what gets you off, darling—you’re a mob whore? A made man gets you hot, and wets your cunt? All you want to be is a fucking mob wife?”

“No,” Liliana whispered.

Because that was not the case at all.

She loved Joe for Joe.

Not because he was mob affiliated.

“Good,” Rich murmured, “because I have far better plans for you. You’re meant to be much, much more, Lilibet.”

Yeah, she bet.

“I had leads put on you, and those around you that I could reach,” Rich said, continuing his little story. “Wires tapped into the phones at the ballet studio, and even paid the girl who makes your bagel and coffee every morning to make a call whenever you came in … or didn’t, for that matter.”

Her heart clenched.