Page 70 of Modern Romance September 2026 Books 5-8

“Don’t you know,” he says, his voice soft and more deadly for it, “some men like it when you fight. And they will laugh at the futility as the drugs they will inject you with take hold, and you can no longer swing at them. These are vicious, brutal men, and they will teach you the meaning of fates worse than death. I do not say that lightly. I don’t want to be tasked with babysitting a pregnant woman. Anymore than I want to have a child. But it is reality, and I will not allow those men to have the final say in anything. I will not allow my father to have the final say in anything.”

“Where are we going?”

“I have a place. An island, very difficult to access, very difficult to find. I have a compound there, and you will be kept safe.”

“I have a life. I have a job…”

“Not anymore. The Corretti crime family is a monster that consumes everything in its path. You have been touched by my family and therefore you are at risk. I would apologize to you, but it would seem disingenuous.”

The biggest thing, as I sit here pondering my fate, is how betrayed I feel by Vittoria. She might have reasons for having done what she did; she might’ve even felt forced. But as a woman, trapped in that world, how could she do this to me? How could she subject me to this? Lying like this is like twisting my autonomy, the rights to my own body. It turns an offer of surrogacy into The Handmaid’s Tale, and I don’t know how another woman wouldn’t understand that.

Especially because I shared with her. Told her about my life. About what I’m running from. How I’ve been trying to make a whole new existence for myself.

“Is your sister in danger?” I ask.

“I fear she might be.”

I can only imagine what it means in his world when a woman is kidnapped for an alliance. I have a pretty good imagination, but that’s not something I even want to consider. Still, here I am, kidnapped by Vittoria’s brother, so it feels like comeuppance of a sort that she’s also been taken.

My own callousness disturbs and shocks me. Just because Vittoria was willing to be cavalier about what happened to me doesn’t mean it’s all right for me to be uncaring and unfeeling about what happens to her.

Still, I grit my teeth and spit out some of my anger. “I’m having trouble feeling any sympathy for her.”

“There is no point to sympathy. I think you’ll find this life doesn’t allow it. But remember that when you think of Vittoria as well. She was only doing what she had to do to take care of herself.”

I’m scared now. Because my plan was to try to escape him. But I realize now that if everything he’s saying is true, I have enemies outside of this vehicle. And I won’t be able to see them coming.

He might be the first man to come after me, but he won’t be the last.

And at least he’s invested in keeping my baby alive.

But I ache over what I’m losing.

My life.

Everything that I’ve worked so hard for. Yes, if he keeps his word, if we all stay alive, there is meant to be a payout at the end of all this. And that was a dream. A real, wonderful dream. But so much of what I have now I got for myself with my blood, sweat and tears. It had felt like doing something to make the path easier wasn’t the greatest sin.

Apparently, it was.

I’m a fool. It was a shiny poisoned apple. I’ve taken a bite, and now here I am, trapped with hell’s version of Prince Charming.

The car stops, and he grabs my arm as he opens the door, getting out, and pulling me with him. It’s an airfield. And there’s a small, sleek jet parked there.

He begins to propel me toward the jet. “You don’t have to force me. I don’t exactly want to stay behind and take a headshot in the street.”

“Glad to know you’re reasonable,” he says.

“I have a little thing called a survival instinct. Or at least, I usually do. Apparently, it turned off when I met your sister.”

He shrugs. “She has that effect on people. She’s very disarming.”

“You’re a lot older than her.” I’m just being spiteful, honestly.

He looks at me, one dark brow raised. “My father had many children with many different women.”

“Then why does he need you to lead?”

“I’m the oldest. Living child anyway. Vittoria is maybe fifteen years younger than me.”