It was dinner time, but the Mafia Don had not arrived. His lovely wife stood, biting her lower lip, glancing at the clock before she turned to her daughter Tara, who was cheerfully munching on a peanut jelly sandwich at the breakfast bar.
‘Tara, darling, round up the little ones, please. And Bianca, would you like to help her?”
The words were spoken sweetly but Bianca guessed that it was Proserpina’s way of suggesting that she move out of the kitchen and stop behaving like a lost ghost.
With a baby latched to her hip, the Mafia don’s wife came forward and gently stroked Bianca’s hair as she said,
‘Your men …I will see that they are contacted. But I would like you to stay here for a few days.”
And as Bianca opened her mouth to protest, her alarm over Anna overriding her caution, the beautiful woman went on, softly,
“I was kidnapped and kept a prisoner for months. Lucien and Melissa’s husband sought me out and brought me back home.”
With a soft smile, she took Bianca’s arm, guiding her out of the kitchen as she went on,
“Trust me. We will find Anna, rest assured,” she said.
The baby leaned forward daringly and chuckled as he tugged at Bianca’s curls.
” You must be wondering who’s who over here,” dimpled Proserpina, waving her hand at the chaos in the room as Bianca took in the scene of anarchy in the living room.
A multitude of toys was scattered around the large, well-lit room, while a couple of women moved around managing the toddlers.
“This is Benjamin, my son Piers’ little one, ” Proserpina said, indicating the little boy who was on her hip. The Mafia Don’s wife’s face filled with pure adoration as she looked at the plump infant who began to gurgle and coo at her.
Then she sank onto a chair and two small children waddled across determinedly, a boy and a girl. The little boy shoved the girl who immediately kicked him. The two began to bawl and the nurses rushed to pick them up. The toddlers rose and made a beeline for Proserpina, who was dimpling merrily at them.
Laughing, Proserpina went on, scooping the little girl up,
“This little one is Amelia, she’s my daughter Ria’s baby. And as for this little thug here,” she pulled the fat boy onto her lap and nuzzled his plump cheek,
“You must have met Claude? This is Igor, his son.”
Another black-haired boy, a little older than the others, had approached them and stood, leaning against Proserpina’s thigh, his thumb in his mouth, watching Bianca curiously.
Gently extracting his thumb, the woman went on in her melodious voice,
“And this is Lucien, Piers’ eldest son.”
She nodded at the door, where a pair of blonde twins hovered, their clothes muddy, shoes wet. They had identical expressions of glee on their faces as they surveyed the room, looking at the other little children.
Tara waddled across, hollering at them as she went,
“Go and get changed, the two of you! Or Pappa will be cross.”
The two little boys looked terrified as they darted away, chased by a couple of maids.
“Those are my sons, my youngest twins; Alexander and Gabrielle,” she said softly.
The sound of large vehicles roaring up the driveway made her jump up and Bianca watched her curiously. For the wife of the Mafia Don, she looked…anxious? Scared? Excited?
The sounds became muted; obviously, they had headed for a basement garage.
Then, the front door was thrown open with a loud crash and a voice bellowed,
“WOMAN! THE F*CK ARE YOU?””
Gently handing the little child to the big woman with red hair, who had been introduced as Camille Beston, Proserpina hurried out into the corridor, smoothing her dress as she went.
Anna came awake groggily.
Someone was tugging her to her feet, roughly.
She groaned, her head reeling. A hard slap to her arm made her whimper.
“Hurry, you stupid sl*t,” growled a man who reeked of stale beer and sweat as he half dragged, half pushed Anna to the entrance of the dark
Bleary-eyed, but gradually becoming alert, Anna realized that he was in the cargo hold of a large container ship. One that transported seafood, from the faint but undeniable smell of fish that made her wrinkle her nose in distaste.
The man jerked her arm roughly, attempting to hurry her up and she cried out. Dimly she noted the heavily insulated walls and ceiling, the sloping floor.
The sudden, blinding light of the room beyond the area where she had been kept captive, made her squeeze her eyes shut.
And then, another voice said,
“Put her into the car. We’re taking a long, long drive, this little girl and I.”
Anna felt a frisson of fear run through her as she caught a glimpse of a florid-faced man with a beer belly that hung over the top of his jeans, and cold eyes. Then, a prick on her neck and there was just darkness.
Liam O’Grady longed for a drink but he had been on endless cups of strong coffee for hours now. He shook his head. He needed to be alert but his unease, the growing sense of misgiving, made him irritated.
The debonair Louis Delano had been joined by Claude who had thumped O’Grady’s back, in a show of sympathy, but when he did the same for St Just, the other man looked haunted. Claude Delano did not know his own strength.
Now, the men were settled around the table, discussing what to do.
“O’Grady flexed his thick fingers and growled,
“Seems like we should be out there,” he jabbed a finger at the window, searching for the kid, huh?”
St Just gave an inaudible groan.
The big, thickset fighter, his brother, would never learn when to keep his mouth shut.
Serena Kingston raised a slim brow and said cooly,
‘O’Grady, what do you think you can achieve by tearing around the countryside like a mad dog?”
Liam O’Grady quivered in rage but he slumped in his chair as St just leaned forward and said,
‘We’re worried about Bianca’s sister; she must be beside herself with worry.”
And he added, his clear tawny eyes on Serena as he went on, his voice tight,
‘We still haven’t been able to speak to her, ever since she was whisked away.”
Louis looked up from the phone call he was on.
“Your girl is safe. She must be meeting the Boss right now.”
Claude chuckled,
“What I would do to be a fly on the wall and watch that! The old man must be yelling at Mumma!”
And then, as he saw the expressions of consternation on the faces of the men before him, he said hastily,
“Hey folks, no need to get all upset! I …”
He spread his large meaty hands, and palms upward, looked to his brother silently appealing for help. But Louis was peeved, exasperated by his older sibling’s habit of saying the wrong thing at the wrong time.
Claude studiously avoided the sardonic gleam on Serena’s face as she tapped away on her laptop keyboard furiously, a small smile playing on her face.
” Hey…All I meant was…uh…You didn’t inform the Boss that their girl was going to be at home, did you?”
O’Grady broke out in a cold sweat while his brother froze.
The horrified looks on the faces of the two brothers, made him continue to wade ahead.
“I mean, Tara just upped and took your girl home. So there’s gonna be fireworks.”
O’Grady looked like he had just got a kick in the teeth and St Just paled in horror.
Sensing that the two Mafia men were anything but relieved to hear his brother’s words, Louis decided that damage control was essential.
He said, placatingly, leaning back and stretching his arms,
” Ah, it’s alright. Nothing our Mumma can’t handle.”