Chapter 2 - The Golden Cage of Malibu
THEY THOUGHT SHE WAS JUST AN EASY TARGET. WATCH WHAT HAPPENS WHEN THE MAFIA TRIED TO LOCK HER IN A GOLDEN CAGE.
"Down!"
Matteo didn't scream the word; he commanded it. In a fraction of a second, his massive frame was over Maya and Leonora, shielding them both as plaster, glass, and copper jackets tore through the medical equipment above their heads.
The hospital erupted into chaos. Alarms blared, screams echoed from the hallways, and the four suited guards returned fire with terrifying, rhythmic precision, their suppressed weapons coughing death into the corridor.
Maya’s instinct took over. She didn't freeze. Wrapping her arms entirely around Leo, she rolled off the far side of the hospital bed, dragging the child down into the narrow gap between the mattress and the concrete wall. She compressed her body over the little girl, using her own torso as a shield.
Above them, Matteo stood in the line of fire, a compact black firearm appearing in his hand as if pulled from thin air. He fired three precise shots into the dust cloud. A heavy thud followed, the sound of a body hitting the floor.
"Secure the perimeter! Clear the service elevator!" Matteo barked. He turned his head, his eyes scanning the debris until they locked onto Maya, who was covered in drywall dust but completely uninjured, her body still locked over his daughter.
A grim appreciation flickered across the mob boss's face. He reached down with one hand, grabbed Maya by the collar of her damp sweatshirt, and hoisted her to her feet along with Leonora as if they weighed nothing at all.
"We are leaving. Now," he said.
"I have a car in the parking lot! My mother—"
"Your mother is already being moved to a secured facility under my payroll," Matteo interrupted, dragging her down a smoke-filled rear hallway as his guards formed a moving wall of meat and iron around them. "If you go back to your apartment, you die. If you go to the police, they will sell you to the Corbans before midnight. You stay with me."
Twenty minutes later, Maya found herself in the back of an armored, midnight-black SUV speeding up the Pacific Coast Highway. The adrenaline was beginning to crash, leaving her body shaking violently. Leo had finally fallen asleep from sheer exhaustion, her head resting heavily on Maya’s lap.
The vehicle pulled through a massive, wrought-iron gate high in the cliffs of Malibu, winding up a driveway surrounded by razor-wire camouflaged by lush bougainvillea. The mansion was a brutalist fortress of concrete and bulletproof glass, overlooking the very ocean that had nearly claimed Leo hours before.
"This is your home now," Matteo said as the SUV came to a halt in an underground bunker of a garage.
"This is a prison," Maya corrected, her voice shaking but defiant as she looked at the heavily armed guards patrolling the catwalks above.
Matteo got out of the car, opening her door himself. He reached in to take his sleeping daughter, his hands surprisingly gentle as he cradled the little girl. He looked down at Maya, his expression unreadable.
"A prison keeps people in," Matteo said coldly. "A fortress keeps the monsters out. Learn the difference, Miss Hart, because until I find who leaked my daughter’s location today, you don't leave my sight."
"I don't work for you," Maya snapped, stepping out of the vehicle, her bare feet hitting the cold concrete. "You can't buy me, and you can't scare me."
Matteo took a step closer, the shadow of his massive frame swallowing her completely. "I don't want to buy you, Maya. And if I wanted to scare you, you wouldn't be breathing well enough to argue with me. You will be compensated one hundred thousand dollars for every week you remain here as Leonora’s personal guardian. Refuse, and you can take your chances with the men who just turned that hospital room into a slaughterhouse."
May you like
He turned and walked toward the elevator, leaving her alone with his guards. Maya looked back toward the heavy steel garage doors. She had eighteen dollars in her bank account, a mother who didn't remember her name half the time, and the deadliest man in California telling her she was marked for death.
She sucked in a sharp, salty breath and followed him into the elevator.
