Kidnapping the Assassin: The Mafia Don’s Fatal Mistake

The Rules of the Game

Chapter 10

[Elara]

The ride back to the warehouse was suffocatingly quiet.

The rain lashed against the windshield of the bulletproof Mercedes, the rhythmic thwack-thwack of the wipers the only sound between us. I stared out the passenger window at the blurred city lights, my lips still tingling with the phantom weight of Cassian’s mouth.

I was an assassin. I had trained myself to detach my body from my mind. I could endure torture, starvation, and isolation without breaking.

But I couldn't stop thinking about the way he had kissed me.

"You're bleeding again," I said flatly, breaking the silence.

Cassian didn't look away from the road. His left hand gripped the steering wheel tight enough to turn his knuckles white. I could see the fresh dark stain seeping through the shoulder of his suit jacket. The adrenaline of the cathedral had worn off, and the physical toll was catching up to him.

"It's fine," he grunted, his voice tight.

"It's not fine. You tore the stitches."

"I said it's fine, Elara."

I turned in my seat, glaring at him. "And what about this Gauntlet? Is that fine, too? You looked like you saw a ghost back there. What is it?"

Cassian slammed on the brakes.

The heavy armored car skidded to a halt in the middle of the empty, rain-slicked docklands, inches from the water’s edge. He threw the car into park and finally turned to face me. The hollow, desperate look in his eyes made my breath hitch.

"The Gauntlet is a relic," Cassian spat, his voice vibrating with a terrifying rage. "It’s a labyrinth built beneath the old catacombs of the city. Centuries ago, when Dons married women from rival syndicates, the High Table forced the brides to run the maze. To prove they had the blood and the mettle to stand beside a king."

"So it's a maze. I have a very good sense of direction."

"It's not just a maze, Elara! It’s filled with High Table enforcers. They hunt you. You go in with nothing but the clothes on your back and a single blade. If you make it to the center chamber by sunrise, you live. If you don't..." He trailed off, his jaw clenching so hard a muscle feathered in his cheek. "In the last hundred years, thirty women have been forced into the Gauntlet. Only two survived."

"I am not a mafia princess, Cassian," I said quietly, holding his gaze. "I'm the Viper. I hunt enforcers for a living."

"You think Marco doesn't know that?" Cassian reached across the console, his large, warm hand cupping my cheek. The anger drained out of him, replaced by a raw, agonizing vulnerability. "He's going to bribe the guards. He's going to flood that maze with his own men. It won't be a test, Elara. It will be an execution."

His thumb brushed my lower lip. The exact spot he had bitten gently in the cathedral.

The air in the car suddenly shifted, growing thick and heavy.

"Then I'll kill his men, too," I whispered, though my voice trembled slightly. Not from fear of the maze, but from the heat of his touch.

"I won't let you do it," Cassian vowed, his voice dropping to a gravelly murmur. He leaned closer, the scent of rain, blood, and bergamot washing over me. "I'll pack you in a jet. I’ll send you to Geneva. I’ll liquidate my personal accounts and pay for Lily’s care for the next ten years."

My heart hammered against my ribs. "If I run, you lose the throne. Marco will take over. He'll hunt you down."

"Let him try," Cassian said fiercely. "My throne isn't worth your life."

I stared at him, utterly paralyzed.

Men had paid me millions of dollars. Men had feared me, hunted me, and betrayed me. But no man had ever offered to burn his own empire to the ground just to keep me safe.

"Why?" I asked, my voice cracking slightly. "Why would you do that for a woman who held a knife to your throat yesterday?"

Cassian's dark eyes searched my face. He leaned in, his lips hovering an inch from mine, his breath mingling with my own.

"Because when I kissed you in that cathedral," he whispered, his voice dripping with absolute, terrifying devotion, "I wasn't acting, Elara. And neither were you."

I froze. My chest constricted with a sudden, violent panic.

Weakness. Love was a weakness. Attachments were liabilities. That was the rule that had kept me alive, and kept Lily breathing, for five years.

I forced my expression to harden into a mask of ice. I placed my hands on his chest and pushed him away, ignoring the sharp pang in my own heart when he let me go.

"You're confused, Don Rossi," I said coldly, turning my face to look out the window so he couldn't see the lie in my eyes. "It was a tactical maneuver. Nothing more. Tomorrow night, I run the Gauntlet. We secure your throne, you secure my sister's hospital, and then we go our separate ways. Keep your hands on the wheel and drive."

Cassian stared at me for a long, heavy moment. He didn't argue. He just shifted the car into drive.

But as we pulled away, he spoke, his voice carrying a dark, unbreakable promise.

"You can lie to yourself all you want, Viper. But you're mine now. And I protect what's mine."