Free Mafia Captive by Kitty Thomas

delivered. He couldn’t imagine how afraid she must be of the dungeon to be so compliant. And she’d never even seen the dungeon.
    She probably imagined it as a far worse place than it was. In her mind, Leo had no doubt she saw damp stones with water dripping from some unknown source and algae growing through the cracks and crevices. There would be a dripping sound, a dank, putrid smell, a dirt or concrete floor, a chill that wouldn’t leave the air, and heavy chains.
    He’d not bothered to disabuse her of that notion. The scarier the dungeon was to her, the easier it would be to get her cooperation. In reality, the dungeon was none of those things. If what he’d been told by the servants who had gone to get her belongings was true, the dungeon was nicer than her apartment in the city had been. It was done in black and a tasteful deep red with occasional splashes of other colors like purples and greens and yellows. It had been an inside joke with his previous submissives that the dungeon was the color of death, blood, and bruises. But it had still turned out beautiful.
    There was a comfortable circular sofa in one corner and a bed close to that. There was reading material because a few of his subs had lived down there. There was a small bathroom with a whirlpool tub and a separate standing shower. Nothing large or fancy, but Faith would consider it nice. There was thick carpet in the bedroom area and heat. Max had a habit of curling up on the couch down there for naps when Leo left the door open.
    There were chains, of course, and a box full of kinky toys and whipping implements, and the standard and some not-so-standard BDSM furniture. But it looked like a high-end club for kinky people, not a snuff film.
    Though maybe it wasn’t the atmosphere that so terrified her. Maybe it was the bondage, the isolation. Maybe it was the fear that she would need something—and no one would hear her to help. Even a luxurious prison could be horrible. She was already living in a prison, confined to the house like an indoor house cat. But chains would be necessary if he kept her underground. Though the dungeon was well-insulated and tucked away from everything else, if she banged on the door, there was always the risk someone might hear.
    He wasn’t sure if he’d be able to kill her if she were to alert a sympathetic member of his family to her plight. And even if he could, it wouldn’t stop the cat from being out of the bag.
    She’d made such progress. Her lips had become pliant under his. She’d stopped cringing from his touch when he came near her. It had taken working with her every day, but they’d gotten to something resembling a believable relationship forgery. He still worried it wasn’t enough. What if his mother saw through the ruse? What if the men did? They were too shrewd, able to spot a con because they knew how to pull one.
    Maybe he should have locked Faith in the dungeon, but locking her up and isolating her for Christmas was too cruel even for his sadistic nature. He had to believe this would work. Then they could go back to the fucked-up dynamic the holidays had been so rude as to interrupt.
    Leo smoothed his suit for the fortieth time. He’d dress more casually for most of the family holiday, but he liked to look nice when people first arrived, particularly on Christmas Eve. Jeans and a T-shirt would have made him look less nefarious. If his intent was to come off squeaky clean and sell this engagement story, perhaps greeting his family looking like Michael Corleone wasn’t the best of plans.
    He knocked on his captive’s door. “Faith?”
    When she opened the door, he was pleased to find her wearing what he’d laid out. He’d raided her closet for something to make a good first impression on his mother, but he’d come up short, so he’d had something brought in. It was a green sweater dress with a scooped neck. The dress came to just past the knees. It accentuated her figure without being too