The Power of a Woman: A Mafia Erotic Romance by Gina Whitney, Leddy Harper Read Free Book Online Page A

no longer visible, I walked back out the door and locked it behind me. Pulling my phone from my purse, I called the cab company and waited for their arrival, blood pumping in my ears the entire time.
    But nothing compared to the feeling of my heart ricocheting off my ribcage as the cab pulled up to a high-rise of condominiums in the heart of the city. We drove into the underground garage and my breath caught in my chest. Scarface had given me a piece of paper with the address of his “fuck house,” but I hadn’t looked at it. Instead, I pulled it from my pocket and handed it to the taxi driver. It wasn’t until we pulled into the parking garage before I realized where we were—the same condominium where Stefan lived. My anxiety crept back in at the thought of Stefan catching me here after I’d told him I’d be away at my family’s safe house. I glanced down to the paper in my hand and took note of his floor: seven. Stefan lived in the penthouse, so knowing I’d have fourteen floors separating us eased my nerves some.
    I took a deep breath and stepped out of the car, closing the door behind me. I knew this place well enough to know “fuck house” didn’t come close to describing the opulence behind the concrete exterior. This was a fuck palace. And the knowledge that I’d be his fuck Cinderella had my body zinging.
    You see…Cinderella might have been the maid, but she outsmarted everyone in the entire story. You think that bitch accidentally left her glass slipper behind? No. It had been a methodical move. A move that ended with the prince on his knees, between her pulled-up dress, to “see if the shoe fit.” Next thing you know…Cinderella is queen and ruling the land.
    I entered the elevator as soon as the mirrored doors opened, a sadistic smile playing on my painted lips.
    Yes…I was Cinder-fucking-ella.

I pressed the button for the seventh-floor, following the instructions he gave me. The building was twenty stories high, with exactly as many units. Each floor was single residence, some thirty-seven hundred square-feet in size. The Giannottis purchased the entire building about six months ago, right after Stefan came back to town. Which made sense considering Stefan had studied real estate developing while he was away, and from what I’d heard, he really knew what he was doing. And it showed with his purchase of this three hundred-sixty degree view of the city.
    When the doors opened, I stepped into the front entranceway of Zeke’s condo. It was a lot like Stefan’s with its open concept, and to my surprise, quite tastefully decorated. I hadn’t imagined a man like him to live in such sophisticated style. I imagined it to be simpler, more mundane, more…seedy. I heard Scarface approach me from the left, but I’d been too busy glancing around to give him my attention.
    I had a compliment on the tip of my tongue over the décor when my knees buckled. I felt pain unlike anything I’d ever experienced before radiate through my entire body, paralyzing my every fried nerve. My eyes rolled back in my head and I almost swallowed my tongue. Was I shot? Am I having a seizure? I felt like I’d been electrocuted. Time stood still as I convulsed on the hard marble beneath me. I couldn’t move while his evil face hovered over me, my eyes straining past the pain to focus on him. He bent down to do something with my arms, but I couldn’t feel them. Only when my limbs stopped shaking, did I realize they had been moving—flailing about on the floor like the rest of my body had been. When my faculties slowly started to return, I realized what he’d done to me. I hadn’t been shot. It wasn’t a seizure.
    Oh fuck! The asshole had zapped me with a Taser gun.
    He rolled me to my stomach and handcuffed my arms behind my lower back while kneeling on my ass, practically shattering my pelvic bone against the hard marble.
    I don’t know how, but I had recovered enough to speak. “Wh-why did you do that?” I