Captive

**Sofia's POV:**

The first thing I registered was the cold. Not the comfortable chill of air conditioning, but the bone-deep cold of concrete and neglect. My head throbbed with each heartbeat, a dull reminder of whatever they'd injected into my system. I tried to move my arms, only to feel the bite of zip ties cutting into my wrists.

*Jaxon.*

The thought of my son slammed into me with the force of a freight train, jolting me fully awake. My eyes snapped open to darkness—no, not complete darkness. A sliver of light crept under what looked like a metal door. I was lying on a cold floor in what appeared to be a basement or warehouse cell.

I forced myself to breathe through the panic threatening to consume me. *Think, Sofia. Ace trained you for this.* But Ace had never trained me for being separated from our newborn son. The phantom weight of Jaxon in my arms made my chest ache with a physical pain that had nothing to do with my injuries.

I assessed my situation with as much clarity as the lingering drugs would allow. Wrists bound, ankles free. The room smelled of mildew and old blood—not fresh, thank God. No windows. One door. I was still wearing the clothes I'd had on when they took us, though my sweater was torn and stained with what I hoped was someone else's blood.

*I killed two of them,* I remembered with grim satisfaction. Whatever happened next, they knew I wasn't helpless.

The sound of a door opening somewhere above me made my pulse spike. Footsteps descended stairs, multiple sets. I scrambled into a sitting position, my back against the wall, trying to look less vulnerable than I felt.

The metal door swung open, fluorescent light flooding in and making me squint. A figure stepped into the doorway, backlit so I couldn't make out his features at first. But as he moved closer, I saw him clearly.

He looked nothing like Ace, yet something in the sharp angle of his jaw, the cold calculation in his eyes, screamed family resemblance. This had to be Gabriel.

"Sofia Diaz," he said, his voice smooth as expensive whiskey. "Or should I say Sofia Hernandez? I hear congratulations are in order. Marriage and a baby, all while playing house with my dear brother."

"Where is my son?" My voice came out stronger than I felt, thank God.

Gabriel smiled, but it didn't reach his eyes. "Safe. For now. Screaming his little head off, actually. Quite the pair of lungs on him."

The relief that Jaxon was alive warred with rage at Gabriel's casual tone. "If you hurt him—"

"You'll what?" Gabriel crouched down to my level, still maintaining a careful distance. Smart man. "You're in no position to make threats, sweetheart. But I'll ease your mind—I have no interest in harming the baby. He's leverage, nothing more."

"Leverage for what? Ace already said he'd come. Let Jaxon and me go, and he'll give you whatever you want."

Gabriel's laugh was harsh. "That's where you're wrong. I don't want Ace to trade himself for you. That would be too quick, too merciful. No, what I want is for him to *suffer.* The way our father made my mother suffer. The way he made *me* suffer while Ace got everything—the name, the power, the precious favoritism."

I studied his face, seeing the festering resentment there. Kai had destroyed so many lives, it seemed his legacy would haunt us even in death.

"Kai's dead," I said carefully. "Ace killed him. Whatever happened to you, to your mother—Ace didn't do that."

"No?" Gabriel stood abruptly, pacing. "He got to grow up in the mansion while I was hidden away like a dirty secret. He inherited the Hernandez empire while I scraped by on my mother's desperate attempts to get money from the man who raped her."

My stomach turned. "Kai raped your mother?"

"At a Hernandez party, when she was serving drinks. She was eighteen. He was drunk and powerful, and when she turned up pregnant, he paid her to disappear." Gabriel's voice had gone flat, emotionless. "She died when I was ten. Overdose. Left me alone to navigate this world, knowing I had a brother who had everything while I had nothing."

For a moment, I felt a flicker of sympathy. But then I remembered Jaxon, remembered the bodies of the guards who'd died protecting us, remembered Terry's betrayal.

"That's not Ace's fault," I said. "He didn't even know you existed."

"Doesn't matter. He's Kai's son, heir to everything that should have been shared. And now?" Gabriel's smile turned predatory. "Now he has something precious. A wife he actually loves—quite the miracle for the ice-cold Ace Hernandez. And a son. His own little heir."

"Don't." The word came out as a growl.

"I'm not going to kill them," Gabriel said, examining his nails with theatrical boredom. "Well, not immediately. First, I'm going to let Ace tear himself apart trying to find you. Let him imagine all the things I might be doing to his precious family. Let him feel helpless, powerless—everything I felt growing up."

He pulled out a phone, tapping the screen. "Then, I'm going to send him videos. You, begging for your life. The baby crying. Maybe I'll stage a few... creative scenarios."

"He'll kill you." I kept my voice steady despite the fear coursing through me. "You have no idea what Ace is capable of when someone threatens his family."

"Oh, I'm counting on it." Gabriel's grin widened. "I want him to come. But not as the collected, calculating mafia boss. I want him broken, desperate, sloppy. And when he finally makes his move, when he's so consumed by rage and fear that he can't think straight—that's when I'll destroy him. Take his empire, his legacy, everything. And I'll make sure you and the baby watch."

A door opened upstairs, and someone called down. "Boss, the baby won't stop crying. The noise is—"

"Deal with it," Gabriel snapped. Then, to me, "Motherly instincts kicking in? Don't worry, you'll see him soon. I need to film our first video for Ace."

As he turned to leave, I spoke up. "You think this will fill the hole inside you? Destroying Ace, taking what he has?"

Gabriel paused in the doorway. "It's a start."

The door slammed shut, leaving me in darkness again. But this time, I could hear it—faint, from somewhere above, the sound of Jaxon crying. My breasts ached in response, my body screaming to go to him, to comfort him.

*Hold on, baby,* I thought desperately. *Mommy's here. Daddy's coming. We're going to get through this.*

I tested the zip ties again, feeling for any weakness. My training with Ace flooded back—he'd taught me a dozen ways to escape restraints. I just needed time, patience, and the right opportunity.

Gabriel wanted to break Ace, to use me and Jaxon as weapons against him. But he'd made a critical mistake. He assumed I was just a pawn, just leverage. He didn't understand that I'd killed my own brother to protect Ace, that I'd survived my father's abuse, that I'd stood up to the most dangerous men in the mafia world.

I was Sofia Hernandez, mother of Jaxon, wife of Ace, survivor of the Diaz family hell. And I would burn this whole place down before I let anyone hurt my family.

The sound of footsteps approached again. This time, I was ready. Whatever Gabriel had planned for his video, he was about to discover that I wasn't the helpless victim he expected.

*Come on then,* I thought, feeling my father's ruthless training merge with Ace's calculated violence merge with my own fierce maternal instinct. *Let's see who breaks first.*