by Eden Summers
My eyes burn behind the closed lids. I have enough guilt to contend with. I can’t withstand anymore.
“He’s going to be okay,” Luca whispers. “This will all be over soon.”
I hope so. I don’t know how much more of this adrenaline high I can take. The arrhythmia won’t stop. The tremble in my hands is incessant. And the pessimistic thoughts continue to multiply.
“Picture the end result.” His gravel-rich voice brushes my ear. “Focus on what it’s going to be like once we’re out of here. If not, your thoughts can become your biggest enemy.”
I comply, squeezing my eyes tighter until I see the smiling faces of my sisters as I help lead them to safety. I can’t wait to tell them they’re free. Or to fully drown in the sensation myself.
I’ll apologize to Chloe and make sure she knows I’m sorry for remaining silent while Luther made her a guinea pig to the sedative trial. And I’ll beg her forgiveness for whatever the guards took liberties to do to her limp body after Tobias and I were escorted from the mansion.
I keep picturing those moments as footsteps sound a few feet away, followed by a car door opening and closing.
“Come on.” Rough fingers provide a feather of friction against my arm, the touch lasting the slightest second before withdrawing. “We need to get moving.”
I blink him into focus, his comforting concern bearing down on me. There’s something in those hazel eyes that undo me. They unravel my focus. Create havoc. I’m sure he knows, too, because he’s the first to look away and start toward the remaining car.
“You’re in the back,” he offers over his shoulder as he makes his way to the driver’s side and climbs in behind the wheel.
Hunter already rides shotgun.
I’m left on my own. Out in the open. With no cage or threatening figure by my side. It’s a strange sensation. Welcoming and suffocating at the same time. I can breathe freely, the air seeming to carry twice as much oxygen.
Hunter lowers his window, his narrowed focus silently telling me to hurry up.
I’m not ready. Not yet. Just one more moment. One more breath before commonsense has to take over and I need to pretend I’m still a prisoner.
“I’m not an athlete,” he mutters, “so run if you like. I’m not going to chase you. But if you want to help your friends I’m fucking ready to bust some skulls.”
“I’m not running.” I stalk to the car and slide in behind him. “I want those busted skulls more than you do.”
“Then let’s do this.” Luca starts the ignition and drives lazily through the narrow streets, taking wrong turns and doubling back more than once on his way to Luther’s house.
I lean forward as my panic ratchets up a notch. “Do you know where you’re going?”
“It’s all in the plan.” He takes another wrong turn. “We’re still buying Decker time to get set up, and I want to make sure we don’t have a tail.”
“Oh.” I settle back into my seat, slightly appeased.
The confidence in Luther’s men had always been something I despised. And somehow, the trait on a good guy has the opposite effect.
No, not a good guy. Just a different type of bad. I can’t forget that.
“I’m headed in the right direction now, though, right?” He flicks me a glance in the rear-view. “Straight down this road, then take the next two lefts?”
I nod. “Yeah.”
The closer we get, the more my pulse builds. My nausea increases at the thought of my sisters already being dead. Slaughtered. I’ve seen too much death already. Vacant eyes and lifeless bodies. Sisters who came and went from this world, the scars of their suffering the only thing left behind.
“You okay?” Luca asks. “What’s wrong?”
My throat tightens, the bile climbing from my stomach. I can’t escape the darkest depths of my memories. I’m battered with snapshots. Pummeled with remembered sounds. I know what those guards are capable of and if they’ve found out Luther was murdered—
“Penny?” Luca reaches into the back seat to jostle my leg. “What’s going on?”
“Nothing.” I fight the panic and swallow down the sickening taste building at the back of my throat. “I’m fine.”
“Fine.” Hunter scoffs. “Fuck I hate when women say that.”
“It’s not too late to back out.” Luca returns both hands to the steering wheel, his scrutiny heavy from the rear-view mirror. “All you need to do is say the word.”
“I’m ready.” I force conviction into my tone. “And we’re almost there, so quit worrying about me and focus. One wrong move and we’re all dead.”
Hunter chuckles. “That’s one seriously messed up pep talk. I like your style.”
The car slows as we reach the corner to Luther’s street and Luca raises a finger to his ear, repositioning his comm piece. “Decker is ready. We’re good to go.”
I know what that means. My brother is already up there. At the house. Preparing to kill… or be killed.
“Is he okay?” I lean forward again. “Did he say anything else?”
“If there was something wrong we would’ve heard.” Luca continues to stalk me from the mirror. “You need to relax. Sit back. Breathe.”
“I’m breathing,” I murmur.
He grins, the brightness entering his eyes a soothing blanket over my frazzled nerves. I don’t know how he does it. He’s harsh yet gentle. Domineering, aggressive, threatening, and so entirely reassuring at the same time.
It’s unnatural.
No doubt an effect of my growing instability.
The car picks up speed as we round the bend and drive at a normal pace to Luther’s property. The extravagant metal gates gleam in the moonlight, the door to my cage waiting for me to slip back where I belong.
“Game faces, people.” Hunter’s voice is barely audible. “It’s time to dish out some karma.”
I do as planned, sit tall, scowl in place, hands in my lap. I look straight ahead, not focusing any of my concern on the guard who approaches from the darkness, his rifle aimed at the car as Luca lowers his window.
This is it—the moment where any or all of us could be slaughtered because I made an incorrect assumption about the guards’ knowledge.
“Hey, buddy,” Luca greets. “How’s things?”
“Back away.” The middle-aged guy snarls, his accent heavy, the barrel of his weapon dropping to pin Luca in the chest. “This is private property.”
“I know. I was here yesterday, remember?”
There’s a pause, each beat of silence growing thicker.
“With Cole,” he adds. “Luther’s son.”
I wait, hoping for the first sign of our success, when our failure will easily be announced with a gunshot. But there’s no reaction. Not in understanding or threat. If the guard has any inkling Luther left here to attack Cole and Luca this gun-toting asshole isn’t showing it.
“You shouldn’t be here unannounced.” He repositions the rifle at his hip. “What do you want?”
I let out a long breath and swallow to alleviate the desert in my mouth. The guard’s question is the first sign of our possible success. He has no idea we’re a threat. And yet the progress only adds more pressure to my insides.
“Luther requested some private family time with his boys. So he sent us here to enjoy ourselves. You know—” Luca gives a cocky chuckle. “—With the women.”
The weight increases, the discomfort squeezing my stomach, shoulders, neck. I ignore how easily Luca plays his role, not wanting to drown in my thoughts of how he can keep effortlessly switching from protector to predator.
“No. I know nothing of this.” The guard jabs his rifle toward the car. “Leave.”
“Leave?” Hunt leans forward to meet the guy’s line of sight. “Even when we’ve got one of Luther’s girls with us?” He jerks a thumb toward me. “I’m pretty sure he’ll be pissed if we sate our boredom with this one.”
The guard leans down, his dark features peering into the wind
ow opposite mine, his narrowed eyes raising goosebumps on my skin. “Why is she with you?”
“We just fucking told you. Luther asked us to bring her back. He said he wanted uninterrupted family time and when the big guy gives an order, you obey, right?” Luca reaches into his jacket and pulls out a gun, pinching it between two fingers so it dangles without threat. “And he reminded us of the no-weapon rule, too.” He hangs the pistol out the window. “If you don’t believe me, call him. Just be aware he’s going to be fuckin’ pissed at the interruption.”
The guard’s attention flicks between me, the gun, then Luca, and back again. He’s weighing up the bluff. “Léne tin alítheia?” He speaks my way, his question asking about my chauffeur’s honesty.
“Fysiká,” I sneer. “Why else would I be here?”
His lip curls, his hatred unhidden as he steps forward and snatches the gun before jamming it into the waistband of his pants. “Give me your gun, too.” He lowers the barrel of his rifle while he speaks to Hunter. “If you’re caught with a weapon inside those walls you will be shot without warning.”
Hunter complies, reaching across Luca to hand over his pistol.
We’re being allowed inside.
The guard is letting Luca and Hunter fulfil their perversions, which means my sisters are still alive. No alarms have been sounded. The best-case scenario has been laid at our feet.
My heart pumps faster. Anticipation has my fingers twitching in my lap.
“Échoume episképtes,” the guard grates into the communication device stashed into the sleeve of his suit jacket. “Luther’s orders. Give them access to the gynaíkes.” He returns his focus to the men in the front seat. “No more guns?”
“No more guns,” Hunter answers. “Just the big pistol I’m packin’ for the ladies.”
I close my eyes, despising his casual reference to rape.
“Enjoy yourself.”
That’s the last I hear of the guard as the gates whir apart, allowing us entry.
I know what comes next. This part of the plan was set in stone. It’s the only reason I open my eyes to seek out the guard returning to his position in the shadows.
“Look away, Penny,” Luca demands.
I won’t.
I pin my glare on the guard, his mimicked expression holding mine as a darkened figure creeps up behind him.
Our car moves forward, the sound of the engine and the opening gates enough to mask my brother’s approach, but I stare harder at the guard, glare with more ferocity, hoping somehow to distract Satan’s henchman from the sentence that approaches.
“Penny,” Luca warns. “Look away.”
My heart stops the moment Sebastian grabs the guard around the neck, pulling him backward and off-balance. There’s a sheer second of surprised panic. A slash of a glinting knife. A brief struggle. Then death.
My brother kills the man right before me and yet it’s done so easily, so effortlessly, it seems like fiction. A movie. There was no pause for contemplation or compassion.
“For fuck’s sake, Penny, I told you to look the other way.”
“Let her watch.” Hunter comes to my defense. “I’m sure she’s seen worse.”
“Just because she’s seen it before doesn’t mean she has to see it now.” Luca presses his foot harder on the accelerator. “And besides, she needs to fucking listen if we’re going to get out of here alive.”
“I’ll listen.” I continue to watch my brother as he drags the lifeless body toward a head-high bush. “But only when your instructions involve getting my friends to safety. Don’t pretend you know what’s best for me.”
He growls, his anger a low vibration as we pass the gates. I chance a glance through the back window, trying to gain another glimpse of Sebastian.
“Eyes to the front,” Luca commands. “Keep playing your role.”
This time I obey, slumping into the seat as the car curves around the long drive to pull up in front of the overbearing mansion. I try not to let foreboding consume me, but that house has a soul. A dark one. It beckons to me, whispering promises of torture.
“Deck just took down another target.” Hunter presses a hand to his hidden earpiece. “He seems to think these guys are easy prey.”
I unfasten my belt to scoot forward. “Tell him not to become complacent. Some of them are brutal.”
“Hear that, Deck? Your sister said not to get cocky.” Hunter glances over his shoulder at me. “Would you normally be eager to get up close and personal like that? Or should you be keeping your distance?”
I can’t help it. I’m anxious. Completely and utterly unsettled.
The engine is cut as I slide back. Seatbelts are unfastened. The men climb outside. Then Luca is at my door, pulling it wide to wait for me to join them.
I don’t know how they do it—mask the adrenaline, play it cool.
I can’t keep focus. I’m not the heartless automaton I thought I could be. I pictured myself coming here, entirely determined and lethal. Instead, I’m pretending not to desperately fight off paranoia as it slays me with a million possible pitfalls to our plan.
“Get moving, shorty.” Luca keeps his expression impassive, not giving me a hint to his emotions. “We’ve got eyes on us from the front door.”
I don’t look. Don’t nod.
“Ready?” His gaze bores into me, intense and filled with concern.
I give a subtle incline of my head and follow his lead toward the house. I stiffen when his gentle grip glides over the crook of my elbow, but it’s too late to warn him of his mistake. Two guards exit the front of the mansion—Argus and Otis—both of them looking down at where Luca holds my arm.
“You shouldn’t be touching her.” Argus places the butt of his rifle on the ground, his pinched brows pulled tight.
“I know.” Luca tugs me forward. “But she’s a feisty little thing and I didn’t want her attempting to run again.”
“She tried to escape?”
“Tried. Failed. Got punished.” Luca stops us before them and releases his gentle grip to run a taunting hand through my hair. “Didn’t you, pretty Penny?”
I shudder.
His touch is kind… but those words… that name.
The provocation from his lips shakes me to my core.
I jerk my head away. “Merely keeping you on your toes, asshole.”
He drops his hand from my hair to reclaim my arm. “You learned your lesson though, didn’t you? And if you attempt that stupidity again, nothing will save you.”
I suck in a breath at how real his threat sounds. How sickening. Then his finger gently strokes the inside of my arm, the delicate brush in contrast to his vicious words.
He’s trying to comfort me. Attempting to ease his flawless act with a reaffirming touch.
I appreciate it. I appreciate him.
I don’t want to. God, how I don’t want to, but I do.
“So, let’s get this party started.” Hunter claps his hands together. “Point us in the direction of the women. I’m ready to see what all the fuss is about.”
Otis starts for the mansion doors when a grunt of muted sound disturbs the night air from the yard. It’s a noise of death that isn’t entirely discreet.
Argus must hear it too because he stiffens, his focus shifting to the darkness over my shoulder. “What was that?” He raises his wrist, preparing to speak into his comms device.
Holy shit.
I break out in a cold sweat, certain our attack is about to be discovered.
“I heard it, too.” Luca turns toward the yard, stepping closer to me, increasing the brush of his finger. “Want us to check it out?”
I stop breathing.
One wrong move…
One suspicious word…
One instruction into that communication device and my sisters are dead.
“No.” Argus inches toward the driveway, his lips pressed to the mouthpiece in his palm. “Can we get—”
Luca lunges, landing a left hook to Ar
gus’s cheek, his other hand gripping the rifle. He yanks the weapon forward, sending the guard stumbling while Hunter lashes out at Otis, pummeling with one fist then the other.
I scramble backward, stepping out of the way as my protectors attack with brutal efficiency. The guards don’t have a chance to retaliate. They drop. From knees, to palms, to stomachs.
It’s such beautiful savagery.
That is, until the sound of gunfire erupts from inside and my brief sense of optimism vanishes in a punishing heartbeat.
11
Luca
I slam the guard down on the cement as gunfire explodes inside. The screams of women follow.
Penny’s friends are in trouble.
I shoot Hunt a glance, his ferocity meeting mine for a brief second before he lands a vicious kick to the guard laying before him, his boot making a direct jaw hit. Otis falls limp. Out like a light.
I’m not as kind. I drop to my knees, grab my blubbering enemy around the head, and break his neck with a swift jerk of my hands.
“Where is she?” Decker speaks into my earpiece. “Where’s Penny?”
I scramble to my feet, snatch the rifle along the way to point it toward the sound of approaching steps.
It’s Deck, his eyes filled with fury as he yanks two pistols from the back of his waistband. “Where the fuck is she?”
I drop the rifle, catch the weapon he lobs at me, then turn to find her. “She’s…” I keep turning, not seeing her anywhere.
“Fuck. She must have slipped by me.” Hunt snatches the second thrown pistol and makes for the mansion doors. “I’ll get her.”
“No.” Decker rushes in front of him. “There’s still one more guard outside. You take care of it. I’m going after my sister.” He doesn’t pause for confirmation as he shoves his way past Hunter to disappear inside.
“I’m going with him.” I follow, stopping beside Hunt to hand over the car key. “Put Otis in the trunk. We’ll need him later.”
I maneuver inside the mansion, turning down the hall to the right as Decker runs in a crouch along the left.
I pass doorways, giving each room a cursory glance, my gun aimed and ready as I panic over finding Penny. She can’t have gone far. She was right there. By my fucking side one minute and gone the next.