by LP Lovell
My eyes drift to the remaining man before I rush to my sister and crouch in front of her. “Are you okay?” I ask, sweeping her hair away from her battered face.
“Are you?” Her eyes drift to the side of my head.
I lift my hand, touching the top of my ear. Warm, sticky blood is still oozing, making its way into my hairline. My fingers come away tipped in crimson. “You have to tell him, Gabi.”
“If I knew, don’t you think I would have told him when he had a knife to your face, Lina?”
“Did you do it? Did you take some guns?”
Her expression stills and smooths, like water after the ripples of a pebble breaking its surface. She doesn’t answer, but it’s all the confirmation I need.
“Why, Gabi? I told you I have this under control.” I hiss, trying to keep my voice low.
“Adelina, he just tried to cut off your ear. You are so far out of control here.”
“Because you won’t tell him what he wants to know. Tell me you wouldn’t do the same if someone had taken a shipment?”
Her eyes pinch. “You’re defending him?”
“No, but it’s the mafia!” The more I think on it, the higher my temper creeps. “You deliberately put me in a dangerous situation!” I shake my head.
Enrique is unhinged enough to kill me and send my head to Gabriella as punishment. She doesn’t trust me to handle this from the inside. And then I realize that this is an opportunity. I glance at the guy in the corner, knowing he’s listening. “Give him his guns back, Gabi.”
“I told you; I can’t.”
“How can you possibly not know where something you took is?” She tilts her head back, and the collection of bruises across her throat is obvious.
And then it clicks. Of course. “You weren’t working alone.” I can take one guess who she went to for help.
Enrique will put two and two together eventually, and then… Sasha’s face flashes through my mind, and I bite my tongue. I need Enrique to believe I’m loyal, but not at Sasha’s expense. He already knows about Gabi. There’s nothing I can do to get her out of this. “Did you get screwed over?”
Her lips press into a flat line once more. Nero. This has Nero written all over it.
I jump when the door at the top of the stairs bangs closed just a few seconds before Enrique appears. I scramble away from Gabi and back toward the wall of wine bottles.
He steps into the room, adjusting the rolled-up sleeves of his shirt. “Anything?” he asks, looking at the man in the corner.
“An accomplice,” the guy says simply.
Enrique’s icy glare swings to me and then Gabi. “Yes, Rafael D’Cruze.”
I have no idea who that is, and Gabi’s face gives away nothing.
“I have to say, I didn’t think you had it in you to go to the cartel. I’m almost flattered.” He walks across the room a few feet, ducking his head, and then he turns on his heel and comes back. “Less predictable than I thought. I assumed you would take the shipment and keep it in one of your warehouses.” Assumed… “I would get my guns back, and you… Well, you’d be in hot water.”
Gabi and I exchange confused glances.
“Oh, Gabriella, you thought you were smart by putting a mole in my operation?” He comes to stand in front of her and bends at the waist until he’s eye level with Gabriella, only inches from her face. “Michael was told to make himself available to you. He’s always been my man, never yours.”
Realization washes over me in a horrifying rush. He set her up…to take his shipment.
There’s only one reason he would do that. “And now, none of the other families will oppose my killing you, since you’re the one that started a turf war.” He sighs. “Such a taint on the noble Ricci name.”
No, no, no. Horror washes over me, and my stomach churns violently.
Gabi’s expression wavers, and I can see her crumbling inside. Of all the things he could do, this is the worst because her honor is now in question. But if he kills her… She’s all I have left.
“You can’t just kill her. She’s the head of the family.” My mind frantically searches for words and excuses, anything. “Someone else will just replace her, and then it’ll be war. Please, just think about this.”
“Yes, someone will replace her.” A slow smile pulls at his lips. “The next in line—you.”
“What?” I choke. “No, I’m not. I can’t…”
He closes the distance between us and turns until my back is to Gabi, as though he wants his next words to be private, between us. He strokes his fingertips over my cheek in that disconcerting way. “Don’t worry, principessa.” Fingers wrap around my jaw, holding me in place as he leans in close. Lips brush across my cheek before gliding to my bleeding ear. “Your husband will help you.” His tongue flicks out, licking the cut before he chuckles and pulls back.
I suddenly see it all so clearly, every move he’s mapped out to perfection. This has been years in the planning, and I just walked right into his arms, handing him everything he ever wanted. He’s going to kill my sister because he can. Because he has me. I am the key to my father’s kingdom, and he has them. I gave them to him and signed my sister’s death warrant. My lungs seize, and pain tears through my chest as it feels like my heart physically cracks in my chest. Stupid. How could I be so stupid?
I wrap my fingers around his wrist and try to tug his hand from my face. At first, his fingers only dig in harder, but he finally lets go. He stares down at me as though I’m some stray dog in his presence.
“Please, let her go. For me. She won’t be a problem again. I promise.”
He throws his head back on a laugh, and the action makes him seem almost maniacal. “Ah, Adelina.” He tilts his head, those dark eyes tracing over my face. “Our marriage will cement our families in an unbreakable alliance. That was the vison our fathers once had for us. Your sister has made it abundantly clear that we can’t rely on her loyalty. Why would I do you or her any favors?”
“Because I came here to avoid this!” Panic creeps up my throat, and desperation eats away at me. “Gabi made a mistake. A misguided mistake out of loyalty to me.”
“Tsk, tsk, and why would she need to do that? You’re here willingly, aren’t you?” His eyes slide over my shoulder, and I know he’s aiming that twisted smirk right at Gabi, mocking her.
“I know, but… She doesn’t believe me,” I say in a rush. “Please. Just let her—”
“Show her.” That smile shifts to me and whatever words were on the tip of my tongue evaporate.
“What?”
“Show her how willing you are, principessa. And maybe I’ll let her go.”
My heart pumps harder, and my breaths rattle in my ears as my palms suddenly become clammy.
“Show…her,” I whisper. The words reverberate around my skull like the ringing of a bell.
His eyes darken, and he looks at me like a piece of meat he’s about to take a bite out of.
I know exactly what he wants, and the thought has bile creeping up my throat. “Okay,” I breathe, more to myself than anyone else. I sense Gabi’s eyes on my back, and I hate it. Shame washes over me, but I’m running out of options here. There’s nothing I won’t do to save her from Enrique’s demonic clutches.
Placing my palms on his shoulders, I push up on tiptoes and place my lips against his. I feel cold and rigid as I attempt to move my mouth over his. He doesn’t react for several seconds, and then his hands slide over my waist, grabbing my ass and yanking me tightly against him. I can feel the hard bulge pressing against my lower stomach, and it repulses everything in me. His teeth sink into my bottom lip, biting down so hard that blood explodes over my tongue. I tug away from him, forcing space between us.
“You’ll have to do better than that, principessa.”
I don’t know what more he wants from me. I lean forward again, swallowing the metallic saltiness of the blood in my mouth.
“No.” He presses a finger over my lips. “A queen should
kneel for her king.”
My mind grapples with the words. He makes no move to touch me or force me, but I wish he would. He wants me to do this willingly. Without force. In front of my sister. This is all part of his sick little manipulations. Cold sweat prickles over my skin, and I close my eyes, inhaling a cleansing breath. I can do this. For Gabi. I allow my knees to buckle, and I drop like dead weight, my kneecaps meeting the floor with a crack. Enrique stares down at me, our eyes meeting. I reach out with trembling hands and tug at his belt, then the button of his pants and the zipper. He makes no effort to help me at all, and I know it’s deliberate. Tugging his pants and boxers down, I feel physically sick when his dick springs free. It’s just…there and pointing at me. I can’t do this. I can’t do this.
“Lina, no! Don’t!” Gabi cries. She doesn’t understand, though.
This is all a game to Enrique. He has to win because if he loses, she dies. This is how he works. My being on my knees is the only thing that might save her life. I swallow slowly and glance up once more. Only he isn’t looking at me; he’s looking at Gabi. A smirk pulls at his lips, and I hate him. So much.
“You, sick fuck!” she shouts at him. “Is that what gets you off, raping girls?” I hear her spit, followed by footsteps and a pained grunt.
The footsteps retreat once more, and then there’s just silence.
Tears prickle the backs of my eyes, but I fight them back. I sense Enrique’s attention and his impatience, so I lean forward, my stomach churning harder and harder. And then, I put his dick in my mouth. Because I have no other choice.
“See how pliant she is for me, Gabriella?” He says on a groan. “She’ll do anything I ask, and your father’s business will be mine.” His fingers grip my hair. “All because you thought you were clever.”
Shame gnaws away at me until I feel less than worthless.
What starts out tentative and forced soon becomes a brutal fucking of my face as he takes over. I gag as tears stream over my cheeks. He uses me until a low groan slips from his lips and warm, salty liquid hits the back of my throat. I gag three times before I manage to swallow it because I instinctively know that if I don’t, either Gabi or I will pay for it.
I slump to the floor, and he steps back, zipping his pants and buckling his belt.
“As you can see, Gabriella, Adelina is very willing.” He steps past me, and I want to look at her, but I can’t.
Disgust and shame crawl over my skin like flesh-eating maggots. I feel violated and soiled in a way that seems to stain my very soul. I’ll never be clean of it.
He grabs my arm and pulls me to my feet, making me stumble. He grips my chin, forcing me to face Gabi. I slam my eyes closed, unable to look at her, to see the bitter disappointment on her face. Tears continue to track down my cheeks, and I’m not strong enough to hide them. “Adelina’s loyalty is to me. Yours should be to her.”
“Please let her go,” I beg on a trembling breath.
He releases me. “You may leave, Adelina.”
My feet remain rooted, my eyes still closed as I’m torn in two. I don’t want to leave her. I don’t want her to see me. “Don’t hurt her.”
“You may leave!” he shouts.
I turn, only opening my eyes when my back is to my sister. I hate myself for practically running up the cold steps. But that’s the pattern of my life now. Fear and disgust are my constant companions in this place. As soon as I get to the pantry, a choked sob breaks past my lips.
I nearly run up the stairs to my room and rush to the bathroom. I get to the toilet just in time to throw up.
My body is trying to purge itself of a taint that will never leave. I know this is only the beginning. How far will I have to fall for revenge?
I think further than I was ever prepared for.
The bigger question is, who will I be when this is all said and done?
11
Sasha
“They have Gabriella!” Lorenzo slams his palms on the dining table while shoving to his feet. The older man’s face has turned a curious shade of red, and I can see a vein at his temple throbbing.
I clasp my hands together on the table in front of me, contemplating the situation.
Lorenzo sends her a pointed glare. “You tell that fucking Italian that he needs to get her back!” He aims that request at Una, and I follow his gaze to where she lingers against the far wall.
She folds her arms over her chest and arches a single brow. “Your men must have slipped up.”
“We did not slip up.”
She kicks off the wall and strides over to him, squaring up to the much larger man. She jabs him in the chest with her finger, and I cover my face on a groan. “No? Well then, how do you suppose that just two days after you took his shipment, Enrique has Gabriella? He knows. And if he knows, then you cocked up.”
I lower my hand and blow a long breath through my lips.
He takes a step toward her, and I instinctively get ready to move between them, even though I know Una can more than handle herself. “We took his shipment,” he growls. “Nero Verdi agreed to an alliance. Yet he hasn’t even left New York; instead, he sends his Russians,” he sneers, though his hostility isn’t foreign to us.
Nero met nothing but opposition when he had a child with Una and made her his queen. The Italians claim they don’t like the Russians, that bloodlines should be pure, but in reality, they don’t like too much power in one place. With her at his side, Nero went from dangerous to lethal. I get the impression that it’s much like dogs and cats. No one even knows why we aren’t supposed to like each other anymore; it’s just habit.
“You’re lucky to have us. Apparently, you need all the help you can get,” Una snaps.
“He needs to get her back,” Lorenzo snarls, unwilling to hear anything else. He’s loyal, I can see it. More than an employee to an employer—more like the kind of loyalty you have to a family member.
They start making jibes back and forth, Una arguing that Nero owes them nothing. The situation becomes more and more tense with no resolution in sight.
“He’ll kill her,” I say, and Lorenzo’s glare fixates on me. “This is all the excuse he needs to put an end to Gabriella.”
Una speaks, although they both glare my direction. “You don’t know that. He probably just wants his guns back.” She knows I’m right, but she doesn’t care about Gabriella’s fate. She was always a scapegoat, there to throw under the bus.
“Which she can’t give them because you screwed us over!” Lorenzo shouts.
“No, we kept you all out of the loop for this very reason,” Una replies.
“I’ll go!” I say, cutting them off before they can start arguing again.
Una’s violet eyes snap to me. “What?”
“I’ll go. I watched his house for days. I know the layout, the security. I’ll get Gabriella.” Silence greets me, but Lorenzo offers me a respectful nod. “I’ll need weapons.”
Lorenzo’s gaze shifts over my shoulder, and I move to find a guy standing in the doorway. “Phillip will take you.”
I turn away and follow him out of the room.
“Sasha!” Una calls, hurrying to walk with me. “You don’t have to do this.”
I know I don’t. “Bianchi wants her, and he’s probably going to kill her. That, in itself, is reason enough to get her away from him.”
Anything that Bianchi wants is undoubtedly bad for us in one way or another. What I would never admit to Una is that for Adelina to lose her sister, after all she’s been through, would just be cruel. That age-old guilt eats away at me, leaving me with no option but to at least save one sister, even if I can’t save the other.
“Use your head, Sasha.”
“I am.”
She grabs my arm, forcing me to stop, and I glance down at where her fingers press into my skin. “You don’t owe Adelina anything.”
I meet her eyes. “You know that’s not true.” I see the acceptance pass through her gaze before she releases me, and
I walk away.
Gabriella’s guy shows me to a room at the back of the house, and as soon as I step inside, my chest flutters a little. Every type of weapon imaginable lines the walls.
The guy shrugs, a smile on his face. “Eduardo liked to be prepared.”
“I can see that.”
My plan is clear. I’ve watched the house for twenty-four hours, and I can’t see Gabriella in any of the rooms. Adelina, however, is precisely where she was the last time. I survey the entire building, but my binoculars always find their way back to that one room. She no longer lingers on the balcony, and each time she receives food, the door is left open, only for her to get up and close it. She looks…broken and her face tear-stained. My mind instantly travels down a path I do not want to walk, imagining what Enrique did to her. I tell myself that it must be Gabriella. She must know that her sister is there, or that she’s dead. Either way, when I haven’t seen a trace of Gabriella, I know Adelina is my best bet at finding her. I don’t have the time to search the house, and my chances of getting caught are infinitely higher the longer I’m here.
By the time night falls, I’m twitchy and on edge. I easily slip past Enrique’s security detail, climbing the fence and negotiating the wooden spikes that decorate the top haphazardly. His security really is laughable. There’s a clear thirty-second window between guards walking the perimeter, and dead spots between the lights at the back of the house. Maybe the spiked fence is enough to deter most.
I scale the gutter and hop over the edge of a balcony on the second floor. Hunkering down, I keep my body low, sliding through the shadows before I climb the railing on the opposite side and hop to the next, and the next. I land on Adelina’s balcony on muted feet. The doors are wide open, the same way they always are, and how I always chastised her for. I creep into the room and linger, watching her sleeping form. The moonlight flickers through gaps in the blowing curtains, painting silvery light over the plains of her face. She looks different, more tired, as though the world has worn her down.