“I know you might not believe me but Rico is that man.” Her lips pull inward. Strongly I tell her, “He loves me, ma. He worships me. And he’ll kill anyone who hurts me. He already has. Even betrayed his own Famiglia to be with me. Our love is pure, ma. He’s the man I chose. And I need you to tell me where he is so I can live the happy life you wanted for me.”
Tears glisten in her eyes. “I just want you to be happy.”
“I am ma. He makes me blissfully happy. So much so I can’t imagine a life without him.”
“You really love him.”
“I do.”
“Okay,” she says acceptingly. “I’ll tell you where he is but I can’t promise he’ll be alive once you get there. Your pa wants him dead so you can marry Sebastian. To fulfill your duty.”
As if I couldn’t be further disgusted by my pa. “Over my dead body,” I snarl.
“Let’s hope it doesn’t come to that,” ma mutters.
“It won’t,” I assure her. “Now, where is he?”
CHAPTER 42
Rico
The bitter taste of copper floods my mouth and coats my chin.
Ever since I woke Seamus, Sebastian and Kirill have been inflicting their own personal brand upon me.
It’s been hours of receiving pain. Yet the greatest pain of all is the unknown of what is happening to my wife.
Another punishing blow to my ribs from Kirill causes me to wheeze. He’s heavy handed. Never holding back on the force of his impact. I know my ribs are broken. I only worry the next time he punches he doesn’t cause a rib to puncture my lung.
Sebastian cracks a cruel grin, satisfaction gleaming in his eyes. This is the man my wife was arranged to marry. Even if I die I’ll make sure he never has her.
“You’re strong,” Kirill comments, rather impressed. I stare at him blankly.
“He’ll break,” Seamus promises from beside him. “I want him to before we kill him. You took my daughter from me.”
I grimace, spitting blood to land at his feet. “A daughter you cared nothing for except to breed your next heir.”
Seamus’ lips curl. He then strikes his hand across my face. My brow is already split open. He’s only widening the wound. “Don’t speak on what you don’t know.”
I blink past the blood leaking from my eyebrow. Red taints my vision in more ways than one. “Then you shouldn’t be speaking at all. You don’t know your daughter.”
He huffs. “I most certainly do. You’ve only brainwashed her. Once you’re dead she’ll come to her senses.”
“Come to her senses about what exactly?” I question through gritted teeth. “How her pa didn’t give a damn about her? How you chose the family over her?” I become angry on her behalf. “She’s already come to her senses, Seamus. And the light cast upon you has shown your hideous face.”
He strikes me once more. This time I spit out a tooth. Fucking bastard. “You think you can talk to me like that? The fucking disrespect.”
“Si.”
His face becomes red. The vein in his forehead pulsates madly. He furiously grabs the crowbar on the metal table with an array of weapons and bashes it on my kneecap. I hear the sickening crunch. The pain reverberates up and down my leg. Instead of a scream I release a primal roar. One that echoes through the holding cell he has me bound to.
Over the hours I’ve come to know Seamus and Sebastian prefer their tools. Kirill prefers his fists.
“You had no right taking what didn’t belong to you.” Sebastian says tightly.
At that I can’t help but laugh. So uncharacteristic of me but it slips out. He narrows his eyes and his mouth sets in a grim line. “She ran away because she didn’t want to marry you.”
He scoffs. “Imogen would never run away. You took her!” He turns to Seamus. “Tell him how mad he is!”
