“It won’t happen again,” he tells me in what I can only assume is apologetic.
And it doesn’t.
He frees me without the blade of the knife ever kissing my skin.
Finally free I go to push him away but my arms are sluggish. My legs wobble as I try to stand.
“It’s the effects of the M99,” he informs me methodically. “You should be feeling back to normal soon.”
A dark chortle escapes me. “I’ll never be normal again, Rico.”
Not being able to withstand his penetrating gaze I look to the floor. I’m far too flooded with a myriad of emotions to be picked apart and examined.
I’m surrounded in a pool of crimson. It decorates my bare feet along with matters of the human body. I swear I see a piece of brain matter wedged between my toes.
With one arm he sweeps me off my feet. My traitorous stomach flips at how he does it so effortlessly.
“You killed my brother,” I say almost numb.
“Yes.”
I glance back at the four soldiers of his Famiglia. All dead. All dead because of me. “You killed members of your Famiglia.”
“Yes.”
“But I’m the enemy. Just like my brother.”
“Yes.” Another one word response.
“What does that mean, Rico?”
The muscles in his chest tense. His brows furrow with confusion as he stares ahead perplexed. “I don’t know.”
As he carries me out of the warehouse I’m only left riddled with more questions about the mystery of who he really is.
And as much as I’m interested in finding out I already know how this ends.
He lowers me gently into the car. His fingers graze my chest as he buckles my seatbelt. An innocent touch that leaves a burning in its wake.
Once he enters the car and starts the engine I tell him, “This doesn’t change anything.”
His hand flexes on the steering wheel. “I know.”
“I am going to kill you,” I clarify.
Leaning over the center console he traces my jugular vein. It comes to life violently beneath the pad of his finger. Pleased with the result his hand then collars my throat. I gasp softly. “You asked me to show mercy by a quick death.”
“I did,” I breathe. Will this be it? Will he snap my neck right here? Now?
He inches closer. His breath fans across my face. I feel the heat of it on my lips. Something stirs in my blood. Something wicked and molten. It’s a reaction I don’t understand but I feel it nonetheless.
“I’m asking for the opposite, la mia gazzella.” His voice sounds deeper, intimate almost. Despite myself I hang onto his every word. “I want you to torture me for hours. Feed me fear so I finally know what it tastes like. I want to choke with the anticipation of what you’ll do next.” As if there’s a gravitational pull I draw nearer. His lips brush against my own as he says, “And with my dying breath I want you to kiss me. Kiss me so I can be consumed by the fire of desire. Let me die knowing it will be the most alive I have ever felt. That is what I ask of you.”
CHAPTER 16
Rico
I’ve never allowed a living soul outside of Constantine to enter my home.
