Paige’s face is blank in a way I’ve never seen. She must be terrified.Fuck.I walk forward, trying to get to her.
Paige finally catches my eyes, and there’s a look of relief on her face that hits me harder than the punch my previous opponent landed.
It hurts more, too.
She wouldn’t be here if it wasn’t for me.
“You okay?” I mouth.
She gives a tiny nod. Anger follows immediately after the relief. Whydid she insist on learning more about me? Why is she here? Why did she put herself in danger?
“Who claims this woman?” Fabrizio calls out again. He’s speaking Italian, and Paige won’t understand. “Who will take her punishment?”
Anticipation hangs in the smoky room. A lewd voice calls from the back.I wish I could!
“She’s mine,” I call, and head to the cage’s exit. “She’s off limits. Let her go.”
Fabrizio turns. It’s a slow, theatrical movement, like he’s shocked by this information. It’s fake as shit. “You let your new wife wander, hmm?”
“She’s not involved with this.”
“Ah, ah, ah,” he tuts. “She involved herself. We would never hurt a woman, you know that. But you, on the other hand…”
I flex my hands. Paige is still watching me. Her eyes are wide, and she’s looking at my bare chest, my taped-up hands, the cage I’m standing in. I can’t imagine what she’s thinking.
Those two guards are still flanking her, like she’s a threat.
Like she’ll run. The anger inside me burns brighter.
“Let her go first,” I tell Fabrizio. “I’ll stay where I am.”
He nods, and then he speaks to the guards. They step away from her, and with each inch I relax more.
She walks to the edge of the cage. “Rafe?”
I cross the distance, already rewrapping the bands around my hands. There are so many people here. People I’d never involve myself with.
The two never meet, the man I am during the nights when I crave the sting of pain and the man I am during the days. The man the world sees.
“Don’t talk to anyone here,” I tell her under my breath. “Don’t drink anything. I’ll take you home right after. You’re safe, okay? Don’t worry.”
“Raffaele,” Fabrizio taunts. I finish tightening the protective tape around my right hand.
“Rafe, what are you doing?” she says. Her voice is trembling, and it hits me like another punch. Her softness, wasted on me. “What is this place?”
“Don’t interfere. Promise me, Paige. Regardless of what happens. I’ll take you home after we’re done here. No one will hurt you.”
She hesitates for a second before she nods. There’s a fierce flush to her cheeks, and in that moment, I am as angry at myself as I am with her. She shouldn’t be here. Her loveliness, her fierceness, has no place in the seediness of this place.
I turn to face Fabrizio. He’s already taken his top off. Around the cage, people have started to stomp their feet. It’s a steady beat. He grins and raises his fists.
There’s a reason he rarely fights anymore. There’s a reason he’s the enforcer of rules, the judge and the jury.
Because he’s damn near impossible to beat.
CHAPTER 36
PAIGE
