Then his answer comes, calm and lethal.
“I’m already outside.”
The bottom drops out of my world.
I sway on my knees.
Of course he is.Of course, the idiot priest walks into hell the second someone leaves a door open.
Carlo’s grin sharpens.“Outside?” he repeats. “How sweet. Pray for a second, then. I’d hate for you to enter without saying hello to your God.”
He nods to one of his men.“Check.”
The guard at the door cracks it, peering through the filthy inset glass.“One man.” “It’s him.”
A sound tears out of me.“You fucking—” My voice shreds. “Send him away. Tell him you were lying. Hang up the phone, Carlo.”
Carlo looks down at me like I’m an interesting stain.“Oh, Bella,” he says. “That’s not how this works.”
He taps the table with two fingers, and the guard shuts the door again. The bolt slides home with a heavy clank that lands right on my chest.
“Santino,” Carlo croons into the phone, “we have your little sinner all dressed up and waiting.”
I jerk against the hand in my hair.“I swear to God, Santino, don’t come in here,” I rasp, even though I know he can’t hear me. “Turn around. Leave. Please.”
Carlo clucks his tongue.“She’s being dramatic,” he says. “But for the sake of transparency…”
He nods at the guard holding me.
The gun lifts a fraction.
“Stand her up,” Carlo orders. “Let the bishop hear how pretty she screams.”
Rage scorches through me.“Touch me and I’ll bite your fucking fingers off,” I snap.
The guard laughs and yanks me upright anyway. My knees threaten to buckle, but pride locks them. My arms are wrenched high behind me, cuffs grinding into bone.
“Careful,” Carlo says. “I need her mostly intact.”
He leans toward the phone.“Are you still there, Bishop?”
“I’m listening,” Santino says.
That voice.
It’s wrong.
It sounds hollow.
“Santino,” I try again, louder.
The words cut off on a gasp when the guard jams the barrel into my ribs, right under my breast, hard enough to bruise.
“Quiet,” he snarls against my ear.
Carlo’s smile widens at the sound.“Did you hear that?” he purrs. “She’s excited.”
The air on the line changes.
