It’s dusky outside meaning it’s close to eight, and I lost a good few hours to unconsciousness. It was probably a blessing in disguise.
Cesco makes a beeline for the kitchen, like I hoped he would. The guy works out a lot, and he eats like a horse. I know he loves my cooking, and I’m banking on his predictability.
This is almost too easy.
“Who else is here?” I ask.
Cesco throws me in the direction of the stove. “Just us,” he confirms. “Sorry to ruin your little plan. There are none of dad’s men here to run to. You’re stuck with us.” He stalks toward me, cupping my pussy through my dress.
I feign fright because I know he’ll love it. Inside, I’m encouraging him to keep going because it’s playing into my plan.
“You’re mine now,Mommy.” He bites down hard on my lip, drawing blood. His tongue darts out, licking it before he kisses me hard and thankfully fast. “We’re hungry. Make dinner.” He cuts the rope binding my wrists, freeing my hands.
“Fuck you,” I snarl, needing to make this seem genuine. “Make your own dinner, asshole.”
My head whips sideways as he slaps me hard. Then he punches me in the stomach, and I fall to the tile floor, managing to cushion my head with my hands before I make contact. Pain slams into my side, and my vision is momentarily blurry.
Cesco hauls me to my feet, snarling in my face. “Disobey me again, and I’ll let them take turns fucking you.”
“Please disobey,Mommy,” the guy with dreadlocks says, much to the amusement of the other two pricks. They are passing around beers and grinning as if I’m the entertainment.
“I’ll make dinner.” I force my voice to sound timid and weak and let my shoulders slump forward.
“Make it quick. I’m starving.” Cesco roughly grips my chin. “And don’t try to escape. I have an alarm on all the windows and doors and new cameras outside. You won’t get far.” He drags me from the kitchen into the dining room. “Here’s an added incentive to behave,” he says, almost shoving me into the wide pool of blood coating the dining room floor.
Goose bumps sprout on my arms as I survey the mutilated bodies of Vitto and Diana D’Onofrio piled in a lump in the middle of the floor. Vitto’s wide eyes stare at the ceiling, his fingers still pressed against the grizzly cut inhis neck.
Diana’s naked body is gruesome. I hated her, but I wouldn’t wish this on anyone. Her throat was also slit, but not until after they defiled her, I’m guessing. Her knees are pushed into her chest, exposing her intimate areas. Bile crawls up my throat at the dried semen clinging to her folds and her puckered hole, and the caked cum coating her breasts. Her mouth is open, forming an O-shape, and I almost throw up at the thought someone was fucking her throat the same time they slit it.
“You’re all monsters,” I whisper, incapable of hiding my horror.
“Step out of line, and that’ll be your fate. Behave and I’ll give you the kind of lifestyle my father failed to provide.” Cesco brushes his fingers across my face. “I don’t just want to fuck you. You’re going to be my wife.” He kisses me again, and it’s softer than before. “I love you, and I know you love me too. Maltese did me a favor. Saved me having to kill the old man myself.”
I should shut my mouth. I know that, but I can’t help the words that leak out. “You’re too late. I’ve already remarried. Don Maltese is my husband, and he’s going to tear you into pieces when he comes for me.”
Cesco goes deathly still, and I mentally slap myself upside the head.
Stupid, Valentina.
Even if it’s almost worth it to see the looks on all their faces.
For the first time, the three men aren’t laughing. Their expressions range from horror to disbelief to fear.
“I didn’t sign up for this,” the guy with the cropped hair says, clearly starting to panic.
“He’ll kill us all,” Dreads says, pacing the floor.
“She’s lying.” Cesco stares at my bare ring finger. I hadn’t worn my rings to the baby shower, and I rushed out of the house this morning without putting them on. “Trying to freak us out on purpose.” He digs his nails into my arm. “Nice try,Mommy, but it won’t work. Even if it’s true, I’ll see that prick on the cameras if he dares show up here, and I’ll blow his fucking brains out. Fuentes has his own plans for Maltese tomorrow, but I’ll placate him if he’s pissed I took his kill from him.”
Panic pokes at my mental walls, but I don’t give in. Now, more than ever, I need to get out of here so I can warn Fiero.
“Aw, look. She’s going to cry.” Cesco pinches my nipple through my dress. “How could you fall for the guy who treated you like a whore? You’re such a dumb bitch at times.” He twists my nipple, and tears leak down my face. “I’ll enjoy fucking every memory of him out of your mind.” Turning me around, he slaps my ass and shoves me toward the kitchen. “Make dinner and make it good, or my belt is coming off.”
Their laughter trails me into the kitchen, and I want to scream from the rooftops. But I concentrate on my plan, humming to myself as I calmly remove ingredients for spaghetti Bolognese from the pantry and the refrigerator.
I could make this dish in my sleep, and I’ve got added incentive to be quick now, so I assemble the different components in record time, and it’s not too long before it’s all ready. I set a small portion in a bowl to one side for me before implementing the final stage of my plan.
The door from the kitchen to the dining room isn’t fully closed, so I look carefully over my shoulder before I empty the arsenic powder from my locket into the meat bubbling in the stove. I’m not sure if it’s enough to poison all of them. They are young, fit, and muscular, and it might require more to take them down. It should work on Cesco as I’ve been gradually poisoning him for over a year, but there was a break during the time I was in Sicily, so I’m not sure if it’s like starting from scratch.
