Chapter 1
DOWNLOAD COMPLETE BOXSET
Dario Caraldi
“Dario…Dario, I love you, baby,” the words pull me out of the foggy darkness. I feel my lips curve into a smile. “I’ll always love you,” the voice says again. I open my eyes and try to focus as I stare into her sweet face. The scent of roses surrounds me, warm and soothing. A fragrance that’s always calmed me.
She’s gazing at me with an expression of such tenderness that it makes my heart ache. I try to reach out a hand, but something stops me from moving it. Like tangled cobwebs as I lift my arm. She smiles, her eyes still filled with love. But when her lips part, I realize it’s not a smile. Her teeth are stained pink with blood. She’s gasping.
I frown, tugging at the cobwebs. Wanting to touch her cheek. But her skin is growing pale, color washing from it as she puts a hand to her throat. Blood spurts through her fingers, and I realize she’s covering a gaping hole that extends from ear to ear. Blood is tricking freely from her mouth now.
“Dario…baby…” she chokes out. “Mama… Mama will always love you.” I feel terror surging through me like a wave.
“Ma!” I choke out. But she can’t hear me. She’s slumping to the floor, blood pooling around her as it gushes from her slashed throat. “Ma!” I repeat. A firm hand on my shoulder sets me back against the soft pillows.
“It’s a dream, boy,” I hear a new voice. A voice I know. My father’s voice. “It’s all a bad dream. Go back to sleep.” I let my eyes flutter shut, willing the horror of those images to go away. I know this dream. I’ve had it for as long as I can remember; even now, it haunts me. “You’re asleep,” my father says again.
“Asleep,” I hear once more. “Out cold. It’ll be a piece of cake.”
I frown but remain unmoving. This voice is different. Thickly accented. Unfamiliar. In the background, there’s a persistent beep of some kind of equipment.
What the fuck?
“The nurse just did her rounds. He’s alone. I’ll take him out and be gone before they can get here.” He chuckles darkly. “Oh, yeah, you know I love my job. If I can get a chance, I’ll make the fucker squeal like a pig before I snuff him.” He continues speaking, the language foreign to me. Through the fog that’s blurring my mind, I pull stray words out. I’m pretty sure it’s Russian.
I clench my teeth against the searing pain that’s radiating through my back and into my chest. I pull my wits about me. I’m still trying to figure out exactly where I am and what’s going on, but there are more important things to worry about now.
Through slitted eyes, I make out the form of a hulking man with his back to me. A towering motherfucker with close-cropped blond hair and a tattoo swirling up the back of his neck. There’s no doubt in my mind that he’s bad news…bad news for me, for sure. And I’m lying here, in what seems to be a hospital bed, weak as a goddamn kitten. I fight back bile as another wave of agony washes through me.
As he begins to turn, I shut my eyes firmly, listening as his footsteps draw nearer. He pauses on the way, then hovers beside the bed. I can smell his stink. Rancid sweat and what I’m pretty sure must be onions, all masked with cheap cologne.
There’s a movement, and then I’m aware of a shadow descending. My eyes flash open just in time to see a pillow being lowered over my face. I snap up a hand and close it around the fucker’s wrist. I may not be strong right now, but I have the element of surprise on my side. Along with a survival instinct that’s just kicked in like a hit of speed.
The bastard bites out a curse, trying to drag himself away from me. But I tighten my grip, feeling bones grinding in his wrist. The cobwebs I’d felt restraining my arm in my dream turn out to be the tubing of a drip that’s attached to my hand. As I pull him down onto my chest, I wrap an arm around him, quickly winding the tubing around his throat several times. His breath hisses out as I yank it tight. The fucker’s strong, but he’s no match for my sheer will to live.
And my rage.
Who the fuck sent him?
It’s a question I won’t know the answer to right now. He’s ramming his elbow back into my chest, sucking the air from me. The pain is white-hot, and I feel my vision beginning to fade.
Goddammit!
I can’t lose consciousness now. He’s gasping, trying to get a finger beneath the taut tubing. That elbow is still crashing into me. He slams his head back into my face, and I see stars. Stars that begin to fade as everything swirls into nothingness around me when he manages to cram the pillow back over my face with one flailing hand. It’s too much. My lungs scream as loudly as the fire in my torn flesh. Despite the desperate need to stay alive, I’m half relieved when it all goes black.
And I’m gone.
Chapter 2
Dario Caraldi
Iinhale deeply and let the sound of her gentle voice wash over me. She’s reading something. I can’t make out what it is, but it doesn’t matter. She’s here. I turn my head and force reluctant eyelids to open. Now I’m looking at her sweet face.
What man wouldn’t smile at a sight like that?
She lifts her head, eyes shooting wide.
“Oh! Oh, my God!”
