She nodded.
“I’ll be right back.” I went into my room and stripped out of my bloody clothes, throwing on a pair of jeans, a plain blue T-shirt, and running shoes. I buckled on my shoulder holster and covered it with a loose black hoodie that zipped up the front. Picking up my keys and my wallet, I put them in the pockets of my jeans. I grabbed my sunglasses last.
When I came back out, I found her exactly where I’d left her. “Sera?”
Her eyes flew to my face like I’d caught her doing something she shouldn’t.
“What’s going on?” I asked her.
At first, she didn’t respond. Her beautiful eyes flicked away and she frowned, like she was struggling with something.
“Whatever it is,” I told her, “you can tell me.”
Her eyes found me across the room. “If I asked you to kill someone for me, would you do it?”
“Yes,” I told her without hesitation.
“What if it was more than one person?”
“Yes,” I said again. And at that moment, I knew I would, without hesitation.
Her arm moved beneath the sheet and her hand appeared, closed into a fist. Slowly, she opened her fingers.
I stepped closer, wanting to see what she was showing me. Lying on the palm of her hand was a man’s ring, a watch, and a money clip. “What is this?”
Her voice was little more than a whisper. “These belong to men who came to the house. Men who hurt me.” She held them out, and I opened my hand so she could dump them into my palm. “I couldn’t get something from everyone, but I got these.”
I knew then what these were. She’d stolen them from men who had fucked her. Hurt her. And now she wanted me to find them and kill them. I raised my hand closer to my face. The ring had a crest on it. One that I recognized. The money clip was engraved with initials. But the watch didn’t give me anything to go by. Even so, I put it into my pocket with the rest. “What would you like to eat?”
“I’m not very hungry.”
“I understand, but you need to eat something. Pizza? Sandwiches? Soup?”
She thought about it. “Soup sounds okay.”
“Good. I’ll bring the bag inside and leave it on the bed for you. Will you be okay for a few minutes? I’m just going to run downstairs.”
She nodded.
“I’ll be right back,” I told her. Watching her, I didn’t want to leave. She looked like she was barely holding it together. “Sera.”
Her eyes found my face, met mine.
“I’ll be right back,” I repeated. “You’re safe here.”
She nodded again. “I think I’ll take a shower.”
I heard someone outside the door and opened it to find the bag of clothes Luca had brought. I put it in on the bed for her, then approached her cautiously, watching her eyes. “I’ll be ten minutes,” I told her. Unable to keep myself from touching her, I cupped her cheek in my hand and ran my thumb over her lush bottom lip. She stood stiff and still as I did so, wide eyes on my face. “Ten minutes,” I repeated. Against my better judgement, I left her to get cleaned up.
The items in my pocket jingled against each other as I walked out to the elevator. A death knell for every man that laid so much as a finger on her without her permission.
I would keep my promise to her.
I would find them and I would kill them all.
CHAPTER5
Serafina
