Without a word, Enzo came to stand beside me. My skin prickled, all too aware of his nearness. I heard a crinkly sound and glanced over to find a plastic grocery bag in his hands I hadn’t noticed when he walked in. Opening it up, he reached inside and grabbed something, then dropped it on the table beside my plate.
It was a human hand. The stump was still bloody.
My stomach heaved, and I shoved my chair back from the table as Veda slapped a hand over her mouth. Luca kept eating his dinner as though there wasn’t a bloody body part on the table. As a matter of fact, when I looked at him for his reaction, he didn’t seem surprised at all. “What the hell is that?” I asked Enzo.
Instead of answering me, he reached back into the bag and pulled out something else, dropping it beside the first one. It was another hand. Only this one wore a ring I recognized. It was the ring I’d stolen from one of the men who’d raped me in the house in Mexico. The ring I’d given to Enzo when I’d asked him to kill them for me, along with the money clip and the watch.
He dug around at the bottom of the bag and retrieved the last item, dropping it beside the two hands. “I took this first, while he was still alive. He screamed in terror until he lost his voice. I recorded it for you on my phone.”
It took me a second to realize it was a shriveled-up penis.
“I’ve been hunting this man since you gave me his ring. I recognized the crest on it right away and knew where to find him, but somebody tipped him off that I was looking for him and he wasn’t easy to chase down. I would’ve brought him to you alive, but it was too much of a risk. I didn’t even have time to get rid of the body before I had to make a run for my plane and get the hell out of there. Luckily, I was prepared and didn’t leave any evidence. I’m still working on the other two.”
“You’re sure you left no reason for the authorities to look this way?” Luca asked.
Without taking his eyes off me, Enzo nodded.
I was still staring at the penis in shock. “You’ve been hunting them?”
“I told you I would,” he said simply. “I promised you I would kill the men who hurt you. And I keep my promises.”
“Not always.” Tearing my eyes away from the evidence of my revenge, I stared up at him, daring him to deny it.
“Why don’t we go to the other room?” Veda said to Luca.
He must’ve agreed, for they gathered up their plates and drinks and left the room. Neither Enzo nor I even glanced their way.
“You promised me you would never give me back to my father, and then you handed me over to him like it was nothing. LikeIwas nothing.” My voice broke.
With one hand, he took off his sunglasses and set them on the table. His dark eyes burned with bloodlust and sorrow. “I wastryingto protect you.”
I looked around the kitchen, searching for these invisible threats that were so dangerous to me. “From what, exactly?” I asked him. “You brought me here because it was safe. That’s what you told me. So, what the hell did I need protecting from that would make it worth it to give me back to my father?”
Pulling out the chair to my left at the end of the table, he unbuttoned his jacket and sat down. “I told you.” He sighed wearily and rubbed his eyes with the thumb and forefinger of one hand. “From me.” A muscle twitched on his face, right above the scar from my father’s bullet.
“I know what you told me. But if you’re so damn worried about me, Enzo, then why do you keep forcing me to be with you? I don’t want to be here. I don’t want to be with you.” Every word caused the ache in the center of my chest to grow sharper, but I wouldn’t take them back. “So just let me go.”
“I tried,” he told me. He sounded angry. With me? Or with himself?
“Giving me back to the man I was trying so hard to get away from isn’t giving me my freedom. What the hell were you thinking?”
“What was I thinking?” he repeated incredulously. And then his shoulders dropped, and he scrubbed his face with his hands before he said, “I thought if I gave you back to him, I would still know where you are. What was going on with your life. Whereas if I let you go…” he paused, and his eyes caught mine. “I would lose you.”
“Well, your reasoning wasn’t quite accurate.” Standing up, I went to walk past him. “Because you’ve lost me anyway.”
Fast as a striking snake, his hand whipped out and grabbed my wrist.
I glared down at the offending appendage, surprised when there wasn’t a drop of blood on it. “Let go of me.”
At first, he wouldn’t look at me. His fingers tightened almost to the point of pain. When he finally did catch my gaze, the burning intensity in his eyes was such that it made me catch my breath and I almost took a step back. “What would you like me to do?” he asked softly. “Would you like me to beg? Get on my knees and swear my undying love and devotion to you?”
At the word “love,” my heart skipped a beat. But I shoved down any empathy I felt for him. “There’s nothing you can do, Enzo. It’s too late. So let me go.”
But instead of doing as I’d asked, he came out of his chair and fell onto his knees at my feet, his hands moving to my waist as he sat back on his heels. His fingers dug into my flesh. “I cannotlet you go,” he said as his eyes roamed over my hips before dipping down between my legs. “I will never let you go again, Sera.”
“I’ll hate you if you force me to stay here. You know that.”
He tipped his head back and looked up into my eyes, a crazy smile playing about his sensual mouth. “I don’t care. You’re mine, Sera. And I’ll spend the rest of my life doing whatever I have to do to make you happy. I’ll give you whatever you want.”
