“Gino? Gino!”
I scurried to my feet and ran to the window. Tears ran down my cheeks, and I was shaking so hard it took me three tries to get the window open. The screen practically fell out when I pushed on it, and I dove after it, falling to my knees in the rocky dirt. A shot rang out, hitting the tree in front of me about two feet above my head, and I screamed. Rising to my feet, I ran blindly. Rocks and burs stuck into my bare feet, and I didn’t know where I was going, but I ran like the hounds from hell were after me, Gino’s angry shouts echoing in my ears.
Giving the house a wide berth, I circled around to the front. There was a road here. There had to be. I didn’t feel the cold air on my bare skin or the pain in my feet. I didn’t feel anything except the pounding of my heart and the rush of blood in my ears. I didn’t know if anyone was following me. Looking back would only slow me down.
My breath sawed in and out of my chest. Almost there. I was almost there. I just had to get to the road and find a neighbor’s house or flag down a passing car or something.
My forward flight was suddenly halted when a steel band wrapped around my waist, and I was hauled back against a hard chest. “No!” I cried out. Kicking and punching, I fought them. I’d been so fucking close! “Let me go!”
There was a sharp pain in my neck, and I felt something cold flood my veins. The world went fuzzy around me, and my arms and legs suddenly weighed a thousand pounds. “Let me go,” I whispered. I caught the scent of the forest at night right before my vision went black and the world faded away.
CHAPTER 16
Tristan
Earlier that night…
Ihated leaving Luna there, but if I’d taken her…no,whenI took her…that boat with Gino in it that Luca was so fucking concerned about was going to capsize and burst into flames before it sank so deep it would never be found again. And there’d be no saving it. Especially if what I suspected was true.
The burn of chains flogging the skin of my back and ass, even my thighs. The taste of my own blood filling my mouth as men I was taught to respect threw out degrading taunts with each hit, trying to get me to react…
Giving my head a shake, I tried to throw off the memories. But still, they came. One after another, as I struggled to stay in my lane on the highway and get myself home. Memories that led up to something I’d done seventeen years ago. Something that had to do with Luna.
“Are you a boy? Or are you a man?”
“Neither. You’re nothing. Do you hear me? Nothing. You don’t matter…”
I wiped the sweat out of my eyes with the back of my hand. I didn’t want to think about the trials I was put through as a child, but sometimes they were just…there. Reminders of how I became the man I am today. A man who doesn’t think twice about putting himself in harm’s way if it will protect the ones who are truly important. A man who knows his place in this world.
Cramps twisting my stomach until I bend over in pain. My heart racing, and yet I’m so weak I can barely crawl across the room…
Swerving at the last minute, I barely missed the cement divider in the middle of the road.
Hands reaching for me. Cutting me. Burning me. Hitting me.
Touching me in places a man should never touch a boy.
No one touched me now. Not anymore. The last man who had, laughing like it was a joke when I told him not to do it, only had one hand now.
And he wasn’t laughing anymore.
My teeth began to hurt, but I couldn’t unclench my jaw. The pain gave me something to focus on, something besides the glimmers of my past that darted through my head. I wished I had my knife. I kept the blade dull so it would hurt more when I dug the tip into my skin, but it was sharp enough to pierce a man’s ribs if needed. I didn’t use it on myself much anymore, preferring instead to try to ride out these episodes until they passed. But I didn’t have time for that shit tonight.
I slammed both palms down on the steering wheel so hard it jarred my bones and chased away the memory that had been trying to form. Another tried to take its place, but I concentrated on Luna’s face. Her voice. The feel of her skin and her hair. Memories of her chased away the ghosts of my past, and she kept me grounded enough that I didn’t run off the road.
A few minutes later, I pulled up to my house and parked the SUV. I could still see lights on in the main house. Pulling out my cell, I called Luca as I walked through my front door. “I’m sorry to bother you this late, but this is important. Can you walk over here? And come alone, please.” He would be safe outside the walls of his house. Unlike Gino, Luca’s property was very well guarded.
“I’m on my way.”
“Thank you. The door is open. I’ll be in my office.”
The house I occupied on Luca’s compound was tiny compared to the main house, but it was plenty big for me. It consisted of a kitchen, a living room with a couch, a padded rocking chair, a large television I never watched, an office, a bedroom, and the guest room—which contained the cell I used when I needed to escape from the world. The room I kept locked whenever I wasn’t in there.
I knew it wouldn’t take Luca long to get here, so I didn’t waste any time pulling up the file on Luna and her brother he’d sent me. I stared at the pictures of the two of them, not wanting to believe my suspicions. Scrolling through the report, I searched for any other photos, perhaps from when they were children.
Checking the camera feed where I monitored the grounds, I saw Luca approach my front door and let himself in. He was still in his business suit, which meant he’d still been working when I called. “What’s going on?” he asked when he reached my office.
I didn’t respond at first. I couldn’t. I was looking at the photos of Luna and her brother I’d just pulled up from seventeen years ago when they were put into the foster system.
