"You think a bullet will stop me, boy?" Gino suddenly laughed, a deep maniacal sound. "I've survived much more than that, and I'll be here long after you're dead."
"Because you hide behind women?" I taunted. I wanted nothing more than to shoot him in the head, but I couldn't get a clear shot with him holding Luna in front of him. There was too much of a chance he'd move and I'd hit her instead.
Tired of the games, I strode forward to get a closer shot. Gino's eyes widened as he watched me coming for him. He backed up, dragging Luna along until we were all behind the pile of beams.
A young man with the same dark hair as Luna sat on one knee behind Gino and Luna. His wrists were bound and blood dripped from a gash on his head. The eye that wasn't swollen shut went from his sister to me and back again. "Who the hell is that?"
Luna's voice was abnormally high and tinged with fear as she stared at me with conflicted blue eyes. "I think he's my boyfriend..."
Her words hit me hard, stealing my breath, and I felt my entire world shift on its axis.
Boyfriend?
Hearing her claim me in the midst of all of this chaos and violence lit a flicker of warmth in my battered soul. But it was a mundane term. One that didn't come close to describing this thing between us. Luna was a beacon in my dark world. She brought color into my grayscale existence.
No, boyfriend wasn't the right word to describe what we were. It was something much deeper than that.
Gino growled at her response and tightened his grip in her hair, making her wince. "He's not your anything, girl. Do you hear me?" he yelled in her ear. "That"—his voice dripped with disgust as he jerked his chin in my direction—"isn't even a man. He could never love you,mia figlia." My daughter. "Not like I do." He stared directly into my eyes, his features twisting in pain from the gunshot wound I'd given him. "No. He doesn't know what love is. He only knows strength and power. And right now, I'm the one with the power."
He waited for a reaction from me, and I could see his patience waning when he didn't get one. But his words had stopped affecting me a long time ago. There was no way I could've survived being around him all these years if he still held that power over me. And I wasn't in chains now. He could say whatever the fuck he wanted to me, if it would take his attention from his daughter long enough for me to get her the hell out of here.
My eyes went to Luna, and I watched as what little hope she had faded from her face and her shoulders slumped in defeat.
I shook my head. "Don't do that," I told her quietly. "It's not over. Not yet."
Misinterpreting me, Gino scoffed. "That's where you're wrong, boy."
"What are you going to do?" I asked him, genuinely curious. "Shoot her? Her brother? Kill your own children?"
"Yes."
"Why?"
His eyes were wild. "Because I want to see if it will make you feel something."
Luna sucked in a breath, her eyes locking onto mine. I could see her trembling from where I stood. See how afraid she was. And I knew it wasn't just for herself, but for her younger brother who was using the wall against his back for balance as he struggled to get to his feet.
But none of that was what caught and held my attention. There was something in Gino's voice that might give someone else a twinge of hope…regret, maybe? Sadness? But I knew him better than that. I heard the conviction that far overpowered anything else.
I knew Gino's dark side. Maybe better than he knew himself. And I realized then that although she reminded him of his dead wife, Luna was too easy. She'd never given him the sense of conquest he craved, that feeling of power he'd just mentioned. He craved her love…no. That wasn't right. He craved the love of her mother, and a part of him knew Luna was only a sad substitute. There was only guilt where she was concerned. Whereas he felt no guilt over raping me. As a matter of fact, in some sick, demented way, it did make him feel...powerful.
Lowering the gun to my side, I said, "Take me." Dropping both of my weapons to the floor, I kicked them both toward Gino. Then I pulled the other one from my pocket and tossed that toward him too. "Let them go and take me."
"Tristan, NO!" Luna started to struggle against her father.
"Let her go!" her brother shouted. I had to admit, he had guts. The kid could barely stand.
Luna continued to struggle. Releasing her with a curse, Gino turned and pointed his gun at Logan. "Iwillkill him!" he shouted.
Luna froze halfway to me, her head whipping around to her brother, then back to me. Her eyes pleaded with me for a second before she took a step back toward him. "Please," she told her father. "Please, Gino. Don't do it."
"Let them go," I told him again. "Let them go and I'll come with you without a fight."
"How do I know I can believe you?" he asked me.
"You can't," I replied. "But that's part of the appeal, isn't it?"
He studied me for a long time. I waited for the terror to overwhelm me, but I felt nothing at all as I waited for him to make up his mind. No fear. No disgust for what I offered. Instead, I wondered if there was any chance at all that Luna would forgive me if Gino turned down my offer. Because if that happened, I was fully prepared to rush him and wrestle that fucking gun out of his hand while she ran. And if her brother got shot in the process, well, it would be one less person for me to worry about.
