“We’re blood brothers now, so make sure you survive this revenge war of yours,” he says.
“I’ll give it my best.”
And after it’s all done, I’ll dedicate the rest of my life to pleasing Gianna, giving her all she needs and all she wants.
Because she’s the only one who can bring what little good is left in me out into the light.And I’m sure that after what I’m about to do, I will need her to do that more than I ever did.
Chapter49
GIANNA
He didn’t come backto the room until dawn.The storm had passed, leaving behind the scent of wet earth and a chill that clearly said summer was over.
He spent some time caressing my hair and my back, but I pretended to be fast asleep and he didn’t try very hard to wake me.Good.Because I would probably have scratched his eyes out if he tried to kiss me.
My sister might be dying but he keeps me locked up here.Alone.
I have no idea if I’ll ever see the rest of my family again.And he makes love to me in ways that make me forget all that and crave more.
He’s still asleep now and it’s nearly noon.I know, because I took his phone and snuck it into the bathroom to try and call the hospital.But all I got from it was the time, because I couldn’t unlock the screen.His face didn’t work, his fingerprint didn’t either, and whatever code he set is not one I can guess.
I don’t even know when his birthday is.I know next to nothing about him.
How can he expect me to believe he loves me when he tells me nothing.When he kidnapped me.How?
His black-bladed knife is on the nightstand by his bed.He keeps it close at all times, except when he’s with me.Then he just leaves it lying around, as though he has nothing to fear from me.
I could pick it up now and plunge it into his heart.The thought makes me shiver even as my palm itches to grip the handle and do it.
I hate him and I love him.And it’s tearing me apart.
He wakes up with a jerk, his eyes very wide as he sees me standing over him by the bed.I missed my moment.And now the sun is back in his eyes and even the winter chill that’s coming doesn’t seem like such a bad thing anymore.
Damn him and his sunshine eyes.
“Good, you’re awake,” he says and sits up, the duvet sliding down to reveal his chiseled, tattooed chest and arms.A lot of his tattoos feature gravestones and dates, crosses, skulls and skeleton hands.Names too.But they cover other things too, prettier things, like roses, and palm trees, stars, and the moon.But only glimpses of all that appear under all the death depicted on his body.
“I want to go see my sister,” I tell him, my voice a little shaky because I had just been thinking of killing him.
“No time,” he says and gets out of bed, picking up his knife and his phone which I’d been returning to the nightstand when he woke up.
He slept in his boxers and his legs and back are covered with yet more crosses and skulls and other images of death and loss.Back when I started falling in love with him, I imagined I’d spend hours deciphering all the pictures adorning his beautiful body.Now I don’t want to see any of them.
“Why?”I ask standing aside so he can pass me.
“Because we’re leaving.You should pack.”
“Going where?”I ask.
“LA.”
To fight the war he’s been talking about.He doesn’t say that, but I already know.The war that will take my family from me for good.I should’ve stabbed him with his knife when I had the chance.
“I don’t want to go.”
He’s by the wardrobe, pulling out one of his suits—steel grey again.In the life I pictured for us, before he revealed himself to be a monster, I’d be standing by his side, helping him pick out a shirt and tie to go with whatever suit he chose and thinking about what I would wear to complement his outfit.And here I am, plotting to kill him.I can practically hear my mind tearing at the at the oppositeness of it all.
I hate him and I love him, and it will never stop.
