Amelia didn’t respond. She curled in on herself with her knees to her chest and closed her eyes to disappear. That agency—so precious little—infuriated him. Ivan grabbed a fistful of her hair and violently forced her up. His teeth sunk into the fleshy corner where her shoulder met her neck.
Amelia screamed as he ripped into her skin. “Stop! Please! God!”
Ivan pressed the ice pick to her temple, and his single eyedarkened with lunacy and rage. “There is no God. Only me. Now, pray.”
More animal than human, his bloodied teeth gnashed with a guttural growl, and his hand shook furiously, as if he battled the urge to drive the pick into her head. With a piercing scream, he threw it across the room just as the metal door flung open and two men strode inside. One dragged in a bound and bloodied Richard and tossed him against the wall opposite Amelia. The other gestured to her.
“You fuck her?” he asked Ivan, who fetched the ice pick and calmly wiped the blood from his mouth with the back of his hand.
“No.” He turned to Amelia and lightly stroked the barrel of the pick. “My brother will want to watch.”
Ivan winked at her, and his thin lips slithered into a hideous smile. Amelia slumped against the wall and pressed her cheek to the cinder block. Maybe she’d fall through to the other side and could float away.Just float away.
Ivan retreated through the door, and the two others followed. After they left, Richard stirred. Sweat and dirt stained his wrinkled clothes, and dried blood flaked from his forehead. There he was—the man who donned designer suits, drove luxury cars, and lived in a mansion with a ridiculous name—looking as though he’d been through hell.
Amelia lifted her bound hands to her neck and probed the bite mark that weeped blood. Pain seared down her arm and throbbed in her fingertips. Her limbs felt far heavier than they had any right to be and, if she closed her eyes, she swore she might even sleep. If her soul wanted to float away, then her body wanted to shut down.
She jabbed her thumb into the wound, enough to anchor her senses to something. It worked, and the room came into focus. Clumps of dirt gathered in the corners, and scuff marks littered the dingy, off-white interior walls. Overhead was a low drop ceiling with yellowed tiles. Most were missing, but rings of moldsplotched the remaining ones. The place wasn’t just rotting. It was abandoned.No one will find me here.
Tears brimmed, and Amelia bit her lip to cease its quivering. The room was sticky and hot, and she wanted to go home. What a pathetic want. Survival should’ve been the ultimate ambition. All she thought of, though, was her favorite blanket and the mug that fit so perfectly in her palm, even though a chip in the rim had once sliced her lip.She bit down forcefully where the scar used to be. It only made her cry harder.
“Stop that,” Richard snapped.
With his legs kicked out in front of him, he groaned as he worked his way to the wall.
Amelia could have laughed at the audacity but instead demanded on a voice whittled thin, “Why did you do this?”
Restless quiet filled the room, all but the fluorescent hum and the soft scuffle of Richard’s shoes against the floor.
“They have my wife. They’ll let her go, but only if I brought you to them.” Richard contemplated Amelia’s wrists in binds and her neck bloodied from Ivan’s bite. “It’s nothing personal. Your father would’ve done the same.”
“No, he wouldn’t have!” Amelia cried, the salt from her tears itchy on her cheeks. “He’s not a coward like you.”
“Really? Then tell me why he bolted. He left Portland after your mom’s funeral, and no one’s heard from him since. If he’s so brave, he would’ve stuck around and faced what’s coming.”
A painful breath hitched in Amelia’s chest. “What do you mean? Where is he?”
Richard barked a bitter laugh. “I don’t know where he is, but I do know Ivan will find him.”
Regret plowed into Amelia. It stole her breath and ushered more tears. On a stormy night in Portland, her foolish heart had yearned to escape a life that was full of love and hope and all the precious things that’d be torn from her.Iwon’t survive the night.
“You take after your father so much,” Richard said and evaluated her through glassy eyes. “Same stubbornness. Same righteousness. You know, after law school, Cal wanted to open upa firm with me. Some humble place that did honest work. He ever tell you that story?” Richard gazed up at a water-logged ceiling tile. “God, I almost agreed too. You know why I’m as successful as I am?”
Amelia glared at him. She didn’t care, but her silence seemed to unnerve him. Rich’s lip twitched into a scowl, and he answered anyhow.
“I don’t live and die by the rule book. Nothing is black and white, and corruption exists everywhere—judges who can be bought and sold, cops who make evidence disappear, prosecutors who broker deals under the table. I’m resourceful and clever. That’s how you make money and a name for yourself; not doing what your dad does, toiling away for some greater good. That shit doesn’t exist. The world is built on darkness. You either embrace it and thrive or die trying to reach the light.”
“If you’re so fucking clever and resourceful, how did you end up here?”
Rich smiled. He didn’t seem to grasp his misfortune.
“When I took Philippe on as a client, everyone warned me it was a mistake and that I’d pay for it eventually.”
Richard quieted and stared at a crack in the floor before continuing.
“Philippe was my friend, but I saw him for what he was—a has-been looking to coast into easy retirement. He didn’t care about his business anymore. He slaughtered the goose that laid the golden egg when he agreed to Liam’s peace deal. It didn’t matter. He’d already collected his fortune and then closed the door behind him. It created the perfect opportunity for someone like Ivan to turn the screws of discontent.
“Ivan had connections to a few Velasco captains, those two men in here just a minute ago. He saw the Velascos as force multipliers for dismantling Emory’s empire, and the Velascos seized the chance to achieve parity with the Moriartys, a first for them. So, they made a deal, but Philippe found out.
