“Me?” he says, and I hear him step closer. “You’re the one crossing me. I’m paying you to work for me, but you’ve decided to work against me. You should’ve known you’d be caught eventually.”
My jaw tightens.
“I can’t believe this,” Rosalie says breathlessly. “What the fuck is going on around here? Can’t anyone keep it in their pants?”
“I agree. First my nephew with thatCarmine, and now your bodyguard with Alessio. It seems no one can decide what side they’re on,” Eivor spits out.
“What do you want from me?” I ask him point blank as I open my eyes. “I’m tired of listening to this.”
“Ha! You’re tired?” Eivor motions for the guards to surround me. “You’re going to be beyond tired after I’m through with you.”
Guns are so close to my head that I know if a trigger is pulled, I’m gone. My life is completely over.
“Unless of course…you agree to do your job,” Eivor suggests. He steps even closer and speaks into my ear. Feeling his breath against my skin makes me sick to my stomach. “I’ll give you one last chance. Find the information I’m after, give it to me, and help me bring the Dresvanni down.”
“Or?” I ask quietly.
My gaze shifts over to Rosalie. I can see the anger in her eyes, but she stays silent. I want to tell her to get out of here before things take a turn for the worst, but I don’t. I want to see if she’ll say anything. Do anything.
“Or you’ll wish you did,” he tells me. “I won’t let you die quickly. It’ll be a slow and agonizing death.”
I stare into his eyes silently, then look to Rosalie once more.
“Don’t look to her, she’s not going to save you. Not after you fucked her husband. You should’ve thought about that. No onehere trusts you,” Eivor mocks me as he stands almost nose to nose with me.
“Right, darling?” he asks her.
Rosalie stands up straighter. “I won’t help you,” she says without hesitation. The look in her eyes is cold and harsh. I have no doubt that she’s not going to even try to save me from this situation.
Good. She doesn’t need to get involved. I’d rather be the only one to die.
“So. Make the choice, Damian,” Eivor insists. “Your life, for Alessio Dresvanni’s.”
I look back into his face again, and don’t change my expression from the serious and straight one. My heart thuds painfully hard in my chest, but I do everything I can to make sure he doesn’t think I’m sweating a single thing.
“Do your worst.”
And he does.
Eivor’s men begin to beat me to the ground with their guns. One hits me in the back of the head and I instantly go a bit dizzy. I know that if I try to fight them off now, I’m more likely to end up dead. It’ll be easier if I wait until they take me to a second location—and I know that they will take me to a second location.
It’s said that you should never let anyone take you to a second location, but I know myself. I know my area of expertise. I know that I can get out of zip ties, duct tape, and rope far easier than I can fight off four armed guards all at once. I need some time to observe them and decide what their weaknesses are.
So, I let them beat me to the ground far easier than I might have otherwise.
I let them tighten zip ties onto my hands once I’m on my knees, and I ignoring the blood dripping down my nose and the corner of my mouth.
Before I’m pulled up from the floor by the collar of my shirt, Eivor slams his fist into the side of my face. I feel the bone fracture every so slightly, and the pain whips around my head. He leans down to me.
“You’re going to regret this.”
I’m blind folded as I’m stuffed into the back of my own car and one of the guards is given my keys. Rosalie is gone. Having apparently decided to stay behind at the estate while her uncle drags me to some second location to beat information out of me that he’s so certain I have.
He’ll not be getting it, but I know he’s going to try.
I take in as many details as I can. I count the entire drive, one second to sixty seconds, and then how many times I’ve done that. I’m able to decipher how many minutes away from the Fiorelli estate the second location is by doing this. Ignoring any threats that are sneered out at me along the way. Ignoring the guards being cocky and shoving me against the window.
I count, and I count.
