“I was only smacking him around a little,Preside. I swear it,” Victoria pleads, and DeLuca enters the room with a sharp gasp.
“Alessio!Non la sua faccia! L’ultima cosa di cui abbiamo bisogno è far arrabbiare suo padre prima che l’addestramento di quella feccia sia completato!”She steps in front of Saconne and looks up at him with a red face.
“I don’t care what her father says! The Hartley boy may be her pet, but she ismytoy! She’s ours to train! Until she learns her place, she will be treated like everyone else that belongs to the Society!” Saconne argues back.
“We don’t have time for this. We’ll finish this discussion another time,” DeLuca rages and walks over to the wall. Her hand slaps one of the stones, and the restraints on my wrists release. The tingling throughout my fingers gets stronger, but then, it starts to fade.Why have I never noticed that stone was a button before?“Get dressed, feccia.Cinquewill accompany you to eliminate your next targets.” I look down again, and I notice that I’m naked. Have I been this whole time? I think since mylast ‘assignment,’ when they practically ripped the suit off me, I have been. There’s apparently a lot I didn’t notice before.
She said targets. There’s multiple this time.I grit my teeth as I stand, and I surprise even myself when I catch the suit she throws at me. DeLuca arches a brow as I start to get dressed without argument.
“No fight this time,feccia?”
My jaw cramps as I clench it, but I shake my head anyway. I don’t want to find out what will happen if I refuse. She’s already proven her point with my father, and I can’t risk her killing anyone else dear to me.
“I’m impressed. Killing your father really whipped you into shape, didn’t it?” DeLuca taunts, and I can’t help but cut my eyes at her. As I continue to get dressed, I notice Saccone’s stare at Victoria as she picks herself up.
“It seems it did,” he says ominously, and by that tone alone, I know he suspects something is up.
“Come,feccia.Cinqueawaits you in the cab.” Saconne then shoves a bag over my head, and I’m shoved forward.
Chapter 32
Damien
Whatever Victoria gave me is actually helping. Once they took the bag off my head, the dizziness got a little better. The sway of the van isn’t as bad as it was last time, and I’m not hallucinating one of the worst days of my life. My mind is clearer than it has been in weeks—clear enough to know better than to try and escape again. They were smart this time. They didn’t show me where Ashia was, or that they even had eyes on her, but they don’t have to. I’m sure they’re waiting for me to fuck up again so they can take her out, too.
I’ll do whatever they want. I’ve already sunken to the lowest I can go, so what’s another kill or two? DeLuca didn’t show me the cards this time, but I know Cinque has them. It doesn’t really matter who I have to kill. I’ll do it. I’ll destroy anyone but Ashia.
A part of me wants them to drug me again—just so I can hear her voice. Soon, I won’t even need what’s in those needles, and perhaps that will be my only solace. My own insanity will be the one thing I can cling to besides my love for her, and the two canconsolidate to keep her close to me. The thought of finally having her in my arms again is the only thing that’s keeping me from turning into a mindless corpse.
How much has her belly really grown in this time? Now that I can sort of focus, I’ve been counting the days. She’ll be nineteen weeks pregnant tomorrow. Can she feel the baby moving? Is she eating like she’s supposed to be? Are they healthy? There are so many questions that I can only imagine the answers to, and each one makes my heart shrink just a little more.
I understand now why my father was so stoic, and how he could seem so heartless while he had so much love for us. I feel it myself, now—the cold. Despair covers my heart like a blackened cage made of evil. It’s constructed of symbiotic, unnatural material that only constricts more with every harsh blow. It knows I’m hollow, and that there are only two people left holding me up. I’m sure it’ll try to take them from me, too.
Cinque hands me two cards, drawing my attention, and they read the same as the first assignment. Each has a photo, an address, and special instructions that are written in Italian.Fucking Italian. I don’t know much about the language, but I need to decipher what I can. Nothing can go wrong this time. There can be no reason for them to go after my wife, and I’ll make sure of it. I examine the first closely, noticing the appearance of the man, and when I move to the second, I freeze.
It's a woman.
My stomach climbs up to my throat, and I have to swallow it back down. I’ve never killed a woman, nor have I wanted to until DeLuca. Just when I thought I truly couldn’t sink any lower, they give me this task. I protect women. I don’t hurt them… How am I supposed to do this? What will Ashia think of me once this is done? How could I have a daughter and ever be able to look at her in the eyes?
I’m shocked when Cinque taps my knee, but I look over at him anyway—not daring to defy him. His finger taps against the man’s picture, then his knife, and then both of his ears. My brows furrow, and I inspect the card again. The wordorecchieis in the first sentence, and I’m pretty sure that means ears.Tagliareis a few words down from that, and the word is structured like a verb. I look towards the front of the van to see Quattro preoccupied with driving, so I face Cinque.
“I’m supposed to cut off his ears?” I whisper for confirmation, and he nods. I look at the second card, and the woman’s doesn’t say the same thing. I don’t recognize any of those words except fortagliare, and I blink a few times to make sure I’m reading it right.
God, what do they want me to do?
I hold up the woman’s card to Cinque, and he barely looks at it before looking back at me. He opens his mouth to show me his missing tongue, and I have to look away. It’s not like I’ve never seen that before. Hell, I’ve cut off a man’s tongue myself, but it’s clear that his was never treated or healed properly. It must be at least a decade old from how the scar looks.
No wonder the man hasn’t spoken.
The realization of what they want me to do hits me like a train, and I flinch just at the thought.
They want me to cut out her fucking tongue.
The idea of defiling a woman in such a way makes me want to vomit all over this van, but I don’t want to give them the satisfaction. I respect women immensely. The willpower and strength I’ve seen from them is unlike anything else I’ve ever witnessed—my mother and my wife are perfect examples. It’s hard to wrap my head around this assignment, but I know it has to be done. I never thought I would have to end a woman’s life to save my wife’s, but I will. My promise to destroy myself inher honor stands, and while I never thoughtthiswould be my destruction, it’s now coming to pass.
Cinque taps my knee again, and once I look up at him, he briefly looks at the front of the van. I don’t follow his gaze, but I’m assuming it’s to check if Quattro is paying attention to us. He looks back at me quickly, then taps the woman’s card, and then his chest before taking the assignment from my hands. Relief instantly floods me.
“Why are you doing this?” I whisper to him, wondering why the hell he would help me. It’s clear that Saconne and DeLuca have put him through the ringer, but by Quattro’s enthusiasm, I figured they were all lap dogs. I suppose he’s been through this ‘training,’ though, and with him being DeLuca’s pet, I can only imagine the hell he’s been through.
