“I’ll make her pay for doing this to you,” I vow. Tossing the knife away, I storm up the stairs, shouting for the guards responsible for moving the women.
I can’t wait for them to see what awaits them in their new home.
Chapter 56
Cruz
WordofCesare’sdeathhit the news six days ago. Ryan called a meeting, and we all agreed that it must have been The Duke. Although the papers didn’t report on the manner of death, the fact he died so shortly after her disappearance meant everyone believes it was her.
Ryan thinks it was to send us a message that she’s okay and doing what she said—trying to help from the inside. Dutch was annoyed at first, as she wanted to be the one to kill him, but then shrugged. “As long as she keeps Vincenzo for us, I guess it doesn’t matter. One less for us to deal with.”
With everyone else dead, it just leaves Vincenzo, and Dutch has been having regular “girls only” meetings coming up with all sorts of different plans. I shudder to think what they’ve come up with already.
Today’s Cesare’s funeral, and while Dutch is busy with her friends and the guys are working out, I’m going to go out to pick up a gift for Dutch. It’s almost her birthday, and with her safely distracted and Vincenzo busy with the funeral, it seems like the opportune time to go.
I leave a note on the fridge in case Dutch comes back to the apartment before I do. Since many of these torture discussions end with alcohol and either movies or karaoke, I’ll probably be back before she knows I’m gone.
Even before I’m fully awake, I sense the wrongness around me. My hearing is the first sense to return. There’s nothing but silence surrounding me, so I take stock of my situation.
The last thing I remember is being in a jewelry store. I got waylaid looking for a birthday present and ended up looking at rings instead. Dutch doesn’t really wear jewelry, and I think if I tried to give her a run-of-the-mill engagement ring, she’d flush it down the toilet while laughing at me hilariously.
Something had caught my attention—oh, yes. While shopping I noticed a black van had passed the store three times. Nothing unusual about black vans in the city; but this one was marked with Jimmy’s Electrical, and I’m sure it was the same one I had also seen earlier, not long after I left the Waverley Building.
After that, things are a little fuzzy. Asking the sales assistant if she could put aside the ring for me, I ducked out the back, and …
That’s it. Nothing after that but blackness. Keeping my eyes closed and breathing even, I do a mental stock of my body. I go over each limb, giving it a mild stretch that should go unnoticed if I’m being watched. I appear to be intact except for a dry mouth and headache that indicates drugging, but most worrying is the pain at the base of my neck, where the tracker once was. I’m going to go out on a limb and guess they found and removed it.
Dutch is going to kill me if her father doesn’t do it first. I promised her he wouldn’t get his hands on me, that I would fight back. Instead, I’m lying here, the cold clamp of manacles around my hands and feet letting me know I’m chained, and most probably won’t be going anywhere any time soon.
The room we’re in contains the faint reek of mold and the feeling you get when you’re underground. It’s chilly, and I shiver before I can stop myself.Never show weakness—I understand that mantra well.
Instead of focusing on the cold, I think back to all the things she’s told me about Vincenzo and let the rage building inside me warm me from the inside out. I know I can’t lay a finger on him; he’s Dutch’s revenge. But I imagine all the ways I could torture him anyway, starting with paying him back for letting that monster put his fingers inside her.
A soft clank of a chain catches my attention, and when it sounds again, I lift an eyelid just enough to peek out. A blonde woman lies on a surgical table next to me, her hands and wrists also bound. She’s staring intently at me, and when she notices I’m awake, she shakes her head ever so lightly, then bounces her gaze toward the ceiling and back again.
We’re being watched.
She turns her head toward me, whimpering as if in pain. Then she closes one eye in a wink so brief I almost miss it, and I know then that this must be The Duke. Ryan will be relieved to know she’s still alive.
Exhaustion rolls over me, the effects of the drugs still in my bloodstream. Closing my eye again, I tumble back into the dark, waiting for Vincenzo to make his presence known.
When I wake later—whether hours or minutes I can’t say—it’s to the sound of voices arguing.
“Vincenzo, you must listen. If you want Daniella to hurt the most, you have to let her believe we’re okay.”
What the fuck? I thought she was on our side?Cracking an eyelid open, I watch as The Duke tries to calm an enraged Vincenzo. His face, which he has thrust right into hers, grows an alarming shade of red.
“You killed my brother,” he screams, rattling the chains connected to her arms. “Do you think you can talk yourself out of a punishment for what you’ve done?”
“Oh, not at all. You’re right, I deserve to be punished. But don’t forget that I’m best known for strategy. Use it, use me. You want to punish Daniella for what she did in London? Then let her watch me be tortured once you’ve captured her. You’re too angry now. You’ll kill me, and then you’ve lost the advantage. I’m no use to you dead.”
Ah, my mistake. She’s good.
“I don’t need you, I have him!” Vincenzo screams and I wince against the noise.
“Him? Who is he? I’ve never seen him before.”
“He’s important to her.”
