Devil’s Game (The Devil’s Demons #2)

23. Chapter Twenty-two

Chapter Twenty-two

Giana

I grimaced as my fingers hit the buttons. Hatred burned in my chest for this man. This was all a game to him, every single move a new attempt to manipulate me, to make me feel small and under his control. He knew what it would do to remind me of how ingrained the code to the penthouse elevator was in my mind, just like he knew the symbolism this place held.

This condo was the cage he’d kept me trapped within for years. He knew what he was doing, bringing me back here. I knew his games, though, so I hadn’t been surprised when I’d received a text last night, giving me the meeting place and time for tonight.

My back was ramrod straight as I reminded myself not to let any of my warring emotions show. I was alone, but I knew there was a camera pointed at me, just as I knew Tommaso was glued to the screen, watching me for any signs of weakness.

I waited with bated breath as the private elevator shot up, knowing I’d be face-to-face with the man I hated soon enough.

My stomach twisted as the elevator slowed, the chime sending my pulse skittering as anticipation vibrated through me like an electric current.

The brass doors rolled open, revealing the dark interior of the penthouse. I blinked, attempting to get my vision to adjust before I stepped off, but it was no use, not while the bright light of the elevator still radiated overhead.

My chest tightened as I walked into the dark entryway, the elevator doors closing behind me, like the last lifeline I had to the outside world had been cut off.

The condo was the same as I remembered it, acting as a time capsule of our life here. The white marble floor shone in the city lights twinkling through the floor-to-ceiling windows. The entryway led to the living and dining rooms, with a full professional kitchen around the corner. Marble stairs led up to the second floor where the bedrooms were.

“ Mi amore .” The name was like a knife to the chest, and despite myself, I couldn’t help but flinch at the familiar voice. “I knew you’d come.”

My gaze searched for him in the darkness, his figure shrouded in shadows as he strode through the living room. I blinked the familiar image away as memories from that night in East Haven flooded my thoughts. He’d waited for me in the dark then, too, pinned me against the door before he—

I walked into the living room, getting as far as I could from a corner or anything he could use to trap me with. Sure, I was closer to him now, but I would never let him do that to me again. I would never let him corner me, trap me, intimidate me.

Tommaso grinned as I strode toward him, like he thought I was about to jump into his arms. But his excitement was short lived as I put the couch between us, not letting him get too close to me.

“Of course, I came. You took Sophia.” I choked back my incredulous tone, not wanting to do anything to set him off, not until I knew she was safe.

“Don’t be like that.” He sighed in disappointment. “You have no idea how much I missed you. I’ve been going out of my mind every day that I haven’t been able to hold you.”

He moved to the side of the couch, and I mirrored him, keeping the same distance between us.

“Let Sophia go.” I kept my hands by my side, ready for whatever he might try next.

“Oh, Giana.” The way he said my name made ice skate over my veins, like I was just a na?ve girl he had to explain the truths of the world to. “You thought I would just let her go right away?”

His mahogany eyes glinted with barely concealed malice before he cleared his throat and blinked it away, his caring facade slipping back into place. “I need to make sure we’re back on track, first.”

“There’s no track for us to get back on.” I scoffed, barely able to keep the snarl out of my tone.

“That’s disappointing to hear, but it’s no matter.” He waved off my protest with the bat of his hand. “It looks like I’ll just have to do some convincing, that’s all.”

“Convincing?” I went to stalk toward him, but remembered myself at the last second, keeping a lid on the rage boiling in my veins.

I couldn’t let him get to me like that, or the plan would never work.

“The fact that you think any amount of convincing could bring me back to you shows how truly delusional you are.” I let the full weight of my disdain for him show. There was no use in trying to reason with him, anyway.

I expected him to snap, to throw the white and gold lamp on the side table in a fit of rage. What I didn’t expect was an amused grin to curl his lips while he ran his heated gaze over me.

“You have your spark back, mi amore .” He took a step closer, and I was so caught off guard by his reaction, I almost forgot to keep that distance between us.

“What are you talking about?” I snapped, shaking myself from his mind games. That was all this was. He was throwing everything he could at me to get me to stay willingly, to try to get me back under his thumb, but it wouldn’t work. Not this time.

Little did he know, I had a few of my own tricks hidden up my sleeves.

“I was willing to hold on to you, even in your darkest days, my love.” His pity-filled mahogany eyes swept over me, and I did my best to conceal the anger raging inside of me, not allowing him the satisfaction of getting a rise out of me. “But this woman, standing in front of me, is more like the girl I fell in love with than you’ve been in the past six years. This is the woman I want by my side, ruling over our empire and lighting the world on fire.”

“You just don’t get it, do you?” I gave him my best condescending smile, loving the flicker of annoyance that ignited in his gaze before he quickly snuffed it out, apparently just remembering he was supposed to be playing a part. “That spark that you supposedly loved so much? It’s because of them. Being with you is what extinguished it. You choked the life out of me so that you could keep me locked away in this damn cage.”

I motioned around me, letting my disdain for him shine clearly. “Don’t you see? Being with them is what brought it back. They brought me back from the shell of a person you made me into.”

“What the hell is the difference, Giana?” Tommaso whirled around the couch so quickly, I barely stepped out of his way before his arms could circle around me.

Using the coffee table to keep some distance between us, I gave him a warning look.

He sighed, scrubbing a hand over his face. “Don’t play the moral high ground with me, because they’re no better than I am. You’re precious Merrick built a gang from the ground up in the hopes of rivaling us, and Kellan was there right by his side the entire way. And don’t even get me started on that Spade character. Really, Giana? I have half a mind to take you to the hospital. How could you ever want them over what I can give you—the power, the fortune, my love?”

“Love? Is that what you call it?” I chuckled. “You never loved me. If you did, you would’ve cared about someone other than yourself for one second, and you would’ve seen what you were doing to me and let me go. Instead, you stole the scraps of what I had left, wearing me down until I thought I had nothing left to live for. Holding on to someone until they can’t breathe isn’t love. Love is a partnership, it’s trust, it’s knowing someone so completely, you can communicate with only a look. It’s respecting them and caring for them. But that’s something you’ll never know.”

“You called me delusional.” He huffed in mock amusement. “But look at you, spouting on and on about some fairy tale bullshit. That isn’t real, Giana. You and I? That’s what’s real. I fought to get you back, I showed you my love and dedication, and still, you test me?”

He snatched a crystal bowl off the ornate gold coffee table and chucked it at the fireplace. I suppressed the urge to jump as it crashed against the wrought iron, sending an explosion of glittering shards over the marble floor.

I shook my head, knowing this was pointless. He would never understand, but that wasn’t the point, was it?

“Let’s just forget this whole thing.” He gave me an apologetic smile, as though he was compromising. “Let’s go back to the way things were here in New York. You can get your job back, and I’ll do my best to give you some more space.”

I pushed down the rage building in my chest like an inferno ready to erupt over my skin.

“There’s no going back, Tommaso. Because, despite all you said about not being able to claim moral superiority, we can.” I grinned, striding back behind the couch, ready for the next stage of the plan as I gazed up at the banister separating the second floor from the sheer drop to the living room below. “You don’t care about who you hurt, you prey on the innocent, you kill those who don’t deserve it. Did you really think killing Ryan and dumping him at the shop would win you any favors?”

“I thought you liked that now?” He grinned like this was all a joke, like he knew he was going to get whatever he wanted—it was just a matter of time.

“And that just goes to show how little you know about me.” I shook my head. “You’ve underestimated me. You always have, but that’s because I let you. I let you drown me, but that ends now.”

“Underestimated you?” He chuckled, continuing our dance as he tried to get close to me again. “I wouldn’t call it underestimating when you walked right in here, Giana. How did you think tonight was going to play out? You thought you’d just bat your lashes and demand I let your friend go, and then what? Do you think you’re ever going to see outside of this penthouse again? Do you really think I was just going to let the two of you go?”

He walked around the back of the couch, and I watched him with feigned despair, pretending I was frozen to my spot, forgetting to put that distance back between us.

“If anything, I guess I overestimated you.” He gave me a placating smile as he ran a hand down my arm, trying to comfort me. Or, at least, pretending to. I suppressed the urge to yank my arm from his grip, not wanting to betray the plan too soon. “I thought you’d have some sort of plan, regardless of how foolhardy it would be to go against me, especially with the number of guards I have surrounding your friend.”

He lifted a brow, and it took every ounce of willpower I had to give in. I stumbled a step back, only for his grip to tighten around my wrist, pinning me in place. “Why don’t we stop playing this game, Giana? You came here because you wanted to stop me from killing your friend. You knew you weren’t going to leave today, you knew you were basically trading your place for hers, because that’s the kind of person you are. See, I do know you.”

He tugged me closer to him, his face mere inches from mine, the one who had haunted me for the last six years, invading even my nightmares. I yearned to rake my nails down his face, to scar him and leave his face in ribbons, like the tattered shreds of his soul.

“I knew exactly how to get you back this whole time, mi amore . I just had to wait for the perfect opportunity.” He threaded his other hand through my hair, his eyes shuttering as they played through the soft strands.

I swallowed the surge of bile down that rose in my throat at his reaction, wishing I could plunge a dagger straight into his chest.

“So, tell me, Giana, what was your plan?” A cruel smirk curled on his lips that made my stomach twist in response. I knew the malice glinting in his eyes only meant one thing—that he thought he’d won. Little did he know there was so much he didn’t know.

“You’re right, okay?” I snapped, pushing every ounce of fear and frustration I’d felt at this man’s mercy into my voice to sell it. “I’d do anything to keep my friends safe, so just let her go.”

“You’re so predictable, mi amore .” He sighed wistfully and cupped my cheek. I tried to jerk out of his touch, but his fingers tightened, rooting me in place. “Killing her would be a bigger headache than she’s worth, thanks to who her father is.”

His shoulders slumped slightly, as though it was some sort of great burden to not kill my friend. “But if I let her go, there have to be some rules, starting with, you’re not to see her again. She’s a bad influence on you.”

How little he truly knew . . .

I narrowed my eyes on him incredulously. “I doubt she’d want to have anything to do with me after you abducted her.”

“You’re probably right,” he murmured, amusement lacing his tone. “I’ll let her go, but we have to come to a little understanding first. See, she knows more about us than anyone outside of East Haven, meaning she’s a liability, especially with our expansion across the East Coast.”

The East Coast? I knew they wanted to establish a foothold in New York, but the entire East Coast was news to even me. That was yet another reason why they had to be stopped.

“What kind of understanding?” I stiffened in his hold, hating the way he attempted to soothe me as he ran his thumb over my cheek. Like I’d ever be comforted by the same hands that brought me pain.

“We’ll discuss it tomorrow, but for now, she is safe.”

“Let me see her,” I demanded, batting his hand away. He was still holding my wrist, but at least I could put some space between us now and pull in a full breath. “I need to see that she’s okay, that you haven’t harmed her.”

Tommaso sighed, threading his fingers back through his dark locks, attempting to regain his composure. “I’ll let you see her, but first, we haven’t discussed your side of the bargain.”

“What side of the bargain? Like you already said, I don’t really have much choice in this. Just, please, let me make sure she’s okay.” My pulse thundered, anticipation racing along my skin like a jolt of electricity. I wasn’t sure how much longer I could keep playing this game, keep luring him in like the prey he unknowingly was.

“Okay, mi amore .” He smiled, his mahogany eyes glinting with triumph.

The asshole believed he was wearing me down, that he was chipping away at me, piece by piece, until nothing was left other than the shell of a woman I’d been before.

“Bring her out,” he shouted, looking up to the second floor through the wrought-iron railing that separated the two floors.

I waited with bated breath, my attention split between him and a few feet of marble floor that was visible from this angle.

He ground his jaw as nothing happened.

“I said bring her out,” he barked, his grip on my wrist tightening as he glared up at the second floor.

Silence.

There was no thud of footsteps or muttered voices, only silence.

“What did you do?” he hissed, wrenching me to face him. Red bloomed across his cheeks and down his neck as rage boiled just beneath the surface.

“What do you mean?” I frowned, easily jerking my arm from his grip in one swift move.

His eyes widened in shock before he quickly schooled his features.

“I’ve been here with you this whole time. How could I have done anything?” I grinned and took a step back, readying for the next phase of the plan. “Besides, I thought you knew me so well. You predicted I’d show up here by myself and hand myself over to you, right?”

“Giana,” he warned. “This isn’t the time for—”

“Games?” I cut him off, earning a scowl of disapproval. “You keep mentioning games, as though you want to avoid them or put them to rest, yet I don’t think that’s true. It seems that you only like games when you’re the one playing them, not me.”

“What have you done?” His gaze darkened and he took a step toward me, but before he could take another, a body tumbled from the second floor, landing on the marble floor with a sickening smack.

Tommaso cursed under his breath as, one by one, the bodies of his guards came crashing over the railing, cracks splitting in the marble under the force of their weight. He counted them, like he was trying to see if any were left, but as the sixth one crashed onto the floor, piling up on top of two others, that final scrap of hope disappeared.

“I guess you don’t know me as well as you thought.”