Chapter Twenty-Seven
Lilianna Genovese
My head throbbed.
It was the first thought I had upon waking. I didn’t want to open my eyes because it hurt so damn badly.
I moved to rub my eyes, and I found a biting pressure at my wrists, then at my ankles.
I found myself on a chair. The entire thing was covered with rust, some of it scraped away from the most used areas. I found my forearm rubbing on an upturned piece of metal uncomfortably, but I ignored it as I tried and failed to kick out my legs.
They had bound me over my clothes, leaving enough wiggle room to begin moving. As I moved my legs up and down, the fabric of my pants moved just enough that the fabric slid easily down the metal of the chair. I kicked myself back, trying to ease it downward and over the bottom of the chair.
If I could kick back the chair enough…
I had to pause as the pulsing pain in my head consumed me.
The headache became secondary to the panic I felt as I finally took in the room around me. The single long florescent light overhead flickered, and I squinted through the discomfort it caused. Where the hell was I?
Within the span of a few breaths, everything came back. The fight. The panic room. Callum.
Matteo.
My heart sped up as I pulled at my bindings. Silas had taught me how to release bindings. How to loosen them. I got to work, recalling his calming and instructive voice in my mind as I pulled and twisted at the coarse ropes.
I needed to get free and make sure they were okay. Callum was supposed to be safe in the panic room, but if they’d killed Matteo, would they find him?
If they killed Matteo.
No.
It wasn’t possible. Matteo was the strongest man I’d ever known, and it wouldn’t be that easy to take him out.
A female’s dark laugh brought my focus back to the present, and I went still. I trailed my gaze across the room. Red walls. One door. God-awful lighting. Aelita.
“Someone took a while to wake up,” she said, pulling herself to her feet. She’d been hunched over on a cheap metal folding chair.
“How long?” I asked.
She shrugged with a smirk, intent on giving me no information. I knew how this game worked. If I asked a question, she’d make sure not to answer it. I’d be better off acting as if I knew everything, and maybe she’d let something slip.
Even knowing that, my heart begged me to ask about Matteo and Callum. I needed to know.
“You,” she declared, pointing at me as she began circling my chair, “have been very difficult for me to get my hands on.”
I needed to play this right. I needed her to spill information, and I needed her not to notice when I moved my wrists to loosen the bindings, but I also needed to stay alive. I had to push her just far enough to lose her temper, but I knew it would be a dangerous game. Especially since I couldn’t defend myself.
“You could have asked nicely,” I rasped.
I cleared my throat and winced. I needed water, but I knew I wouldn’t get it here.
“Oh, you have a sense of humor,” she said dryly, stopping in front of me. “Did you think it was funny when my brother was killed?”
“I didn’t even know your brother,” I told her, leaning as far forward as I could against my restraints. “I’m not the one who pulled the trigger on your brother. You can’t say the same about mine.”
Her hand raised, and she slapped me hard across the face. My ears rang for a moment as I took a deep breath. I wouldn’t show a reaction. I couldn’t.
I began wiggling my wrists to test the restraints. I wanted to release a sigh of relief when I realized they’d been lazy with them. With time, I could slip out of them. I just had to loosen them first…
“Your stupid father should have known we’d never go through with the wedding. Blood deserves blood, and your men killed him. You killed him by calling off the wedding.”
I shook my head. “I didn’t do anything. I never swore to marry him.”
“And I never swore to marry your brother,” she countered.
“I didn’t take matters into my own hands and kill your whole fucking family, did I?” I shouted. My cheek stung again before I even registered the blow was coming.
“No, you let someone else do it for you,” she snarled.
She looked nothing like she had on their wedding day. Aelita no longer looked well put together and beautiful. Her hair had been tied into a knotted bun atop her head, and filth coated her face as if she hadn’t showered in weeks. She must have been a part of the attack on Matteo’s penthouse if she looked like this.
“You hate me for leaving,” I told her. “I never knew your brother, and I certainly never wished him ill will. We both lost our brothers, and we both want people dead for it. But your reasons are fucking insane.”
She bent over my chair, grabbed both of my arms, and shoved herself in my face. Her voice was low and eyes were hard when she spoke. “You’re going to suffer for the part you played.”
I didn’t hesitate before slamming my head forward and into her nose. Aelita jerked back and held her nose as blood seeped from her fingertips. She cursed in Russian, and I released a chuckle.
I used the opportunity to speak. “We could have killed you weeks ago. But I wanted to come and talk to you first. I wanted to be a decent person and apologize for the loss of your brother. But you killed my brother in cold blood. You deserve to die for what you did, and I wanted you to know who was going to be responsible for it.” I licked my dry lips before continuing. “And then you blew up their resting place out of spite. You dug your own grave, and after everything, there isn’t room in my heart for forgiveness.”
“You fucking bitch!” she squealed, still holding her broken nose. “I knew it would be you who set off the bomb. You’re the only one stupid enough to visit empty graves. Dad wanted to put the motion detector closer and take you out right away, but I convinced him to send a message instead. We knew it wouldn’t kill you.” She scoffed as if I was the stupidest person she’d ever met. “It’s not like they’re resting there anyway. Their bodies are at the bottom of the ocean by now. They’re fish food, and they deserve that fate.”
I continued working on my bindings as I took in her words.
Their bodies were gone.
When they hadn’t turned up, I’d suspected as much. I hadn’t wanted to think too much about it, but the realization had lingered in the back of my mind for a while. I’d hoped they were buried somewhere I could eventually find. I’d hoped the Petrovs would have given me that decency.
But I knew better.
It had been over a month.
If their bodies had been kept, I knew there wouldn’t be much left of them.
Maybe this was for the best. At least the Petrovs weren’t holding onto their bodies and letting them rot.
At least I now knew where they were.
They may not have been laid to rest underground, but they were still laid to rest, nonetheless. They’d always loved the beach. The ocean. I could imagine Silas smiling at the thought of being laid there. At least they weren’t in unmarked graves.
Though I knew it wasn’t her intention to bring me peace, I smiled. “Good.”
She lunged forward, this time slamming her closed fist into my cheekbone as she seethed down at me. “I begged to keep you alive. My father wanted to kill you outright and take your family’s assets, but I convinced him to take you alive so you could answer for what you did. So you can suffer. You have no idea what I gave up to have this moment.”
“Do whatever you want to me, Aelita. You’re the one who fucked up, and you know it. They won’t kill you quickly when they find us. I’ll make sure of it.”
They. I was careful not to give any names, hoping she’d let something slip. Instead, she reached forward and grabbed me by the throat, allowing her nails to dig in tightly. “They’ll never find you alive.”
I didn’t allow myself to react, even as I felt my face going red. I didn’t think Aelita could keep her head on straight long enough to torture me. She’d kill me first. But once I had my restraints loose enough, I could fight back. I just had to get them off first…
The door behind her swung open, and she released me. My chair flew back, and my head slammed into the floor. Stars danced in my vision, and I couldn’t stop the groan that escaped me.
Aelita began speaking in Russian. When my vision refocused, I found Vlad standing there, too. He stared at me as he spoke to her in hushed tones, as if I could possibly understand them.
When they went silent, Aelita looked back at me. Vlad’s eyes pierced into mine, and the coldness of them brought the first genuine fear into my heart. This was the mob boss. He was someone who shouldn’t be reckoned with, and I could see that in his expression.
With heavily accented Russian, he finally addressed me for the first time. “My daughter insisted on keeping you alive, even though it caused great risk for us.”
I glanced between them. She looked pleased with her father’s words, but I didn’t say anything. I didn’t dare to.
He pulled out a phone and began scrolling through it. “I’ll have you know that I had no intention of being hostile with Costello. But your being alive leaves too much risk for Italian rebellion. With the bloodline still intact, you have too much power over your father’s men. Without you, they would have disbanded. I can contend with Costello, but not with all of your men combined. I should have ignored my daughter’s frivolous wishes and had you killed with the rest of them, but it’s too late for that now.”
Aelita looked offended. “Daddy, she is the reason Jeremy died!”
He said something in Russian that sounded like a scold, and she cowered away from him.
He put his phone on speaker, and it rang as he called somebody. “We’ll take care of the situation with Costello today, too.”
An all too familiar voice filled the line. “Where is she?”
I could recognize Matteo’s voice anywhere.
Relief settled deep within me as I realized for the first time that he was alive. If Matteo had survived, that meant Callum was okay, too. They were both safe.
I exhaled a sobbing sound of relief.
Vlad recited an address, and I realized what he was doing too late. “Come and get her. If you’re not fast enough, I don’t know how much of her my daughter will leave to be saved.”
I opened my mouth. “Matteo, it’s a trap!” I shouted, but the line went dead, and I wondered how much he had heard.
“Your Don isn’t stupid. He knows it’s a trap, but he’ll do it anyway to save you.” Vlad crouched beside me and assessed my face. “You would have made quite the bride for my son. Maybe we wouldn’t be in this position if you had followed through.”
“If you don’t want to make an enemy of Matteo, don’t. It’s not too late.”
Vlad scoffed and patted my cheek before standing over me. His expensive leather shoes were all I could see from where I lay. He stood too close for me to crane my neck upward, but I could see Aelita behind him. She looked excited.
“I cannot let you live without great risk to my business, and I cannot kill you without making enemies of Costello. It’s the lesser of two evils, dear.”
He walked toward the door.
I stopped him with my words. “You’re making a mistake. Matteo will not take this lightly. You said it yourself. He’s not stupid. Think this through, Vlad.”
I could finally see his face again as he turned toward his daughter, ignoring me entirely. “If they find this place, kill her. If all goes to plan, you can have your fun.”
Cruel satisfaction filled her face, and I knew that if I couldn’t get myself free, there wouldn’t be enough of me left for Matteo to save.