Chapter 56
Fifty-Six
LULU
Everything hurts, and I’m pretty sure someone just punched me in the face.
“She’s awake.”
I know that voice.
And then it all comes back to me. Shopping. Loveland. Getting drugged and thrown into the back of a car.
I wheeze when someone kicks me in the ribs. I manage to open one eye and see Loveland grinning down at me.
“Wake up, you fucking slut. Jesus, we didn’t give you that much.”
“Enough.”
I’m punched again, and then my father screams, “ENOUGH!”
“I’m just getting started with her,” Loveland says with a sneer as I push myself up into a sitting position.
“You won’t touch her again,” my father says, his eyes full of hate and rage as he glares at me.
I look around, hoping for a way out, but I’m still groggy. My arms and legs are heavy, and I’m in a … living room.
I’m in a house?
I see men with big guns walking past the windows and a sliding glass door that opens out to a pool.
I’m surrounded.
And I’m alone.
“The only reason you even have her here is because of me.” Loveland rears back to slap me again, but I raise a hand and block her. “You little piece of shit.”
She manages to hit me anyway, and I see stars. I’m so damn dizzy. I want to throw up.
Jesus, being drugged sucks.
I hear the cocking of a gun and then watch in horror as my father shoots Loveland in the chest, the stomach, and right between the eyes.
“Fucking cunt,” he mutters as she falls right on top of me.
Oh God.
I try to push her off, but I’m still weak, so it takes several tries before I get the body to roll away. I’m covered in her blood, in her flesh, and the urge to throw up has intensified by about a million.
“I’m so disappointed in you, Eloise.”
Oh God. That tone. Fuck.
“I can’t marry him.”
He tsks and shakes his head and drags his hand down his face. “That’s not for you to decide. You’ll do what I fucking tell you. Being Roman Alexander’s fuck toy is not what I have in store for you and will not help to advance this family.”
Family? This man has no idea what family is.
With my legs starting to feel stronger, I push up to my feet, but the room spins, and I almost fall again.
“She wasn’t supposed to fucking drug you.” He shakes his head, glaring at the woman at my feet who continues to bleed out all over the floor.
God. Will that be me next?
Please. Please, Rome, find me. I’m so fucking scared.
He’s going to kill me.
“Damien will be here shortly to collect you.”
I shake my head, but he storms over to me, and I can’t move fast enough to evade his big hand wrapping around my arm and pulling my left shoulder out of the socket.
Fuck.
I scream out in pain. It’s so sharp, so fucking hot. It sends electricity through me, and not in a good way.
Dad’s face is an inch from mine.
“You’ll fucking do as you’re told, you ungrateful little bitch!”
Smack!
I’m seeing stars again when his phone rings, and he smiles.
“There he is now. Rizzo.”
“I’m out,” the man says. My dad’s face pales, and his body goes rigid with pure fury. “She’s been fucked by Alexander. Ever plan to divulge that little piece of information, you asshole? You knew the score, and you didn’t fucking deliver. The deal’s off.”
“Listen, there are surgeries—”
“I said the deal’s off.”
The phone goes dead, and my father lets it fall to the floor as he turns to me. “You little piece-of-shit bitch. I should have killed you with your mother.”
My shoulder is screaming, and I’m nauseous from the pain.
He’s going to kill me.
Where’s Rome? I want to see him, just one more time before I die. I want to tell him how much I love him. How grateful I am for everything he did for me.
Suddenly, we hear gunfire coming from outside. It sounds like a freaking war. So many explosions and smoke in the air. My father grabs me, wrenching my already dislocated arm and pulling me against him as if I’m a human shield.
What a weak piece of shit.
“If I go down,” he sneers into my ear, “we both do, bitch.”