20. Lily
CHAPTER 20
LILY
“W e never got to finish our business the other day.”
My jaw drops when I look into the dark eyes of the guy who showed up here the other day. He’d looked so sad the last time.
Now he just looks angry.
“I had to leave suddenly. Sorry about that,” he says, sounding not one bit sorry at all.
“It’s not a problem. I can help you find a new friend, pretty quickly since it sounds like you might be in a rush. I am familiar with all of the animals here and I’m sure we can find the right fit for you!” My smile widens, as brightly as I can possibly manage, even though my pulse is throbbing harder with each passing second. Where the hell are Zeno and Vito? I could really use a pit bull right now, and I’m partial to either him or Vito.
“Do you have any pets who have brothers?” he asks in a low growl. “Like, maybe twin brothers?” He inches toward me and panic bubbles in my chest. My gaze drops to the desk in front of me. There’s a pen on the counter used for filling out an entry form. If I move fast, I can grab it. What I’ll do with it remains to be seen, though.
“I, uh, don’t believe we do,” I rasp, sliding backward until I’m pressed against a wall.
“That’s too bad,” he murmurs. “Because I’d really love to have twins to care for. They have such a special bond. Best friends from birth. Do you know anything about twins? Do you know that when one is hurt, the other one feels the pain?” He shakes his head, a sad smile on his face. “When one is suffering, the other knows exactly what he’s going through?”
“N-no,” I stammer, a hot second away from lunging for that pen. “I didn’t know that.”
“Well, now you do,” he says, stepping around the side of the desk. “So when my brother was brutally murdered a few weeks ago, I felt the sharp pains where knives tore open his flesh. My skin tingled when the flames seared his. And when he died, a part of me went with him. It was like a light switch flipped off in my soul, and half of it went dark, never to be turned on again.”
“That’s terrible,” I say, my palms clenched tight at my sides into clammy fists.
“It is,” he says. “And do you know what’s worse? Living with the guilt that I couldn’t be there to help him, that it was supposed to be me with him the night he died.” He tugs at his hair. “Maybe if I’d been there, I could have stopped it. I would have put up a fight and destroyed the man who ordered the hit on my brother.” His breathing becomes labored, his hardened gaze now slightly more evil, his body trembling, his jaw twitching like…like…there’s something inside of him that is about to burst forth.
I don’t like where this is going at all.
I strain my ears to hear a jingle of the back door signaling that Zeno is back inside, but I hear nothing except dogs barking in the back.
The guy squares his shoulders as he faces off with me, his expression of despair morphing into something decidedly more malevolent. “I would have killed Nico Salesi, and then I’d go after Zeno Villani for carrying out the hit,” he seethes, lunging for me just as I make a grab for the pen. I fall backward into a chair, scrambling out of it and pushing it into the hateful man snarling like he’s going to shred the flesh from my bones with his bare hands.
“Zeno!” I shriek, slithering around the desk and running for the back of the rescue with the guy on my heels. “Zeno!” I yell louder as I get closer to the dogs. I can hear his heavy breathing behind me, his feet pounding along the tile floor. I duck quickly around a corner just before he has a chance to grab me. The barking drowns out my screams for help, and I have no idea how much longer Zeno will be outside.
The guy yanks my hair, forcing my body backward, my arms and legs flailing around trying desperately to land a shot that will loosen his grip just enough for me to escape. “There’s no way you win this,” he growls. “There’s no way your family wins. You see, it took me a long time to put all of the pieces together, to have you all in one place so you can all suffer together. I wouldn’t want anyone to feel excluded.”
Tears sting my eyes as his fingers tighten around my hair. He brings a knife to my throat, the sharp tip pressing into the flesh. “This was the exact same type of knife your brother used on mine,” he hisses. “I figured it’d be poetic justice, to slice you up using the same weapon. And I want him to feel the same pain as I did when he watches me gut you like a fucking fish. I want him to remember what he did to my brother and my cousin.”
“Ahh!” I yelp one more time, praying Zeno hears me.
“Even if he hears you, it won’t matter,” the guy grumbles, shoving me toward the back entrance.
“What did you do to him?” I cry out, tugging at his fingers. I gasp as the knife point digs into my neck.
“I would think you’d be more concerned about what I’m going to do to you .”
I clutch the pen tight in my hand. I can’t make an attempt to stab him backward. I need to see him, to land my one assault. Something tells me that I won’t have a second shot at escape. But my mind is too flooded with ideas and plans and thoughts right now to process clearly. So I stop short and let my body fall forward.
And thank fuck, he doesn’t expect it. I crash into the door and he comes tumbling after me, losing his footing and his grip on me. I roll out from under him, and as he struggles to regain his footing, I jam the pen into his eye. The knife clatters to the ground and I kick it down the hallway, running after it like my life depends on it.
Which it most definitely does.
A guttural roar erupts as he pulls it out and I gasp, slipping on the shiny tile and pitching forward. I fly through the air, cracking my shoulder into the desk up front. A shooting pain explodes down my arm as I drag myself to my feet.
Too late.
He leaps at me like a rabid animal, pressing me into the floor, his hands tightly clasped around my neck. Blood pours from his gouged-out eye as he hisses at me. “You thought you could get away,” he growls. “You thought you could escape! Well, guess what? You can’t. And nobody can save you this time…you or the others. Your families can’t stop what’s about to happen.” He grits his teeth, squeezing harder until my airway is all but closed. I feel as if I’m drowning, sputtering, and gasping for air that just isn’t there. “But they’re gonna watch.”
He loosens his grip and flashes a sick smile at me.. “So you got lucky right then because I can’t very well kill you now. It’ll ruin the impact of the revenge plot against your family. We’re going big, Lily. Nothing can bring back my brother and cousin, and I want your families to feel the same loss we do. The same helplessness that I felt when I saw my brother, the same guilt and regret for allowing it all to happen when I could have stopped it. I want your families to be plagued with those feelings for the rest of their lives.” He dips his lead lower until his forehead almost touches mine. “It will be a fate worse than death for them. And witnessing that kind of horror is exactly what they deserve.”
He grips my hair in his fist and tugs me toward the back entrance of the shelter. I let out a piercing shriek, digging my fingernails into his wrists. I press into his flesh as hard as I can in the hopes that I can puncture the skin. But it doesn’t make him slow down. He just laughs, a maniacal sound that makes my heart pound against my chest.
Short, sharp gasps slice at my lungs and I focus on one thing — getting the fuck away from this lunatic. I fling my body left and right to derail this madman, but the second he kicks open the door, I know I’m too late.
I had my one chance to save myself, to find Zeno, to escape, and now he’s going to dump me in the back of a?—
“Fuck!”
High-pitched barking greets us as the door flies open and Vito lunges for him, clawing and snarling and biting my assailant. He lets go of my hair, using all of his energy to shove Vito away. But my beloved Vito hasn’t had breakfast yet.
And he’s damn hungry.
His sharp teeth shred the arms of the guy’s shirt within seconds, and I run into the exam room, searching for any syringes I can find. I grab one in each hand and dart back to where my real-life rescue dog is in the midst of his attack. I jump at the guy, arms out, sticking syringes into either side of his neck with an ear-splitting scream.
He stumbles backward, pulling them out and falling out of the back door. The engine of a blacked-out van roars behind him, the door sliding open as he runs for it.
I tear out of the shelter, running after the van just as the door closes.
The shoes.
I saw his shoes…
They have Zeno. They took him just like they were going to take me…the way they tried to do a few months ago.
My shoulders quake, my body shuddering uncontrollably, tears streaming down my face. “Oh my God, oh my God, oh my God!”
This was the final play.
Find us, torture us, and kill us in front of a live audience with absolutely no power to stop it.
I grab Vito and run as fast as my legs can carry me, shoving open the back door. I blink fast, swiping at the tears flooding my eyes. I don’t know where my phone is, and I can’t waste time looking for it. My fingers shake as I grab the handset from the exam room, stabbing Chloe’s phone number into it. It rings once, twice, three times, and I fist the side of my hair, fear and panic coursing through me. “Goddammit, where are you?” I yell, kicking the wall.
“Lily?” Chloe asks, finally answering the call. “What’s the matter? Why are you yelling?”
“Chloe!” I shriek. “Put Bruno on! Now!”
A second later his deep voice comes over the line. “What the fuck is happening, Lily?”
“Th-they took Z-Zeno!” I cry. “Th-they were trying to get me, too!”
I hear things slamming and crashing in the background, followed by Bruno bellowing in Italian. “Who took him?” he seethes.
“M-Messina! The guy Zeno killed — it was his twin brother who attacked me! They put him into a van, Bruno. I saw him! But I c-couldn’t stop it!” I sob. “They came for us because of what happened to Messina’s son. They’re going to kill Zeno while our families watch! I’m supposed to be there with him, but I got away!”
Bruno lets out a frustrated sigh. “Okay, are you still at the shelter? Can you get back here?”
“Yes,” I whisper. “I have Zeno’s keys. Bruno, we have to find him. Find Sergio! And we have to warn our families. Something is about to happen, and we need to stop it. Fast!”
“Okay, just get back here. I’m going to find that bitch Rayleigh, too. She’s gonna see just how pretty the Vegas strip looks… upside down .”
Click .
I toss the handset aside and grab Zeno’s keys from the counter just as the front door jingles. A frustrated squeal slips from my lips. My body freezes and a sense of impending dread consumes me like a tidal wave.
They’re coming back for me.
They’re going to take me, too.
I grab Vito’s leash and tiptoe out of the exam room. I’m close enough to the back door to slip out in enough time to get to Zeno’s car and?—
“Lily? Lily!” Allie’s terrified voice calls out.
“Allie!” I run toward her, throwing my arms around her. “Thank God you’re here!”
“I saw you and that man on the cameras!” Her voice rises in fright. “I was so afraid I wouldn’t make it in time. I called the police and rushed here as fast as I could. Are you okay, sweetie? Who was that man?”
I swallow hard. “I’m okay. And he was an intruder, someone who is seriously disturbed. But I can’t stay. I need to leave right now!”
“Are you insane? What if that man is just waiting for you to leave so he can attack you again? You can’t go! You need to wait for the police and tell them everything that happened!”
I grab Allie by the shoulders and hold her still. “Allie,” I say in a shockingly calm voice. “If I wait for the police, somebody is going to die because of me . I have to stop it.”
“That is ridiculous! You can’t walk into God only knows what by yourself, not knowing who or what you’re up against. If you wait for the police, they will handle it. They will find your friend. You cannot go alone! Nobody will be able to save you!” Allie’s eyes are filled with dread.
“Yeah, well,” I flex my fingers before balling them into tight fists at my sides. “This time, I’m not the one who’s going to need saving.”