CHAPTER 43
My ears are buzzing, and there’s this thick fog inside my head, leaving my vision blurred and my thoughts jumbled. Ahead of me, there’s an orange-tiled floor, the lines where the squares meet wonky and jagged, and there are voices. Distorted but angry, panicked even.
The skin at my temple feels tight, and there’s pain; one I recognize from taking a sharp hit there.
It takes a minute, but the whole ordeal on that bench back in town comes back in snippets.
Squeezing my eyes, I try to fight the hazy fog that keeps me quiet, keeps me still. I listen to those voices. I feel the hard chair beneath me, the rope that bites into my wrists, securing my hands behind the back of the chair.
But there’s only one thing I care about.
“Is she…” I croak, “Is she alive?”
“He’s awake,” I hear someone say.
“What did you just say?” Another asks.
“Is she alive?” I repeat.
“Who?”
“Elena.” I reply.
A laugh answers me, “For now.”
I feel a grin tug at the side of my mouth. “You’re fucked.” I wet my lips, my tongue feeling too big for my mouth, my throat so damn dry it’s like I swallowed sand. “You’re so fucked I almost feel bad for you.”
“What the hell are you talking about?”
I open my eyes, and though my vision is swimming, blurred at the edges, I find the man who spoke.
“She will kill you all.”
A chorus of laughter erupts around me. “Her and what army?”
“She doesn’t need one,” I grin at them. “She is the devil, and she will rip you all apart.”
“He’s delirious,” Someone says. “Elena De Luca is nothing but a ghost.”
“And I hope she haunts the fuck out of you,” I reply.
“Listen here.” A face swims in front of me. “You’re alive because our boss said it so, but accidents happen. Shut your fucking mouth before I cut out your tongue.”
“Do it,” I spit, “Fucking do it.”
“Don’t test me,” He warns.
“I will,” I reply, “Because you’re nothing but a dog that follows orders from its master.”
The guy reaches for a knife held at his belt, but his movement halts at the sound of gunfire from beyond the door.
A laugh rumbles out of me.
“Here she comes.” I rasp, “You ready for her?”
More shots echo through the house, and a manic kind of laugh erupts from me.
I don’t need to see her to know she is here.
It’s what I would do, and I expect nothing fucking less.
My reckless, crazy, beautiful little Hellion is here.
More shots sound, followed by screams and another laugh tumbles from me.
“Now or never, I guess.” I work my hands, finding the knot in the ropes.
They haven’t done their research and really, why should they?
They’re part of the fucking mafia, how dare anyone think they could escape them, but this is a fucking knot I learned to undo when I was nine.
I could do it with my eyes closed and behind my back? It’s fucking nothing.
Elena isn’t alone.
I have her back.
Heavy foot fall sounds just beyond the door before it slams open and a man, dressed entirely in white, rushes in.
I see the resemblance to Elena in the color of his eyes and hair, but that’s all, and I’ll take a wild guess that this is Anton De Luca, the man responsible for the hell Elena has been through.
I want to rip out his throat.
“She’s here,” He says, a muscle twitching in his jaw, “Just like I said she would be.”
His eyes land on me. “Are you ready to meet your maker?” I ask him.
A grin stretches his mouth wide, “Elena has the kind of power to turn men into puppets, you are no different. It was her beauty, no? You simply couldn’t resist; however, she is but a woman and is nothing to me. I’ll end her, and then I’ll end you.”
“Have you always underestimated her?” I ask, fingers still working the knot, the ropes loosening around my wrists. “I wonder if you’ll think the same when she guts you from cock to throat.”
A quick, hard fist meets my face, splitting my lip and causing my teeth to bite into my tongue. I spit the blood onto the tile in front of his shiny brown shoes.
“Temper, temper,” My heart lurches as Caden Blackwood saunters into the room. The fucking traitor. “I didn’t tell you where to get him for you to hurt his pretty face, now did I? He is bait, and bait works best when it’s alive.”
“Someone gag him.” Anton orders, subtly shaking his hand as if the punch he delivered hurt him more than it did me. That figures.
“You did your part?” Cade flicks his eyes to me but dismisses me in the next blink. “The ones questioning your leadership?”
“They’ve been sent away for the day, I couldn’t very well let them see my lies,” Anton huffs. “Where is she?”
“Last I saw?” Caden wanders to the window, “Putting a bullet between the eyes of a couple of your men. She’s a real angry one; she’ll be here any minute, I’m sure. Let her come.”
A series of shots sounds from beyond the door, closer than they were only a few minutes ago.
I can’t let her come in here without fucking back up.
I work harder on the knot, finally pulling it free enough that I can slip the rope over my hands.
I don’t let it drop, keeping it in my palms. It’s the only weapon I have, and I’ll be damned sure to use it.
But when I glance at Caden, his eyes are on my now free hands and the rope pulled taut between them.
A smirk tugs up one side of his mouth, and I brace for him to call me out but, to my fucking shock, he remains quiet.
There’s six men in here, including Cade and Anton. She is outnumbered and outgunned.
“Here she comes,” Cade sounds almost giddy when several shots ring right outside the door. Awareness runs through me, my skin prickling with it. There’s something not quite right…
Anton raises his hand as he shuffles, coming closer to me.
He’s a coward. He’s a fucking coward.
I expect Elena to kick the door in, to come in firing first, asking questions later, but that doesn’t happen. The handle depresses slowly and unlatches with a soft click that may as well be as loud as a gunshot as it settles in the room and then the door swings open, revealing an empty threshold.
There’s no Elena.
No screams.
No… nothing.
Through the door, I see three dead bodies, blood pooling beneath their cooling bodies, but that’s all. Silence falls like lead, a clock ticks somewhere inside the house and beyond the window, birds sing from their perches.
I could do it now. They’re all waiting, staring at the door, anticipating her. I could end it for her now. If I position it right, I can use him as a shield from the others in the room, so they don’t shoot me too soon. I know I won’t make it out alive, but if it means she will…
Shifting on the chair, I calculate my moves, how to get him in the right spot, how quickly I can get that rope around his neck. Caden is behind me, which makes it more difficult, but…
A single tap on my shoulder draws my attention away, and I snap my head around, finding him already staring. He gives a subtle shake of his head and then lifts one finger.
Wait.
Am I reading this wrong?
Four well-aimed shots pop off one after the other, a bullet finding the mark every time. Four bodies hit the floor.
“Where is she!?” Anton roars as his men go down.
Behind me, Caden laughs manically.
And then she’s there, in all her bloody glory.
Blood is splattered across her face, her hands and her arms are stained with it, the pretty little summer dress she is still wearing stained red. There’s a gun at her hip, tucked into my belt, a blade in her hand, and her plump red lips are pulled up into a smile.
And behind her, a group at least fifteen strong stand ready to defend her.
“I’m right here, Uncle.” She cocks her head toward Anton, the move somewhat primal and inhuman. “Did you miss me?”