Chapter 2
Vienna
“Dante, fuck off,” I muttered, cringing against the taste of copper in my mouth.
Jesus Christ, what the fuck was that?
“Have you fuckers poisoned my drinks again?” I muttered, trying to turn my head to spit out the vile taste, only for a wave of dizziness to overpower me as pain splintered behind my eyes.
“What was that, princess?” a voice laughed. Rachel?
No.
That didn’t feel right.
Although, Rachel would be the most likely suspect to sucker punch me whilst I was sleeping.
She’d done it before.
More copper pooled behind my lips, and I tried once again to spit the taste out, pushing past the searing pain, only to find that my lips wouldn’t co-operate.
“Stupid,” I muttered to myself, trying to wedge one of my eyes open.
I shut it again almost instantly.
The pain was unreal. White-hot and searing, shattering through every other thought and feeling I had until it was all I could focus on.
“What the fuck,” I hissed, clenching my teeth and forcing my mind to think past the agony and focus on what was happening.
I was on a cold floor. Nothing new there, I’d woken up in worse places. The floor didn’t seem to be staying still. In fact, I was swaying and bumping. I wasn’t drunk, that much was certain. So what else would explain the movements?
It was then I became aware of the movement, of hands dragging me, of my back scraping along the floor.
My body hit against something, the object digging painfully into my back, knocking into my ribs. I hissed in through my teeth, analysing exactly what was wrong with me.
Every part of my body seemed to sting. Every second highlighted a new area that was hurting.
Fragments of memory returned in flashes—Gabriella dead, lying on top of her sheets. Natalie being shot point-blank. Lying to my brothers. And then Nico.
I hadn’t even had a chance to land a punch on the fucker. I vaguely remembered launching at him, and then his cunt of a vice president smacked me around the head with a metal pole. Which explained the headache.
The rest was blurry, and no matter how hard I concentrated, I couldn’t pull forward the memories of what happened. I remember hitting the floor with a ridiculous amount of force. I remember laughing and trying to push myself to my feet, only to be kicked in the face by Nico.
From there it was a blur of kicks, punches and pain, ending with Nico’s foot on my throat until I blacked out.
And here I was.
Opening one swollen eye, I looked around at the swirling mess of colours and endless corridors, breathing heavily through my nose in an attempt to ignore the searing pain.
“Throw him down here,” one of the men barked, dropping my arm and shoving a door open.
I couldn’t hear what the other man said next. He came from my left, and the ringing in that ear was too loud, drowning out whatever his response was.
“What the fuck does it matter? He’s dead anyway.”
“… boss… won’t be happy… have his fun.”
“Fine!” hissed the one I could hear properly.
And then I was being dragged downstairs, my head hitting every concrete step along the way.
Bastards.
I must have blacked out somewhere along the way, because the next thing I knew, two soft, scarred hands were clutching my cut and shaking me awake.
“Vienna? Vienna!”
“Rachel, fuck off!” I hissed back.
“Vienna, pay attention! Where is my daughter? Where is Gabriella?”
My lips curled into a smile at the mention of her name, and the pain disappeared. A vision of her flashed behind my eyes.
She was smiling and happy, her head thrown back with her laughter. Her eyes were shining brightly, and I got lost in them, drowning in them.
My lids lowered, and a heavy, relieved sigh left me.
I followed her into the darkness.
I’d follow her anywhere.