43. Ambush #2
“You seem to have got over your little stutter, Sweetheart. Good for you,” Sean chuckled, pressing the blade into Raff’s skin hard enough to draw a bead of blood that slid down his throat. “This is your nephew, right? The heir to the Buccini empire? I do enjoy takin’ heirs.”
“Let him go,” I begged. “It’s me and Aria you came for. I’ll walk out that door on my own two feet, and I won’t fight you if you let my family live.”
Sean tilted his head, studying me as if considering my offer. My heart plummeted because deep down, I knew there was no bargaining with him. Twenty-four years ago, Sean did exactly this to Maddox’s entire family. He didn’t let a single Moriarty soldier live. Except the children.
“Why did you let them live?” I asked, my fists clenching behind my back. “The Moriarty children. Why not kill them?”
He pursed his lips, dragging the knife along the side of Raff’s face, drawing blood. Raff winced but didn’t make a sound, gritting his teeth through the pain as Sean dragged the blade back down, carving up his cheek.
“Stop. Please,” I cried, but Sean just smiled like the demented psychopath he was.
“You want to know why I let them live?”
My eyes were glued to Raff’s pained face, now covered in his own blood. The knife kept inching closer and closer to his eye.
“You can only control people when they have somethin’ to live for. A man will do anythin’ you tell him to if you find what he loves and put your hand around its throat.”
“You’re sick,” I spat.
“Sick?” Sean chuckled, shaking his head. He halted the blade at the corner of Raff’s mouth and sliced it open. Raff howled in agony. I fought the men holding me, tears streaming down my face. “No, no. I’m not sick. I’m twisted. Sick men act without purpose. Twisted men have reasons.”
He let go of Raff’s hair and threw him into the wall. Two more soldiers descended on Raff, tying his hands and forcing him to his feet. Blood and cuts covered so much of his face that he was barely recognisable. Sean took a step towards me.
“I won’t kill you or your family. Yet.” He grabbed my jaw, the way he had the very first day he met me, and I glared into those cold blue eyes.
“For over twenty years, I kept Monster in that bunker. And every year he grew more dangerous and less breakable. He was an enigma. The more I hurt him, the less he felt. He stopped fearin’ pain.
He stopped fearin’ death. There was nothin’ more to take, and I wondered if it was time to have him put down.
” He twisted my head to the side, his eyes travelling over my face with something vicious, like gratitude.
“Then you were brought to me. Soraya Buccini. The one thing I’d been missin’. ”
“You’re a coward. You’re scared of him. Always have been,” I whispered as an angry tear slid down my cheek. He ignored me.
“Someone who loves him, despite what he is.” I squeezed my eyes shut as he leaned into my ear and husked, “When Monster comes tearin’ through that door and sees what’s become of you all, he’ll understand.
” He leaned back and gripped my jaw tighter, demanding my attention.
I opened my eyes and stared into the devil’s.
“It’s him. Every death, every torture, every horrific thing your family is about to go through traces back to the day he let himself love you. ”
I couldn’t breathe. It was worse than mindless murder. He didn’t come here for revenge; he came to make Maddox carry the weight of our deaths. He wanted to break the one thing he’d never managed to break. And he’d used me to do it.
“Boss!” Oscar shouted from down the hall. “House is clear. We’ve got the rest of them.”
“Excellent.” He grinned at me, releasing my jaw and straightening his suit. “Let the games begin. Which family member do you love least, Soraya?”
“He’ll kill you.” My voice shook, but he knew I meant it. “Maddox isn’t the boy you can keep caged anymore. He’s not under your control. He’s free. And he will come for you.”
Sean cackled. “Oh, I’m counting on it.”
He grabbed a fistful of my hair and marched me through the wreckage of my childhood home. Vases were smashed, blood painted the wallpaper, and bullet holes pocked the ceiling. Raff was dragged behind me by the soldiers, his boots scuffing and his blood leaving a trail on the marble floor.
The doors to the living room opened, and there were most of my family.
Max was tied to a chair. Olivia knelt on the rug, tears streaming down her face, her hands bound and her lip split and bleeding.
Aria was pinned in an armchair by two Irish soldiers, their hands on her shoulders.
I didn’t know whether to feel relieved or concerned that Mamma and Lili weren’t there.
Did that mean they were safe or already dead?
The walls of the room were lined with Buccini soldiers and staff members who had survived the gunfight, all bound and gagged.
Sean shoved me down next to Olivia. His men dumped Raff beside me.
“This is cosy,” Sean said, taking a seat in the armchair Gio always sat in. “But we are still missin’ a few.” He frowned, scanning the room.
Boots dragged along the hall. Two soldiers hauled a body between them, and it took me a few seconds to realise who it was.
“Gio!” Olivia shrieked, tears streaming down her cheeks as she tried to crawl on her knees towards where they’d dumped his body on the floor. “Gio!”
A gun pressed against her temple, and she froze, sobbing. I stared at my older brother, watching his eyelids flutter over glassy, unfocused eyes. He was alive, but barely. The huge bloodstain on his white shirt told me he didn’t have much longer.
“Oh, good!“ Sean stood up, then crouched by Gio’s head, twisting to look at him. “You’re still alive. Prop him up against the wall. Let him bleed out. Hopefully, he’ll stay awake long enough to watch what happens to everyone he failed to protect.
” Sean patted Gio’s cheek with the side of his gun.
“Take your time dyin’, Giovanni. You earned a good seat. ”
Olivia made a sound as if her soul was dying with him.
Sean rose and clapped his hands together. “Now, Monster is still hours away, chasin’ his revenge pointlessly in another country. That gives us plenty of time to work with.” He flipped his knife in his hand. “Where to start?”
His gaze landed on Olivia. She bowed her head.