Home > Lorenzo Beretta(53)

Lorenzo Beretta(53)
Author: Abigail Davies

A wrench he was going to regret.

He clapped his hands, causing Aida’s head to snap up. Her face screwed up, a groan ripping from the back of her throat. I couldn’t see her back from here, but I had no doubt the longer she sat there with it trying to heal, the worse it would get. It made getting out of here even more of a priority. I just had to work out how. I’d gone over and over scenarios in my head, tried to figure out if someone would find where we were, but I knew it was down to me. I had to get us out of this. I had to end Paolo’s reign of terror before it was too late.

“Time for round…” He paused, halting in the middle of the warehouse and tilting his head up to the leaky roof. It had rained over the last few hours, leaving behind wet patches on the concrete. “Huh.” He shrugged, then continued forward. “I’ve lost count.” He halted next to Aida, winking down at her. “Shall we have some more fun?” He knelt down next to her, slipping his hand up her leg and to her knee. All I could think about was chopping it off. My mouth salivated at the thought, my brain working overtime on all of the ways I would destroy him for hurting her.

She narrowed her eyes on him, her feistiness pushing through, but she didn’t answer. She stayed silent, having worked out that it didn’t matter what you said to him, nothing made a difference to what he was going to do.

He reached up, lightning quick, and grabbed her face in his hand, squeezing so hard that her lips puckered at the force. “Answer me.”

Her gaze flicked over to me, a question in her eyes. I shook my head, pulling at the binds on my wrists some more and feeling something tugging at them. I thought I’d had my opportunity to escape when he’d changed the way I’d been tied up, but he knew exactly what to do to keep me under control. A gun pressed to Aida’s head had done the trick, but he’d made a mistake coming back into the room this time.

I was focused on the fact that he’d come back in here in only a shirt and slacks. His jacket was gone, and so was his holster he kept his gun in. He’d been too focused on getting back in here sooner than he should have, and now he’d opened everything up. Now he’d signed his own death warrant. Only one guard stood at the door, a guard who had been standing there for at least fifteen hours. He hadn’t been there the first time Paolo had hurt Aida, and from the way the guard was slowly moving forward, he didn’t like what Paolo was doing.

I slowly moved my attention to the guard who was halfway to us, and when his gaze met mine, I frowned. He’d been the soldier who’d tried to steal from me on our wedding day, the one who had been brought to me for punishment. He blinked, darting his gaze left and right, but there were only the four of us in here.

Paolo stood, and the soldier froze to the spot. I tried to keep my attention on him, silently asking what he was doing, but I couldn’t focus on him when I needed to make sure Aida was okay.

“Disrespectful!” Paolo spat, raising his hand and slapping her across the face. Her head whipped to the side, a bright red handprint marking her skin. “I’ll teach you how to respect a man.” He grabbed her neck, squeezing her delicate skin, just as his other hand tore her dress, exposing her. The ropes binding her stomach kept the rest of the material in place, but it didn’t stop him from accessing her naked chest.

Aida’s gaze snapped to mine again, tears shining in her eyes, then she glanced next to me, her frown intensifying as she tried to breathe against Paolo’s grip around her neck. I fought at the binds around my wrists. I straightened my back, the bindings stretching taut, then turned my wrist as far as I could, feeling to the end of the rope. It whispered over my fingertip, and I stretched as far as I could, grasping on to it and feeling a breath of relief wash through me. I tugged at it, but nothing happened. Nothing released. I was frantic, trying to get the fuckin’ ropes off and to Aida before Paolo did something to her that I wasn’t sure she’d be able to come back from. She was one of the strongest women I knew, but that didn’t mean she could take his torture over and over again.

She gasped, her face turning purple. Paolo laughed, pawing at her chest and making her squirm. Each of her movements had her crying out in pain. I couldn’t take it anymore. I couldn’t take him touching her. I was going to combust if I didn’t—

A hand landed on mine, and I jumped, about to ask what the fuck was going on, but a voice said, “Shhh.” The guard. What was he doing? I turned just enough to see his face crouched behind me. His one hand pulled on the ropes, but it was no use. He couldn’t get them undone either.

I glanced at Aida out of the corner of my eyes and saw Paolo move back a step. We both paused, waiting to see what he would do, and when the sound of his zipper ricocheted in the warehouse, panic set in.

“I can’t get it,” the guard grumbled, keeping his voice low enough so only I could hear him.

I whipped my head around, trying not to watch what Paolo was doing. He bent at the waist, his focus entirely on Aida. Her gaze veered to me, a small frown working its way between her brows. I shook my head, trying to silently tell her not to say a word. The longer he was preoccupied with her, the more time it would allow me to do what I needed to.

“Knife,” I whispered, staring at the tools Paolo had laid out next to me days ago.

The guard slid over to it, not moving from behind me, and grabbed the knife. He pushed it between my hands, the sharp edge slicing at my skin. I gritted my teeth together, finally focusing on Aida again. I wasn’t overthinking the fact that the man who had been with the undercover FBI agent and had begged for me not to hurt him was now trying to set me free. I didn’t think about the way he rushed to saw through my bindings. He was helping me—helping us—and if we made it out of here alive, I’d make sure he was rewarded.

I shook my head, trying to keep my attention in the moment and not on the hope of being free from here—free to live our lives. Using all of my strength, I pulled my hands apart, giving resistance so the knife would go through quicker.

“I haven’t had a pretty girl like you for a while,” Paolo said, his tone turning predatory. His hips bucked forward, his slacks coming down just a little, and I knew then he’d pulled his cock out. His fingers jammed against her mouth, yanking her lips apart, and then finally, the binds snapped free. It was so loud I was sure he’d hear us, but he didn’t. He was too occupied with what he was doing to my wife.

I leaned forward, holding in my groan at the way my burned skin on my stomach and chest pulled, threatening to knock me off-kilter, but I couldn’t worry about that now. We were close, so close I could taste our freedom. My fingers fumbled at the ropes on my legs, unable to figure out how the hell to undo them until light glinted off the knife the guard had used. I took it from him, sawed at the ropes, and finally, I was free.

Paolo shuffled forward, lining himself up at Aida’s mouth. I dropped the knife to the ground, the sound of it clanking, causing Paolo to pause.

I stood, my lips pulling into a sneer. This was it. This was my moment.

A hand touched my arm, and I flicked my gaze to the guard. He held a gun out to me, his throat bobbing as I stared at it. Everything was happening in slow motion, my brain taking in everything around me. It begged for me to hurt Paolo, to torture him in all the ways I’d imagined over and over again.

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