For fourteen days, my wilted rose and I shed blood, severing ties and erasing all traces of our existence in this world. Retribution came in a rush of blood, murder sex, and lust. The more we killed, the more we fucked. Every plea of mercy, an aphrodisiac, and every eye, ear, and tongue removed, foreplay.
Hear no evil... Speak no evil... See no evil...
At the end of our reign of terror, three sinners fell. The bloodshed ceased, and the city slept.
One...Trent Anderson, convicted for tarnishing my cara mia’s strength.
Two...Judge Harris, sentenced to death by his own gavel.
Three...Detective Hunter, condemned to bleed by her own suspicion.
The city mourned them. People wept at their funerals. But no one said shit about the fifteen other bodies scattered about the state. The ones they’ve yet to find. The ones hidden deep beneath the earth and the sea. The media isn’t looking for the fifteen unknown parishioners we found hiding underneath their own beds and inside their own closets.
They knew we were coming. Like I told Madi, the devil always gets his due.
Now that justice has been served, it’s time to return the Divine Disciples of God to its rightful place.
After my third circle around the familiar rundown cabin, I drop the can in my hand and inhale, trapping the breath in my lungs as I complete my task. It’s done. I know, because my lungs don’t ache anymore. The thickness that used to hang in the air is gone. The soiled ground breathes a sigh of relief. Even the grass wilts beneath my boots as if it knows its time on Earth has come to an end.
Our mission is nearly complete.
Exhaling roughly, I climb the broken steps leading to the door to my salvation, only to pause when I catch sight of two trails of crimson-stained tears dripping from the doorknob.
A red ribbon.
“Do you want me to catch it for you?”
Startled, she turns, her long blonde hair swinging across her face. “D-do I know you?”
“Not yet. I’m Luca.” I risk moving closer to extend my hand.
“Madeline,” she says, accepting it. “But my friends call me Madi.”
“Madi,” I whisper, running the blood-red velvet ribbon through my fingers. “My Madi. My cara mia.” This is her final gift. Her offering to me and our new life together.
I didn’t have to catch it for her this time. She caught it herself and then laid it at my feet.
Untying the ribbon, I wrap it around my hand and enter the cabin, my heavy footsteps sounding like thunder in the sparse room.
“Took you long enough.”
I follow her voice, my cock turning to steel at the sight of her. She’s sitting on the bed—our bed—completely naked, her legs demurely crossed, and her arms braced behind her. “Dying takes preparation, cara mia,” I say, moving closer.
Her heavy-lidded eyes fall to the ribbon wrapped around my hand, and she smiles. “I see you found my present. Do you know what it means?”
“Yes.” We’re inches apart, the scent of her perfume casting a spell over my thinly-held self-control. “The question is, my sweet rose, do you?”
Her smile fades. “Of course, I—”
Before she can answer, I’m on her. Dropping the ribbon onto the mattress, I wrap my hand around her throat and force her to her feet. Her pulse jumps under my grip, only fueling the fire. “It means you surrender yourself to me completely, as I’ve surrendered to you. It’s a promise that can never be broken, cara mia. Not by separation or by death. We are bound together for eternity. My blood runs in your veins as yours runs in mine.”
She doesn’t fight me or claw my hand. As I hold her life in my hands, she simply lays her palm against my heart. “I surrender, Luca. I gave myself to you the moment you brought me to this cabin. You were my captor and my tormentor—the sweetest pain I’ve ever known. When I left you, I lost my way, but not anymore. I know who I am, and I know who you are. I know together we’re powerful and unbreakable. I’ll kill anyone who tries to separate us again.” Her jaw tightens under my hold, fortifying her words.
“Not if I kill them first.”
“Why do you get to have all the fun?” The corner of her mouth curves up into a wicked smile.
“You want to have fun, Madi?” I ask. “You want me to show you the real meaning of that sweet pain you recall?”
“Luca...”
I release my hold on her throat. “Turn around and put your arms behind you.” She doesn’t hesitate in obeying my command. Presenting her back to me, she crosses her wrists and rests them right above her ass. Her submission is just like her, a beautiful rose laced with deadly thorns. We both know this is an equal balance of power, but for now, she’s laying it all in my hands.
So, I make sure hers can’t take it back.
Even the moon hides its light as I bind her wrists behind her back with the red ribbon. “Trust, my love,” I whisper in her ear. “Our trust allows us to kill without remorse. It allows us to bleed without fear. And now, it will allow us fuck without limits.”
“What are you doing?” she asks, her body tensing as she plays her role to perfection.
“Testing you, cara mia. All faith must be tested.”
“Are you going to hurt me?”
My cock jerks. “Yes.”
There’s a brief silence before her shoulders relax and she breathes out her one-word prayer. “Good.”
Reaching into my pocket, I brandish my pocket knife and pop the blade. Madi glances over her shoulder, her eyes glazing over with a sultry haze of lust and deviance. Fuck, I love this woman.
Placing my palm to her back, I push her forward, her cheek hitting the mattress as she willingly bends my demands. My dick demands to be freed from the confines of my jeans as I guide the tip of the blade to the center of her upper back.
Such a beautiful canvas.
Slowly, and painfully, I carve a cross into her skin. Madi hisses at the knife’s first bite into her flesh, then pants with need as I cut.
“Marked in the eyes of God,” I bite out through clenched teeth. “You belong to me, Madi.”
Before she can respond, I rip the buttons open on my shirt and turn the knife around, slicing the same symbol into my own chest. The pain is like a cathartic cleanse, purging us of all of trespasses and those who trespassed against us...
Dropping the knife to the floor, I tear my jeans open and pull out my cock. It’s swollen and throbbing with need, but I ignore it and shove a knee between her legs, spreading them wide as I sink a finger deep into her pussy. Madi throws her head back, a tortured groan rumbling in her throat. “Luca...”
“My Madi is always wet for my cock.” Pumping viciously with one hand, I grab her hair with the other, pulling her head back. “Tell me why, cara mia. Tell me why your pussy is always wet for me.”
“Because I’m your temptress whore,” she groans.
The words spark a violent need in me. I remove my fingers from inside her, only to surge forward and fill it with my cock. Madi cries out at the sudden invasion, but I have no patience left for her. Letting out a primal growl, I pull out and drive back with the brute force of a man possessed. Over and over, I take her without regard for anything but reclaiming her. Blood drips onto the dirty mattress as I fuck her hard, wringing out every last drop of her old life from her.