“Stop! Dio dannato, Luc,” he yelled as I fought against him, crashing into a shelf, sending glass shattering across the floor. “Cazzo! Stop and think! He wants you to fly into a rage and go after him.”
I couldn’t see anything but red. I dug my fingers into Marco’s shoulders, fighting to get him to release me. “I don’t give a flying fuck what he wants,” I growled.
“If you go after him, he’ll have every right to kill you.” Marco shoved me back into the wall with his forearm at my throat. “You can’t give him what he wants. He’s taunting you. He won’t hurt her.”
A burning wetness filled my vision. I fought against it, though, fought against the misery that wanted to claim me and instead shoved hard, knocking Marco back several steps.
“You don’t know him the way I do. He’s going to kill her. He threatened it before, and he will absolutely follow through on that threat now. And if he does, then I’m as good as dead, because I am not living though this fucking nightmare without her. So get the hell out of my way, because if I’m going out, I’m taking as many of his goddamn Knights with me as I can.”
7
Natalie
I was in some kind of dungeon.
I tried to keep the panic at bay and think clearly as I scanned the dimly lit room, illuminated only by a lone burning torch in a hook on the wall across from me. But the hysteria was building in me again, making my breaths fast and shallow, making my heart race like wildfire.
Focus, goddammit.
There had been at least two. Two men in black capes and white bauta masks. I’d just walked into the kitchen to start dinner when they’d burst into the house through the back door. And I’d only managed one scream before they’d grabbed me and thrown a black sack over my head, then dragged me out the door.
I hadn’t heard their voices. Hadn’t seen their faces. But I knew it had to be Gio and David Bonello. Those Italian men who’d rescued me had said they’d be looking for me.
I shouldn’t have stayed in the villa alone. I should have gone up to the main house with Marco and Fee. No one was going to find me. Luc was going to walk into that empty villa and...
Panic tightened my throat again, and I swallowed back a sob, my tongue dry against the rag in my mouth that was tied around the back of my head. He’d told me not to go anywhere alone. I’d stupidly thought I’d be okay. I should have listened. I should have listened to everything he’d said.
Tears burned my eyes, and I dropped my head and fought the terror that wanted to take hold. They’d brought me into this dank cell, strung my arms up to chains hanging from the ceiling, and left me with nothing but the cold stone wall to lean against.
My arms ached. The dirt floor filled my watery vision. I blinked rapidly, trying to see more clearly, trying not to give in to the shakes, but couldn’t stop them from overtaking my body. Because I had a feeling I knew where I was. If the smell of misery and death wasn’t a giveaway, the blood-and-dirt-stained mattress on the iron bed across the room told me.
I was in the same cell Luc had described to me when we’d been on his island. The cell where he’d been chained to a chair to watch what they did. The cell where they’d raped and murdered that girl he’d been trying to save.
They were going to do the same to me. Terror seized my throat and made my body tremble. I slammed my eyes shut tight and prayed they hadn’t left me here alone so they could go find Luc and bring him back to watch.
Please, not that. Anything but that...
The heavy steel door creaked, and the hinges screamed as the door was pulled open. My head came up. I swallowed a scream and went still. But the person who stepped into the room wasn’t Gio. Or David Bonello. It was Antonio Salvatici. Luc’s father.
He stopped feet from me and rested his hands on his hips as he shook his head. “I do wish it hadn’t come to this. Regardless of what you think, I did like you, Natalie. You have spirit, which is sorely lacking in the women of this House. But spirit, as we have all learned, clearly cannot be tamed. I was hopeful Luciano would teach you the importance of submission in our culture, but it seems my son failed at even that.”
I didn’t answer. I knew he didn’t want me to answer. I only glared at him, fighting to keep my wits about me.
“This isn’t personal, cara. But it does serve a purpose.” He sighed as if he were talking about tossing the garbage out rather than committing first-degree murder.
“She’s ready,” he called, not looking away from me.
Footsteps sounded out in the corridor. My wide-eyed gaze shot in that direction, and my body tensed against the wall as Gio and Bonello moved into the room. My heart turned to a whir in my ears when I spotted a third man behind them, a man I vaguely recognized but who I was sure I’d never met.
“Oh. Apologies.” Luc’s father placed a hand on the third man’s shoulder. A wicked gleam darkened the third man’s eyes as he glanced over me from head to toe. His long, dark hair was tied up in a messy man-bun. “Natalie, this is my nephew, Benito Salvatici. I believe Benito knew your friend. The model in New York. The one who was killed. Didn’t you date her, Benito?”
Benito chuckled, but the sound was low and held absolutely no humor, and ice rushed down my spine at the sound. “Dated? No. Fucked? Oh, yeah. She was one hot piece of ass. Too bad she didn’t like to be shared. We had a real nice thing going until she balked at Giovanni playing with us.”
I struggled against the chains. Elena had foolishly thought she loved this man. “You bastard!” I screamed around the rag.
“If you can’t share them, they don’t make good kittens.” Giovanni stepped toward me, his hair hanging to his shoulders. I sucked in a breath when he trailed his knuckles down my bruised cheek. “How about you, bella? Do you like to be shared? Has my brother introduced you to that yet? I bet you’ll love it. I bet you can’t wait to experience it.”
Bonello moved up on my other side. My vision blurred as the first hand brushed my waist.
“Benito?” Luc’s father’s voice rang out behind the other two. “Now.”
Footsteps sounded across the room, then someone lifted my sweatshirt up to my chest. I gasped as cool air washed over my skin, making my stomach cave in.
“You may play with her in any way you see fit after this, boys,” Luc’s father announced from the other side of the room. “But you will not move her to the bed until Luciano is here to witness the final act.” He glanced at his watch. “Knowing my eldest son’s sense of heroics, you won’t have to wait long.” He nodded toward Benito.
Benito came toward me. I couldn’t see what was in his hand, but I saw the malevolent gleam in his dark eyes. I tried to shift back as he lifted what looked like a fireplace poker and held it in front of me, but there was nowhere for me to go. My eyes grew wide, and my throat closed when I saw the end of the metal object in his hand glowing red.
“No.” My voice came out muffled, strained. I kept on screaming and struggling, though, realizing what they were about to do to me. “Oh God. No!”
Hot metal pressed against my ribs and seared my skin with a hiss that melded with my screams until I collapsed and was surrounded by utter darkness.