Page 15 of The Forever One
“It’s a good thing I still have my Nathaniel. But after what you did, whore, well, obviously I’m not going to let you get away with it. Having connections to high-ranking mafia families comes in handy when you’re in my position. The Ambrosios want New York, and they were so close… until my son failed his task and Mr. Mancini hired you. How you can carry on with this farce of a marriage is beyond me. They are a strong Italian family and you are sullying the name with your hippy-American DNA. The best thing for everyone at this point, would be for you to die. So, I help the Ambrosios get what they want by getting you out of the picture. The thing is…” She pauses, stops pacing and leans into my face. “I want you to hurt. To writhe in pain as your skin is flayed from your body. And I’m going to enjoy every moment of it.”
Fuck, that laugh of hers is killing my eardrums.
She moves away and I internally kick myself for not just spitting in her face or trying to take her down now, but for one, spitting is disgusting, and two, I’m not rushing into this like I did by rushing over to Naples. I’m biding my time. For what…? I have no idea yet, but I’ll figure something out.
It’s been almost three days since everything went to total rat shit, I can handle a little longer.
“For now, I want you to rot in here and wait, in anticipation for what fun is going to come tomorrow. Ifinallyget to watch you burn.” She flicks her wrist out and something catches the light that I didn’t see before.
A knife.
Sharp pain rolls through my face as the cunt slices the knife across my cheek, and I can’t play helpless victim, something inside me flips a switch. Fury burns deep within my veins and I lift my arms over Lina’s head, being careful to make sure she doesn’t fall backward onto the hard ground in my haste, and I stand. The rope falls from my hands and Eleanor’s eyes widen in shock.
I don’t give her a moment to defend herself as I pull my arm back and swiftly throw my fist into her cheek. I get a sick sense of satisfaction as she wails in pain, but in my haze of anger, I forgot about the knife. I’m quickly reminded when I feel a sharp stab of pain in my arm before she spins on her heel and storms out of the room.
Two seconds later, the guard who tied me up before is back in the room, a torch in one hand and a slightly disappointed look on his face.
“Mi dispiace, Signora Volpe.”
I freeze at the whispered use of my old family name, and I think he just apologized to me, but until I learn Italian, I can’t be sure.
He doesn’t give me a chance to speak, holding his finger to his lips as he undoes his shirt, then rips a strip of fabric from the bottom of his undershirt to wrap over the cut trickling blood down my arm. I stare in silence as he makes sure it’s secure before gesturing for me to sit.
I do as he says, allowing him to loosely wrap the rope back around my wrists before he dabs more material over the cut on my face, because I’m finally beginning to see the light in this never-ending darkness.
The door is locked behind him as he leaves and Lina and I are left alone in silence once more.
Eleanor will get her wish tomorrow. Shewillwatch me burn. I’m going to burn brighter than anything she’s ever seen and fight back with everything I have.
For my family.
For love.
And that’s more than that bitter old cunt will ever have.
CHAPTERNINE
MARCO
I’ve lost track of the time in this place, especially considering I spent a big chunk of it passed out. Enzo is sitting across the room from me, staring straight at me, but I get the feeling he’s not really seeing me. His eyes are nearly dead, devoid of warmth and wit, and I can’t help remembering the first day he’d been brought to our home by my father. The first thing I’d noticed were his eyes. Distrustful, empty, hard.
I hate that he’s retreated back to that young boy. The one who suffered more than any child ever should.
“Don’t do that.” The sound of his voice catches me off guard. We haven’t talked about Lina yet and I figured I’d give him the space he needed while I tried to put all the puzzle pieces together to figure out who I’m killing first.
“Do what?” I keep my voice even. I need to bring him back to the present if we have any hope of getting the fuck out of Dodge.
“Try to psychoanalyze me.” Even his voice is dead. No inflection, no anger or sadness. Just… nothing.
“I wouldn’t know where to start.” My brain has been woozy for a few hours now because of my wound and having my arms tied behind my back is only making it worse. Leaning my head back against the rough surface of the stone wall, I close my eyes and promise myself I’m only going to rest for a minute. Maybe even dream of the different ways I'm going to seek out blood-thirsty vengeance.
“If you fall asleep, you may never wake up, asshole. You know this.” Fuck, he’s right, but my lids are so damn heavy and the pain I’ve been fighting for so long is nearly impossible to ignore.
“I just want to rest my eyes.” I can hear my own speech losing its edge, but his next words force me to snap back to the land of the fighters.
“I don’t think River will appreciate coming all this way only to find out you gave up in a fucking pig sty. Never pegged you as a quitter.”
“Never thought I’d be so happy to hear the asshole in you speaking again.” My words are slightly slurred, but my brain kicks back into alertness when the door creaks open and a worried Elizabeth slinks in like she’s trying to be discreet.