Page 37 of Twisted Throne

“I’ll get Gia out, then put the bodies in the house and burn the fucker to the ground,” I said briskly.

He headed back down the hall and I went back into the room to Gia.

“You found me,” she whispered as I drew near, tears spilling down her cheeks.

I pulled a knife from the holster at my ankle and began to cut at the ropes binding her wrists.

“I will always find you,soubrette,” I murmured to her.

Chapter Sixteen

Gia

“Lucy, I promise this was not your fault,” I reassured her for what seemed to be the zillionth time.

She sat on the edge of my bed, looking more subdued than I had ever seen her. Her mascara was smeared and streaked around her eyes and face, making her look like a cross between a raccoon and a coal miner. She leaned forward, and kept switching between twirling one of her many rings around and around her pinky and reaching out to clasp my hand as if to reassure herself I was still there. When she’d first entered the room she had hurled herself at me and clung to me like a baby koala bear, so I guess this was progress.

“You’re new here, but Elena’s right, I should have known better,” she insisted. “Gia, I am so, so,sosorry!”

“I should have known better too,” I replied. “But without you, no one would have found me until…”

I trailed off, thinking of the evil, inhuman look Emilio had in his eyes when he looked at me.

A sharp rap at the door interrupted us, and Paul strode into the room before I said any more.

He glanced at Lucy dismissively.

“Get out. Miss Fredricks and I need to have a talk.”

His face was stony, and his eyes were cold and steely. That didn’t change my treacherous emotions—part of me wanted to justify myself, and the other half just wanted to dive into that broad chest and cling there for safety.

“Paul, I’m so sorry, I–” she pleaded, as she stood to face him.

“Now.”

“I-I’ll check in with you later, Gia, okay?” Lucy asked me.

“That’s fine, Lucy.” I gave her my best reassuring smile. “And I promise this was not your fault.”

She bit her lip worriedly, but just said “Okay,” as she left the room, giving Paul a wide berth. Paul’s eyes didn’t leave her until the door closed behind her with a sharp click.

Paul looked me over in silence. He was never not intimidating, but I’d never before seen him truly angry. When he’d showed up for my rescue mission, he had been cold and all business. But now, anger flared in his eyes and he was stiff and tense. As the silence stretched on, my hands began to twist the bedsheet back and forth into knots. Finally, I couldn’t take the quiet anymore and forced myself to speak up to break the tense silence, if nothing else.

“Thank you,” I said quietly. “If you hadn’t come, I don’t know…”

“I was doing my job. Which would have been a hell of a lot easier if I hadn’t had to worry about you.”

Bastard.

“I’m sorry my being kidnapped made you work a little harder,” I snapped. “What, do you want a tip?”

“And whose fault exactly was it that Emilio had the opportunity to snatch you?”

Damn. He’s got me there.

“Look, I didn’t think-”

“Exactly. You didn’t think. There was a reason Angelo wanted you to stay here. And there was a reason why I told you not to leave the house. You are part of this family now, which will always mean that there’s a target on your back, especially right now.” His glare never wavered, pinning me in place. “I’d expect Lucy to try and pull some shit like this, but I had assumed that a grown woman would have more goddamn sense.”