Total pages in book: 260
Estimated words: 245483 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 1227(@200wpm)___ 982(@250wpm)___ 818(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 245483 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 1227(@200wpm)___ 982(@250wpm)___ 818(@300wpm)
I scream out and nearly collapse when I see who it is.
He grabs my wrist and my elbow, keeping the first stake from hitting him, but the second lands on his shoulder, slicing through the thin shirt and stabbing into his flesh.
Uncle Toni.
I scream, covering my mouth and hunching on the ground in shock and fear.
His face scrunches with agony as his piercing curse reverberates off the wall and the other men come in.
Uncle Toni rips the stake out as someone I vaguely recognize sees me and yells to someone else.
I huddle on the ground. “I’m so sorry.” I heave in a breath.
The man throws me a blanket, and Uncle Toni kneels down. “Grace,” he says and looks at me with such sadness in his eyes that I fall into his embrace, covered in the blanket.
I’m shocked and shaking with fear. The adrenaline and anxiety aren't even close to being gone. I start to say something. I want to rattle off questions and ask about Gio.
Does he know?
I need to know what’s going on, but when I pull back to look my uncle in the eyes, the men have all gathered around me and there’s only one I recognize well. Alec. He’s always by my father’s side.
I can hardly breathe, and the fear must be written on my face. I can’t go back.
My body is cold and numb. I’m outnumbered.
“Shh, it’s alright, Grace,” my uncle says, pulling me in closer. My heart beats so hard, it hurts. I want to tell him everything. I need to know what’s happened. But with the cold dead eyes of that man on me, I say nothing. I let my uncle appear to comfort me.
“We’ve got you now.” He strokes my back. “That sick fuck is dead.” My knees collapse inward and crash on the cold hard tile.
“Gio?” I whisper his name.
“It’s okay, Grace. He’s gone. He’s never going to hurt you again.”
No, I shake my head, violently. My lungs refuse to fill, and I struggle to move. I'm paralyzed. No, not Gio. He can’t be gone.
I try to swallow and regain some sort of composure. I have to tell him.
“Move,” Alec’s cold voice says, and my uncle steps aside. “I’ve got her,” he says, leaning down to pick me up. I start to push him away, but I see flashes of my father. I can’t disobey.
I tremble in his arms and stare at my cage past him and in the other room.
He’s dead. I blink away the tears. How could he leave me?
I grip onto Alec’s shoulders as he carries me away, speaking to my uncle in Italian. The cage grows small, and eventually it’s gone from my sight. I can hear barking outside, and part of me wonders what that is. A man walks by with scratches on his face, clutching his arm.
As I walk through his house, my heart splits in my chest, shattering into irreparable pieces. He can’t be dead.
They can’t take him from me.
I need him.
I won’t live without him. I can’t.
Chapter 25
Gio
* * *
The world is just motion, light, and shadow. I’m not sure where I am, or when. I’m dizzy from the blow to my skull but I’m still alive, which is a relief.
Or maybe a curse. I try to move, but I can’t. My chin is in my chest and my body aches; it’s stiff and sore. It takes me a minute to figure out that I’m tied to a chair. My hands are bound behind my back, zip ties cutting into my skin.
I lean my head back and groan. My entire body hurts from the multiple kicks they gave me, and probably worse. Every tiny breath hurts. Fuck, I hope my ribs aren’t broken. The room slowly begins to materialize around me as I get more and more of my faculties back.
Above me there’s a bright spotlight shining directly down on me. It makes me squint as I open my eyes. I can hardly see out of my left. It must be swollen. I wipe my chin against my shoulder. It’s dirtied with blood.
I groan and look straight ahead as the room comes into focus. I’m in a small room, maybe ten feet by ten feet. There’s a drain beneath my feet, and the walls are bare white cinder blocks. The ground looks like it’s unfinished concrete.
The unbelievable nature of my reality comes back to me slowly. My fucking father sold me out. It couldn’t be anything else. They knew I would be on that roof with almost no way to escape. Trapping me like that was their only option. They had to set me up like that because if they came any other way, I would’ve killed them all. They sent a fucking helicopter because they were too afraid to face me, the cowards.
Why would he do that? What could the Rossis possibly offer him that would change his mind? We were so close to getting what we wanted. I would have gotten Grace, and he might have gotten a place in the Romano familia. Instead I’m fucking strapped to a chair, aching from a hundred bruises.