Soon enough, the footsteps disappear, along with the last traces of the girl I’ve come to love.
The physical pain ravaging my body is nothing compared to the mental anguish of knowing that there’s nothing I can do.
This is all my fault.
I can’t let Ciro see it, but his words have wounded me more than any missile or helicopter crash ever could. I’m sure that was the entire point of his stupid monologue. To make it painfully obvious that it was my mistake that gave him the opening he needed to wreck everything I’ve ever worked for.
If I had just stolen Elisa instead of jumping through all of my self-imposed hoops, then this might have been all avoided. It was my own stupid pride that got us here.
Or maybe it was more than that. Maybe it was Elisa’s autumn eyes, or her dark raven hair, or her glittering smile. Her beauty trapped me, then her soul threw away the key. I lost my senses. No matter how hard I fought against it all, my heart was stuck. Looking back, it seems foolish to have put so much effort into fighting off my true feelings for her.
Maybe, If I had just been honest, then all of this could have been avoided. But I wasn’t strong enough for her love. And now, as a result, we’re both being dragged down into our own separate versions of hell.
At least I got to say goodbye.
Now it’s just me and Ciro. The bastard must have escaped in the chaos of the riot at Calligastaro’s. A riot he probably incited—with the help of his new Russian friends, of course.
He’s the last person in the world I want to be stuck with. Yet, as badly as his words have stung, I can’t help but want to try and keep the bastard talking for a little bit longer. The more time I can buy, the better my chances are. My hope isn’t completely stifled yet.
I’ve been in this situation before. I survived it as a child. I can survive it now. I need to survive it now. If not for my own sake, then for Elisa’s.
But this time is also different in one heart wrenching regard. This time, Dad isn’t around to come save my ass.
Still, I have faith in what remains of my family. Nolan and Shane. If they could just find a way to distract Ciro for one small moment, then maybe I could make amends for all my mistakes.
… Or maybe I’m just being foolish. I don’t even know where I am. How could anyone else?
It can’t be far from where the helicopter crashed. I was half conscious while they dragged me down into the underground tunnel, and I don’t remember a car being involved. But it’s possible I was passed out for that part. I closed my eyes for one second, and the next thing I knew, I was tied up here.
Elisa’s soft scent woke me up before her words did. For a blissful moment, it was like nothing was wrong. Then I opened my eyes and everything came crashing down. Dmitry Gazin and Ciro together. The fucking bastards. Ciro just stood by as Dmitry treated his daughter like a dog. The fury drained me, but I can’t give up hope. Someone’s going to come looking. They have to.
Then I remember something Ciro said. His great big plan included a strategy to turn the children of the heads of The Family against me. If Ciro was already successful, then Shane is in grave danger. I sent him and Niall to go recruit the men who probably now think we had something to do with the death of their fathers.
“So, Brutus. Just like old times, huh?” Ciro isn’t done rubbing it in yet. There’s little doubt that Dmitry and the Black Delphi planned most of this, but Ciro has never been one to skirt taking the credit for someone else’s work,
I don’t answer the doddering fool. Instead, I desperately think of something that will keep him talking. I know he wants to. Then, it hits me.
“You never had a chance,” I grumble, trying to grit through the pain.
That piques his interest. “Oh? You have some ace up your sleeve?” My cheek is numb, but my head still snaps to the side when Ciro slams the heel of his gun back into my face. “I don’t think so. It’s over. You’re the one who doesn’t have a chance.”
A sputtering chuckle manages to escape my lips. “You idiot. Kill me. Don’t kill me. It doesn’t matter. I won. I won the love of your daughter. That’s all that matters. You never had a chance. With love. With my mother. With anyone. You’re alone and you always will be.”
Another furious attack leaves my nose bleeding. But Ciro’s fists alone aren’t enough to do me in. He might have been a beast in his heyday, but he’s an old man now.
“Your mother was a whore,” he hisses. “And she got what she deserved.”
All I can do is swallow my rage. If I ever get out of these restraints, I need to have enough energy left to rip this motherfucker from limb to limb. “You’re right,” I sneer. “She got what she deserved. My dad. He was your superior in every way.”
Was. It still hurts to remember that Dad is dead. And it’s all because of this fucker.
“Wrong,” Ciro leans over me, getting right up in my face. “He was weak. He couldn’t protect you from me and he definitely couldn’t protect Bree from me.”
I shake my head. “But he did. You lost us both.”
“I didn’t lose anything. I killed her and now I’m going to kill you.”
The horrific confession comes out of his mouth so effortlessly that I hardly have time to register it before the words rip through my heart. My immediate reaction is to headbutt the piece of shit right in the nose.
“Fucker…” he grumbles, stumbling backwards. His gun drops to the ground as he cradles his broken face.
“You didn’t kill shit, you coward!” All sense has left my body. Screw saving energy. I need to rip out of these restraints and strangle Ciro where he stands.
“Yes, I did.” Ciro spits blood onto the floor. His nose is crooked and stained. It’s hard to believe that someone so vile could in anyway be responsible for someone as beautiful as Elisa. Her mother must really have done all the heavy lifting.
“Liar.”
Ciro shakes his head. “I might as well tell you the truth before I end your miserable life. Count yourself lucky. Not even Rian died with this knowledge. If he had known, I’m sure he would have told you when he ‘revealed’ how he stole Bree from me.”
“What did you do?” My whole body is shaking.
Ciro smirks at the memory. “Back when you were my hostage for the first time, Bree snuck out of that ramshackle cabin your family called home. She wanted to make a trade. Her life for yours. The whore. You should have seen the way she knelt at my feet. Madone, she promised to do all sorts of naughty things for me…”
“I’m going to fucking kill you.”
Ciro doesn’t seem to hear me. He’s lost in the past. “God, what a body that woman had on her. Shame about the mind. Too stupid to realize that coming to me wasn’t going to get you back. Too blind to see that I had no mercy. Too innocent to even consider that I might never let her leave.” He licks his slimy lips.
“Sure, she resisted, but that only sealed her fate. It was an accident that knocked her out. The rest was on purpose. You see, I had some Russian guests over at the time, guests that no one could know about—but that didn’t mean I couldn’t put on a show. Maybe it was in bad taste to hang her up outside the cabin, but it was better than taking the blame for her death.” Ciro’s smile is one of pure cruelty. “It might have given me a bad name.”
For a moment, the rage subsides and I’m completely numb. All I can think about is how Nolan found her swinging from the tree. He was nine years old.
Then, all I can think about is how Mom died trying to save me. She didn’t hang herself. She was murdered.
“Is that what you do to those you love?” I mutter. Everything is cold and dead. “You kill them?”
“I’ve only ever loved one person, and she chose your father over me. You’re the living embodiment of that betrayal. The child of my broken heart. And betrayal is enough of an excuse to kill anyone.”
“How can you speak of betrayal!?” I demand, a raging fire slowly building back up in my empty chest. “Elisa is your daughter. You’ve betrayed her over and over again.”
Ciro just shrugs. “Perhaps. But she is mine to betray. I gave her life, and I can give her away as I so please.”
“Monster.”
That draws another smile from the devil’s cracked and bloody lips. “Now you’re starting to sound like her.”
I glare at the lost soul swaggering in front of me. What a fucking broken person. Is this where a loveless life will lead you? Maybe this is what Dad was talking about when he said love made you stronger. Without it, you just waste away until there’s nothing left in your heart but black bile and hate.
But I’m still here, useless; waiting for someone else to come save the day. All I can do is buy some more time. “Why did you have to tease her?” I ask, head sinking from the weight of it all. “You let Elisa believe she was going to be allowed to follow her dreams. Go to the Ukraine. Even if you made that promise before I offered to buy her, you couldn’t have ever really let her go. She was your ace in the hole. If anything happened to her, you were truly fucked. So why even bother dangling that thread?” The answer, of course, is unfettered cruelty. But there’s something else that’s bothering me about the whole thing.
“Oh, she was definitely going to go,” Ciro smirks. “It was I who planted that foolish notion in her head. Not the medicine part of it, mind you—that was all her—but the Ukraine part. I was hoping that is where she would have been taken by the Black Delphi. I could have played it off as a kidnapping and saved face in front of The Family. Maybe could have even gained a little sympathy. It would have been a win-win.”
“Not for her…”
Ciro rolls his eyes. “That’s why you’ve lost, Brutus. Too much time spent on others, not enough on yourself.”
“That’s not my name,” I growl.
Blood drips from Ciro’s nose as he bends down to pick up his gun. “Before this is over, I’ll make sure you know that it is.”
I grit my teeth and get ready for the end. Ciro can’t be the last thing I see. So, I slam my eyes shut and picture Elisa.
But all I can see is that demon Dmitry tearing her flesh off with his pointed teeth.
There’s no comfort for me in death. No satisfaction in being able to see my parents again. Not yet. I’ll be leaving behind people I care about. People who rely on me.
My pulse slows. Through the darkness, I hear the scatter of scurrying mice. The dripping of water leaking from the ceiling. I try to hone in on those sounds as blood rushes to my ears and everything starts to go silent.
But then the dripping water speeds up. The scurrying mice takes steps as loud as thunder.
“Fuck.” Ciro curses.
I open my eyes again. I see the fear on his face. He hears it too.
Someone is coming. And they’re not coming peacefully.
Before either of us can think to understand what’s happening, a deluge of shadows comes careening around the corner.
“Hands up, you fucking—”
Ciro greets our newcomers with a round of fire. His bullets screech against the rusty walls and I hear men bark orders. They shoot back.
All I can do is clench every muscle in my body and flinch as a hail of bullets rages towards the cruel bastard. A slimy grunt escapes his throat when some hot lead hits him in the shoulder. “Fucking hell. Backup! I need backup!”
But it sounds like all of Ciro’s backup is already dead. He seems to notice this too, because his next move is to turn heel and take off. I watch him run away, blood leaving a trail behind him.
“Aiden!” Nolan rushes up to my side. Shane and Niall aren’t far behind. They all work to untie me as their team finishes off the rest of Ciro’s security force.
“Fuck, are you alright?” Shane grumbles when I immediately slouch over after my last arm restraint is broken. I cough up a river of blood. My whole body is on fire. But I’m not dead.
“I’m fine,” I lie. “How the hell did you find me?”
“Tara. She called Shane,” Nolan says. “Told us some fucker kidnapped Elisa and took her into this tunnel system. We dropped everything when we couldn’t get a hold of you. Some of our men reported seeing your helicopter go down around here. Tara told us how to get underground. Looks like we arrived just in time.”
Shane’s face is twisted in pain. “She’s been shot, Aiden. She’s hurt bad.”
“Go to her,” I order, using his shoulder to force myself onto my feet.
“She’s being treated,” Nolan says. “She was conscious enough to lead a medical team to her location.
“There’s nothing I can do for her,” Shane adds. “But I can help you. I can—’
“I said go to her!” I demand. When I push him away, my legs give out on me. Nolan catches my fall. “Dmitry has Elisa. Ciro’s getting away. Shane. You go take care of Tara. Nolan. Niall. You’re coming with me. We’re going to end this once and for all.”
