SERAPHINE
My arm shifts, setting off an explosion of pain that forces my eyes open. The man races through the house, clutching me like the spoils of war, passing tall windows I’ve never seen in all the years this place has been my prison.
Each of his rapid movements aggravates my bruises from whatever havoc the twins wracked on my body after they shot me with the tranquilizer gun. The man told me they were dead, but the enemy of my enemy has always been a fickle friend. My limbs are still too sluggish, too heavy from the effects of the drugs to break free, so I’ll let him take me… For now.
Outside, a blast of fresh air hits my nostrils, lingering with the coppery tang of blood that always coats my sinuses. The morning sun bathes the mansion’s exterior in pale light, but even that makes my eyes sting. I squeeze my eyes shut, my mind too foggy to remember the last time they let me out to kill. Or at all.
My head pounds with each footfall that hits the gravel, making me shudder.
I’m finally getting to leave the basement, but what about Gabriel?
If what the man said about killing Dad and the twins was true, then who’s going to take care of my brother? Without my missions to pay for his upkeep, the people holding him will either put a bullet through his head or leave him to rot.
“Now, Miko,” the man says, his sharp voice cutting through my thoughts.
A heartbeat later, the air fills with an ear-shattering boom. I flinch, and the man picks up speed.
Gunshots ring through the air, accelerating my frantic pulse. My eyes snap open to find him racing us through a row of trees with a canopy so overgrown and thick that they block out the morning light.
Even though gunfire echoes from far away, it’s only a matter of time before Dad’s guards realize what’s happening and track us to this side of the grounds.
I turn my head in the direction the man is headed, finding an armored truck with its side door open. It’s the kind of vehicle used for collecting cash from banks. Inside is a red-haired boy about my age who stares at us through wide eyes.
His gaze locks on mine. “Who’s that—”
“Get in front and drive,” the man growls.
Another explosion sounds from the direction of the mansion. The man shoves me into the truck and I land on its cold metal floor. Before I can take in my surroundings, the door slams shut, and the vehicle lurches forward. I roll across the floor and bash my head against something hard.
“Shit,” the man says as I’m dragged into unconsciousness.
The drone of male voices pulls me back to awareness. I lie on my side atop a smooth surface, my nostrils filled with the mingled scents of metal and polished wood.
Warm hands pull my hair off the back of my neck, making me stiffen. The touch is pleasant, seeming to chase away my darkest thoughts, even though the drugs have left me with a blistering migraine, made worse by hitting my head.
I crack open an eye and take in the sight of a wooden bench surrounded by guns hanging on pegboards. Strangely, there’s a sack of cat litter on the floor.
Playing dead, I tune into their conversation. The man who pulled me out of the basement is called Leroi. Next to him is Miko, the red-haired boy from the van. From the way he talks, he knows a hell of a lot about computers and remote devices. Their gazes are so fixed on my collar that they haven’t even noticed I’m awake.
“So, where did you find her?” Miko asks.
“Can you disable the collar or not?” Leroi snaps.
“Maybe, but it’s not that easy.” He rubs his chin. “Some of these devices are set up to release their full charge of electricity as a penalty for tampering.”
“Is it lethal?”
Miko chuckles. “An electric chair needs to discharge at least two-thousand volts to kill. The most a DC battery of that size can hold is twelve.”
“Alright then.” Leroi nods at my collar. “Remove it.”
“No,” I rasp.
Both gazes snap to my face. I push myself up, my limbs screaming in protest.
“There’s a chip.” I raise a trembling finger to a spot behind my ear. “They told me it would overload if I ever messed with the collar.”
The two men exchange glances, but it’s Leroi who speaks first. “Who are you?” he asks, his voice soft. “What’s your name?”
My eyes dart to the redhead, who backs away under the other man’s command. It’s only when he’s completely out of reach that I turn to this stranger. My savior. He’s in his early thirties, about the same age as the twins, with eyes so dark they appear black and bottomless.
They’re as expressionless as the rest of his face. It’s the first time in years someone has looked at me—really looked at me with anything other than fury or lust. My breath catches, and alarm tugs at the pit of my stomach. I shrink away, not wanting to fall into those depths.
“Maybe she’s shell shocked?” the red-haired man asks from the other side of the room.
“She isn’t,” the man says, his gaze breaking away from mine.
The pressure around my lungs loosens, and I exhale, finally able to look the man full in the face. His features are angular—sharp eyes, sharp cheekbones, straight nose, cruel mouth. It’s softened by olive skin and a dusting of stubble, but there’s still a hardness to him. He has the look of a man whose hands are soaked with blood.
Like mine.
“Seraphine,” I mumble. “Seraphine Capello.” I cringe at the sound of my full name on my lips. It’s been so long since anyone’s asked, and my head is so messed up that I forget to lie. What if he kills me next?
His gaze snaps back to meet mine. “Any relation to Frederic?”
“He’s my…” I clear my throat. It’s not like I can make up anything clever now. “He’s my dad.”
“Frederic Capello didn’t have a daughter.” He leans into me, his dark eyes boring so deeply into mine that I swear he’s trying to yank the answers out of my soul.
The fear in my gut twists into the same fury that’s kept me going for years. It’s venomous and cold, a fierce determination to prove them all wrong.
“Dad had two families,” I say from between clenched teeth. “I didn’t know that until he brought me to his second house and handed me to his sons.”
“Shit.” The man glances away.
“Leroi?” asks the younger man.
He shakes his head in a motion to shelve that line of conversation, pinches the bridge of his nose, and clenches his jaw. “Who was the person on the monitor?”
“My brother,” I say, my pulse quickening. “They’re keeping him in another building. I need to find—”
The man raises a palm. “Another Capello son?”
“Yes,” I rasp.
Leroi exhales, his gaze dropping to my neck. “Let’s work on removing your chip and collar, then we’ll find your brother, alright?”
My ears ring with alarm. Who sent Leroi, when everyone who ever cared for us is dead? There’s the handler, but after five years, he wouldn’t help me now. Not when he was such an eager participant in my training.
Mom is dead. Dad’s guards strangled her until she stopped moving while he and the others looked on and jeered. Nanna died months later in captivity. Gabriel is still a hostage, and he’s too emaciated and weak to arrange a mass murder. This man killed Dad and the twins. No one else with any power knows I was kept in that basement.
Asking questions might lead to him discovering why I’d been held captive, then he’ll find a way to hack into my collar and bring me under his control. I need to play along, treat this interaction like any other job, and act like an innocent, harmless victim.
“Seraphine,” Leroi says, “Will you keep still while another colleague takes out your chip?”
My breath catches. Another man? I shrink away, not wanting to be trapped in a room with a trio of strangers.
“He won’t hurt you,” Leroi says. “I’ll stay at your side and keep you safe.”
Nodding, I raise my finger to the skin behind my ear and trace over its hard edges. “Alright.”
“I’ll call Dr. Sal and tell him it’s urgent.” Miko walks out of the room, leaving me alone with Leroi.
My head bows under the weight of his gaze. He hasn’t asked about what they made me do, both in and out of the basement. Maybe he doesn’t know. Either way, I’ll stay quiet until it’s time to escape and find Gabriel.
And if they try anything, I’ll slit their throats.
