“Matteo, please. Just let us go. I’m sorry I chose Arlo. We never meant to hurt you.”
“It’s been a long time. You don’t understand the trouble you have caused,” he says.
I drop the gun, knowing it’s useless against him. My only hope is to find his weakness.
“Let Eden go. She doesn’t deserve to be here. Take me instead,” I say.
“No!” I hear Eden cry behind me.
I turn and see Eden locked away in one of the cells behind me. She’s still alive. Her eyes are still full of fight. I exhale a little seeing her, but I don’t run to her as much as I want to. I need Matteo to make the trade first.
“You’re right about one thing. Eden doesn’t deserve to be here.”
He grabs me by the arm, and he motions for his men to pick up Arlo’s lifeless body that I can barely look at. I know he’s still alive, but I still hate seeing him like that.
I hear Eden continue to scream behind us, but I tune her out as Matteo walks me away from the dungeon.
“Where are we going?” I ask.
“To make you good on your end of the deal. Eden will go free, in exchange, I’m turning you and Arlo over to Enrico.”
Everything stops. I would die for Eden. Do anything for her. But I will do anything not to be taken by Enrico again. He raped me. Did unspeakable things. I will not let him be the one to torture and eventually kill me. I’ll die before I let him touch me again.
23
Matteo
I have Maximo take Nina in one of the cars. I can’t be near her and do what I need to do.
I sit in the back of one of the SUVs while Dierk drives with Arlo tied up next to me.
He slowly wakes up. I knew he would on the way to the warehouse.
“You asshole. Nina gave you all this power, and this is how you choose to use it, by turning us over to Enrico?” Arlo asks.
“It beats running,” I say.
Arlo glares. “Running kept us alive.”
I smirk. “For how long. I was able to track you within a month. Even with Enrico weak and with limited resources, he wouldn’t have taken much longer to find you even without my help. You were dead anyway.”
“So that makes this better? We were going to die one way or another so you might as well make some cash off of this and get on Enrico’s good side?”
I shrug. “You know me. Only looking out for myself. You aren’t worth much to me after you abandoned me.”
“Why wait so long? Why not turn us over the second you found us?” Arlo asks, struggling against the ropes, but it’s useless, he isn’t getting free.
“I thought it would be more enjoyable if you and Nina had a chance to bond. Fall in love truly and all that shit. It also gave me plenty of time to have my own fun with Eden. Now Nina will die knowing that I have her best friend who also faces her same fate.”
“If you love Nina, let her go. She’s yours. I’ll back off. You can have her. She loved you once; she can love you again. Just don’t turn her over to Enrico. Keep her alive and safe,” Arlo begs.
I stare at him, my brother who has no idea who I am or what I want. I laugh. “You really are clueless.”
“I’ll do whatever you want. Just don’t hurt Nina.”
“Then you should have stayed. You should have been loyal to me. Instead, you ran. Now deal with the consequences.”
I pull out my cell phone and dial the number. “I have them. We are making the trade tonight. At the warehouse.”