Raoul shoved me into Matteo’s chair, leaning over me and typing on the keyboard, opening up a screen.
“Does your wife know what you do?” I asked, thinking of all the stories he had told me.
He laughed again. “You are so gullible. I have no wife. I knew if I told you bullshit about ‘my own family,’ you would relax and trust me.” He shook his head. “It was all I could do not to kill you the first time I saw you, but this is so much better. Even if it was a pain having to disguise myself as someone else and avoid your husband and that fucking asshole of a bodyguard you had on you all the time.” He leaned closer. “Just for the record, I fucking hate working in the dirt too. You have to pay for all that. You and your fucking Matteo.” He pushed a few more keys, opening the camera on Matteo’s computer.
“Call him.”
“No,” I said bravely. He could kill me, but I refused to make Matteo watch.
He slapped me so hard, I saw stars, and my lip broke open, the blood dripping on my chin. “Message him with video on, or I’ll kill your child first.” He pressed the gun to my stomach. “I can do that and keep you alive.”
My hands shook as I tapped Matteo’s number. He answered after only one ring, and with a sinking heart, I realized this would be the last time I saw him. His face filled the screen.
“Hello, my wife. Need something?” he teased. “Grape jelly, perhaps?” Then his expression changed as he saw me. “Evie? What happened to your face?”
I tried to speak, but I couldn’t. Tears welled, pouring down my face. I choked on the fear filling my throat.
“Evie! Baby, what is it? Get Sal!” His voice became panicked, then he gasped, shocked as Raoul stepped behind me.
“Hello, Matteo.”
My head pounded, my throat tight, as I watched all the color drain from Matteo’s face. I saw Marcus step behind him briefly, then disappear. Raoul laughed.
“Tell your sidekick whatever he thinks he’s going to start won’t work. I have control, Matteo. The outside men are dead, and so is the useless bodyguard. I have your wife, and I have the codes for every door, lock, and gate in this house. Every code that has been used in the past three months has been canceled. No one can get in.” He leaned forward, running the knife down my cheek. “And no one can get out.”
“Whatever you want is yours. Anything,” Matteo said. “Just let her go. She is innocent in all this.”
“Would you trade your life for hers?”
Matteo didn’t hesitate. “Yes.”
“Too bad I’m not interested.”
“I have millions. It’s all yours. Every cent. You can disappear and start over.” Matteo stood, holding his phone, pacing the way he did when upset. His voice was tight but calm, although I could see the panic in his eyes. His gaze would dart to the side then back to the phone, and I knew his mind was racing to come up with solutions. I could hear shouting and see he was moving, then the sound of a car door slamming. He was trying to get to me, but I knew it was too late.
“Oh, I’ll get your money. But first, you have to suffer.”
A muffled sob escaped my lips. Matteo held the phone close, his voice low and gentle. “It’s okay, Evie. It will all be okay. I promise you.”
Raoul leaned down, chuckling. “Listen to him lie. He knows nothing is going to be okay. He knows you’re going to die, but the best part is coming.” He pushed me out of the way, filling the camera. “The best part, Matteo, is you get to watch. Everything I do to her. Every painful slice of my knife, slap of my hand, skim of my bullet—you get to witness.”
Matteo lost it. He began shouting obscenities, screaming at Raoul, who listened, calm and detached, studying the knife he held in his hand. One he planned to use on me. I looked at the monitors surrounding the property. A car went by slowly, followed by another. I wasn’t sure if they were here because they had been sent or were simply driving past, admiring the estate. It didn’t matter. The thick walls and unclimbable gate that had been designed to keep the occupants inside safe would work against them. If Sal was dead and Raoul had killed the other men who patrolled the perimeter of the grounds, I was alone and trapped. Raoul was going to kill me and my child, and I would never see Matteo again. Never feel his mouth on mine or hear his voice.
“Your sister will be next,” Raoul announced. “I’ll let her relive her teenage horror once I kill Vince. Shame they weren’t home earlier. But their turn will come. Anyone and everyone you care about is going to die.”