Sonata (Butcher and Violinist 2)

“Whoa.”

“I didn’t even get to see the cake.”

“Did you get him back?”

“Not yet.” Giorgio grinned. “I’m close. One more maid will make it eight, and then we’ll be even.”

“Damn. Remind me to never piss you off.”

The elevator doors opened.

We walked out, arm and arm.

But then Giorgio paused and stared at the door. “Where’s everyone?”

The elevator doors closed behind us.

“There’s usually men in front the door.”

My heart beats increased a little. “Do you think they took a break or something?”

“It’s too tense right now. No one’s getting any breaks.” Giorgio pulled out a gun I didn’t know he had. And for the first time upon meeting him, he wore a terrifying expression.

Yes. Never piss him off.

Giorgio guided me behind him. “Pull out your phone and call, Jean-Pierre. I may be overreacting, but better safe than sorry.”

I did as he said and checked my phone as we walked forward.

No signal. What? That’s weird.

“It’s not working,” I said.

“Dial Rafael’s number. Louis made sure all of us were in your phone.”

My fingers shook. I slid through my contacts and found Rafael’s number. Still, there was no service.

Giorgio moved us closer to the door and muttered under his breath, “It’s probably fine. Rafael will use this as a joke for the rest of the week.”

Soon the signal returned.

I dialed Rafael again.

He answered on the first ring. “What’s up, Eden?”

“Giorgio is nervous about security not being in front of the penthouse.”

“What?” Rafael said. “They were there when I left a few minutes ago.”

I turned away from the phone and whispered back what Rafael had said.

Giorgio put me behind him and stopped us from moving forward. “Tell him that we’re going back down to them, and then I’ll come back.”

“Rafael, he said—”

“I heard him. Tell him to stay right there. I’m coming up to get you.” Rafael hung up.

I reported back to Giorgio and then a gun pressed to my back and someone shot Giorgio in the back. Blood blossomed where the bullet hit. Giorgio fell to the floor.

“No!” I screamed.

The person shot Giorgio again.

“No! God, no!” I charged for him, forgetting about the person with the gun behind me. “Giorgio!”

He dropped the gun and fell face first into the carpet. His body shook. Still forgetting about the gun pointing to my back, I raced to him. But the person grabbed me with huge arms. I turned around and stared into a face covered by a clear plastic mask that distorted the person’s image.

“No!” I screamed again punching and slapping. Pushing the mask to the side, scared, and chewed up tissue greeted my eyes. “Ah!”

I wasn’t sure if the man had a face at all.

“Stop it, bitch.” He slammed me into the wall. “Move it again and I’ll cut your tits off, make you pick them up from the floor, and have you slide them across my dick.”

I shivered against him. “W-who are you? W-what do you want?”

“I’m the Devil. Say it.”

“Y-you’re the Devil.”

“Come on.” He dragged me to the penthouse door.

It opened.

Another man with a black mask and black clothes appeared. “Rafael is heading to the elevators. Jean-Pierre is still on the phone with Kenji.”

“Good.” The Devil shoved me into the penthouse. “Tell them to shut off the power once Rafael gets in the elevator and hits the third floor. He hates dark places.”

“And what are you doing with her?” The man in black pointed to me.

“Check the scanner.” The Devil shut the door behind him. “Has the tracker moved?”

The man in black pulled out an iPad and nodded. “You’re right. The codes moved. In fact, the codes are right in front of us.”

The Devil turned to me, and so did the man. “She has the codes.”

I edged back, taking one step at a time. “I-I don’t have them—”

“Shut up.”

I jumped back and bumped into something. I turned and saw that it was a dead body on the floor. The scream lodged in my throat. It wasn’t just one dead body. It was several. Jean-Pierre’s personal guards all lay on the ground with holes in their foreheads.

No. This isn’t happening. This is a bad dream.

The man in black touched his ear. I realized he had some sort of hearing device in it. “Rafael’s on the elevator. We need to hurry.”

“Okay. Plan B.” The Devil unsnapped one of the many pockets on his vest. “Switch to night goggles.”

My heart boomed in my ears. I tried to think of what to do. Run was the only thing that came to mind. The penthouse only had two exits that I knew of. We were sitting next to one of them. The other led to the roof, but I would have to get past these men to get to it.

“I-I need to go the bathroom.” It was all I could think of.

“I don’t give a fuck. Piss on yourself.” The Devil scowled at me. “You’ll be dead soon anyway.”