I shake my head. “No,” I demand, pulling my hand out of his failing grip and scrambling to my feet, the desperation getting to me. My gaze flicks from left to right, from Levi’s cell to Roman’s and back to Marcus’. “I’m going to get you out of here. We didn’t go through everything we did, just for you guys to give up now. I won’t let you. I’m going to get you out.”
Levi gives me a sad smile, and I gape back at him, but just as horror washes over his face and his eyes widen with fear, a sharp sting slams down against the side of my neck and a body steps in behind me. “Well, well, well. It seems my new bride has returned to me.”
“EMPRESS,” Roman roars, his body crashing into the bars with a desperation that I’ve never seen from him before.
And just like that, I crumble into a broken heap at Giovanni’s feet.
9
LEVI
“Don’t fucking touch her,” I growl, my chest slamming up against the cold, metal bars as my fingers curl around them, holding so fucking tight my knuckles threaten to split right through my skin. I pull against them as if I could tear right through them, but there’s no fucking use. We built these cells to withstand a nuclear bomb.
Shayne collapses, the oil lamp crashing to the ground and sending short licks of flames sprawling across the opening in between the cells as my father laughs with a wicked enjoyment. “What a shame,” he says, his eyes glistening as he kicks his foot out, slamming into her ribs and watching her lack of response.
“I swear to fucking God,” I roar, tearing at the bars again, desperate to get to her. “If you fucking touch her, I will tear you limb from limb with my fucking teeth.”
My father scoffs, his sick gaze slowly turning to mine. “Look what’s become of you, son. You’ve turned into such an animal.” He laughs, crouching down and making a show of brushing Shayne’s hair off the side of her face, trailing his fingers down her cheek and across the soft skin of her neck. “I bet my new bride will be an animal, too. Tight and fucking slick. It’s going to be my fucking pleasure destroying her. I should thank you boys for warming her up for me, training her for what’s to come.”
Bile rises in my throat as panic courses through my veins. She’s right there in front of me, only two short steps away, and there’s not a goddamn thing I can do about it. She’s never been so fucking far away in her life.
Roman’s horrified stare flickers toward mine, mirroring the exact same bullshit that’s etched on my face. The fucker can barely hold himself up, but I’ll be damned if he doesn’t give everything he’s got left as he turns his ferocious glare on my father. “You’re going to die for this, old man,” he growls, his tone full of venom, deep and booming with a raw intensity that I’ve never witnessed from my eldest brother. He pulls against the bars of his cell, and I swear for just a moment, I see them rattle, but I could be seeing things.
We’ve been down in these fucking cells for …. fuck, I don’t know how long. We’re in a constant state of darkness, unsure when the sun rises and falls. My guess, maybe four or five days. All I know is that my father has done everything in his power to keep us suffering.
Our bodies had barely hit the concrete of our cells before Marcus started showing signs of infection. We all were, and true to his fucked-up nature, my father went and offered us antibiotics and gauze to dress our wounds, but the asshole only supplied enough for two of us, so no matter what, we were going to sit here and watch our brother die.
“SHAYNE,” I roar, knowing there’s no point. She can’t fucking hear me. Whatever he shot into her system knocked her out cold, but I have to try. She has to fight back. It’s our only fucking chance.
Marcus’ head whips up from the ground, drenched in sweat as his dying eyes take in the scene before him. “Shayne?” he questions, his eyes widening in fear, snapping out of his hallucination, and quickly realizing that this isn’t a fucking dream, that she’s right here in front of us. So close, but so damn far out of our reach. It’s a cruel fucking game. He may have made it this far but, watching him hovering over her with a sick delight sparkling in his eyes, he’s going to wish he were dead.
Terror rips across Marcus’ face, feeling that same wave of helplessness that Roman and I have been riding since the second she showed up down here. “No,” he breathes, shoving his hand beneath himself to drag his heavy body across his cell, trying to get closer to the bars, closer to our girl.
My father has done everything in his power to draw out his death. Giving him just enough water to keep him alive, but not enough to help his suffering. Every minute he gets worse, every minute begging for the sweet relief of death.
If I could, I’d fucking do it for him. I’d curl my hands around my brother’s head and snap his neck in an instant, putting him out of his misery, and fuck, I know Roman is thinking the same damn thing. He’s my blood, my brother in every definition of the word. He’s had my back my whole fucking life, and as much as it’d kill me to do it, I’d do it for him.
I watch in horror as my father’s arms slip under her body, and I shake my head as he lifts her from the ground, threatening to take the one thing that truly matters in this fucked-up world. “No, no, no,” I breathe, the fear like nothing I’ve ever felt before.
Shayne lolls in my father’s arms, her head back at an awkward angle, and I want to fucking scream as helplessness courses painfully through my veins. Not even when she was held in my father’s dungeons, did I feel this helpless. I knew she would survive that, but this … this is going to destroy her.
Marcus stares up at my father, tears in his eyes. “Don’t do this,” he begs. “Take me. I’m dead anyway. Torture me, slit my fucking throat, play whatever sick games you have to play, just leave her out of this.”
My chest aches with his fucking words, but I don’t dare force him to stop. As sick as it sounds, Marcus is a dead man, and if he’s willing to spend his last hours on earth in the worst kind of torment to save the love of his life, then I’m not one to tell him no. He knows that when the time comes, we will make good on our promises and our father will pay for this. Marcus has an unwavering faith in us, just as Roman and I would if we’d been in his position.
But fuck … to lose Marcus?
I can’t. The idea of losing him to my father’s hands, having him suffer more than he already is, sends a hollow ache through my chest. It needs to be quick. He needs to be put out of his misery.
My father turns to leave, and I feel myself crumble, knowing exactly what he plans for her. He’s done nothing but torment us with his games, explain to us in grave detail what he plans on doing to her, and it’s a reality I simply can’t take.
He looks down at Marcus with pity, but I don’t miss the laughter in his eyes. “Such a waste,” he says, looking at his son as he adjusts Shayne in his arms and pulls his gun. A surge of hope fires through me. All he needs to do is pull the trigger and Marcus will be free from this agony. “I should put you out of your misery,” my father says, holding the gun directly toward Marcus in a kill shot. “I should put you down like a fucking animal, but I’m not nearly done with you yet. Not for a long time, son.”
And with that, he disappears into the darkness, taking our girl with him.
Roman crumbles, dropping to his knees as he desperately clutches the bars, his head falling forward as Marcus weeps in the cell beside me. It fucking kills me.
I stumble back in my cell until my back slams against the concrete, my head falling back with a heavy thud.