Queen of Hearts (Wonderland 2)

The man strikes me across the face again, blood spilling from my lip. “Why does he seem to care about you? Why was he trying to protect you? Why would he risk pissing off the Morellis and the Constantines?” He slices the knife across my chest again, drawing a bloody line from one nipple to the other. “Are you in the Morelli will? Are you going to inherit an ungodly amount of money?”

I endure, remaining nonreactive, though blood now freely trickles down my chest. The man is grasping at straws, and I like that he can’t read me or read my situation.

“This isn’t the Nick Hudson I know. This is not the ‘life of the party’ man who’d rather be in Wonderland than the dark streets of our world.” The man’s eyes again narrow, his fist rises, ready to strike again. “What does he know that we don’t?”

“Ask him yourself, asshole,” is my only reply. “Or at least try before he kills you.”

With that, the man’s clenched fist lowers, and walking behind me, he uses the bloody blade of the knife to cut the binds loose from my wrists.

“I don’t need to. I saw at Wonderland just how much the men around the table were willing to pay for you,” the man says as he walks toward the door. Looking over his shoulder, he adds, “We’re going to auction you off to the highest bidder tonight. I think you’re going to be a great payday for us.” He laughs. “Let’s see who wants you more. Daddy? The Constantines? Nick Hudson?”

I chuckle to myself and shake my head.

“What’s so funny?” he asks.

“You picked the wrong Morelli. This isn’t going to be the payday you expect.”

He takes a step away from me and crosses his arms against his body. “Oh we’ll see about that. I have a price in mind. A very, very lucrative price in mind. And my guess is that by the time the auction is over, I’ll have it.”

I remain silent, wondering what the price is and if anyone—including Nick—would actually pay it.

He looks down at the cut and bloody lines he left on me. “I’ll send someone in to clean you up and give you something fresh to wear. We want you presentable for tonight.”

With that, he leaves the room leaving me sitting in the chair, tortured and bleeding. I too wonder who will want me the most, and what that exactly will mean. But he’s right. He reminds me that this isn’t like Nick. Why would he become enemies with the Morellis and the Constantines? Why would he risk everything for me? There is no inheritance. I’m not a part of the Morelli empire. I’m nothing but the bastard who is forgotten about. So why?

A stabbing pain in my heart dominates all the other pain in my body. I can’t feel my face, I can’t feel the cuts. I only feel the pain deep within my soul. It reminds me of why I first left Bishop’s Landing for Italy.

To protect Nick.

He doesn’t deserve this disaster I’m in. He shouldn’t have enemies because of me. He shouldn’t have to clean up my messes. And like Sidorov asked, why? Why would he do this?

But more importantly… why would I allow him to?

The words of Cora flood in. Though I now detest the woman, she has a point. Nick will take a bullet for me. He’ll die on my behalf if he has to. He’s in my mess, and there is no way out unless I do something about it. Me. It has to be me.