With a bright smile on his face, he takes me away from my love. I look back at Massimo.
That’s the last time I’ll see him. The last time I’ll tell him I love him.
The last time I’ll feel love for anybody.
My father leads me away to the fate that awaits. Death.
It can only be that. I’ll be sold to a madman who will kill me when he decides he wants my life to be over.
Chapter Forty
Massimo
At least I got to see her again.
One more time.
I’ll take that as my final memory. Her beautiful face. Her beautiful tear-stained face and whiskey-colored eyes. Love filling those eyes for me as she told me she loved me. I can’t believe I fought so hard not to fall for her. I tried my best not to love her.
I kept seeing her as the enemy’s daughter. She was never that. Who she is and what she is was right there in front of me the whole time. The woman I love. The girl of my dreams. They’re the same person.
And no more.
That was it, the last. They will kill me here. No matter what shit they promise to her, they will kill me here.
Why? Because they had to tie me up to beat me.
I can’t begin to process Andreas’ betrayal. I won’t waste time on it. I knew he would be angry that Pa didn’t choose him to take over as boss, but I never expected this. He stood there and allowed Riccardo to kill Pa. And he would have known that the devil was responsible for our mother’s death.
That makes him dead to me.
A crude laugh makes me lift my head. I see Vlad’s face looming before me.
“Motherfucker,” I hiss, and he laughs louder.
“Look at you thinking you’re still king. You aren’t,” Vlad taunts. “Couldn’t kill me the first time, couldn’t get me on the boat, and you definitely won’t now.”
“How the hell did you escape the first?” I can barely talk, but fuck, do I ever want the answer to that.
He fell off a fucking train with a bullet in his chest. He would have gone down into the river. He should be dead.
“We Russian men are tough. But sometimes you have to lose to gain,” he says, rolling up the sleeve on his left arm.
My eyes narrow when he reveals a robotic arm and smiles. His hand looks normal, but the rest is a titanium similar to what you’d see in a Terminator movie.
“In the Circle of Shadows, we never give up on our own. The brotherhood found me, patched me up, and turned me into a freaking cyborg. Making me stronger than ever before.” He laughs as he glares at me. “I’m going to have fun torturing you to death, then I’m going to have fun fucking your wife to death. Then I’m going to have fun with all the wealth we currently own. Diamonds and money. Power.”
“Fuck you,” I snarl.
He sends a kick to my midsection. I double over, lurking against the chains on my wrists.
“I’d love to see you try and fuck me, bastard dog. Come and try it. Make my day,” he jeers. He moves forward and pulls a knife from his pocket. “You people can’t leave well enough alone. Always taking what isn’t yours. This is the second time you people have done it to me.”
Again, he’s talking about Alyssa. Alyssa and Emelia, both angels. My brother’s love and then my girl. What will he do to her?
Alyssa was promised to his leader’s son, but Vlad was obsessed with her. He wanted her for himself and was only too happy to accept a job to punish her for breaking a contract. That’s what happened. She married Tristan, and this demon waited until her wedding night to steal her soul.
“Neither of them belonged to you. Not Alyssa, and not Emelia.”