She pulled out a knife and held it to his neck at about the exact same time he had one pointed at her right eyeball, nearly touching her eyelashes.
“Say it again, and I’m stealing something pretty,” he roared in front of her face.
“Not before I slit your voice box to keep you from torturing people with your moans every time you try to get a girl off.” Her lower lip trembled.
“You’re dead to me.” You could hear the pain in his voice, the anger. She’d been his world.
He’d been hers.
“I hate you.” She spat in his face and then turned on her high heels and kept walking, grabbing the superintendent by the tie so he’d follow her.
Junior grabbed the random girl’s hand. “Shall we?”
Shit.
“What have we done?” Claire whispered under her breath.
“Saved their fucking lives,” I said in a sad voice. “Now, let’s go to US History.”
Chapter Nine
Claire
The rest of the day past in a blur; by the time we made it back to the house or the compound as I was starting to think of it, everyone was tense.
Nixon was standing at the door, arms crossed, Chase was right behind him. I gulped and tried to keep myself from freaking the hell out when I saw my uncle Nikolai between them, Tex towering over everyone, and then it just kept getting worse as the sea of mafia bosses parted.
Phoenix.
Dante.
Sergio.
I knew all of their names now.
Knew the danger and weight those names carried.
I was surrounded by death.
I was surrounded by men and women who dealt with it on a daily basis, some of them with smiles on their faces.
And they were all looking at us expectantly, at me expectantly, especially Chase, his blue eyes flashed to Asher then back to me.
I gripped his hand tighter.
Only to have him release it suddenly.
What was happening?
Junior and Serena walked in behind us.
I could feel their anger.
I didn’t know what to do, I knew I helped create the tension, I knew I fed the hate.
“How’d it go?” Chase asked like he didn’t know. He wasn’t looking at Asher, he was looking at me.
“Great.” I swallowed the dryness in my throat. “I think we scared everyone shitless.”
His smile spread wide. “All of you come with us.”
I looked at Asher. He gritted his teeth and then gave me a slow nod.
We followed the men, the bosses quietly through the house, around a long hallway, and down dark stairs into an even darker basement.
The only reason I wasn’t freaking out was because I trusted Asher and Nikolai.
The stairs stopped once we reached a huge room that had a long table in the middle of it. Chase walked around it and slowly started lighting the candles.
And then Tex was handing me one to hold.
My hands shook as I held the white candle out in front of me, Serena, Junior, Violet, Izzy, Maksim, and Breaker did the same. Asher was last.
“Sangue in non Fuori,” Phoenix said in a low voice. “Seguimi.”
I had no clue what he was saying.
The rest of the group repeated what he said, I joined in with a shaky voice.
And then he approached Junior, they looked a lot alike, Junior obviously inherited his parents’ good looks and enough muscle to look like a professional athlete. “No more lies.”
Junior’s eyes turned cold. “No more lies.”
Nixon moved to stand in front of Serena, he drew a knife down the center of his palm, blood dripped in rapid succession onto the concrete floor, he held out his hand. “Until another man gives you his blood willingly—you are owned by this family, your body belongs to this family, your very soul. Do. You. Understand?”
It was a horrible feeling, watching the last part of light leave someone’s eyes and darkness take its place. Serena nodded coolly and said. “I won’t let you down, besides—” her voice lowered. “—there’s nothing more important than the Family.” She hesitated. “Nothing and No one.”
I expected Junior to have some sort of outward expression, a flinch of pain, something, anything.
Instead, a cruel smile spread across his lips as he stared straight ahead as if she’d taken every last piece of his soul and turned him more monster than man.
A shiver ran down my spine.
Because no matter how intoxicating the bad may look, how addicting, the truth remains.
Evil is evil.
Bad is bad.
And I had a sick feeling I’d just helped unleash exactly that. I couldn’t look away from the two people I’d helped destroy.
I did it knowingly.
Helped Asher take the last shreds of innocence away.
I did it because I loved him.
It was still wrong.
All of it.
And now I was trapped.
With a guy I loved and would destroy for.
And people who expected me to do it again and again until it became my default mode.
Could I really do this?
Nikolai faced me, and then slit his hand and pressed that same bloodied hand against my cheek.