He wipes off my spit and looks like he’s about a second away from murdering me, but I know he’s following orders. I know he’s not going to hurt me. He can’t.
But I don’t realize the most important thing until it’s too late.
And he knows the moment I understand this. Sees his victory the instant he grabs the girl who shared her water with me. He forces her onto her hands and knees and unzips his pants.
“No!” I try to lunge at him with my arms bound behind me.
“Lou!” he calls to one of the men who appears instantly. “Make her watch.”
The man, Lou, is on me in an instant, kneeling behind me. He’s clutching my face in a vise-like grip and forcing me to look at Marcus, at the poor girl.
Marcus wipes the spit off his face, looks down at the girl on her knees. He splays her open and smears my spit onto her back hole.
“No, Marcus, please don’t,” I try. “She didn’t do anything to you.”
“That’ll be all the lube she gets,” he says as he takes his dick out. “All thanks to you.”
I’ve seen Marcus fuck women before. I know what he’s capable of. He liked me to watch. Any time my brothers wouldn’t let him fuck me, he made me watch him fuck someone else. It wasn’t to make me jealous. It was to torment me. Because he made sure to punish each and every one of them in my place.
“Please Marcus. I’m sorry. I—”
The girl cries out as he thrusts into her without any restraint. “Tight little asshole. She isn’t going to enjoy this even a little bit,” he says. Looking down to spread her wider, he thrusts the rest of himself into her.
The girl screams.
I can’t look at her. “I’m sorry! God. No. Marcus, please stop! I’m so sorry!”
“Lou. Do you have a fucking concussion?”
The man behind me hardens his grip on my face. I close my eyes.
“No. Eyes open, Cartel whore. You close your eyes and I’ll slit her fucking throat.”
I open them. Marcus always knew exactly how to hurt me.
“Yeah, like that. Watch. And know when it’s your turn, I will tear you in fucking two. You may be valuable now but that’ll change. The minute it does, you’re mine.”
Behind me I feel Lou’s erection. He’s rubbing it against me through his pants and I’m going to be sick.
But I’m lucky compared to the others.
As the boat rocks, lifted high by the waves and dropped back down hard, the men stagger away, sated, for now. All but Marcus who takes his time. Who, by the time he’s finished, has the girl pinned flat to the mattress, her eyes gone glassy, blood on her bottom and thighs.
“I’m going to kill you,” I tell him when he finally pulls out and stands, zipping his jeans up.
“I don’t think so,” he says. “Stand her up,” he tells Lou.
Lou hauls me to my feet and Marcus looks me over. I don’t want to show him that I’m afraid, but I am.
He looks at my belly, at the dark bruise forming there.
“Can’t touch your face,” he says to me. “And someone’s already got at you. Was it Jacob? He always did have a hard-on for you.”
“Fuck you, Marcus.”
“No, Scarlett. Fuck you.” He pulls his belt through its loops, doubles it over, and begins.
3
Cristiano
Soldiers have already sealed off the dock. Dante got here and took care of it before we arrived. He went to Milan on business after the wedding, which is less than a two-hour drive from here.
He’s on the docks talking to an old man. When he sees me, he gives a nod of greeting.
“Christ,” my uncle mutters.
“You don’t have to be here,” I tell him, surveying the scene.
“I’m staying.”
I walk over the gravel road, to the two bodies lying on the ground. I get to the girl first. Crouching down, I touch two fingers to the pulse at her neck, although I don’t need to. She’s dead. I can see it in her still open, vacant eyes.
Her arms are drenched in dried blood. She was hugging herself. Beneath my shoes, it’s seeped into the ground.
A single gunshot to the belly. It’s a terrible way to die.
Straightening, I look out over the boats bobbing in the water. It’s a windy day, the water rough.
The man talking to Dante points to a slip where a boat is missing. Dante nods, takes his wallet out of his pocket. He pulls out some bills and folds them over. He places them into the man’s hand who looks around before taking the money.
I turn and walk across the lot to Jacob’s body lying on the ground. Gunshot to the head. They weren’t messing around. He probably died instantly. I feel his pockets searching for his phone. I find it in his breast pocket. It’s password protected, which I knew it would be. Charlie can take care of that though. I tuck it away for later.