lying. If I admitted it, well, I just knew that wouldn’t be pretty either. The tears fell fast and freely, my sobs getting harder and harder to keep muted. This was really happening. Cole and Graham weren’t coming for us. They probably didn’t even realize we were gone yet.
Stefano slid his knife lower, but I clenched my thighs together, trapping his hand between them.
“Did you let him touch you here, too? Did you let him into your body, Jade?” He tried to force my legs apart, but I still held them together tightly.
“Open your fucking legs. Apparently, you’ll let anyone in that pussy, and now it’s my turn.” He pushed me down onto my back, and I fell onto my tied hands, helpless. The floor was cold and dirty, but what hit me harder was the notion that I was never going to get out of here. Even worse, I had no way to guarantee Dahl and the babies would get out of here safely either.
“Christ, nothing compares to the real thing,” he whispered, staring down at my naked body.
“Wh-what do you mean?” I had no idea what he was talking about, but I wanted to keep him talking instead of doing. Every second counted.
“I found a replacement. One who looked just like you, save for her brown hair. I couldn’t have you yet, so I had to make do.” He shrugged, like the words coming out of his mouth were completely normal. “I fucked her just today. It’s a shame she didn’t make it.” He shook his head. “But now,” he unzipped his fly, “now you and I are going to get reacquainted.”
He looked down to take himself out of his pants, and I did the only thing I could. I swung my foot out and kicked right between his legs. He grabbed himself and doubled over, so I kicked again, this time getting him in the face. His nose started gushing once again. I used my legs to scoot away and put as much distance between us as I could, but once he regained his composure, he stalked toward me with a murderous look in his eyes. I rolled onto my stomach in an effort to push up onto my knees and get to my feet, but before I could even try, one hundred and eighty pounds of psycho landed on my back, knocking the wind out of me. My arms were numb, my face throbbing from smacking against the hard floor.
“If you wanted it rough, all you had to do was say so, Bambina,” he growled into my ear. I screamed and he threw a hand around my mouth while trying to free himself from his pants once more. I bit his hand and tried to buck him off of me, but he wasn’t budging.
Just as I was about to give up hope, I heard heavy boots against the concrete, running in our direction. I tried to angle my head to see who it was, but my hair was in my eyes. My heart started pounding even faster in anticipation. Please be Cole. Please be Cole, I chanted in my head like a prayer.
“Jade! Baby, are you okay?!” Cole. I felt such overwhelming relief in that moment that I completely broke down crying, harder than before. I couldn’t even form words.
“I swear to fucking God, I will put a bullet in your head in about two seconds if you don’t get the fuck away from my girl.”
Stefano’s response was a malicious laugh. He still had me pinned with his body, not making any attempt to get off of me.
“What makes you think I won’t put a bullet in her little pretty head first?” Stefano taunted.
“Because I’ll kill your whole motherfucking family and then fly my ass to Italy to burn down the rest of the country just to make sure I didn’t miss a long-lost relative of yours!” Cole roared.
Bang!
The shot rang through my head. I had no idea where it came from or who, if anyone, was hit. My hair was still matted in my face, and I still couldn’t move.
Stefano let out a string of cuss words before rolling off of me, onto the ground next to me. I stared at him in shock, not able to even process what just happened. I felt my hands being freed, and a shirt being put over my head, then I was scooped up into strong, familiar arms. Home. I was home.
“Fuck, baby, are you hurt? Was I too late? Tell me he didn’t…” Cole’s voice was strangled. I looked up into those savage, yet somehow sweet golden eyes of his, and shook my head. He let out a sigh of relief and smashed his lips to my forehead.
“Thank fuck. You did so good, baby. Such a strong girl.” The sound of his voice, his scent, his warm, bare chest, and his reassuring words filled me with comfort.
“Where are Dahl and the girls?” We had to help them.
“Shh, Butterfly. Graham’s got ’em. Everything’s okay now. Everyone’s safe.”
Moaning in the corner had me whipping my head around. Cole didn’t look startled, as if he had kept one eye on him the whole time. He managed to keep the gun trained on Stefano with one hand while still holding me. Stefano sat doubled over, clutching his shoulder in pain.
“Listen to me, Jade,” he said, sliding me down his body until my feet hit the floor. He didn’t look at me, all of his attention now focused on Stefano who was climbing to his feet. “I need you to go out back and find Graham and his men. I need to take care of something.”
My head was already shaking before he was finished with his sentence. For one, there was no way I wanted to walk out of here alone. And I knew that Stefano probably deserved it, but I didn’t want anyone to die. Or maybe I just didn’t want Cole to kill him.
“No, please, don’t do this. Don’t make me leave you,” I begged. I sounded weak, even to my own ears, but I was all out of fucks to give.
“Jade. Go.” His jaw was clenched, his tone final and unforgiving. This wasn’t Cole. This was Slaughterhouse Savage. I knew not to argue, but I wasn’t scared of him. I knew my beast would always protect me. I reached up on my tippy toes and pressed my lips to his scruffy neck. I had the overwhelming urge to tell him I loved him, and the thought shocked me more than anything that went down that night, and that said a lot, considering I’d been fucked by a bottle and kidnapped by my ex in the very same night.
At the sight of me kissing Cole, Stefano somehow found the strength to run toward us with a roar. Cole pushed me behind his back, and that was enough to send me bolting in the opposite direction, my bare feet slapping against the hard floor, Cole’s shirt the only thing on my body. Once I turned down the hall, I heard yet another shot. I skidded to a stop and went to run back in, but I was yanked backwards by my hair, and something hard pressed against my temple.
“Careful, Bambina. Wouldn’t want my finger to slip and pull the trigger. Your boyfriends over there wouldn’t be too happy about that, would they?”
I didn’t answer, just gritted my teeth and tried to stay perfectly still. I was getting real sick of being threatened. I didn’t even know who the fuck this guy was, hadn’t even gotten a look at him, but I had a sneaky suspicion that he was the head honcho.