Devil You Hate (The Diavolo Crime Family 1)

Once Soo comes to a stop, he unlocks the vehicle, and the men bolt through the gate and into the backseat of the SUV. The small feminine body lands in a heap flat across their laps, her arms flayed out over her head.

I gesture at the girl. “Put her in the fucking trunk.”

Mic climbs out and drags the girl, belly down, into his arms. Then he opens the back of the SUV and tosses her inside, none too gently. I’m not particularly happy about it but it’s better than having her on their laps.

Once he’s back in his seat, Soo takes off the way we came. I check the rearview mirror and smile. No one is rushing out. No one seems to be coming to save her—all the better.

Soo remains quiet as we drive. Mic and Archy, if that’s their actual names, aren’t on my payroll, and once we get back to my house, I’ll pay them, and hopefully never see them again. I don’t like the way they were manhandling her or how they tossed her into the back. I can feel the desire to kill them rising with every beat of my heart. I have half a mind to cut off their balls and feed them down their throats when we arrive at the house. Yes, it’s an irrational thought since I asked them to grab her for me, but I don’t care. Rational thinking is for men that care what others think. The only one who gets to touch or hurt her is me… for now, at least.

We make it back to the house before I let my anger ruin a perfectly adequate working relationship. Soo enters the gate passcode, and we drive into the underground garage we’d been in only a half-hour earlier.

Once Soo parks, everyone gets out, and Mic takes it upon himself to gather up my newest possession from the trunk. I narrow my eyes at him, but he ignores me and follows Soo down a corridor and into the basement. I’d set up a little room just for her. We file in, and Mic drops her down onto the mattress. She bounces and then settles; the slip she’s wearing is under her breasts, leaving her panties and legs exposed to everyone.

I grit my teeth hard enough to crack them and march across the space to inspect her. The second daughter of the reigning Ricci family sure grew into a beautiful young woman. Her dark brown hair lies around her head in a halo, some obscuring her features. I crouch beside the mattress and lift the strands from her face, smoothing them away so I can get a better look at her.

Her eyes are closed, and she looks peaceful, like an angel that’s sleeping. Too bad she’s been given to the devil. My gaze lowers, roaming over her creamy flesh. The blood in my veins becomes molten lava when I notice the red scrape on her cheek. It looks fresh. Too fresh.

Gently, as if she is made of glass, I brush my thumb across the wound, lingering where it is flayed across the scar that runs diagonally on her cheek.

Her scar does nothing to hinder her beauty.

Rage already a low simmer in my gut reaches a boil. I quickly cup her head, feeling down her exposed skin until my gaze lands on her chipped fingernails. Blood is caked under two of them, and as my gaze lowers, I notice a bright purple bruise in the shape of a handprint across her thigh, only inches from her lace-covered pussy. My insides burn, and I’ve never felt the need to inflict pain on someone so badly.

I stand casually, a storm brewing inside of me. Soo moves behind me, no doubt attuned to my shift in mood. The two men I paid to bring her to me huddle near the door, waiting for their money.

I approach slowly, a predator sizing up his prey. “I’m sure I instructed you not to harm her.”

Mic speaks up first. “She woke up when we nabbed her. I had to hit her over the head to get her out of the house quietly.”

I turn my attention to Archy. “And you? Did you decide to cop a feel while your partner here subdued her?”

An awareness enters his eyes. He can see his death at my hands, and I let him take a good long look. “In the hallway, now.”

The men precede me, and Soo follows me out, leaving the door open so he can lean casually in the frame.

I force air into my lungs to calm the fuck down before I put my Eagle in their eye sockets and blow their brains out. I’m not bothered by death, and I have no problem killing.

“Tell me what happened. Every single fucking detail, like your life depends on it.”