Ruthless Spring

CHAPTER TWENTY-EIGHT: WINTER

Enzo’sfaceisblank as he steps into my room.

I’ve been in here for days without seeing anyone, other than maids, since Maximo left. They bring me a new change of clothes, which is useless since I haven’t been allowed to take an actual shower. I’ve been given three bathroom breaks a day for using it and that’s it.

My door is locked once again.

And when the first maid took me to the bathroom, she’d been given instructions to inform me that if I tried to escape, she would receive a bullet to the brain. The woman had been shivering as she’d told me, and I knew the order had to have come directly from Giovanni or Maximo.

“It’s time to get up,” Enzo says shortly. “Giovanni wants to see you.”

I throw the cover off of me, climbing to my feet and moving to the door but Enzo doesn’t move out of the way when I try to exit.

“What now?” I snap, looking up at him.

“Shoes,” he says, looking pointedly at my bare feet.

I think about the rules that were implemented the first day that I got here. I was told that I couldn't walk around the compound bare feet. “Don’t fucking tell me that Giovanni is scared of a few bare toes.”

Enzo only lets out an exasperated sigh. “Aren’t you tired of being in trouble?” His words sound like they hold a note of sympathy, and I don’t like it.

“Aren’t you tired of being wish washy?” I snap back. Because that’s exactly what he’s been since I got here. From threatening to toss me down stairs, to telling me to just keep my head low. To now acting as if he’s concerned for me, when we both know that isn’t the truth.

He only inclines his head and I let out a huff of air, turning and making my way back to my bed. I pull out a pair of slippers and quickly slide my feet into them, moving back to the door. “There,” I point at my feet, “Fucking happy?”

He only turns on his heels, heading into the hallway.

I pinch the bridge of my nose, trying to tamper down my irritation before following after him.

I don't even keep track of our route to Giovanni’s office, trying to get a hold of my emotions instead. The past few days they’ve gone everywhere, from hate, to exhaustion, to resignation, all the way back to anger.

When Enzo opens the door to Giovanni’s office, I move past him, plopping down into the seat across from Giovanni without being told to. He only gazes at me, his eyes narrowing slightly.

Vito is sitting in the chair next to mine and I refuse to look at him. Enzo makes his way to the corner behind Giovanni and when I hear footsteps behind me, I know that Maixmo has entered the room.

He stands directly behind me, putting his hands on the back of my chair, his fingers brushing against my shoulders. I refuse to turn around and look at him.

Giovanni leans back in his seat, peering at me. After a moment, he moves his gaze away. “With the help of the Damone Family we took out two of the cartels main warehouses the other night. And we took out a fair amount of their people at the top, but we didn’t get to Luis Ramos, so we’re going to be on high alert for the next couple of weeks. There will be a retaliation.”

“Which is exactly what we’re looking for,” Maximo says from behind me, catching me off guard. “It'll draw Luis out of whatever fucking cave he’s hiding in.”

I can’t help but to wonder why this meeting was important enough for them to release me out of my prison after days.

Giovanni’s eyes move to me as if hearing my thoughts. “In the meantime, Enzo will be glued to Winter’s side,” he says. “And he’ll be teaching her self-defense. She can only get lucky kicking someone in the balls so many times before someone gets a bullet in her head first.”

And there goes the irritation again.

“Why is it so important who kills me? It’s something that’s going to happen anyway, right?” I ask. “That’s how all of this is going to end, yes? With one of you killing me?”

I flick my gaze around the room. “I would have put money on it being Maximo, but he’s actually lower on the totem pole these days.” I incline my head to look at said man as I say the words and find a mix of amusement and irritation on his face. “I think he’d much rather watch me suffer while alive than kill me.” I look at Enzo. “He’s not going to do anything to me unless Maximo, I’m sorry,” I pretend to blunder, “unless Giovanni tells him to.” I flick my gaze between Vito and Giovanni. “So, it’ll be one of you two who does it, which means there’s absolutely nothing to worry about.”

Absolute silence.

I decide that I like this new me, the one who doesn’t care what she does or say because either way I’m going to be miserable, so why not try to do something different?

“If you want to be fucked, it’s the least you could say, you don’t have to try to get yourself in trouble,” Giovanni bites out coolly, his eyes meeting mine. “Just tell me what it is you want in you, my fingers or my cock. Or is it Vito who you want to do it?” His gaze narrows even further. “Or maybe it’s my little brother? Now that I think about it, Enzo is the only one who hasn’t had a piece of your snatch, is that what you’re trying to work up to, Winter?”

My face grows warm in embarrassment and my fists clench. “I didn’t want-”