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The three of them take turns, punching and kicking him until he’s a bloody, swollen mess, breathing hard and sweating profusely.
I glare at all three of my cousins, silently damning them to hell for putting Archer through this insane pain.
But Archer doesn’t cry out again. He winces, but he never once begged for the torture to stop. Archer pants hard, his tanned skin streaked with his blood and sweat. His head begins to fall forward in exhaustion.
“Well. Now he’s ready,” Uncle Carlo says with a smile. “Untie him and let’s see what he has left in him. If he fights back and manages to survive the beating, I’ll let him live.”
“You’ll do better than that,” Archer says with a growly voice. “You’ll let me marry Elena.”
Uncle Carlo’s face transforms from agreeable to rage in an instant.
“Who do you think you are to tell me what I’ll agree to?”
“I’m taking her punishment for leaving eight years ago,” Archer continues, not retreating from my uncle in the least. “If I win this fight, you’ll give us your blessing to marry. This is more than a decade in the making, Carlo, and you know it. We’ve earned it.”
I’m watching Archer’s face as he struggles to breathe through the pain, blood dripping down his cheek from the side of his swollen eye. His dark hair is wet with sweat, and his naked torso gleams in the light from the setting sun behind him.
“Let’s see if you win first,” Uncle Carlo sneers and nods at my cousin Shane to untie Archer.
We’re surrounded by my family, all of them hell-bent on torturing Archer. On keeping us apart.
But after more than ten years, I’m done being without him.
While the cousins untie him, Archer’s gaze never leaves mine.
I love you, he mouths.
I love you, too, I mouth back.
Finally, his hands are free, and he pushes to his feet.
“Rocco,” Uncle Carlo says. “Take care of him.”
The three gang up on him, but when Carmine and Shane hold his arms so Rocco can punch him, Archer uses the two brothers as leverage to kick up his legs and knock Rocco out.
My cousin falls in a heap on the floor, unconscious.
I feel Uncle Carlo shift next to me, and we watch silently as Shane throws a punch. Archer deflects, captures Shane’s hand, and while bending it back until there’s a loud snap, Archer punches the heel of his injured hand into Shane’s nose, sending him falling to the floor, as well.
“Maybe we underestimated you,” Carmine says, wiping at the sweat dripping from his forehead.
“In more ways than you realize.” Archer’s voice is hard and gravelly, filled with determination and grit. Hope fills my belly when Carmine moves to punch Archer, but he deflects. Archer is going to win this! We’re going to leave here and be together.
But Carmine rounds on Archer and tags him from behind. He wraps his arm around Archer’s neck and holds him in a headlock. Both men grunt from the exertion, their skin red. Archer’s face is turning purple. My God, I want to run to him, help him. Carmine could kill him!
“Don’t.” That’s all Uncle Carlo says.
And then I watch in fascination as Carmine leans in and whispers something in Archer’s ear.
We can’t hear what is said, but the next thing I know, Archer grips the arm around his throat with his good hand and pulls down hard, then flings his head back and connects with Carmine’s nose, sending blood spraying everywhere as Carmine falls to the floor.
Archer stands in the middle of the room, chest heaving, eye swollen shut, and covered in blood. But his eyes are on me as he says, “I win.”
I wait. I want to beg Uncle Carlo to do the right thing. I know that he’s a good man deep down. I felt the love he had for me when he wrapped me in his arms.
Uncle Carlo rubs his hand over his chin and watches Archer thoughtfully, ignoring the groans coming from his sons on the floor.
“Carmine was right, we did underestimate you. I’ll concede that you won.”
“I’m taking Elena, and we’re leaving. We’re leaving. She won’t ever see you again.”
“I won’t agree to that,” Uncle Carlo replies. “You know that’s not possible. She can never leave. It’s been a hard lesson to learn.”
He turns his eyes to me.
“I’ll allow you to marry, if that’s what she wants.”
My heart soars. Is this really happening? But then the reality of it hits me right between the eyes.
“I can’t.” I turn to Archer. “I can’t let you get sucked into this. Maybe we can run and hide again.”
“We’re done running,” Archer says and hobbles to me, wrapping his arm around my shoulder. “No more hiding. No more. There’s not much I can do for you, Carlo.”
“You’d be surprised,” my uncle replies with a thin smile. “I’ll approve of this match, with the understanding that if and when I need you, I’ll call on you, and you’ll answer. If you hide from me, we’ll find you. And it won’t end as well as it did for you today.”
