“They say Gianni would pause just to watch the man’s eyes.” Vito pointed at his own. “Just to see the life slowly drain out of them. You see. Gianni likes the taste of their agony.”
My stomach twisted.
“When he was finally ready to end it, Gianni didn’t deliver a quick death. He set the man on fire, Bella. Burned him alive and watched as the flames devoured him.” An excited chuckle left Vito. “I bet he jacked off to it. I would have.”
Jesus.
“I would have cum all over his ashes, Bella.” Vito slipped his gaze over my body, grabbed his crotch, and began rubbing himself. “Sometimes, I imagine that Father tells me to check to see if youreallyare a virgin.”
“What happened to you, Vito?”
“And I do my duty. I shove you on the bed, open your legs, and stuff my cock into you, testing that wet pussy for myself—”
“I am your sister—”
“Half—”
“That means nothing—”
“It does because I would only be fucking the half that isn’t my blood.” Vito rubbed himself some more. “Gianni hunted the rest of the men like animals. One by one, he found them—hiding in their mansions, their safe houses, thinking they wereuntouchable. But nothing could protect them from the Devil of Shadows—”
“I don’t want to hear anymore—”
“He’d break into their homes in the dead of night, silent as a wraith, and he’d let them feel the fear, the panic, before he struck—”
“That’s enough. Leave and let me change—”
“Some, he hung from the rafters, letting them dangle there, choking on their own breath until they went still.” Vito began rubbing himself faster and his breathing came out ragged. “Others, he flayed alive, peeling their skin back as they screamed for mercy that would never come.”
I pressed my back harder against the wall, wishing I could disappear into it, wishing I could escape the horrors Vito was describing.
But there was no escape.
Not from this.
Vito gyrated against his hand and his eyes glazed over with sickening pleasure. “Once Gianni tied a woman to a chair, injected her with this slow-acting poison, and then sat back and watched as she convulsed. Her body twisted and writhed in agony.”
Still getting himself off, he groaned and rocked his hips. “Her veins blackened under her skin.”
I felt like I might vomit.
This was the man they wanted me to marry, the man they were forcing me to spend the rest of my life with. A monster who thrived on pain and suffering, who took pleasure in the most grotesque acts of cruelty imaginable.
My mind reeled with the horror of it all—the twisted pleasure Vito took in recounting the atrocities Gianni had committed, the way he spoke of pain and suffering as though they were delicacies to be savored.
And then there was the sight of Vito, standing there, rubbing himself, his eyes half-closed in sickening pleasure as he imagined what he might do to me if given the chance.
My stomach churned.
I had to get out.
Now.
The revulsion surged within me, giving me the strength I needed.
Without a second thought, I darted to the side, desperate to put as much distance between us as possible.
But before I could take more than a few steps, Vito’s hand shot out, grabbing me by the arm and yanking me back with a force that sent me crashing into him.
