My mind began to work over the pain again, and I considered shifting tactics. Fighting back wasn’t working, but it was my first instinct. “I don’t have anything to say.”
He smiled, and I wanted to vomit. “Come sit beside me.”
I couldn’t endure another crack of the rod so soon. The lingering sting from the last was still too brutal, so I reluctantly did as asked, sitting beside him on my tender legs.
“You look ridiculous wearing clothing really meant for a man,” Carlo said, spitting out Gio’s words with exactly the same inflection. “They will come off, and I think I’ll enjoy fucking you for quite a while.”
I leapt to my feet, overwhelmed by the urge to run. But all Carlo had to do was hold up the baton and it froze me in place. Only my chest rose and fell with my hurried, panicked breath.
Behind me, Gio rose from the couch. I kept myself still while his arms closed tight around me and pulled me up against him, his chest pushing against my back.
“Yes. Be an obedient little bitch and I might even let you enjoy it.”
Never in a million fucking years.
He’d been a fool to get this close, though, and I reacted purely on instinct.
My foot came down hard on his, followed by a satisfying elbow to his face. He reared back and howled in pain.
I’d moved fast, but I was outnumbered. The bite of therod against my shin made me unable to flee. I couldn’t do anything but try to breathe.
This time his hands were rough on my body, and I closed my eyes. The tall, dangerous man who lurked in my mind gave me comfort while Gio’s hands found my breasts. I needed Ethan. Not just physically anymore, but on a scary new level.
To keep me going.
This was so unfair. The Abramos were going to kill me when I was just starting to feel alive again.
Harsh hands stripped the red scarf from my neck, but I stayed quiet. Outsmarting Gio shouldn’t be impossible, and he and Carlo probably had one brain cell between the two of them.
You need to be smarter, Olivia.
It took every ounce of strength not to fight when fingers began to undo the buttons of my shirt. My eyes snapped open when Gio’s hands were suddenly gone and he straightened away from me.
The office door was open, and Vitale stood in the doorway conversing with his son, but his eyes were fixed on me. I’d rather see my death coming to prepare myself, so my focus turned to Carlo.
“What are they saying?”
He didn’t get a chance to answer.
Vitale stepped back to wave someone in, and then an impossibly tall, intense man in a suit came through the doorway, his hands bound in plastic.
37
ETHAN
I evaluated the room quickly,doing all I could to take emotion out of it. Olivia was still dressed, with no visible wounds. Good. Her hands were in metal handcuffs, which was also good. Metal was easier to get out of than the plastic ones, which would be helpful when the time came for escape. Carlo stood near her, a telescoping wand gripped in his right hand like a crop for training a disobedient horse.
Her mouth fell open, she sucked in a sharp breath, and she held it like she couldn’t believe what she was seeing.
Olivia probably hadn’t expected I’d come after her so soon, or to see that I’d been captured.
Yet getting inside the house to her was the only goal, and the fastest way to gain access was through capture. I hadn’t exactly made it easy on them. I’d put on a show and calculated exactly how many men were outside the compound for when it came time to escape.
Vitale was going to want to question me, so there wasn’t any sense trying to infiltrate the house. I might end up getting shot before the guards realized who I was.
She took a hesitant step toward me, and although her limp was subtle, the pain in her green eyes was not, and I lost the ability to keep emotion out of the situation. All the other men in this room were going to pay for that.
Andsoon.
