I didn’t want to be alone with this man. He seemed transparent with his intentions, but Wolfe was the only man in this world I truly trusted implicitly.
When I didn’t cooperate, he pointed his pistol at Elio’s head and cocked the gun. The smile was gone, and there was a rage in his eyes, as if within the snap of a finger, he’d lost his patience. “Shall I begin?”
I saw Leo change the grip on his gun slightly, like he was about to swing it toward Icarus and squeeze the trigger to spray him with bullets.
Icarus seemed to see it too, even though he only stared at me, because he suddenly pointed the gun at my head instead. “You want to play, little boy?” Now his tone of voice was totally different, like he was a different person.
“Leo,” I said quietly as I placed my hand on the gun and lowered it to the dirt. “He’ll get me back.”
Leo resisted at first but finally lowered the gun.
Icarus immediately dropped his. “I apologize for pointing this at you, Lady Wolfe.”
Fucking nutcase. “I’ll go with you.”
“Frankie, I don’t like this?—”
“He’ll come for me.” I moved my hand to his shoulder. “Get ahold of Wolfe.”
“That won’t be necessary,” Icarus said as he walked to the back of the SUV and opened the door for me. “I’ll call him myself.” He gestured to the door, telling me to get inside.
“I’ll be okay,” I whispered to him before I walked away.
Leo released the heaviest sigh I’d ever heard him make. “Touch her, and I’ll cut your head off.”
Icarus released a chuckle. “Thanks for the warning, big man.” When I walked over, he pulled rope from his back pocket and secured my wrists in place. “Can’t be too careful, am I right?” Then he grabbed my arm and helped me into the back seat before he grabbed the safety belt and leaned over me to click itin place. When he was close to my chest, he breathed an audible breath and released a little moan. “You smell good.” He pulled away and winked before he shut the door.
I could feel my phone in my back pocket, so at least Wolfe would be able to track me. Icarus had forgotten to take it—or he wanted Wolfe to follow him.
The guys piled into the cars. Icarus got into the passenger seat in front of me, and we pulled away from the vineyard. I caught a glimpse of my brother in the rearview mirror as I was driven away from him.
We arrived at a private estate somewhere inland. It held a three-story villa and overgrown gardens, like someone had stopped paying the landscaping bill. But it was a beautiful property otherwise, and I wondered if Icarus owned it…or if he’d taken it from someone.
He pulled around the side of the house where there was a literal cemetery. It wasn’t one hundred feet back from the property line as was customary. Old trunks and root systems were still sticking out of the ground in some places, as if he’d demolished whatever landscaping had been there to build…a cemetery.
I was already scared and did my best not to show it, but now I was just fucking terrified.
One of the guys pulled me out of the car and marched me to the sea of tombstones. There were at least thirty and some looked fresher than others, but none of them looked old. Theheadstones looked like they had been carved with a makeshift knife, and scribbled and slanted on them were just names.
Icarus came to my side and dropped his arm around my shoulders as he walked me forward. “Let me show you something, sweetheart.”
“Don’t fucking touch me.” I twisted away from him.
He let me go and raised his hands in surrender. “My mistake.”
“And cut my ropes,” I demanded like I was in some kind of position of power to call the shots.
“Whatever you say.” He pulled out a knife and moved behind me before he cut through the bindings, and my hands came free. “Now, come take a look.” He walked to the grave closest to us, which didn’t have a name and looked fresher than all the others. “Some guys like to skin their enemies alive, torture their families, hang them from a noose and cut their insides open like your husband, but I’ve always preferred simplicity. You know, let Mother Nature do her job.”
What the fuck was that supposed to mean?
He raised his foot and stomped hard on the grave several times with his heavy boot.
Then distantly and faintly, I heard a muffled scream…from the ground.
“Oh wow, he’s still alive,” he said with a chuckle. “What a nice surprise.”
My eyes swept over the other graves, and the realization hit me.
