Page 166 of Healed

Nico didn’t answer. Shuffling filled the line, followed by his heavy, angry breathing.

“All of this is wholly unnecessary, Nico. You could just show yourself right now and we can get this over and done with. You and me, one on one, the way it’s supposed to be.”

More shuffling.

And then, a click.

“Nico, please stop,” Gabriella begged.

And my heart immediately froze.

“Nico!” she screamed, her voice almost drowning out his sickening laughs.

“Take me instead. Stop hurting her!” Gabriella begged.

“You want me to fuck you, princess?” Nico sneered. “Are you going to be a good girl and get on all fours and let me fuck you like the bitch you are?”

“Ye-yes,” Gabriella sobbed. “But get my mother s-some m-medical a-attention first. P-please.”

“She’ll see a doctor when I’m finished with you. The quicker you’re on your knees, the sooner that will happen.”

I heard Gabriella gasp, and then her heart-wrenching yelp of pain, followed by the sounds of skin slapping against skin.

One by one, phones started pinging. My brothers pulled them out, looking down at the screen.

“That fucking son of a bitch!” Dante roared, snatching Ant’s phone out of his hands. “Nobody fucking answer. Drop your phones right now. Right fucking now! I want every pair of hands in the air this second!”

My brothers dropped their phones, raising their arms to show their empty hands.

“Tell my princess I’ll be seeing her real fucking soon,” Nico chuckled in my ear, disconnecting the call immediately afterwards.

“What is it?” I demanded, looking right at Dante.

“I’m guessing the footage to what you were just listening to—Vienna, don’t,” he warned as I bent down to pick up Ant’s phone.

And there she was.

On her knees, with Nico pounding into her from behind over and over. She had a glassy look in her eyes, letting me know she had disappeared somewhere in her mind, somewhere he couldn’t reach her.

“I’ll trace the footage,” Hacksaw said, gently plucking the phone from my fingers and ending the recording. “I’ll find where it was sent from, brother. I promise.”

“You better,” I said, my voice low and hollow. “Help me get this place cleaned up and let’s get the fuck out of here.”

Chapter 52

Vienna

I washed in Dante’s bathroom, not wanting to wake Gabriella and have her question where I’d been.

I knew this one was too huge to keep from her. Especially as she wanted to know what happened to her mother’s body, and even had Rachel and the other old ladies agreeing to help find her. But I also didn’t want to tell her right now. There was no point waking her up and ruining her entire day before it had even started.

I’d slipped back into bed with her, holding her close to me, silently concocting all the different ways I would make Nico pay for this.

The next day, I dropped Gabriella off at the garage, her eyes shining brightly with excitement. She’d woken me up by slipping under the covers and sucking my dick until I exploded deep in her throat. After she got out of the shower and I finally came back down to planet earth, she’d ridden me slow and steady, pushing us both towards a sweet release.

All morning she’d been talking happily about her day, what her plans were for fixing some of the bikes, and all the ways she was going to annoy Tools.

As I’d listened to her talk, I became more certain that my idea of keeping Nico’s “present” to her a secret was the right thing to do.