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I counted to twenty before I finally managed to draw a long breath of air into my lungs. It had been short bursts of air up until that point, which hardly felt like life-sustaining oxygen.
As I wheezed and fought for air, the door opened and two men entered. I tried to focus on them to see who they were, but everyone had blurred and I couldn’t make out a damn thing.
And then I heard his voice.
“Vegas.”
His boots thudded on the cement and I knew he was coming my way, but then they stopped.
“Fucking let me go!” His voice ricocheted around the room, and I finally zeroed in on him to see that two of Joseph’s men had restrained him, holding him back from me.
“All in good time, son,” Joseph said. His back was to me and he’d moved towards Nitro.
“I told you not to fucking hurt her,” Nitro snarled.
“When will you ever learn that I don’t listen to you? It’s you who needs to listen to me,” Joseph said. I hated hearing him talk to Nitro like that. Hated knowing the power he still held over him.
My sight returned to full capacity and I stared at Nitro, taking in his eyes. They were dead. Oh, there was life there, but the way he looked at Joseph was as if he wasn’t even looking at another human being. I was certain he’d come to kill and that he’d switched off the human side of himself to do it.
He struggled and fought to escape the men holding him back. When that didn’t work, he kicked out at Joseph, landing a hard kick to his groin.
Joseph grunted loudly and boomed, “You wanna fight, Rhys? Let’s see what happens when you do that.”
He spun around, stalked back to me and grabbed my neck. Yanking me to a standing position, with the chair hanging off me, he snarled, “This face won’t be recognisable if you keep that shit up.”
My breaths turned choppy as I stared at him up close. I believed every word he said. Joseph didn’t seem to make empty threats.
“Stop!” Nitro yelled.
Joseph didn’t loosen his grip on me, but he turned to face Nitro. “Are you coming to your senses?”
Nitro nodded but didn’t say anything.
Joseph let me go and pushed me back to a sitting position. He then strode back to Nitro and punched him hard in the gut. I cringed as Nitro bent forward, winded.
And then the punches kept coming.
Joseph was savage. It was as if he was on auto-pilot. Nitro was his punching bag, and he worked out his anger on him.
I couldn’t watch. It was brutal and bloodthirsty. I couldn’t even imagine doing what he was doin
g to my worst enemy. As much as I might want to hurt someone, I wouldn’t have the stomach for it.
It lasted longer than I cared to think about. It felt like an eternity.
Joseph was breathless when he finally ordered, “Take him away.”
I didn’t know what he planned, but the two guys holding Nitro up took him out of the room. Joseph faced me and for the first time since I’d arrived in that shithole a few hours prior, fear filled me. I believed Nitro would get us out of there, but I didn’t want to think about what we’d have to go through first.
He came to me and ran his finger slowly down my face. “I’ll be back,” he said.
They were his last words before he left me alone in the room. As the door clicked shut behind him, I exhaled. I attempted to give myself a pep talk, but no matter how hard I tried, it didn’t work. Because this wasn’t just about me. I could pep talk the fuck out of shit if it only involved me. But Nitro’s life was at stake, too, and that drove more fear into me than I knew what to do with.
I couldn’t lose him.
* * *
Joseph left me alone for hours. It was dark by the time he came back. There was one tiny window in the room and night had fallen a long time before he returned.
