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Chapter Nineteen
Giulia
Dangling from a beam by my wrists, naked and bleeding, is not my idea of fun. This is where I woke up. I have no idea where I am, how Alceu is going to find me, or if poor Stefano is still alive. Andrea also weighs on my mind as I feel my arms pull. Even though I’m not a big woman, my weight still pulls harshly at the handcuffs, hurting my wrists.
Salvador walks up to me, carrying a large blade in his hand. His eyes carry madness in them, and I know for certain that if Alceu doesn’t find me soon, he won’t be finding me at all.
Salvador smiles maliciously. “Ah, beautiful Giulia,” he says softly. “If only you had stuck to the plan, none of this would be happening. We would be happily married, and you would be safe.”
Instead of replying to his ludicrous notion, I pull back and spit into his face. I don’t know why I antagonize him, but I won’t die as some simpering woman. Being with Alceu these past weeks has opened my eyes to my inner strength. Being with him has made me aware I can do anything, that I’m stronger than I ever believed possible.
“You bitch!” he roars.
His fist connects with my face, breaking my nose and splitting my lip. The pain is intense, and I think I may black out again, but it fades into the background. When the ringing in my ear stops, I smile at him with my blood-stained teeth.
“Is that all you’ve got?” I ask hoarsely.
“You can stop trying to get me to kill you.” Salvador laughs. “Severu talks about sloppy seconds? I will show him. You should get comfortable. You’re going to be here for a while.”
Salvador runs the blade from my breastbone to my pelvic bone. Not hard enough to cause me to bleed out, but enough to split my skin. Even though I swore to myself the moment I woke that I wouldn’t give him the satisfaction of hearing me scream, I can’t stop myself. The bloodcurdling wail that leaves me has my ears ringing all over again.
Salvador laughs before leaning into me. “I am going to carve you up, remove little pieces of you, let my men use you to their heart’s content. And when your all-powerful Alceu”—he sneers my husband’s name—“has all but given up any hope of finding you, I’m going to drop you off at the front gate to his kingdom. We’ll see just how much he wants you when I’m done with you.”
Hysterical laughter leaves me. “You forget one thing, Sal.” I spit his name from my lips. “The streets will run red while Alceu searches for me. Have you hidden your family and friends? Because I guarantee he will find them and make them bleed too.”
Salvador cut me again, across both my thighs, another scream escaping me. Something different is in his eyes now. He has forgotten someone, someone important to him.
“I need to send you on an errand.” He turns toward Antonio.
“Do I look like an errand boy?” Antonio asks.
“You are a fucking errand boy,” Sal says. “I send you and you do whatever the fuck I say.”
“And if I don’t?” Antonio has balls, stepping into Salvador’s personal space.
“Then you can take your chances out there with the Cammareri Family. They do know by now that you are the wolf in their hen house,” Salvador says lowly.
Antonio backs up a step and swallows loudly. He has fear written across his features now. I can’t help but feel some form of joy at the two of them scrambling to get their shit in order. But then I see movement down the hall, and I just know in my heart that Alceu has found me. I don’t know how, and quite frankly I don’t care, but I need to help him. Salvador and Antonio can’t see him yet.
“Is there dissension in the ranks already?” I chuckle, drawing the attention of both men. “It must be hard working together when both of you want to be in charge and neither of you trusts the other.”
Both men glare at me. Their focus is entirely on me. I keep my gaze trained on them, trying not to look at Alceu as he makes his way deeper into the room. Without any forethought, he runs a blade across Antonio’s neck from behind. Unfortunately, the gurgling sound coming from his split jugular has alerted Salvador that Alceu is here.
Alceu isn’t fast enough to draw his weapon before Salvador is behind me, using my straining body as a shield.
“Alceu,” Salvador purrs behind me. He’s holding his blade against my abdomen while his other hand caresses my breast from behind. An involuntary shudder of revulsion works its way through my frame.
“Get your hands off my wife,” Alceu says darkly. His gaze moves over my body, and I see the pain in his gaze as he looks at me.
“Oh, but Giulia and I still have so much to do before she can return home.”
“I’m going to make you bleed, Sal. And it’s going to be the most painful thing in your pitiful fucking existence,” Alceu says.
In return, Salvador slides the blade across my abdomen, tearing another scream from me. Alceu looks ready to explode. But I can’t let him. If Salvador kills me, Alceu will never forgive himself. And if Salvador kills Alceu, I won’t survive. Not to mention his brothers and what this would do to them.
But then I spot Severu, and I know the best way out of this situation. Staring directly at him, I utter the words that will end this mess.
“Shoot me.”
