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“Yes, my parents love me, they’re good people, and yes, they’d miss me if I went days without being in touch. I don’t understand what that has to do with anything or why I’m here or who you are or where I am or—”
In a flash, the man had moved, and it wasn’t until Luca saw the glint of the knife that true fear struck his heart.
“Oh God.” He barely heard his words over the loud rush of blood in his ears, but he couldn’t miss the way his voice shook.
He couldn’t look. He couldn’t watch what was coming.
Squeezing his eyes shut, Luca said, “Please…whatever it is you want, you can have it.”
When he didn’t feel the pain of a knife, he wondered if the man had heard him, or was at the very least reconsidering hurting him.
Please, please.
“What an intriguing offer.”
Luca felt the weight of the man’s presence move back and realized he’d been holding his breath. As he slowly opened his eyes, he saw only the back of the black suit his kidnapper wore and slowly exhaled. He hadn’t been killed—yet. Whatever he’d said had caused the man to pause. What did that mean? What did he want so badly he was willing to hurt Luca for it?
He watched as the man in black walked to the door, knocked on it twice, and then turned back to face Luca.
He stared at the door expectantly, his entire body tense. But really, could anything be worse than what was already in the room with him? He felt like he was sharing space with the devil himself.
The clanging of bolts sounded, then the door yawned wide. But unlike the first time around, Luca could see exactly who was coming through that door. Two hulking behemoths stepped into the room, a man’s arms slung over their shoulders as though he were strung to a cross. His body was limp, his toes dragging along the concrete floor as they hauled him into the room.
“This here is Ennio,” Luca’s captor said as the men came to a stop. But Luca was too focused on Ennio’s right hand, where there was a gaping hole and blood flowing down his fingers to the ground. “He wasn’t as good with the questions and answers as you were. But don’t worry, he has one more chance to prove himself worthy to stay alive.”
Bile rose in Luca’s throat, and when he finally managed to swallow it down, he turned to the lunatic who seemed completely unfazed by the carnage he had inflicted.
“Get his attention,” the man said to his henchmen, and one of them slapped the passed-out guy a couple of times on the cheek.
“Wakey, wakey, asshole.”
A low groan rumbled out of the guy, and he jerked in their arms as his head snapped up. What they’d done to his face was a horrific sight to behold. One of his eyes was completely swollen shut, cuts and bruises surrounding it, and his lips hadn’t fared much better.
“Ennio, it’s so nice to see you again.”
Ennioglanced in the man in black’s direction, and then spat blood on the ground by his feet. “Fuck you, Dom.”
Oh my God.
A name.
I finally have this psycho’s name—Dom.
“Aww, is that any way to talk to me? You’re still alive, aren’t you? And there’s a reason for that. I’ve spared you for one reason and one reason only.” The man—Dom—nodded toward Luca. “Tell me what you see.”
Luca didn’t know how Enniocouldsee with only one eye, and a half-open one at that, but the minute he looked Luca’s way, shock crossed his grotesque features. An audible gasp left his throat, and Dom smiled in a way that made Luca’s stomach drop to his feet.
Ennio couldn’t stop staring at him, but when he said, “What have you done?” Luca knew the question wasn’t directed at him.
“The impossible. I found him.”
Him? Who?Luca looked to the side and then behind him, but of course there was no one else here. These monsters were talking about him, staring at him like there was some secret piece of information they knew that he didn’t.
And why had Ennio looked surprised when he saw Luca? Even beaten to a pulp, he knew there was no way he’d ever met the man before. Guys like that didn’t hang out where he was from, and his parents certainly didn’t have friends like Ennio.
“You can’t do this.” Ennio was visibly sweating now.
“Can’t? You think there’s anything I can’t and won’t do? Especially to those who’ve fucked with me?” When Ennio didn’t respond, Dom stepped in close.“Do you?”
The way Dom could switch from smooth to cutthroat in the blink of an eye was almost scarier than his knife, and Luca prayed that somehow he could get out of this. That there’d been a mistake. Anything.
“You’ll go back and tell your boss we’ve got him. And unless he’s willing to give us what we want, then it’s not going to end well for young Luca here.”
Oh my God. Oh my God. Oh my—
“This isn’t a good idea. You know that, right? This changes everything.”
Then, in a voice that would haunt Luca’s nightmares, Dom whispered, “I’m counting on it.”
