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I stay standing, folding my arms across my chest, as Damien closes the door behind us. “You can call me Vanessa,” I inform him as haughtily as I can manage, trying not to let him see just how close I am to breaking down.
Giulio laughs and claps his hand against his thigh. “Sure, why not. Vanessa’s not a bad stripper name anyway.” Then he smirks at me, even as the color drains from my cheeks. “You do you, but I don’t know if you really want to piss off your new boss.”
I stare at him. “I’m not a stripper, and you’re not my new… boss,” I tell him. I’m unsteady on my feet, my knees threatening to buckle, but I’m not going to sit next to him. I try to pull away from Damien, to lean against the wall and gather myself.
Damien sighs and shifts his hand from my neck to my shoulder. “Giulio, don’t scare her. We took her for leverage against Corvi.”
Giulio rolls his eyes and flops back on the couch. “Spoilsport. But we can’t keep her around doing nothing. That’s just a waste. She’s hot enough, and we really don’t have any girls that corner thatgirl next doorvibe the way she does.” After a brief pause, he leans forward again. “Actually, we’ve got no idea if we even need her anymore. I’m definitely putting my money on Corvi, but who knows, maybe my old man pulled a surprise win.”
“With all of Corvi’s men after him?” Damien asks.
“True enough! Let’s find out.” Giulio pulls out his phone and dials a number, setting it to speaker. It rings a very long time before somebody finally picks up.
“The number you have dialed is out of service,” a vaguely familiar masculine voice says.
Giulio lights up. “Whoa, really? You gotta tell me: how fucking bloody was it?”
There’s a pause, and a snort. “You realize your dad’s got you listed as ‘ungrateful brat’ in his phone?”
“Yeah. I changed it to that for him.” Giulio grins at me and Damien. “Look, just one small, gory detail. I really want to know.”
I realize why the voice sounds familiar: it’s Angelo Guerra, the same man who executed my father right in front of my eyes.
I cover my mouth to suppress a whimper.
“Sure, why not. I castrated him. Made him choke on his own balls. Which, by the way, I’m fully intending to do to you if you don’t hand over Vanessa.”
My eyes widen at that, and I stare at the phone. I don’t want to be anywhere near the man who murdered my father.
“What happened to Lucia?” I blurt out, unable to stop myself. I don’t want the attention, but I need to know if she’s safe.
“Vanessa? Hey! Lucia’s very, very fine. If Rossi is there, tell him he was right, I was definitely getting really close to her. But you would too, if you saw how she can take three guys at once.”
I want to be sick.
My hand flies up to my mouth, and I try not to gag. I don’t want to imagine my sister getting abused by even more men.
“Let her go!” I say fiercely. “She doesn’t deserve for you to be… to be touching her. None of you should be touching her!”
Giulio bursts out laughing, almost drowning out the sound of Angelo chuckling. “Damn, Guerra. It’s a shame you’re back with that dick Corvi. I think we would have gotten along. But hey, just so you know—my dad was the easy target. I’m not half as unobservant as he is, and I’ve been building up my own resources. Also, did you know the strip club and brothel situation in Benton City is just fucking sad? How does anybody have any fun in your town?”
There’s a slight pause on the other end before Angelo responds, “You thinking of fixing that?”
“Mm. I might. Now, thanks for the update. Hope the convo was long enough for your tech guy to figure out he can’t actually trace the call. Ciao!” Giulio ends the call and tosses the phone on the table.
Damien lets out a long-suffering sigh. “Did you have to provoke him?”
“I didn’t have to. But I wanted to.” Giulio gets up and closes the distance between us. He’s the same height as me, but of course that doesn’t stop him from being just as intimidating as Damien. “So. Why the fuck do they actually care about you? They’ve got the Bellini girl they want, right?”
“I don’t know,” I say, shaking my head. I’m still confused by Victor attempting to negotiate for me.
“Maybe they’ve got a buyer lined up?” Giulio reaches out to touch my hair, and I flinch away. His smile drops a little, and I’m terrified he’s about to hit me, but he sighs and heads back to the couch. “Damien, let’s just fuck her. I need something to unwind after this fucking day.”
“No!” I say quickly, straightening up and tugging away from Damien’s touch on my shoulder. “Neither of you is fucking me.” My voice is high and thin, and it’s all too obvious that even I know there’s nothing I can do to stop them if they make a move on me.
I whimper when Damien winds a hand around my waist. “Sure. How do you want her?”
I slam my hand on his arm, but Damien is like a statue. I try stepping on his feet, although fear has me using far too little force.
