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“I know you’re his whore. I know he uses you to make money, and I know you’re the pathetic fool who can’t see that.”
In a couple of steps, she crosses the room and slaps me hard across the face and, to my surprise, I hit her hard back. I’m not sure who is more astonished as she stands staring at me in shock and I take courage from that and bark, “Have I surprised you? The meek fool has retaliated for once.”
She steps back and snarls, “Then youarea fool, because unless you listen to me, the only place you’re going is to hell.”
She shakes her head and regains a little of her self-assurance.
“Do you really think you can walk out of here? You obviously haven’t grasped how serious this is for you.”
I maintain a brave expression, but inside I’m shaking as she says almost conversationally. “You see, Mario has decided we need to teach the Ortega’s a lesson. To remove them from the picture and take over their empire. I’m guessing it’s only a formality because Giovanni left everything to me in his will and as his consigliere, Mario will step up as don when Giovanni’s sons are in no position to do so.”
“But they are, you thick bitch, and they’re coming for you.”
I take great satisfaction in watching her fear peer out from behind her eyes before it is quickly replaced by anger.
“They are amateurs. We have planned their downfall and there is nothing they can do about that. Forget them, they are ghosts already. However, you, Flora, you owe us money and it’s in your very best interests to return the money that you stole from us or die.”
She studies her fingernails. “You see, Mario is not a patient man, and you have me to thank that you’re still breathing.”
“Don’t make me laugh, Diana.” I snap. “Mario wants the money and I’m the only person who can help with that, so I’m a valuable commodity to him right now. If he wants it, he needs to keep me alive, and this is his way of intimidating me so I surrender it to him. I’m not a fool. I understand as soon as the money hits his account he will have no further use for me, so jog on out of here and report back that I would rather die than tell him where his precious money is.”
I’m breathless on adrenalin. For the first time in my life, I’m standing tall and not backing down. I am facing my fear head on and challenging it to bite me.
Diana obviously doesn’t know how to deal with the warrior in me and snaps, “You think Dom wants you?”
She’s really trying everything, and I sigh. “Does it matter?”
“To you it does.”
She leans against the door and laughs softly. “I saw you together. The puppy dog wagging its tail for its master. As always, dear sister, you are happy to follow rather than lead. You believe he loves you? He’susing you. It’s me he loves. Me, he craves like an antidote to death and me he sees when he’s fucking you. What’s it like knowing I’ve been there first? His cock inside me pledging his love—for me. The anguish in his expression when I chose his father over him and the fact both his brothers enjoyed fucking me too. I broke them all and only I can control them. The Ortega brothers fell in love with me and one glance in their direction, one shy smile and one regretful tear from my eye, would have them sprinting back to my side. You…”
She points her finger at me and laughs. “You are second best and you always have been.”
“And you would know a lot about being second best, wouldn’t you, Diana?”
“What are you talking about?”
“Abigail Kensington.”
As I mention her name, Diana’s eyes narrow and I laugh softly. “The only woman Mario loves and would ditch you in a heartbeat if she showed any interest at all. The one woman he can’t have because she can’t fucking stand him. She is the reason you’re by his side at all, because you are desperate to be relevant in his life. You’re not. In fact, you’re not relevant in anyone’s life except your own. You say the Ortega brothers love you. Well, love turns to hate pretty damn quickly when you crush a soul. It forms into retribution and yours is heading your way at a frightening speed, so if you think you’re calling the shots, you are so far off the mark it’s laughable.”
I straighten up and throw her a pitying look. “At least I have a man who loves me for who I am. Not what I can give him. Someone whose soft touches and whispered words of love are something you long to hear spill from Mario’s lips. How does it feel knowing he fucks other women while you watch? That he pimps you out to his friends because you’re the fool who lets him. It must hurt knowing you’re only a commodity to him. Someone he can manipulate to his own agenda and that if Abigail Kensington walked into the room declaring her love for him, you would be history.”
Diana’s eyes flash, revealing the truth hurts, but she forces a laugh and says, “Keep telling yourself that, Flora. The only one disposable around here is you, and you always have been. Ask yourself why we had to leave the Matasso mansion that night and why our father was never seen again.”
My blood freezes as she strikes back with a devastating blow. “It was you, Flora. You he couldn’t bear to be around because you’re the bastard child that caused the death of our mother.”
“You’re lying.”
I am trying so hard to be strong but the quiver in my voice tells her she’s scored a direct hit, and she smiles sweetly, “Maybe I’ll tell you about that some time, but time is something you don’t have a lot of. You see…”
She grins and the madness in her terrifies me as she giggles, “What you experienced on the altar was foreplay. Mario is keen to move things on and unless you agree to return the money, you will be tortured until you agree. First, they drug you so you can’t move. Then they chain you to the stone altar that is drenched in the blood of the sacrifices that went before you.”
I’m so afraid but try not to show it as she giggles, “Then they fuck you, brutally and interminably. They cut you, whip you, and dismember you. Your heart will still be beating though and your eyes witnessing every minute of it as they systematically make your passing the most painful one possible. All the time you can make it stop by giving Mario what he wants. They will leave you to bleed, but not enough to kill you and even if it takes weeks, they will keep you alive.”
She laughs as if it’s hilarious and grins. “ You see, Flora, Mario will always win in the end because nothing can touch him. He is always one step ahead and Desdemona paid the price for not doing as she was told. In fact, she lay on that altar and pleaded with the lords to grant her mercy and they rewarded her by cutting out her heart while she watched. Senator Billings was equally pitiful when they removed his own heart with the aim of making life extremely uncomfortable for the man who you foolishly believe loves you but would trade you in a heartbeat for me.”
She fixes me with a withering look. “Let’s be clear, Flora, your boyfriend is nothing compared to Mario, and you are nothing compared to me, so do us all a favor and give back the money you stole from us and spare yourself the cruelest of passings. Then you can work off your debt on your back like you always did so well and nothing more will be said of this whole unfortunate episode.”
