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"Genesis, forgive me. I…I'm sorry."
"Louder!" Rafe demands.
"I'm sorry. Please forgive me."
"You don't deserve forgiveness," Genesis whispers. "You'll never be worthy of it." She lifts her head, hitting him with a look that's so full of disgust it makes him flinch. "And just so we're clear, I will never belong to you. You'll never touch me. I belong to Gabriel Valentino." She says it with pride ringing in her voice. "While you're rotting in hell, he'll be the one with his hand down my pants. He'll be the one sharing my bed."
Cristo. She's a goddess, shining bright as the sun.
She glances away from Santorum, meeting my gaze. "I think I'll wait in the car now, Gabriel. The sight of him makes me sick."
"Go, tesoro," I murmur, reaching out to touch her cheek. "We'll take out the trash for you."
Chapter Twelve
Genesis
I step out of the deli with my hands shaking, but I've never felt calmer. I've never felt more at peace. I just faced a monster and I won. Somehow, I won.
Tears slip down my cheeks, relief crashing into me in a tidal wave.
I wander a few steps down the sidewalk, not wanting to let Mattia see me cry. I barely make it three steps before Gabriel is there, pulling me into his arms. He envelops me in his embrace, sheltering me from the world.
"Tesoro," he whispers. "My brave little regina."
"I love you, Gabriel." I press my face to his throat and let the tears come. They don't hurt this time. I think they wash away the stains Alexander left on my soul, healing the broken parts of me. Or maybe Gabriel's comforting embrace does that.
He doesn't let me go. Not even when the tears dry. He just holds me right there on the sidewalk as if it’s the most important thing he has to do today.
"You can go back inside," I whisper. "I'm okay."
"Yeah, you are." He crooks my face up to his with a finger beneath my chin. "You're perfect, piccola fiamma. And I'm exactly where I want to be."
"You don't want to know what's happening in there?"
"I know what's happening in there." He smiles, a dark, savage smile. "Rafe is introducing Santorum to his new reality. He won't like it, tesoro. It'll burn like acid every fucking time he breathes. But if he's smart, he won't cross Rafe. He won't cross you. He won't like what happens if he does."
I shiver at the unspoken threat, and at the way he speaks it. As if part of him hopes Alexander does break it. I think he wants a reason to kill him. I think he's just waiting for an excuse.
Rafe and Alexander are in the deli for another fifteen minutes before they finally step out. Alexander isn't the same unshakable man he was when we arrived. He's trembling slightly. For the first time, he seems afraid, as if reality has finally begun to settle in. As if he knows there's no escape for him.
This is his future now. This is his life.
What he did to me, they'll do to him every day for the rest of his life. He won't sleep unless they say he can. He won't eat unless they give him permission. Every decision he makes from now on will pass through Rafe first. That's what it means to be stripped of your own free-will, of your own choices. That's what it means to be owned by the mafia.
I hope his shackles choke him.
He glances in our direction. For a moment, fear gives way to hatred. And then Rafe says something to him. He yanks his gaze away, jerks his head in a nod, and walks away, heading in the opposite direction.
We watch him for a moment before Rafe and Mattia join us.
"Are you okay, piccolina?" Rafe asks me, his tone gentle. To be someone everyone fears, he's awful kind. To me, at least. I don't think Alexander would say the same. I don't think any of his enemies would say the same. Rafe Valentino is a dangerous man.
Then again, so is his little brother.
"Yes. Um, thank you," I whisper. "For everything, I mean."
"You don't owe me thanks, Genesis. We have no use for men like Santorum."
"Brutto figlio di puttana bastardo," Mattia mutters, earning an emphatic nod of agreement from Gabriel.
"What does that mean?"
"It means you ask too many questions, tesoro," Gabriel says before Mattia can answer me.
I turn a scowl up at him. At least that's what I intend to do, but movement behind the three of them catches my attention as I turn. It takes a second for my mind to make sense of what I'm seeing, and then pure terror swamps me.
Alexander is storming down the sidewalk toward us, and he has a gun in his hands. He has it aimed right at Gabriel.
I scream but it's already too late. An explosion rips through the air, shattering the peace I only just found. Gabriel grunts, stumbling forward a step, and then chaos descends on us from every direction.
