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“Then again, even if it was her real name on that piece of paper, it wouldn’t matter – because your precious Triss is already married to me.”
Antonio’s eyes grow wide. I cast Jim a puzzled glance. What the hell is he talking about?
“Don’t you remember, Christine? Oh, right. You were drunk, I think.”
Drunk? I can only think of one time when I was. It was his fortieth birthday. I was seventeen. He forced me to drink until I passed out. I woke up the next day with a terrible headache and stomachache, and with hardly any recollection of the night before. Don’t tell me he had one of his friends marry us then, that he forced me to sign something?
“Anyway, this beauty…” Jim slaps my cheek with his fingers. “Is my wife. So you should just be glad I’m letting her give you a show.”
He unbuttons my jeans. I don’t struggle. I just look away. I’ve lost all my strength, all my will to fight. How can I when I’ve already lost? Antonio probably hates me now. There’s no way he can still care for me…
“I said get your hands off her,” Antonio growls.
I turn my head and see rage still burning in Antonio’s eyes. He’s still fighting.
For what? For me?
Jim signals to the other guy in the room, who has just finished wrapping up his bleeding hand. He approaches Antonio.
My eyes grow wide. What is he going to do?
He kneels beside Antonio. I worry that he’ll hurt him, but to my surprise, Antonio grabs the knife from his boot. When did he get his hands free? He stabs the man’s thigh and he stumbles back. Then he cuts the rope around his ankles.
Hope roars inside my chest.
He’s free. He’s going to save me. He’s…
The rest of my thoughts vanish with the sound of a gunshot.
Chapter Twenty
Antonio
The bullet from Jim’s gun whizzes past my ear. I fall back on my trembling arms.
As my body hits the concrete floor, I hear ringing in my ears. A memory stirs.
An explosion.
Gunshots.
A drive in the van.
The mansion.
One memory leads to another like a stack of fallen dominoes. I remember everything now. I remember I have a twin, Leo. An older brother, Cain. A girl who I treated as my little sister, Jodie. I remember my mother and my father. I remember my name.
Antonio… Ursini.
Jim’s sickening laughter jolts me back to the present. He still has the gun in one hand and the other one on Triss’s arm.
Triss? He said her name was Christine. It doesn’t matter. My memories have returned but my conviction remains. No woman should ever be made to suffer by a monster like the one standing in front of me.
I glare at him but remember there’s a man behind me as I feel him approach. I guess stabbing him in the leg wasn’t enough. I turn to face him, dodging him as he tries to stab me with the knife. Somehow, my body feels lighter now. I don’t even feel the pain from the punches.
I remember how to dodge. I remember how to fight. Cain taught me.
The next time the man tries to stab me, I kick him in the stomach as I launch myself off the floor. Then I grab his wrist and twist it. The knife falls from his hand. I catch it by the hilt. As he tries to take it back with his other hand, I hit his face with my elbow, then strike at the spot on his neck that I know will make him lose consciousness. It works.
One down.
I turn to face Jim with knife in hand. There’s a flicker of fear in his eyes now. The gun in his hand trembles. He keeps it pointed at me as I walk towards him, then suddenly presses the barrel against the side of Triss’s head. Her eyes grow even wider with fear.
“Don’t come any closer or I’ll blow her brains out,” he threatens.
I stop. Cain once said threats are for the weak and attacks are for the strong. But I can’t just ignore this threat.
Triss may not be my wife but she’s an innocent woman, a human being. I can’t let her die.
“Drop the knife,” Jim orders.
I obey. As soon as the knife clatters to the floor, Jim points the gun back at me and laughs. Then he frowns.
“I thought I didn’t hate you, but I do now. I can’t let you live.”
He cocks the gun. Triss whimpers.
Suddenly, the door opens. I don’t take my eyes off the gun, so I can’t see who just arrived, but I hear footsteps. More than one pair.
“What the hell is going on here?” I hear one of them ask.
“None of your business, Louie,” Jim answers. “Now fuck off.”
He doesn’t. He comes closer until he’s standing next to me. Then I hear him gasp.
