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Into a very dim and very empty room.
Actually, that's not entirely right.
Because chained up to the wall beside a table full of blood-stained tools, is a nearly illuminated headless man whose entrails are wrapped around what used to be his neck. Some toes, teeth, fingers, and even a nose litter the ground around him.
No wonder he was so frightened...not only did this happen to him..he watched or at the very least, heard this beast do the same thing to all those other men first.
My heart jumps to my throat when I hear the sound of some secret door behind the column opening.
My feet finally get the signal now and I make to run like a bat out of hell.
But I can't.
Because I'm too hypnotized watching the large shadow round the corner, the thick smoke from their cigarette wafting through the air, making it near impossible for their face to come into focus.
And then I hear it and the entire world stops. “We'll dispose of the bodies by tonight, Mr.DeLuca.”
The room spins, my stomach heaves, and I back into the column wall behind me.
Because a pair of dark, penetrating eyes are piercing right through my soul.
The sound of my knife hitting the floor is so deafening, it practically echoes as I drink him in.
It should probably be the flecks of blood marring his perfectly chiseled face and the blood that's literally dripping from his hands that I take in first.
But it's the cigarette dangling from his sensual lips, the sexy tic of his rugged jaw as he eyes me up and down with a heated stare...and the fact that he looks better in a designer suit than any man on earth has a right to that sends my body into a tailspin.
“Mr.DeLuca,” a shrill voice shrieks in the distance and Ricardo tears his eyes from me and pins them to a disheveled and wobbly Marlene.
Guess I forgot to lock the door behind me.
“I'm so sorry,” Marlene croaks, sounding out of breath. She points at me and snarls, “But she—“
I fold my arms across my chest and glare at her. “Me? You—“
“Were supposed to be watching her!” Ricardo growls so loud I swear the pillars around us all vibrate. In two short strides, his arm is right over her throat, effectively pi
“She hit me over the head with a lamp,” Marlene sobs, and I honestly feel bad because of how scared she sounds. “Please don't kill me.”
“You had one job,” Ricardo says while reaching for something in his waistband.
Holy shit. He's go
“No,” I shout, attempting to put myself between them. “Don't.”
“I swear, I'll do better,” Marlene whispers as he removes his arm and steps back. “I won't screw up again.”
He stomps on his cigarette and flicks his hand at her dismissively. “Go. Take her upstairs to her bedroom...now.”
Marlene yanks on my arm like I'm a rag doll, and although she's got a solid 30lbs and a good 7 inches on me, I plant my feet on the ground and hug the pillar with my free arm.
I have no idea why Ricardo is doing this to me, but if he thinks he's going to hold me hostage without so much as an explanation, he's got another thing coming.
“Ricardo.”
I hate the way my voice betrays me and says his name—like my body knows he's my lifeline.
He ignores me and looks at the men around him, some of them I recognize as Bruno's men...but none of them are Emilio, which is a little unsettling, but I can't focus on that right now.
“Clean this shit up,” he orders as he brushes past them, heading for that secret door in the back.
Marlene's still yanking on my arm but I let go of the pillar and dig my nails into her hand and try again. “DeLuca.”
He freezes...and I know I've struck the right cord.
But then those dark orbs of his meet mine again and he smirks.
Only it's not one of those sexy Ricardo smirks that he's always given me. It's a mean, cold, and calculating smirk.
It's an evil smirk that's designed to put me in my place.
“Yes?”
His voice is deep and smooth like butter. It's also all business, no trace of emotion at all.
Like I mean nothing to him, like he doesn't have a damn thing to explain to me about why he's holding me prisoner right now.
Like he didn't just massacre a room full of men while they begged for their lives.
Like he's...a DeLuca.