Chapter 28Vincenzo~~~~~The soft light filtering through the curtains was what woke me—well, that and the fact that I had actually slept, for once. My body felt heavier than usual, reminding me how much I’d needed this. Stacy shifted beside me, her breathing steady but slightly strained. She was still out cold.I let out a breath as I slowly turned on my side, taking a moment to study her, I noted the slight furrow in her brow and realized with alarm that the fever from last night hadn’t passed. I shifted carefully and pulled back the blanket just enough to check her injury. It wasn’t bleeding, but the heat radiating from her skin told me enough—she was burning up even more now. I was about to slide out of bed, call someone to look at it, when her eyes blinked open, wide and startled. She looked around the room in a panic before her gaze landed on me… then the blanket… then us…Her face froze in horror.“What the hell?” she squeaked, pulling the blanket up to her chin like that w
Chapter 28Stacy~~~~~You know how a mentally ill patient in a psych ward tries so hard to convince everyone he’s not crazy, only to end up looking even crazier? Yeah, that’s exactly why I didn’t bother arguing with Vincenzo.Seriously, I couldn’t believe this guy. Whatever gave him the impression that I was the unhinged one in this situation? People break things when they get too pissed all the time. It’s called rage therapy, his fancy grey room just happened to serve as the rage room when I needed it. He might need lessons on that. I mean, not all of us are currently in the position to torture or kill someone to get a bad day of our chest like he is. Humph! The door swung open before I could finish that thought, and in walked a woman who looked like she could break bones without smudging her lipstick. She was breathtaking—hot, sexy with a sharp jawline, dark, sleek hair, piercing eyes, and a toned body. Well, seeing her reminded me just how miserable and ugly I must look be
Chapter 29Stacy~~~~~When Vincenzo said his words would be enough to keep my pretty mouth shut for the rest of the day, he was wrong.The only thing was I didn’t have anyone to lash out on, not him anyway and Vito wasn’t someone I wanted to count as human. So the rest of the day passed without so much as a shadow of Vincenzo. Typical. He drops bombs, watches the fallout, then leaves you to stew in it.Instead, Vito was the lucky contestant forced to deal with me, which I’m sure was Vincenzo’s idea of punishment. The guy was a walking brick wall, and that’s on a good day. If Vincenzo wanted to drive me insane, he’d achieved it by sending Vito to babysit me. I ate as little as I could, then slept off and woke up with a fever ten times hotter than hell. Vincenzo must have forgotten about the medicine he promised to send, or he’d simply decided I wasn’t worth the trouble. Either way, fuck him. Waking up the next morning was like crawling out of a pit of vipers who’d taken turns bit
Chapter 30Vincenzo ~~~~~~If there was anyone who understood that torture wasn’t just about breaking bones or tearing flesh—it was about timing, waiting until the mind was fractured enough to spill the truth, Fiorella was that person.I stared at the guy dangling from the ceiling, his arms stretched above him, tied to a thick chain that rattled with every jolt of his body. Fi had been working on him since yesterday, she insisted she needed the adrenaline rush and the satisfaction that came with seeing a man whimper with every move she made. The man— Benito—let out a weak groan, a pathetic sound that grated on my nerves. His face was swollen beyond recognition, if I didn’t bring him here myself, I would have assumed he’d been bitten by a poisonous snake.I was getting tired of his whiningBlood dripped steadily from the deep gash over his brow, pooling on the cold cement beneath his feet, yet he was still lying through his broken teeth. The sound of my boots echoing off the stone
Chapter 31Vincenzo °° °° °° °°I didn’t need light to see her— she lay sprawled across the bed, her face pale, her chest rising and falling with shallow breaths. She looked tortured—forehead glistening with sweat, lips cracked and dry. Vito stood by the window, arms crossed, his face etched with concern. “She hasn’t eaten in nearly two days,” he said quietly, keeping his voice low, maybe not to wake her. “I’ve tried, but she barely gets in a spoonful before clamping those stubborn lips shut.”I found myself almost smiling, “Shouldn’t you be glad she’s finally giving your ear a break?” “I should,” Vito conceded, “But she’s out of it most of the time. Between constantly checking if she still has a pulse and jumping in joy, I don’t know which is more tedious.” The smile faded just as soon as it appeared, “Any improvement since the call?”“Sleeping now, but that won’t last.” I glanced at Stacy, her body limp, small and fragile against the massive bed. Her breathing was uneven, lik
NINE YEARS AGO Englewood, Chicago. Vincenzo ~~~0~~~“It’s normal for a teenage boy undergoing puberty to have sexual urges, but acting on them is demonic and God hates it.” Said the priest.My Mama’s head snapped in my direction, a silent, accusing warning, and I rolled my eyes. She had dragged me all the way down to this place and forced me to sit through mass, but the man’s sermon sounded like the annoying sound of rusty zinc on a windy day back home.I cast Fiorella a flirty look when Mama looked away and she returned it by blowing a kiss in my direction, then a wink that promised me ungodly things. Fiorella was Mama’s friend’s daughter, she was four years older than I was, but we’d been combing the streets of Chicago together since Mama and I moved to this neighborhood and screwing the shit out of each other long before we even understood what the word meant.“The back rooms. I’ll go first,” Fiorella mouthed quietly, a seductive smirk greasing her pretty face.Yeah, she’s tha
Chapter 1PRESENT DAYGold Coast, Chicago•• •• ••Vincenzo Mancini•• •• •• “Isn’t that exactly what psychopaths do?” Marcel snarled. “Make a point outside the frame and confidently present themselves as winners.” I snatched the bottle from him, eyeing him when he tried to keep his grip on it. “You’re not going to have her, and that’s final.” “A little touchy about this one, are we?” Marcel remarked with a sly smirk. I reclined in my seat, “What can I say?” A man might want to enjoy the soft hands of these sexy, naked strippers without the constant bickering of his brother and their, but not a man like me, apparently. As it turns out, women and an endless addiction to sex and the unholy love for all the fucked up things you can imagine in the dark underworld are not the only things I share with my brother. We also share a passionate desire to bite off each other’s throats. Because, where is the fun in agreeing on a simple fact instead of bickering like two-year-olds? Nay, t
Chapter 2 Eustacia “~~~”~~~”Once a feared and revered mafia princess, but now nothing more than a caged animal.This guy, the one they called Aurelio, didn't like me from the minute I was handed to him on that plane coming here, and that was a month ago.Who was I kidding? Nobody likes me.His rough grip on my arm was firm, leaving bruises that would join the collection already marring my skin. Each step as he dragged me through the block made me wince in pain, but I didn't let out a single sound.Aurelio’s face was impassive, but I could see the disgust in his eyes. He probably thought I deserved every bit of this. They all did.“Watch your step,” Aurelio barked as we descended the stairs.I bit my tongue, suppressing the urge to lash out with a smart remark, but it wouldn’t help my situation.I stumbled but caught myself, Vincenzo Mancini was following closely behind at a leisurely pace and I refused to give him the satisfaction of seeing me fall.We reached the bottom, and he sh