Skylar.
A million questions bombard me, but I don’t have the guts to ask any of them.
My knees ache, and my body feels weak. I sway again, and it brings Renzo’s attention back to me.
“With you still recovering from the transplant, this must be taking a toll on your body,” he says, his tone biting.
“She’s innocent in all of this!” Dad suddenly exclaims.
Renzo’s eyes flick to the man who’s holding a gun. I assume he’s a guard, and without a word passing between them, the man walks to Dad and slams the gun into the side of his head.
“No!” I cry desperately.
“Shut up,” the guard hisses at me.
Whimpering, I scoot closer to Dad, but the guard aims the gun at me, and it has me instantly freezing.
“No, please,” Dad begs as he quickly moves between the gun and me. Tears spill over my cheeks, and a sob explodes from my burning chest. “Enough!” Renzo’s voice is like a whip tearing through raw skin, and I swear my bladder is a second away from failing me.
Giving Renzo a pleading look, I press my lips together to keep the sobs from escaping me.
There’s no mercy on his face as he watches me cry, and I realize we’re all going to die.
After everything I’ve been through, I’m still going to die.
Unlike before, when I had to face death, I don’t have time to process it.
There’s no making peace with the inevitable.
The ringing of a phone startles the hell out of me, and Renzo answers the call. “What do you have for me?”
He listens for a while, then says, “Let me know if you find out where the fucker is.”
When he ends the call, his enraged gaze settles on Dr. Bentall. “Tell me everything you know about the group who calls themselves The Harvest.”
Dr. Bentall shifts on his knees as he hastily answers, “They operate worldwide. The few times I’ve needed an organ, I contacted Manual. That’s all I know.”
“Have you ever met him in person?” Renzo asks. Dr. Bentall nods. “Twice.”
“Can you arrange a meeting?” another question is fired from Renzo.
“He’ll be suspicious if I ask him to meet, especially so soon after asking for a kidney.”
Renzo stares at Dr. Bentall until there’s so much tension in the room it’s suffocating.
“Then I have no reason to keep you alive.” The threatening words shudder through me, and my tears dry up as ruthless fear grips me in a chokehold.
Renzo nods his head, and when the guard closes in on Dr. Bentall, the doctor starts to ramble,” No! Wait. I’ll contact him. I’ll find a way to set up a meeting.”
Renzo doesn’t stop the guard as he repeatedly starts to slam the butt of his gun into Dr. Bentall’s face. The violence and horror have me falling to my side, and I try to scramble away from it.
Droplets of blood spray over my legs, and I feel faint.
Only when Dr. Bentall slips in and out of consciousness, and the left side of his face is bloody and swollen, does Renzo say, “Enough.”
Instantly, the guard steps back and resumes his standing position near the wall.
Holy shit.
We’re going to die.
We’re really going to die.
I’m reeling in horror when Renzo stands up and orders, “Bring the woman.”
Turning around, he stalks away while the guard comes to grab my arm, and I’m hauled to my feet.
“No! Please,” Dad shouts as he struggles to his feet. “She’s innocent.
Take me.”
I meet Dad’s frantic eyes for a moment, then the guard shoves him hard, making him fall on the floor.
I’m dragged out of the room, and another man shuts the door and locks it.
“No! Please,” I hear Dad shout.
His pleas die away when I’m shoved into a different room. Instantly, my eyes land on the table where various tools and knives are spread out.
Renzo shrugs off his jacket, revealing a vest that fits his muscled chest and trimmed waist like a glove.
Oh, God.
No.
NoNoNo!
I rear back, wanting to get out of the room. I struggle with all my might, but the guard shoves me to the floor.
I hear the door slam shut, and when I look at it, I see the guard standing in front of it with his gun still in his right hand.
My head swivels to where Renzo’s picking a knife from the selection, and I start to stammer, “P-Please. D-Don’t k-kill m-m-me.”
When he walks closer to me, I swear I feel my brain trembling in my skull as the cold, hard fact that I’m about to die hits me.
I try to scramble to my feet, but when Renzo’s fingers clamp around my arm and I’m hauled up, I can only make a squeaking sound.
Bracing for the sharp pain of being stabbed to death, I’m surprised out of my ever loving mind when the cable ties are cut, and my wrists are freed before he lets go of me.
Spinning around, my hair flies through the air. I tilt my chin head back and stare up at the man who’s put the fear of God in me.
The only expression in his eyes is rage.
Slowly, he tilts his head, and his gaze narrows on me, making a hard tremble wrack through my body.
Somehow, I manage to find my voice and ask, “Who are you? Why are you doing this?”
The flash of rage on his face is so freaking brutal I feel the force of it in my bones. Faster than I can process, he moves, and my feet are swiped from under me.
As I fall back, I see Renzo come after me, and when I slam into the floor, he’s on top of me like a vicious animal. The knife presses into the skin beneath my chin, forcing me to tilt my head backward.
My hands fly up, and I grab his wrist, trying to pull the blade away from my throat, but he’s incredibly strong, and all I can do is hold onto him.
His lips pull back in a sneer, and with his face right by mine, he growls, “I’m one of the heads of the Cosa Nostra, and the kidney in your body belonged to my little brother.”
Cosa Nostra.
I’ve watched a documentary about the mafia and know just how ruthless the group of criminals can be.
Renzo leans even closer, and his words are haunting and ferocious as he says, “My little brother was killed so you could fucking live.”
Little brother. Killed.
Unshed tears blur my sight, and I can’t think of a single thing to say as I try to make sense of what he’s telling me.
Being face-to-face with this man and feeling his breaths on my skin is unnerving, making my mouth grow bone dry.
He tilts his head slightly. “Do you understand what I’m saying?” Slowly, I shake my head.
The tip of the knife presses into my skin, and a petrified shriek escapes me. My nails dig into his skin, and I squeeze my eyes shut.
“They fucking killed my brother in an empty lot at the back of an alley. They gutted him open like an animal and ripped his kidney from his body.” With every word leaving his mouth, I hear the incredible pain he’s in. “He was only twenty years old.”
No.
I shake my head and cringe when he shouts, “Open your fucking eyes!” They pop open, and immediately, tears spiral into my hairline.
Withhisbrutalgazeholdingminecaptive,hehisses,“Doyou understand what I’m saying?”
This time, I nod.
As he stares at me, the intense rage returns until his features seem to be carved from stone.
“As long as my brother’s kidney is in your body, you belong to me.”
No.
God.
No.
When I start to shake my head, he suddenly pulls back, and the next moment, my dress is shoved up my body, and the knife is pressed against the red scar where I had surgery.
A desperate scream is torn from my soul as I try to grab hold of his hand while begging, “Don’t. Please, don’t!”
His eyes lock with mine again. “Your choice, topolina. Either you do exactly as I say, or I take the kidney back right now.”
Shit. Shit. Shit.
“I…I…I’ll d-do what you s-s-say.”
Once again, he moves quickly and rises to his feet. His eyes burn over me, and I don’t dare move a muscle to fix my dress so it will cover me.
“Take her back to the other room,” he orders the guard before throwing the knife on the table and grabbing his jacket.
With terror vibrating through me, I watch as he shrugs the jacket on and walks out of the room.
I quickly sit up and pull my dress down while I climb to my feet.
The guard grabs my arm, and I’m hauled out of the room that’s clearly used for torturing people, and taken back to Dad and Dr. Bentall.
I’m shoved inside before the door is shut behind me, and standing on shaky legs, my eyes find my father’s.
“Are you okay? What did he do?” Dad asks as he rushes to me with his hands still tied behind his back.
Cosa Nostra.
His little brother was killed.
He was only twenty years old.
My voice sounds a million miles away as I ask, “Did you buy a kidney for me on the black market?”
Dad stands in front of me, and his features are torn between worry and guilt.
I’m bombarded with destructive emotions as I put all the pieces together.
“You had someone killed so I could get a kidney,” I cry. “He was only twenty years old.” I gasp for air as I wrap my arms around my middle. “I never wanted that!”
Giving Dad a heartbroken and incredulous look, I whisper, “How could you do that?”
Tears spiral down my cheeks, and knowing I have a kidney from someone who was murdered makes my heart shatter into a million pieces.
“I would rather have died a dignified death than be subjected to this horror.”
Dad’s face crumbles beneath the guilt he feels. “I didn’t know they’d kill someone for it.” He turns and levels Dr. Bentall with an enraged glare. “You said nothing would go wrong!”
“Seriously?” I shriek as I step away from my father. “That’s what you’re going with?” Leaning forward, I shout, “A man was killed! Do you get that? A man was freaking killed!”
I’m going to lose my mind. I can’t deal with this.
Sobs wrack from me as I say, “And that man was the little brother of a mafia boss! What were you thinking?”
God, what were they thinking?
Lifting my hands to my head, I grip fistfuls of my hair. “We’re going to die. We’re all going to die. He’s going to kill us one by one. He’s going to cut the kidney out of me. He’s going to–”
“Skylar!” Dad shouts, his whole body vibrating from how upset he is. “Calm down.”
“Don’t tell me to calm down!”
Dr. Bentall takes a step closer to us. “All this shouting isn’t helping.” “Shut up!” I snap at him.
My angry gaze snaps between Dad and Dr. Bentall, and then I’m hit with an unbearable wave of guilt.
Because of me, a person was killed.
I wrap my arms around myself again while a whimper ripples over my lips.
My rights were violated, and an innocent person died so I could live.