Chapter 92

“Enzo.” His name felt like poison in my mouth.

I took stock of what was going on. We were outnumbered completely. These were his segugi and from the looks of it, it was almost all of them. Keenan and Lec were on their knees, two guns trained on both of them. They had hoods over their heads. Slowly, my eyes caught Marek’s. He was on his knees near Enzo. At least four guns on him but they left his head free.

“Put the gun down, sorellina. Unless you want me to kill one of your friends.”

My gun didn’t move. “Bullshit, Enzo. You don’t care.”

Enzo threw his head back and laughed. “You’re right. I don’t.”

He waved his hand and one of his guys shot Marek from behind. A scream bubbled up but I clenched my teeth. Dropping my gun, I put up hands keeping my eyes on Marek as he breathed through the shot. Enzo continued to laugh, shaking his head.

“And here I thought you had no weaknesses. It seems the Baranov family has made you weak.”

I swallowed, pure and vibrant frustration flowing through me. “No, the Baranov family made me human.”

“Well, I have no use for humans.” Enzo pointed his own gun at Marek’s head. “I wonder what animal you will become if I blow his head off.”

This time I laughed, shaking head. Unstrapping the AK, it clattered to the ground but I pulled out another pistol, putting it to my own head. Enzo’s eyes went wide.

“A dead one. You want me alive, you don’t touch him. Is that understood, fratello?”

There was a twitch in his mouth but he lifted his gun away from Marek and shoved it behind his back. “Well, well. Using what I want to save this asshole seems unreasonable. He’s not nearly worth  what you are worth, Rosa.”

I wanted to kill. I wanted to put a bullet between his eyes. I wanted to tie him up in a dungeon and see how much or how little it would take to break him. I wanted Enzo to die painfully. My eyes caught Marek and he looked livid. It could never be at the cost of Marek though. Closing my eyes, I let my hand fall to my side.

“How did you even know we were here?” I asked Enzo.

His arms spread out wide as he slowly walked toward me. “You think that little pretty princess knew who to hire? You think I didn’t look into that twats friends and enemies and hysterically crazy ex-girlfriends? That one I used, stuck a plant into their little gang. It was easy. Just the right push.”

“Their job was to kill me. That’s not what you want.”

Enzo chortled. “You? Die? Please. You’re the bringer of death. You don’t even need to wear the cloak and carry the scythe. People know you are death, sorellina. They can certainly try. But…we can see the result of that.” His hands waved over the carnage the four of us brought to the mercenary group.

“I’m not yours, Enzo. I will never be yours.”

Enzo walked up to me and my head lifted up to glare at him. His hand shot out and grabbed my throat. Marek yelled and started to fight but a few guys came forward and stopped him. My eyes were focused on Marek. Wanting to tell him it was okay, tell him that no matter what, I loved him.

“He’s really attached to you. It’s disgusting.”

“So are you. It’s just more disgusting with you because you’re my blood relative.” I growled back at him.

He lifted me up, anger reflecting in the snarl. “You are mine. You are no one else’s. If it takes me keeping that asshole locked up to make sure you do as you are supposed to do, then so be it.”

“No!” I kicked Enzo in the nuts and he let go of my throat, dropping me as he groaned.

Enzo was too close. There were too many. I wouldn’t be able to get away but I could give Marek, Lec, and Keenan a fighting chance. Narrow the numbers as much as could. Marek couldn’t be caught by Enzo. Tears filled my eyes but I grabbed the gun off the ground and started to shoot.

My focus was on the men directly around Marek and the guys. His guys started to scatter as I shifted from the AK to the pistol. Marek was trying to help as he knocked down a few of the guys near him, despite his arms still behind his back. Quickly, I trained back on Enzo but I’d been a second too late. Enzo’s boot connected with the side of my head and I dropped.

“Ria!”

-

I didn’t need to open my eyes to know where I was. The smell alone was enough. I was sitting that metal chair in the dungeon of the mansion. My hands were tied to the metal back whereas my ankles were tied to the legs. Slowly, I opened my eyes. It was like every nightmare I’d had since I left came back to life.

Enzo was sitting in a chair, facing me, smiling widely. “Good morning.”

There would be nothing I could say now. There would be nothing I would say now. I knew how this went. It would be useless to say anything.

“You know, you killed and injured a lot of my men in such a short time. You really do bring death to everyone around you.” He smirked. “I think your two friends are dead. I don’t know. I don’t really give a shit. I did bring that Baranov with me though. He’s going to rot for touching what was mine.”

I bit the inside of my cheek. Marek was alive then. That meant his family could find him. Enzo wouldn’t be stupid enough to put him on Bernardi property. So it would need to be one of his personal purchases. Hopefully, Juri would be able to find him using that. It would help if Keenan and Lec were still alive. My heart wanted to break but I couldn’t afford it. Not now.

“You are just…so…fascinating.” Enzo brushed his finger over my skin and I glared at him. “I want you, Rosa. I want you. I want you to be all mine.”

With every word, his possessiveness grew and he grabbed my hair, pulling it back. It forced my head back and I felt his tongue run from my neck up to my face. The disgust that filled me was enough to make me start to shake. He cackled, pulling my hair tighter, to try and get me to cry out. Joke’s on him. He’d need to do a lot more than that.

“Oh, Rosa, I’m going to have fun breaking you. I’m going to break you. Not like father did. I’ll have you begging for me to fuck you. Begging me to love you and touch you. I will make it so that you want me like no one else. You will be mine and I’ll have you do anything I say. You will rule by my side. Have my heirs. You will give me everything and I will control the reaper. We will take over New York, you and I.”

Enzo kissed my lips and tried to slip his tongue into my mouth. I opened my mouth and he seemed delighted but I bit down on his lip as hard as I possibly could. Enzo roared, leaning back as his lip was torn.

“You bitch! You will fucking heel! I will make you heel!”

His fist hit my jaw first. Then my other cheek. My shoulder. The only thing I could cling to was that right now, Marek was alive. He wasn’t safe but he was alive. Enzo pummeled my head as much as he could until he finally hit my temple and I slumped forward, out like a light.

-

My body was broken. Enzo was an impatient torturer. He didn’t understand the meaning of giving a moment to allow healing and to come back to tear them down again. Anything he did to me now, I couldn’t feel it. Every nerve was shot. My blood was thick and I couldn’t remember the last time someone brought me something to eat or drink. Not including Enzo trying to get me to drink his piss. I involuntarily shuddered at the memory.

This had probably been the longest amount of time I’d been left alone. How long had been it? A day? A week? I’d lost all sense of time. How many times had I felt like it had been a minute between Enzo’s visits rather than the hour or so that it might have been? Either way, he was shit at this. If he intended to continue, I’d just die. Which, honestly, would be fine.

I’d accepted it the moment I saw Marek on his knees. Enzo wouldn’t have let me go no matter what I would have done but I’d hoped that Marek would be able to get out with Lec and Keenan. Now, at least, he might be isolated enough to be found.

The door at the top of the stairs opened but the footsteps that followed weren’t Enzo. They were smaller, quieter or trying to be. There was a pause for a moment before a small voice whispered from behind the wall.

“Rosaria?”