Chapter 162
ISABELLA’S P.O.V.
I gave him a bored look over. “Can we help you or do you just enjoy bothering us? I don’t know about you but right now it just seems exhausting, don’t you think?”
I started to rise when I felt something cold against my thigh. “If you move, I will gut you like a fucking fish, sit the fuck down.”
“I can have that knife in your own throat in seconds and you know it,” I shot back. “Even if for some reason you manage to get the knife into me, you are going to die as well. There are witnesses everywhere. You wouldn’t survive one second before you’re dead.”
“I might be dead but Lorenzo would be sorry. Do you think he can live without you? I would like to experiment before you fall asleep?”
“Fall asleep?” I asked and he glanced down at my drink with a smirk. I cursed because, at that exact moment, I started to feel very dizzy. It was a battle to keep my eyes open and I tried to discreetly pick up my phone to text Enzo but I couldn’t feel my fingers. “What the hell do you want, Peter? To what end is all of this?”
“To whatever end I see fit,” he smirked just as Mac fell with his face first into the table. A few eyes turned to us but no one dared to move. Such was the irony of New York, everyone minded their business.
Peter grabbed me by my upper arm and started to lead me out. My senses kicked into overdrive. I had always been taught no second location but I couldn’t even lift my hands to fight him off. I tried to scream out for help but my tongue felt numb. We were getting so much closer to the black van and I was panicking already. I saw a young girl passing by and I grabbed her arm.
“Lorenzo DeLucia,” I whispered to her and she stared at me like I was insane. She tried to wrench her hand out of my grip. “Please, tell him, I-”
Peter pulled me away from her hard and gave her a sad smile. “I am so sorry, my sister likes to get high in the mornings. I apologize if she bothered you in any way.”
I wanted to scream at him, scream at her but she walked away without another word. Peter unceremoniously carried me into the back of the van and handcuffed me to one of the seats. I couldn’t have fought against it even if I tried. I was already going in and out of consciousness.
“You’ll regret that,” he promised before slamming the door shut.
I didn’t know when I fell asleep, I just woke up the next minute in a dark and damp room. There was water on the floor and I was handcuffed to what looked like pipes above my head. I grimaced at the thought of having to wash this grime out of my curls and almost laughed immediately after. I had been taken by a deranged man and my first thought was about my curls. It was amusing to say the least.
I managed to get myself into a half sitting position. My limbs still felt heavy so I couldn’t rise to my feet. I looked around the room trying to find any obvious exit routes but there were none. There was one large steel door that seemed to be locked from the outside and the only window had bars on it and it was high enough that I would need help getting up to it. I cursed. I didn’t know where I was or what I was doing here but I knew one thing for certain, Lorenzo couldn’t find me here.
I heard the door start to creak open and Peter walked in. He had changed out of his earlier outfit and was now in simple black pants and a grey shirt. He looked pleased with himself as he took me in. I watched him drag over a chair until he was seated in front of me. The corner of his lips pulled up into a small smile.
“How the mighty have fallen.” He smirked as he sat in front of me. “You have no idea how much joy it gives me to see you here on the ground like the dirt that you are.”
I smiled before spitting directly into his eyes. He stilled for a second and I watched him slowly wipe it away. I gave him a wide grin when he reared his hand back and hit me so hard that I tasted blood. My teeth rang and the entire side of my face was numb. Despite the pain coursing through my face, I couldn’t stop myself from laughing. I probably looked insane but I couldn’t have stopped even if I wanted to.
“You’re insane,” he spat and I shrugged.
“And you’re a bastard. Did it make you feel good?” I asked with a small hum. “Did it scratch that itch inside of you to hit me knowing you will never get to do it to Lorenzo? That is what this is about, isn’t it? You have a prejudice against it.”
“I am against what you all stand for,” he sneered. “My family has spent their lives trying to hunt yours down and at each turn, they have been made to look like fools. My grandfather was sent to a psych ward at the request of Lorenzo’s grandfather and my father was made to retire early by Antonio. He was told that if he didn’t, he would be ruined. He was a good man.”
“He sounds like a lousy cop, just like you,” I drawled and he hit me again but this time, I had braced myself for it. I flexed my jaw trying to ease some of the pain before turning to him. “How does a cop end up working for Benito? It is a bit hypocritical, is it not? You work for one of us to pin one of us.”
“Benito was dying, he was going to pay for his mistakes with his death. It was his sacrifice and it was for the greater good if it meant that I would finally be able to pin the DeLucia’s for good. Do you know how hard it was to get my hands on Lorenzo’s prints and his gun? I put myself in danger over and over again just to ensure that he faced justice.”
“That sounds like tampering of evidence.”
“It is justice!” he yelled as he pushed to his feet. He grabbed my jaw in one tight grip and I forced myself not to wince. “He will come here to save you and I will put an end to him forever.”
“It will continue without him.”
“Not if I kill everyone first.”