Total pages in book: 51
Estimated words: 48087 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 240(@200wpm)___ 192(@250wpm)___ 160(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 48087 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 240(@200wpm)___ 192(@250wpm)___ 160(@300wpm)
If I was going to die, I would at least do it with my eyes open and my head held high. I might beg. I would probably plead, but I would look him in the eye when he ended me.
“Just do what you’re going to do,” I whispered those words, not even realizing I said them out loud until they hung in the air between us.
He didn’t respond. I didn’t even think he breathed as he stared at me.
I moistened my lips and uncurled my fists so I could run my palms up and down my outer thighs.
“And what is it you think I need to get on with, baby?”
I didn’t allow myself to think of the endearments. I knew this wasn’t a good man. He was playing with me.
A cat-and-mouse game. Tossing me in the air just to watch me fall back down to the ground a broken, limp mess so he could continue to do it repeatedly.
“Just kill me.” I bit my lip hard enough I felt the skin break, tasted the metallic tang of blood on my tongue. “I know that’s what you want to do anyway,” I whispered, feeling my whole body shake but was proud of myself for keeping eye contact with him.
I noticed his jaw clench, his expression hard as he looked at my face, spending extra seconds on where my healing bruise was.
“Because that’s what you’re going to have to do. I won’t let you use me.”
He didn’t respond, just stared at me with an unreadable expression.
“It’s good you see me as a monster,” he finally said.
He leaned back and spread his thighs slightly, his body massive in the chair, dwarfing the size of the small piece of furniture.
“Because that’s what I am, Liliana. I’m what nightmares are made of. I revel in it, clutch it close to my heart.” His nostrils flared, and I saw a flicker of emotion move across his face. “The world will eat you up and spit you out, so being a mean son of a bitch who kills before being killed is the only way to survive.”
He started drumming his fingers on the arm of the chair again. The sound would’ve been hypnotic if I wasn’t already trying to calm my racing heart and dry my sweaty palms.
“My death is the only outcome in this situation.” I shook my head, but I didn’t know what I was denying, didn’t know what I was trying to convey.
The rest of the words were right at the tip of my tongue, ready to spew forth like a slap to his face.
“I won’t become someone you sell… another whore in your ledger of money-making schemes.”
“Liliana dolce e vulnerabile. Non voglio ucciderti.” Sweet, vulnerable Liliana. I don’t want to kill you. His smile was slow and big, and it terrified me. “Voglio farti mia.” I want to make you mine.
Chapter 4
Matteo
For long seconds, she didn’t respond, just stared at me as if what I’d told her hadn’t clicked, like she didn’t understand the words I’d just said.
Finally, she took a step back and then another one. I let her retreat, although there was no place for her to go. I wouldn’t let her leave, even if there had been a way she could run.
I waited several days after killing her brother and father and buried them in shallow graves on the outskirts of Desolation to come here, to look her in the face and tell her myself she would now be mine.
Having their blood on my hands didn’t bother me. In fact, I felt stronger because of it.
Taking out, torturing them, watching the life fade from their eyes, and hearing the last breath they took was therapeutic… cathartic.
I contemplated not telling Liliana I was the one who tortured and killed her family. They’d just never come back, never bother her again.
But I couldn’t deny the sick satisfaction in wanting to be the one to tell her I took care of her problem. It probably wasn’t the way she ever imagined, although I knew it wouldn’t come as a surprise. I was a coldhearted bastard… and her father and brother were pieces of shit.
She knew the outcome of Desolation, of being one of its citizens and rotting from the inside out.
She eyed the front door but was smart enough not to make a run for it. It wouldn’t have mattered, anyway. Even if I didn’t have Luca waiting right on the other side, I’d track Liliana, hunt her down like the predator I was.
Thrump-thrump. Thrump-thrump.
I drummed my fingers on the armrests repeatedly, watching her, knowing what her next moves would be and anticipating how I’d counteract them.
“Might as well relax,” I said low, deep. “You know you can’t run from me, so you might as well be at ease.” She snorted, and I smirked.