Total pages in book: 35
Estimated words: 33564 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 168(@200wpm)___ 134(@250wpm)___ 112(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 33564 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 168(@200wpm)___ 134(@250wpm)___ 112(@300wpm)
All these thoughts swirl and collide as he finishes his walk to me and tilts his head up just a hair, just enough so that he can meet my gaze.
“Is my little virgin bitch waiting for me inside?” He smiles, his wrinkles deepening as he does so.
Sal is at his elbow, his face unusually ashen. He must know what I’ve done. I didn’t have to say a word to him, but somehow he knows I’ve set my father’s quarry free.
Dad reaches out and grips my shoulder hard. “You didn’t sample her before me, did you?” He tsks. “Is that why you’ve kept her here instead of bringing her to me as I instructed you?” He squeezes harder. “Is that why you disobeyed me?” His eyes flash, and I see the rage inside him.
That’s when I realize he’s fed me that same rage for years. Like milk from a mother’s breast, he’s poured his anger into me, tainting me from the very beginning. Telling me over and over that the Fernandinos are why we’ve suffered, why we’ve had to fight so hard, why we had to prove ourselves again and again.
But now as I look at him, I have to wonder if any of it’s true. Because the man I’m looking at, the man who’s known for doing anything and everything to come out on top, for betraying those close to him, for climbing on top of a mountain of bodies to claim his crown–he’s far worse than anything Olivia or her family could ever be. I refuse to believe evil could have created someone as pure, as fucking wonderful as Olivia. It’s not possible.
“Nothing to say for yourself?” He bears down on my shoulder.
Maybe he thinks he’s hurting me. He’s definitely trying to. It would be laughable if it weren’t for the dangerous anger simmering in his eyes. I’ve seen it lash out before, destroying everything in its path. But this is the first time it’s ever been aimed at me.
“She’s not here.” I inhale, my back straightening as I stare down my own personal demon. “I let her go.”
Sal winces.
“You’re kidding.” My father smiles thinly, then turns and walks back toward his soldiers. “My son is having a little bit of fun with me, boys.” He barks out a forced laugh. “Because I know, and you all know, how much I’ve been looking forward to meeting that little bitch Olivia Fernandino. Right?”
“Right.” The men nod and smirk.
“Because her cunt belongs to me!” He beats his chest. “I earmarked it for myself the moment I heard she takes after her mother.” He turns back to me and shakes his head. “Oh, Sergei, if you could’ve seen her mother when she was young.” He does a chef’s kiss on his fingers, that wild anger rising and rising inside him. “She was the most decadent piece of ass I’d ever seen. I spotted her one day in the city. She was shopping with some of her friends. Have I told you this story?” he asks.
“No.” Something in his tone makes nausea churn in my gut.
His soldiers shift smoothly, coming up the sides of the warehouse, hunting me like a pack of hyenas. Sal shifts toward me. It’s almost imperceptible, but I see it.
“Oh, I should have. I really should have, because then you would’ve realized how fucking important this is to me.” He grits his teeth, then smooths his suit coat and continues. “She went to some stores and came out with packages. Eventually, her friends went off one by one until she was walking alone by the park, the bags in her hands. She was distracted, you see?” He smiles as if remembering something wonderful. “That’s when I took her. I snatched her up right off the street.”
Some of the soldiers chuckle.
“And I had her. I had her every way I could. I fucked her virginity right out of her. Sometimes, when I’m especially happy, I can still”—he closes his eyes and inhales—“still taste her, smell her. Fuck, it makes my dick hard just thinking about it.”
Sal shifts closer again, his gaze snapping between me and our father. He knows the same as I know. Shit is about to get bad. Not just bad, bloody.
“So!” my father snaps. “It was extremely fucking important to me that I get to revisit all that goddamn fun with her daughter. I wanted to fuck her in the ass and hear her scream. I wanted to—” He shakes his head. “Do you understand?”
I do, and I wish I didn’t. But I know my father. I’ve known he was a monster, and I was all right with it. I probably could’ve still been all right with it, but not now. Not when I see the obsession in his eyes. Not when I know he’ll never stop until he hurts Olivia.