Instead, he’s fucking my life up forever.
I shield my eyes, as I see the men approaching me. I stand stoically because I know there is nothing else to do at the moment. Running is useless, I’ll just end up hurt. I’ve seen it happen to too many women before.
I will look for an opportunity to escape once they have me, but I know that won’t be more useful. In this world, there is no escaping. Even Nina and Eden didn’t escape. They remained. They just changed their circumstances in their favor until this world no longer terrified them.
My only hope is that Matteo and Arlo save me. That they realize I’m gone and still have enough power in this world to save me. If they can’t, I’m as good as dead.
I feel the cold, rough hands on my arms as they are jerked backward.
I sold you.
Roman’s words play again.
I should focus on the men tying rope around my wrists. I need to learn as much about them as I can. Find their weaknesses. Study their faces so when I’m free, I can come back and get my revenge. But I can’t focus on anyone but Roman.
Roman stands stoically as he watches the men tighten the rope around my wrists. He seems pleased with himself. His lips curl up into a wicked grin, while his eyes deepen with a mix of lust and greed, watching me lose my freedom. He thinks he’s won. But the war has only just begun. He may have won the battle, but the war is long. Carini’s hold grudges, and we always get our revenge in the end.
I smirk.
“Happy to be taken? Oh, that’s right. You are desperate for a man’s attention. Any man. Even a demon like Dante.”
Dante. That’s the first time my captor has been mentioned. It doesn’t ring any bells. He didn’t run in our immediate circle of friends.
I continue smirking, shaking my head. “I’m not smiling. I’m smirking. You think you’ve won, but you forget that I’m a Carini. My days aren’t numbered, but yours are.”
Roman narrows his eyes at me and laughs, glancing at the men holding onto my arms. Arms that are now firmly tied behind my back. I pull at the rope, and I know there is no way my hands will break free.
“I don’t think so. You are the one whose days are numbered. I’d bet good money you don’t survive the week where you are going. I not only made sure to get the highest price for you, but I made sure you went to the most ruthless owner in all of Italy. Dante Russo will beat you, rape you, and kill you when he realizes how ordinary you are. You have no fight in you. Your brothers will quickly forget about you. No one will save you. And when you are dead, no one will come after me.”
I search his eyes, and I find exactly what I would expect from scum like him.
“Then why is there fear in your eyes?”
Roman clears his throat and then walks toward me. “If there is any fear in my eyes, it’s simply the reflection of your own.”
I spit in his face.
My head whips to the side as I feel the sting of the slap against my cheek. I take a deep slow breath as the bite spreads across my cheek and to my eye.
I will not cry.
I will not show anger.
I will not show my pain.
Roman will get nothing from me.
I slowly turn my head back. I can’t stop my hand from reaching instinctively to calm my cheek, which is no doubt turning redder as the seconds pass. The ropes stop me before I remember my hands are tied behind my back.
Roman’s jaw spasms as he notices my hands squirming against the ropes. I know the rope is digging into my delicate skin, and will undoubtedly leave a burn in its wake, but I can’t stop fighting against it. Not now that Roman has me so worked up.
He takes a step back, while the men hold me back. One of the men’s hands clenches my arm so roughly the pain pulls my attention away for a second from Roman. I feel the nails digging into my flesh, and I want to cry out in pain. Tell him to stop, but I don’t.
Instead, I keep all my wrath for Roman. Giving him my full attention assures him I will come after him. I will watch the whites leave his eyes as he slowly slips away from this earth to hell. Everything that happens to me from this point forward is because of Roman. And I will make him hurt for every prickle of pain I endure.
“Everything going okay in here?” a man says from behind Roman.
I force my eyes away from the snake before me and stare at the man who just entered. Clive is standing in the entryway with a cup of coffee in his hand, like this is a typical morning. Erick enters behind him, and he smirks at me.