Until the pressure of him releases and I hear a surprised, painful grunt.
For a second, I don’t move. I’m too terrified. But then I hear a voice, and I turn, my heart racing and tears rolling down my face.
“You piece of fucking shit,” Nico says as he slams his fist into Rinaldo’s face. “You sick, twisted piece of fucking garbage.” Again, again, he punches Rinaldo, holding him up by the shirt. Blood gushes from Rinaldo’s nose and mouth and his head rocks back with each vicious blow.
Nico’s face is a black mask of rage, and his knuckles are split and broken, but he doesn’t care.
He just keeps punching as I wrap my arms around myself and sink to the floor, sobbing.
“She’s mine,” Rinaldo says through spit and blood. “She’s mine and you have no right.”
Nico hits him again and Rinaldo groans, barely conscious.
“I’m going to kill you,” Nico says softly. It’s not a question. It’s not a threat. It’s a statement of fact. “I can’t do it now. No, not this second. But soon I’m going to cut your throat for what you did to her and I’m going to do it slow. Do you understand me? I’m going to do it nice and slow, you piece of human shit.”
Nico slams his fist one last time into Rinaldo’s face and dumps his body on the floor.
Rinaldo doesn’t move, unconscious, but still drawing gasping breaths through his mangled mouth and shattered nose.
Nico stands there seething. He’s breathing hard and I stare at him, terrified and still cringing, until he turns to look at me.
His expression doesn’t soften. He stares for several long beats before he offers me a hand. “Let’s get you out of here.”
“Nico. How did you… How did you find me?”
“Outside.”
I nod and let him help me to my feet. I sag against him and his arm wraps around my shoulder. Never in a million years would I have thought Nico would come to my rescue.
If anything, I thought he would let Rinaldo do it.
Nobody hates me like Nico.
And yet he saved me from that sick monster.
He saved me from getting taken against my will.
From my first time being a disgusting, brutal hell.
Nico steers me to the “Employees Only” door. It leads to a short hall with an emergency exit at the end and two doors to the kitchen. We pass through the exit and into the back parking lot, and he leans me up against the wall in the shade of the overhang, touching my forehead gently, looking for injuries.
“Are you okay?” he asks, studying my face. “Nothing looks bruised or broken.”
“I’m fine. I mean, I’m okay. He didn’t hurt me.” I touch my throat and the skin’s tender, but nothing’s broken.
He grimaces and stares. “Fucking hell. You’re going to bruise.”
More tears come then. Everyone’s going to see the marks on my throat and they’ll ask how it happened.
What am I going to say? Rinaldo was drunk and tried to rape me?
“Look at me, Karah.” He’s quieter now. Like he just made a decision. “Take a deep breath and look at me.”
I do as he says. I have no other choice.
I’m ruined, destroyed, and to top it all off, I’m going to be sent off to live in Dallas.
I’m going to rot there in hell and there’s nothing I can do.
And he tried to warn me, but I wouldn’t listen.
“We’ll talk to Casso. Explain what happened. We’ll tell him about the bruises. I didn’t kill Rinaldo because Casso is his Capo. I can’t kill a soldier without permission, even if he does something like that. We’ll talk to your brother and I’ll take care of everything. Do you understand?”
I nod stupidly. My eyes are too bleary with tears and his face floats in and out of my vision. He gently holds my shoulders and his touch sends electric flames along my spine.
“How did you find me?” I ask again, too wrapped up in that moment back there to process what he’s saying.
“I went looking for you at the house this morning to try to talk some sense into you one last time. Fynn told me where you went. The other guys at the table acted all fucking weird when I showed up and I figured something was wrong. That’s when I found him about to—” He stops, jaw tightening. “I should’ve been here sooner.”
“It’s not your fault.” I laugh once at the absurdity. He tried to warn me over and over, and I didn’t listen. And he wants to blame himself?
“Let’s get you home. My car’s right over there. We’ll talk to Casso and I’ll handle the rest, I swear.”
I start sobbing again. The idea of telling my brother what happened is a nightmare so intense I don’t think I can face it.
But Nico squeezes my shoulders and makes me look at him.