“Come on. You have to see this.” Lorik rushed out of the garage, straight to the security room. The same room we took Doe to when she first came here. When I saw Dante standing outside the door, the worried look on his face, I knew shit was about to get real.
“What the fuck, man?” I demanded when I walked up to my brother.
Dante squared his shoulders. “Is there something we need to know, Antonio?”
“What the fuck are you talking about?”
He gestured with his head for Lorik to open the door. My heart was pounding, my throat starting to feel too fucking narrow to breathe. Even the hairs on the back of my neck were standing up, the air around me colder than usual. It was only when I saw the naked body on the floor that I actually stopped breathing.
“What the—”
“Antonio!” Lucio came rushing in. “I was trying to fucking get hold of”—he caught sight of the body and stilled—“you.” He pulled his hand through his hair. “What the actual fuck?”
I stared down at the body—Renato’s dead body with words cut into the skin of his stomach.
Does she know?
Jesus. How the fuck? I no longer had a pulse, but rather a raging tornado of fear and anger, rage and panic. It was like a goddamn war inside me.Does she know?What in the name of everloving fuck? I knew exactly what the question was referring to. But the real question was, how the fuck did he know?
“Lucio, how the fuck did he end up here?” I kept staring at him, the words carved into his flesh fucking with my head.
“That’s why I was trying to get hold of you. When you and Doe left, and we went back inside, the fucker was gone.”
My gaze cut to his. “What?”
“I dunno how. I dunno who. Jesus Christ.”
Dante slammed the door shut. “What the hell is going on, Antonio?”
My mind was struggling to make sense of what was going on. A half hour ago, Doe and I left Renato’s corpse back at the warehouse, yet here he was, in front of me, with a goddamn message.
“Antonio?” Dante pressed. “What the fuck is this?”
I looked at Lucio, and he looked at me. We had come to the end of the road of our secret. What I feared would happen, did. Vadik had managed to force me into a corner, and now I had no choice but to tell the truth.
Refusing to show weakness, I merely buttoned my suit jacket and turned to Lucio. “Sweep the grounds. Make sure we don’t have any unwanted guests. The fact that he ended up in front of our fucking gate tells me Vadik is right on our goddamn doorstep.”
Lucio didn’t respond. He just stormed out of the room like he had Lucifer on his fucking tail.
Dante cleared his throat and crossed his arms, a silent way of demanding an explanation from me.
I lifted my chin, a subtle way of showing authority. “There’s something you should know, about Doe.”
“What is it?”
It fucking burned trying to get the words out, but after trying my best to take this secret to my grave, I was finally forced into a corner. “Her name is Alessia. Alessia Mancuso.”
Chapter 16
Doe
Something was wrong. I felt it my bones. The second I walked into the house, leaving Antonio and Lorik behind, a shudder went down my spine. It felt cold, an icy chill following me with every step. It was like the feeling you’d get when you were little, walking in the dark, thinking there was someone behind you. You’d feel cold, but the skin on the back of your neck would suddenly flare, feeling clammy. You’d have the uncontrollable urge to move faster because the tingle on your skin was telling you there was someone behind you. But you’d be too goddamn scared to turn around and check. Instead, you’d rush down the hall, praying like hell that whatever was behind you wouldn’t catch up to you.
That was what it felt like while I walked through the halls, escorted by one of Antonio’s guards. Like I wanted to run. Like there was someone behind me, watching me, waiting to fucking pounce. I felt like a deer catching the whiff of a predator downwind.
I tried to brush it off. Maybe it was the rush of adrenaline subsiding. The thrill of my kill earlier. I’ve been on such a high for the last few hours, maybe my body was coming down hard, crashing after the rush.
Once I closed the bedroom door behind me, finally alone and able to listen to my own thoughts, I looked down at my bloodstained hands. It felt surreal, knowing I was capable of killing another human being. Not only was it easy, it felt good. Killing. Taking a life. While I stared into Renato’s eyes, witnessing the life drain out of them, it felt really good. Like a drug, spreading through my system, making me forget all about my horrid past. It was liberating. I had never felt so free in my entire life.