“Thank you, Acid,” I tell him. “But I’m saying no to torture. For now.”
If there’s a way to find the killer without everyone tearing strips off Dad, I’d prefer to do it that way. There’s something just out of my reach, and I want to know what it is before I give up completely and resort to torture.
Vinicius is gazing at me with one eyebrow raised.
“I’m sorry. Do you all mind if we let him go for now?”
He takes my hand and helps me to my feet. “No need to apologize. Your family, your rules. The four of us already decided. Who wants to escort the mayor uptown?”
Acid’s eyes flare with interest. “Oh, please. Allow us.”
“Did you split his eyebrow?” I ask as Thane closes in on Dad to cut through his ropes.
“Yeah, we were a bit rough when we kidnapped him. I guess we need more practice.” Acid grabs Dad by the scruff of his jacket and shoves him toward the door. “Move, you piece of shit.”
“Thanks for letting me borrow the basement,” I call after him.
“Anytime, your highness.”
Vinicius pulls me into his arms. “Watching you work information out of the mayor was amazing. You have nerves of steel, kitten.”
“I just wish it worked. I didn’t find out what we wanted to know. I’m sorry.”
He cups my cheek, his golden-hazel eyes soft. “No, but you got him talking. You came closer to the truth than any of us have before. If you still have hope, then I have hope.”
I give him a sad smile. “Maybe I’ll feel better about it after a good night’s sleep.”
“It’s this basement that’s getting you down. Come on, I’ll take you home.”
My mouth quirks in a smile. The compound. Home. The others will be waiting for us. Lorenzo will put a milky coffee into my hands and scour me for injuries with a fierce look. Cassius will kiss me and coddle me, and Salvatore will be impressed with how I faced my father and remind me how much I’ve changed since my seventeenth birthday. At times like these, I wonder what I’ve done to deserve these men. My heart aches to be with them all as soon as possible.
I take one final look around the basement, wishing I knew what it was trying to tell me, and then follow Vinicius upstairs.
18
Chiara
Lorenzo rips the Velcro open on the blood pressure cuff. “Perfect blood pressure. Welcome to week thirty, day one. This little one is the size of a cabbage. Their eyes can focus. They weigh about three pounds. Mama looks fucking gorgeous.”
I cup my considerable belly in my hands. So far we don’t know if it’s a boy or a girl and I want it to be a surprise. From how big I feel, I’m starting to wonder if it’s a baby elephant.
Lorenzo has kept up with his research and he knows more about the baby’s progress than I do. I think it’s his way of feeling in control of an uncontrollable situation.
“It might not be day one of week thirty. You don’t know that it’s yours.”
“I’m counting from the day I locked the compound gates and there’s nothing you can do to stop me.” Lorenzo pulls his stethoscope from around his neck and puts it in his ears, then moves the bell around on my stomach. He smiles, and then pulls one earpiece out of his ears and offers it to me. “Here. Listen.”
We listen to the baby’s heartbeat together, a fast, strong whoosh in our ears.
“That’s our baby,” I whisper, my throat tight with emotion.
“Yeah, princess. That’s our baby.”
Lorenzo records a voice note of the sound on his phone and sends it to the group chat. The others reply almost immediately.
Salvatore: I’m out here being tough on the mean streets and you’re going to make me cry.
Vinicius: I could listen to that sound all day.
Cassius: That’s my bambino. Good and strong.
“Cassius wants a boy,” Lorenzo says, shoving his phone in his pocket.
“I know. A little man to have running around the place, he told me. But if we have a girl, I know he’ll be just as delighted and spoil her rotten.”
“God, will he ever. Salvatore would be proud to have a boy at some point. I don’t think Vinicius minds either way.”
“And what do you want?” I ask.
“I want the baby to have the loudest cry, and the strongest kick, and the brightest eyes it can have. And for you to get through this and be smiling on the other side. That’s all that matters to me.”
“Not too strong a kick,” I say, rubbing my hand over my belly. “I won’t have any internal organs left in one piece by the end of this.”
He makes a sympathetic face and kisses me. “How’s mama? Dizzy? Headaches?”
“No, but my legs are aching all the time and I don’t sleep through the night anymore.”
“Stick your legs in my lap later and I’ll rub your calves. I’ll make sure the others do too, okay?”
I smile as I watch him pack up his equipment, wondering if I should tell him about the dreams I’ve been having. They’re not nightmares, but they’re unsettling. I’m standing in a basement and there are things around me in the dark. I don’t know if they’re objects or people, but I can’t see them, and I can’t make myself move. All the answers I crave are just out of my reach.
All the time, I’m thinking about basements and it’s starting to drive me crazy.
“Lorenzo, can I ask you something?”
He must hear something in my voice as suddenly his whole demeanor changes. He shoots a look at me, eyes narrowed with suspicion. “I don’t know. Can you?”
“You might get mad, but I promise it’s important.”
He turns away from me with the blood pressure cuff and the stethoscope in his hands. “Then no.”
I stay where I am, stranded on the metal table with my feet dangling a foot from the ground. “Something’s been bugging me since I was tied up in the basement at Strife. The first time, but the second time, too.”
“Why? What did those assholes do to you?”
“Nothing. It’s a feeling I had. That the basement was trying to tell me something.”
“Tell you what?”
I shrug. “That’s just it. I don’t know.”
“Try and think about something else. I can’t help you,” he mutters, walking over to a cupboard and storing his medical equipment.
“You can. I wouldn’t ask unless it’s really important. I’m sorry if I’m going to upset you, but I’ve been over and over it and you’re the only one who has the answer.” I take a deep breath. “I want to ask you about the videos.”
He slams the cupboard closed and rounds on me. I don’t need any medical equipment to tell me that his blood pressure is suddenly through the roof. “We are not talking about those videos.”
“I know it hurts. I wouldn’t ask you if there were any other way. Maybe if you showed me—” Before I’ve even finished the sentence I can tell it was absolutely the wrong thing to say.