Pulling her to him, he held her body with one arm while grabbing ahold of her face with his free hand, making her look into her eyes.
“Look at me.” His voice became melodic and strong. “No, I’m not. I would never lie to you.”
Closing her eyes, she let him hold her to him fully now as she pressed her face into his chest.
She didn’t have to see the truth; her heart could feel it, knowing he couldn’t have been involved. It was the scared little girl who had been living in her for almost four years now who had needed the reassurance. The scared little girl who had screamed for someone like Lucca to save her that night … only for no one to come. The scared little girl who now had her savior and was petrified to even think about losing him.
Thirty-Six
As He Took the Sight of the Other
Lucca dragged the body, taking him to the steel pipe that was in the back corner of the room.
“WWWhere a-am I?”
The fucker wasn’t dead, but he was fucking close to it.
The sound of metal chains echoed throughout the dark, cold concrete room.
“WWhat are yyou doing?” he cried, trying to lift his body unsuccessfully.
A loud snap followed by something locking in place silenced the room.
Staring down at the broken man who had passed out, Lucca gave a yank to the chain that locked his ankle to the pipe.
“OWWWW! Whhhat do you want from mee?” More tears fell from his eyes.
“Who were you looking for?”
“I ddon’t know.”
Another yank to the chain pulled at his shattered leg, making him wail in pain.
“Who were you looking for?”
“I ddon’t know!”
Lucca squatted next to the man, noticing a gold ring on his finger. Pulling out his knife, he grabbed the man’s hand then spread his fingers open before placing the blade right under his ring.
“Now—”
The man began repeating, “Please don’t.”
“—tell me who you were looking for in the penthouse.”
“I ccan’t tell yyou!”
Lucca sliced into his finger, cutting deeply.
“SSScars!” the man screamed, and Lucca immediately stopped, relieving the man from his pain. “The girl with the ssscars.”
Lucca stared down at him. “That so?”
“Yes.” He took a thankful breath.
“Unfortunately”—he sliced into his finger again—“you came after the one who’s mine.”
Now that he was sawing into the bone, the screams that filled the air only grew louder … until the man passed out cold.
Pulling the ring off the now chopped off finger, Lucca wiped at the blood, revealing the diamond’s surrounding the horseshoe …
Staring down at the horseshoe ring, Lucca put it back in his pocket to look at the frail, malnourished Italian man who no longer resembled himself. His hair and beard were matted and long; burns, scars, and bruises now riddled his body; and most of his teeth had been removed, along with all of the nails on his toes and nine fingers.
Lucca stalked toward the man chained up in the corner. “You lied to me. You said you weren’t there that night.”
Shaking his head, the man tried to scoot into the corner as much as he could. “No, no, no, Mr. Caruso, sir.”
“She remembered your ring,” he warned.
His face morphed into pure terror, his hands coming together in prayer. “I cccann expllaiin, sir. Pleaseee, let me explain.”
Pulling out a cigarette, Lucca held it between his lips as he took out his lighter and let the glow burn the end. “Go on.”
“The ffffirst night you told me she was yourss, if I told you I wwwas there the night she got her scars, you would have killlled me. Thennn I would have been no good to you, sir. I did it for youuu, sir.”
Lucca held the cigarette between his lips as he reached out and grabbed the chain, pulling it with all his strength and bringing his captive to him, flattening him like a pancake.
The man hit his head hard on the concrete, unable to move his fragile and tormented body.
Squatting down besides the man’s head, Lucca then held open his right eye, not letting him blink, while he took the cigarette out of his mouth with his other hand and hovered the burning end over the eyeball.
“Did you lie to me about anything else?” he demanded.
The weak man tried to move but couldn’t. “NOOO! I swear!”
“You’re right”—Lucca brought the burning stick closer to the eye he held open so tightly it looked like it was about to pop out at any second—“I would have killed you.”
Shoving the cigarette down, he smashed it into the man’s pupil until it no longer burned, using his eye as an ashtray.
Only Lucca and the concrete walls laid witness to how a man’s screams sounded when he went blind in one eye. And then again, a few moments later … as he took the sight of the other.
Thirty-Seven
This Time Felt Different, More … Final.
Chloe sat on Lucca’s bed, holding her knees to her chest and rocking herself back and forth. The pit in her stomach had only grown since her nightmare this morning, making her sick. The air around her felt heavy, making her suffocate. She could feel something coming. Something very bad was about to happen, and she was afraid her fate would be fatal this time.
The horseshoe ring, along with the devil’s ominous black eyes, wouldn’t leave her mind.
He’s coming for me … He promised.
Drago was alerted to a presence on the security monitors. A car was pulling into the long driveway. It had a sign on top of the vehicle, showing it was food delivery. He hadn’t ordered anything, so he quickly called Lucca to see if he had. However, the call went straight to voicemail, his signal most likely blocked from where he was.
When the car stopped in front of the house and a man in uniform got out with a pizza bag, he figured Lucca had ordered it to feed Chloe since she hadn’t eaten anything and he was most likely going to be gone for a while.
Getting up, he headed toward the door and got to it just as the delivery guy knocked.
He cracked open the door with his hand on his pistol at his lower back, seeing the uniformed man holding the pizza bag.
“Delivery for Lucca Caruso.”
Drago nodded then pulled his hand from his pistol, opening the door wider.
The delivery man placed his hand inside the bag …
POP.
When the shot fired through the bag, Drago realized his grave mistake.
Going for his gun, he took a step toward the man, when …
POP.
Both shots had hit him in the chest before his gun was at his side.
Lifting up the gun, he saw now that other men had gotten out of the car, all holding guns.
POP.
He pulled the trigger, but his aim wasn’t true as a bullet lodged itself deep in his own arm.
Knowing he wasn’t going to make it, his only hope was to warn her.
“Chloe, hide!” his voice boomed.
POP.
Refusing to go down, he went to tackle the man.
POP.
Drago’s body slumped to the floor as his mind began to fog. He had failed.
I’m sorry … Chlo—
When Chloe heard the loud noises, she held herself tighter.
“Chloe, hide!” she heard Drago’s muffled yell.
She moved a millimeter before a familiar voice spoke to her, freezing her in place.
Stay still, little girl …