a wad of blood from my mouth before ripping the tattered, bloody remains of my white shirt off and tossing it to the ground.
It was cold in Sinners Bay tonight. And that just happened to be perfect for raining down hellfire on everyone who stood between me and my savage girl to heat them right up.
I was left in the car while Ramon headed into his mansion and had his maids gather up several suitcases and pack them into another vehicle. My arms were aching from being tied so awkwardly for so long and I could hardly feel my fingers. But I didn't care about the pain. It was nothing to the bloody wound in my heart as I prayed to god Nicoli wasn't dead. But he'd been chained up, outnumbered…
A wave of grief made tears run down my cheeks and I choked them back as Ramon slid into the car once more. He'd grown tired of my thrashing and had had one of his men zip-tie my ankles together and bound them to the seat in front of me. I was immobilised and I couldn't bear to look at him as he directed the driver to take us to the docks.
I shut my eyes, trying to block out the world as grief bit into every inch of me. I couldn't live without Nicoli. We were bound by blood and revenge and love and destruction. No man could stand in his place. No one in this world mirrored my soul like his did.
"I suppose he will have been decapitated by now, my darling," Ramon mused and I opened my eyes, fixing him in my gaze. "I wonder what the last expression on his face will be."
Abhorrence curled under my skin like a flame, igniting every scrap of strength I had left and turning all of it against him. This man. This vile thing built of flesh and bone. He wasn't human. He was all monster. There'd been five demons who'd taken me, but the devil himself had been pulling the strings all along, puppeteering each strike they laid against my body. My scars seemed to writhe against my skin like angry vipers, each one hungering for blood in penance for the blood that had been spilled from me and Nicoli.
I will make you pay.
Ramon glanced at me, his brow pinching as he took in my expression. "You will forget him."
I said nothing, my jaw tight, my voice gone. I would only speak to him again when he lay dying at my feet, begging for mercy. Then I'd send him into hell with Nicoli's name on my lips. Just give me something sharp and I'll make him bleed until my body is coloured as red as my hair.
"Stop looking at me like that," he snarled. "You brought this on yourself."
I didn't stop glaring, a coldness washing through me as I sank into the darkest part of myself and let it take over like a murderous spirit inhabiting my body.
If he thought he was going to sail away into the sunset with his obedient wife, he was wrong. He was taking his own death with him. I would be at his side, waiting for the moment he let his guard down, the moment a weapon came into my possession. No matter how long it took, I would one day make him beg for mercy and offer him none.
We arrived at the dock, the sky clear and pricked with a million glittering stars. La Bellaza Rosa stood proud amongst a row of fine yachts, but none were so large as Ramon's. It had an outdoor deck on each level and the windows gave a glimpse in to luxurious interiors.
Ramon exited the car and directed Antonio to untether me. I didn't fight as the huge man released me from my binds and drew me from the car. I let him guide me towards the yacht at Ramon's side, my feet bare against the damp boardwalk. We headed down the pier and onto the yacht and I froze, my heart turning to a lump of ice as I saw the cooler box sitting on the deck before us with bloody handprints pressed to it. Sickness invaded me and I didn’t know if I was screaming inside my head or if the noise was tearing from my lungs.
Ramon laughed darkly, striding forward and I pressed back against Antonio, too afraid to see the truth awaiting me within that box. He flipped the lid open and all