Divided (Unguarded #2) - Ivy Stone Page 0,54
to answer before I’m yanked out of the vehicle by one of Lucio’s men.
He and Lindsey argue until he’s had enough taunting her and reaches for me. Pulling me forward, we draw near to an abandoned warehouse made up of glass and graffitied rusted steel. Sirens echo through the factory district. Please be coming to save us. Optimism subsides, fast. A shiver jolts through me like a lightning strike sent to kill me. Giuseppe Marino walks out of the shadows. His presence validates everything I’ve been trying to convince myself won’t happen. Panic retches nausea from me. I heave. I don’t want to die. I don’t want to die now. Giuseppe sneers at me, cigarette in one hand, and a gun in the other. Beside him, two associates with big guns—huge guns, scary guns—that cause my heart to work faster as my breathing becomes shallower. God, Cassidy hurry up. Please? Smoke fills my lungs as Lucio pushes me toward him. Lindsey comes up beside me, shoulders heaving, fury behind her big blue eyes. If looks could kill, every man in this building would be dead.
“Lucio, about time, boy. Took you long enough. Girls, come in.” He throws his cigarette to the ground and steps to the side, gesturing a hand out in front of him for us.
“Come on,” Lucio mutters to me. But my feet refuse to move.
Lucio squeezes my arm, tight and bruising, and whispers in my ear, “Get moving, Ali. Don’t make this worse for yourself.”
I protest every word and scowl at him through the sweaty, damp hair sticking to my forehead and falling across my face. I grit my teeth. “What do you care?”
His eyes soften for a brief moment and for a second my heart lifts with a possible out. But I should have known better.
His lips curve into a smirk and his eyes harden. “I don’t, baby.”
A shudder ripples through me and I cringe.
He laughs and shoves me forward into a big room with plaster peeling off the walls and concrete beams scattered throughout the level. His gun digging into the center of my back until he shunts it down on my shoulder, sending me straight to my knees. I cry out in pain and Lindsey smacks down beside me.
“You asshole. Want to be any rougher?” she snaps back at the man who roughed her up, but he says nothing. He must know to say nothing if he wants to keep his job.
“Ah, so good to see you in fine form, Lindsey. I see nothing has changed over the past few months.” I kink my neck back to find Giuseppe’s smug face, smiling down at Lindsey.
“Fuck. You,” she hisses. All breath escapes me, waiting for the hit. The slap. Maybe a bullet for her backchat, but no retaliation comes which serves to confuse me more. I’ve never known what it was my sister did for him, I just knew it wasn’t legal. But it’s clear Giuseppe actually… respects her. I narrow in on my sister, and my hair lifts on the back of my neck at her bared teeth, flaring nostrils, and tightness in her eyes. I gulp, fear clogging my airways because I’ve never seen this side of Lindsey. The side where emotion is a foreign concept, never seen, never felt—always a weakness. Where one second could be the difference between being killed and her killing. I glance back at Giuseppe, who’s grinning, loving every second of riling my sister up. My heart cracks at the realization of just how much I don’t know about Lindsey. We’d grown apart over the years. Both of us had reasons and played our roles in our lives dividing, but one thing is for sure, she’s more badass than I was ever aware of. I pray she can save us if the police can’t. Giuseppe runs a hand through his salt and pepper hair, which is perfectly aligned as it is every day. He bends down, undoing the button on his suit jacket as he moves. For a man who kills for leisure on a daily basis, there isn’t a drop of stained blood on his expensive suit.
“You ungrateful bitch… after everything I’ve done for you. After all these years of leading you down the right path, setting you up for a future in our world, you go and fuck it all up over your junkie sister who can’t stay clean.” A chuckle falls from his lips as he stands back up and he pulls a gun from