“Did you think you were gonna fly in here like some underworld superhero and save the girl?” Scarface...Rossi...lets out an evil chuckle. “That’s not how this works. You were advised to stay away from things that don’t concern you. Your father and brothers were smart when they told you to just turn the other cheek. Even they know they can’t stop what’s about to happen.”
“I told you, Xander,” Blaine creeps toward me, breathing heavily. “You’ll never be enough for her. You’ll always be beneath her.”
“Maybe I like it there, dick,” I seethe. “Not like she’d ever let you willingly touch her with a ten-foot pole.”
He smirks and exchanges a glance with Rossi, which gives him an approving nod. “You did good. You redeemed yourself this time. I was beginning to wonder if we’d have to kill you along with the Iazettis.” Rossi looks at me with a smile. “Because that’s the ultimate goal, Xander.
“Kill the Iazettis. End their reign. Take over their empire.”
He leans closer, gripping my hair tight. “You really should have fought a little harder. You knew what you were up against even if nobody else did. And now it’s too late. Now, you’re ours.”
He cocks a gun and sticks it in-between my eyes. “There’s a matching gun pointed directly at the same spot on Charlotte’s head. If you want to be sure we won’t pull the trigger, you’re going to do exactly what you’re told. Right now, I’m making you my bitch.” He snickers and leans close to whisper against my ear. “Oh, how the mighty have fallen. Get ready. It’s gonna be a bumpy ride.”
My eyes dart toward Charlotte’s terror-stricken expression and Rossi smiles. “Are the pieces coming together yet, Xander? Here, let me help.”
With a swift whack, the gun which was just pointed at me crashes against my temple, sending me careening backward...into another table.
How many goddamn tables do you really need in one fucking room?
That’s the last foggy thought that floats through my mind just before my eyes droop closed and darkness cloaks me.
Like the cloud of death that perpetually blankets my existence.
Chapter 23
Charlotte
“No!” The word cracks from the deepest pit in my soul as I watch the gun smash against Xander’s head, his body going completely limp. “Please! He didn’t do anything to you!”
The cool metal of the gun barrel presses harder into my temple as Blaine laughs a little, his finger on the trigger with the hammer pulled back. “Maybe you should have thought a little more about who you get in bed with, Char. I tried to warn you. Gave you countless chances to leave the dark side and come into the light with me.”
“Enough,” Scarface growls over at Blaine while throwing Xander over his shoulder. “We got what we came for. Leave the girl.”
“But—” Blaine tries to protest.
Scarface’s free hand flies into the air. “I am not asking. We have our orders. It’s time to carry them out.”
Orders? What orders?
Oh. My. God.
They’re going to kill Xander.
Wait.
That would be too easy. If they wanted Xander dead, they wouldn’t have knocked him out. They wouldn’t be taking him with them. They need him alive.
They have to keep him alive.
“Please, take me instead! I’m the one you want. My father will pay you. He’ll make you both so rich for just returning me to him. Take me!” I plead with Blaine but he just chuckles more. It’s the most sinister, diabolical sound I have ever heard in my life, trumping Scarface’s malice. The darkest snicker from a depraved soul. A laugh that belongs to the Devil himself.
My entire body trembles as Blaine’s fiery eyes lock with mine. “Xander did have one thing right. You really were a very fun puppet to play with, Charlotte. Too bad we were interrupted. I really wanted to pull on those strings a little longer.” As the last words escape his lips, Blaine pulls the gun away from my head and in one swift motion, he slams the handle down right into my temple.
Throbbing pain erupts as my vision goes white.
He’s going to be okay.
I repeat the phrase over and over in my head until everything goes fuzzy.
And then black.
I have no idea how long I was knocked out for. My head is banging. My body is buzzing.
Xander!
“They have him!” I scream out to no one. I am alone in the family room sprawled out on the floor.
I scramble for my phone that slid under the couch in my scuffle with Blaine.