weapon inside those walls you will be shot without warning.”
Hunter complies, reaching across Luca to hand over his pistol.
We’re being allowed inside.
The guard is letting Luca and Hunter fulfil their perversions, which means my sisters are still alive. No alarms have been sounded. The best-case scenario has been laid at our feet.
My heart pumps faster. Anticipation has my fingers twitching in my lap.
“Échoume episképtes,” the guard grates into the communication device stashed into the sleeve of his suit jacket. “Luther’s orders. Give them access to the gynaíkes.” He returns his focus to the men in the front seat. “No more guns?”
“No more guns,” Hunter answers. “Just the big pistol I’m packin’ for the ladies.”
I close my eyes, despising his casual reference to rape.
“Enjoy yourself.”
That’s the last I hear of the guard as the gates whir apart, allowing us entry.
I know what comes next. This part of the plan was set in stone. It’s the only reason I open my eyes to seek out the guard returning to his position in the shadows.
“Look away, Penny,” Luca demands.
I won’t.
I pin my glare on the guard, his mimicked expression holding mine as a darkened figure creeps up behind him.
Our car moves forward, the sound of the engine and the opening gates enough to mask my brother’s approach, but I stare harder at the guard, glare with more ferocity, hoping somehow to distract Satan’s henchman from the sentence that approaches.
“Penny,” Luca warns. “Look away.”
My heart stops the moment Sebastian grabs the guard around the neck, pulling him backward and off-balance. There’s a sheer second of surprised panic. A slash of a glinting knife. A brief struggle. Then death.
My brother kills the man right before me and yet it’s done so easily, so effortlessly, it seems like fiction. A movie. There was no pause for contemplation or compassion.
“For fuck’s sake, Penny, I told you to look the other way.”
“Let her watch.” Hunter comes to my defense. “I’m sure she’s seen worse.”
“Just because she’s seen it before doesn’t mean she has to see it now.” Luca presses his foot harder on the accelerator. “And besides, she needs to fucking listen if we’re going to get out of here alive.”
“I’ll listen.” I continue to watch my brother as he drags the lifeless body toward a head-high bush. “But only when your instructions involve getting my friends to safety. Don’t pretend you know what’s best for me.”
He growls, his anger a low vibration as we pass the gates. I chance a glance through the back window, trying to gain another glimpse of Sebastian.
“Eyes to the front,” Luca commands. “Keep playing your role.”
This time I obey, slumping into the seat as the car curves around the long drive to pull up in front of the overbearing mansion. I try not to let foreboding consume me, but that house has a soul. A dark one. It beckons to me, whispering promises of torture.
“Deck just took down another target.” Hunter presses a hand to his hidden earpiece. “He seems to think these guys are easy prey.”
I unfasten my belt to scoot forward. “Tell him not to become complacent. Some of them are brutal.”
“Hear that, Deck? Your sister said not to get cocky.” Hunter glances over his shoulder at me. “Would you normally be eager to get up close and personal like that? Or should you be keeping your distance?”
I can’t help it. I’m anxious. Completely and utterly unsettled.
The engine is cut as I slide back. Seatbelts are unfastened. The men climb outside. Then Luca is at my door, pulling it wide to wait for me to join them.
I don’t know how they do it—mask the adrenaline, play it cool.
I can’t keep focus. I’m not the heartless automaton I thought I could be. I pictured myself coming here, entirely determined and lethal. Instead, I’m pretending not to desperately fight off paranoia as it slays me with a million possible pitfalls to our plan.
“Get moving, shorty.” Luca keeps his expression impassive, not giving me a hint to his emotions. “We’ve got eyes on us from the front door.”
I don’t look. Don’t nod.
“Ready?” His gaze bores into me, intense and filled with concern.
I give a subtle incline of my head and follow his lead toward the house. I stiffen when his gentle grip glides over the crook of my elbow, but it’s too late to warn him of his mistake. Two guards exit the front of the mansion—Argus and Otis—both of them looking down at where Luca holds my arm.