Page 25

Ivy

Everything around me was gone. There were no sounds but my own heart beat thudding against my ribs. The pounding grew louder and louder, and the numbers just started on their own.

Counting each thump brought a sense of relaxation to my body. There was a level of control in every number. Each digit solidified my impending fate, but every number came when I said it would.

As the world washed away, I drifted into this hollow space. A warm feeling spread over my body as I excepted the weight being cast down on me. Inhaling a deep breath, I lifted my head towards Bane.

I wasn't going to go out cowering like a weak, frail invalid. This man would see my face, he would remember my eyes, my lips, my voice.

Because I was strong, because if I let him think he could hold any power over me it would only fuel his ego.

He was going to take something from me and I wanted to do the same in return.

I wanted Bane to leave that room knowing and feeling what he had taken. He wasn't just taking care of business, he was taking my soul.

Opening my eyes, I stared beyond the barrel, straight into his. Bane's brow lifted, the deep wrinkles in his forehead arched up. The thick lines running with his lips smoothed out. Rolling his finger over the trigger, I thought that for a brief second there was a twitch in his hand.

With my head held high, I gave him one final thing to remember me by. “I might know who you are, but I'm the lucky one, because I'll forget you. But you . . . I want you to see me so you can remember me forever. Because after you pull that trigger, I'll never see you again, but you'll see me every time you close your eyes.” Letting my lids lower into a calm silence, I waited for him finish me off.

The clouds surfed through the mental pictures in my head, filling in with the faces of everyone I used to love, and who used to love me. I felt light, I felt weightless, I felt free.

“Dad, just listen to me!”Dante's voice was demanding, silencing the click of the gun as it forced its way into my quiet space of death. “Tony fucked this up, and we didn't take her just to kill her. You want what's owed to you, do you think Remo will pay if you just kill his woman?”

Hearing him say his name made my heart stop inside my chest. Remowasthe reason I was here.

I fucking knew it!

That fucking asshole!

He had taken enough from me, and now I was about to lose my life because he fucked with the wrong person.

I knew right then that if there was an afterlife . . . I was sure as hell going to haunt that motherfucker for the rest of his days.

“Remo will do what he needs to do, with or without her.” There was no fault in his words, Bane wanted me dead.

“We can still use her, trust me.”

“I've trusted you enough and look what it got us. A fucking woman who needs to be removed. I'm not taking any chances, not with this. MOVE, DANTE.” Bane's voice was just below a full yell. It sounded like he was trying to hold back his rage.

Or maybe he wasn't. Maybe that's what made him who he was. His level voice, his ease to take out anything that got in his way.

My muscles shuddered, heart racing a million miles a minute. The other guys were sick, but this man was the hand that feeds the beasts.

He held my fate.

Cracking my lid open, Dante was standing between his father and me. His arms were up, blocking my view of his dad. I couldn't see Dante's face, but his stance had a protective nature.

Is he trying to save me?

Does he care if I die?

Why would he care, no one seemed to care.

A warm fuzzy rush flooded my veins, stomach bucking in wild knots of fear and comfort.

If Dante hadn't been here, if he had never shown up at all . . .

Where would I be?