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Confused, I glanced over my shoulder. The only thing accompanying me in that room was my paranoia.
You’re losing your mind.
Convinced I was insane, I got back to work, sliding along the cold floor, the cuts on my knees stinging from the dirt.
I stopped moving when I heard the sound again. My vision blurred as I tried to focus, but I finally saw it. I spotted a tiny black circle in the far corner of the room. It looked like a camera lens. It hadn’t even occurred to me that these animals were watching me.
I got up from the floor and moved toward the camera, swaying from side to side. The drugs they’d pumped into mewere still in my system. Staring up at the camera, I raised my middle fingers. Luca wouldn’t back down from them, and neither would I. Whatever it took, I was ready to fight my way out of there.
The camera made a sound like it was zooming in as I stood there, waiting for something to happen. I wasn’t sure what, though. Waves of nausea swept over me as I tried to find my balance.
If I were going to find a way out of this place, I needed my strength. But I doubted these assholes would bother to feed me before they sold me at the auction.
“Luca will kill you,” I yelled at the camera. “When he finds you, you’re all dead.”
I walked away from the camera and back toward the bed. My body was so weak I almost tripped over my feet. It was a struggle to move, let alone walk. I crashed onto the dirty mattress and sighed.
My eyelids were heavy, but I did my best to fight sleep. I needed to be alert if they graced me with their presence. But the drugs were too strong, like I was floating on a cloud. Curled up in a ball, I stared at the wall. I waited in silence for a long while before my eyes closed. It was too much effort to keep them open.
As I drifted to sleep, I heard a sound coming from the opposite end of the room. I rolled onto my side as a door opened inward, revealing a dark hallway.
I used every ounce of energy I had to sit up. Groaning in pain, I held my side, which throbbed. It was hard to figure out where my bruises started and ended. I had too many of them to focus on one source of pain.
A dark-haired man appeared in a suit that clung to his bulky body. With his thick arms and chest, he looked like he could have played football. Someone shut the door behind him, sealing him inside the room with me.
I reached for his gun, but strong arms wrapped around me. Dragging me across the floor by my dirty hair, he tugged so hard it made sex with Luca feel like a love tap.
I kicked and screamed, sinking my nails into his tanned skin. “Get the fuck off me!”
“Shut up, bitch,” he growled.
My knees cut open as he hauled me across the floor.
I swatted at his hand. “Let me go! I can walk on my own.”
He tightened his hold on me and laughed. There was no sense in fighting him. However, it made me feel better, less weak, and more pathetic.
He threw me onto the bed. I crawled to the edge of the mattress, and he captured me by my chin before I could slide off it. Forcing me to look up at him, he flexed his jaw as our eyes met.
Over the years, I’d met a fair share of Luca’s illegitimate business associates. Nothing about him looked familiar. My captor had a scar that ran up the entire left side of his face. Dark hair swept over his forehead and curled at the ends. He had brown eyes that were so dark they looked black. His woodsy cologne burrowed into my nostrils, accompanied by the smell of cigarettes.
He tilted my head up, holding my chin in a vise. “Look at the camera.”
I glanced over his shoulder at the red light flashing. “Why are you doing this?”
He stroked my cheek with his knuckles. I turned away from him and noticed a sleeve of black ink on his forearm. Tons of skulls and what looked like a graveyard covered his olive skin. It was a strange tattoo, one I would remember. I wondered if the police had ever documented a tattoo like his and if it would make it easier for Luca’s connections to find him.
An evil grin crossed his lips. “Alexandrea Wellington. Such a beauty,” he growled, his lips inches from my face. “I can see why Luca kept you to himself.” He took a knife out of his pocket and slid the blade down my arm. “You can thank him for what comes next.”
82
LUCA
The bright lightsin Atlantic City shone from a distance, illuminating the dark sky. I had the perfect view of every casino on the beach from the helicopter, the hotels looming over the Atlantic Ocean like palaces.
On our way to New Jersey, the auction had gone live. The Devil’s Knights from across the country placed blind bids on Alex, another obstacle we had to overcome. They would not announce the auction winner until everyone gathered at theIl Circolocation.
Alex wasn’t the only woman for sale. There were dozens of them on the auction site. They listed her asThe Devil’s Queen, and with thousands of bids on her, I hoped one of us would win.