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Cal wiped her blood off his blade and used her ripped shirt as a towel. “Luca Salvatore and his Knights took what I loved most, and since his mother is no longer with us, you will take her place.”
Alex’s face dropped. “No, you’re wrong. I’m not what Luca loves most. If you want to hurt him, take his company, his money. Not me. I’m no one to him.”
His mouth twisted into a snarl. “My research says otherwise.”
“Killing me won’t hurt Luca,” she shot back. “Whatever beef you have with him has nothing to do with me.”
Alex’s once-pale skin was black and blue. Every inch of her arms and legs had cuts, welts, or bruises.
Cal looked at the camera and smiled. Then, he slapped Alex across the face. My stomach clenched as she fell backward onto the mattress, her head rolling to the side.
I gritted my teeth so hard my jaw hurt. “Alex is right about one thing. I’m going to kill him and every member of his family. And that asshole will watch every second.”
“I have good news.” Drake cupped my shoulder with his hand. “I tracked the video feed. And I have a location.”
Cal looked into the camera one last time. “She’s dead, Salvatore, and you can do nothing about it. I want you to remember what you took from me when I send her back to you in pieces.”
The feed cut to black.
“Motherfucker,” I yelled.
Cal Kurti and his men would pay for what they had done to her. I would slowly dismantle their operation and send Cal’s head back to his father in a fucking box.
Drake shoved the iPad at me and pointed at the green dot on the grid. “They’re at The Red Lounge. Looks like a basement.”
I leaned forward to get a better look at the floor plans on Drake’s tablet. “We can get in through the window at the left rear.” He pointed at the exact spot. “That will give us the element of surprise.”
A new message popped up on the screen.
Drake flipped to another feed from the strip club. “Oh, wait. They’re on the move again. This is it. Our chance to grab her on their way to the auction.”
“Send that to Marcello,” I instructed. “The DeLucas can intercept them.”
The DeLucas owned The Flamingo, a strip club down the street from The Red Lounge.
Drake’s fingers raced across the keypad. He sent the information to Marcello’s cell phone.
“Let’s go,” I told the driver. “The Red Lounge. Now!”
83
ALEX
What I’d assumed wasanother day had passed in that room. Honestly, I wasn’t sure how long I’d been there. My curls were crusty and sweat-matted to my sticky skin. I was in excruciating pain that made my entire body feel like flames were coursing through my veins.
After the man filmed my brutal attack for Luca to watch, he left me in this dark room to rot. He didn’t bother to give me anything for my cuts and bruises. I hadn’t even eaten since the night they kidnapped me. I smelled of vomit from when I woke up from one of my many naps and puked on my shirt. Without food, my insides felt like they were ripping apart.
The man who had visited me on my first day in the room had cut me so many times that my body was numb. I assumed I was in shock, and my mind couldn’t process what had happened to me. I’d survived enough trauma in my short lifetime to learn techniques to block out the noise. For what felt like hours, he’d taken turns mutilating my skin and beating me until I passed out.
I awoke on the mattress, bloody and bruised, and with no lights this time. A long metal chain bound my right wrist to the floor. This was all part of their sick game. Whatever they wantedfrom Luca, he would have given them. So why were they doing this to me? What the hell had I ever done to deserve this shit?
My eyes had grown accustomed to the darkness. There wasn’t much for me to see other than the red light flashing from the corner of the room, taunting me. The tiny dot reminded me that they were filming me, watching me like an animal in a cage. I wanted revenge so badly I could taste it. But with my wrist shackled to the floor, my chance of escape seemed impossible as each minute passed.
Startled by a rumbling at the door, I sat up in bed, the loud noises sending my body into overdrive. Something heavy thumped, hitting the floor, followed by another. I blinked a few times to refocus my gaze. It was too dark to make out anything other than two shapes approaching me in dark clothing.
My heart pounded in my ears, each beat so loud I couldn’t hear anything else. I shook the cuff on my wrist, though it was useless. The men whispered to each other, their voices too low to make out any of the words. However, the ringing in my ears made it hard to hear anything else.
I tried to scream, but nothing came out. My throat was dry and so damn raw it hurt to move my chapped lips. I’d once read in a survival magazine that a person could live for up to twenty-one days without water.