Page 2 of Cinder (MC Fables #2)

E lla

Three months later

I stare out the window and watch the sun sink deeper into the ocean.

It bleeds colors of orange and gold into a spectacular sunset.

But I can’t feel its vast beauty because my mind is caught in a time when life was good.

Back when I was free. When my father was still alive and my ruthless brother wasn’t the don of the Moretti Empire.

But those days are gone.

For the last two days I’ve been locked in my room for talking back to my brother and embarrassing him in front of his men. He says my smart mouth will be my demise, but he’s wrong. My mouth won’t be the cause of my demise. He will be. Luca Moretti. My half-brother. Cold hearted monster.

My gaze drops to the sleek, black Bentley parked in the driveway, one of my father’s, and with deep disgust coursing in my veins I watch my brother climb into it.

I stay perfectly still until it disappears down the driveway and out of view.

Then I move like a bolt of lightning.

I quickly cross my bedroom to the fake panel beside my bed and push on it.

The false door opens, and a cool breeze enters the room from the secret passageway. I don’t waste any time. I step into the dimly lit corridor and pull the door closed behind me before hurriedly making my way down a small flight of stairs and along a tight passage.

When I reach another secret door, I nudge it with my shoulder and my sister’s room opens up before me.

Lucretia is at her dressing table with one of her many journals in front of her. Her back is to me, but she feels the brush of cool air from the secret door and turns, a big smile spreading across her lovely face.

She runs to me and hugs me tight. “I didn’t know if you would come. I heard him yelling. I didn’t know what to do.”

“You don’t do anything, okay? Until I say otherwise, you just keep doing everything as usual. No matter what you hear.” I hold her at arm’s length so I can see if she understands. “Tell me you understand. ”

She nods. “He’s so mean. He’s not a very good person. When can we leave?”

“I’m working on a plan. But you can’t say anything.”

“I won’t. I don’t talk to anyone anyway.”

My gaze drifts to her books. “And don’t write anything down. Only your stories. Don’t mention my visits or about me trying to figure out a way for us to escape.”

She raises an eyebrow at me. “I’m not an idiot.”

I smile and run a gentle hand down her arm. “No, you’re not.”

When Lucretia was fifteen, she and our mom were running errands together in town when a stranger approached them on the sidewalk. When the stranger got close enough, he shot my mother five times in the chest.

Still clutching my sister’s hand, she fell to the sidewalk and died.

Lucretia hasn’t been the same since. Almost two years later, she’s locked in her own world. A place of fairytales and make believe, where the darkness of reality can’t touch her.

My mom’s death was a warning to my father. We can get to your loved ones anytime we like.

In response, he waged a bloody war against those responsible and he didn’t stop until they were defeated.

Every last one of them.

But that’s the thing about being the head of one of the biggest crime syndicates in the country. You knock down one enemy and a new one appears in its place.

It’s what made him overprotective and why he raised his daughters with so much security it was stifling. Bodyguards. Armored cars. Home schooling. Secret boarding schools.

“What are we reading tonight?” I ask Lucretia brightly.

When Luca leaves the house every evening and I see him disappear down the driveway in our father’s car, I escape through the secret passageway to visit my sister just so I can read to her. Because it helps to calm her anxiety and keep the nightmares at bay.

To be honest, it’s calming for the both of us.

It reminds me of the days long ago when my mom would read to me.

How she would tuck me into bed, and I would fall asleep listening to her beautiful voice.

It’s what I miss about her the most. Her voice.

And how every word she spoke was spoken with love.

She loved books so much, she became a rare book collector and encouraged both her daughters to read.

“What are you in the mood for?” I ask, holding up her two favorite Harry Potter books. “ The Sorcerer’s Stone or The Chamber of Secrets .”

Lucretia thinks for a moment. “ The Sorcerer’s Stone .”

I give her a bright smile. “Good choice.”

But the sound of car tires in the driveway draws my attention toward the window.

I cross the room quickly to see what’s happening outside .

Luca .

And he’s back early.

Oh hell.

With alarm pounding in my heart, I watch as he brings the Bentley to an abrupt halt and flies out of the car at a rapid pace.

If he finds out I’ve been sneaking out, he’ll let his cruelty out to play when he punishes both Lucretia and me.

I hurriedly turn to Lucretia. “I have to go. Make sure this door is sealed after I’ve gone.”

“Ella, why is he back?”

“I don’t know.”

“I’m scared. Is he going to start yelling at you again?”

I give her a reassuring smile. Despite the fear building in my stomach. “He probably just forgot something. Why don’t you write one of your stories until I get back.”

Her face brightens. “Okay.”

I give her a quick kiss before disappearing through the hidden door and back along the corridor to my room, wondering why Luca is back so soon. My brother is a creature of habit. He leaves the house every evening at the same time.

Something made Luca break his routine.

My gut tells me that something has everything to do with me .

I close the door to the secret passageway and lean against it, forcing myself to control my breathing. But my heart is pounding so hard, it’s a struggle to catch my breath.

Does he know I’ve been sneaking out to see Lucretia?

No, he couldn’t know about the hidden corridors.

My father kept them a closely guarded secret.

He had them constructed so he could get his family to safety if a threat came from inside the house. And my father never told him about them because he didn’t trust him.

Thank God .

Now they are the only reprieve I get when he locks me in my room for whatever reason he can conjure up.

If he doesn’t know about my visits to Lucretia, then what caused him to turn around and skid to a stop outside the house?

I hear footsteps outside my bedroom door, and I know it’s him.

Quickly crossing the room to resume my place at the window, I bite back my fear and straighten my spine, because when Luca visits, I never know what he is going to do.

Or how much it is going to hurt.

The door opens and my half-brother steps inside my bedroom, bringing with him the same energy as an approaching shark attack .

Just the sight of him fills me with dread and fear and the deepest hate I have ever known.

Dressed in a black silk suit and a white shirt, his dark hair is slicked back off a handsome face that is reminiscent of our late father.

But that’s as far as the comparison goes.

My father was a powerful man with a temper, but he only had a gentle touch for his children.

My brother doesn’t know such gentleness. Only brutality.

“I take it you have learned your lesson?” he says, pulling at the cuffs of his sleeves.

“You’ve locked me in this room for two days and for what? I did nothing wrong.”

His black gaze sears into mine. “You questioned me in front of my men. You need to learn to keep your mouth shut and to do as I say, or there will be consequences. Perhaps another two days is required.”

Since Luca took over our father’s empire, and without the protection of Santo and my father’s attorney who died recently in a car accident with another one of my father’s trusted men, I am easy pickings for Luca.

He crosses the room to where I am standing by the window, and I turn away from him to focus on the view.

Most days I can hide my true feelings behind a carefully secured mask of acquiescence. But after two days of being locked in this room, I can’t look at him without wanting to claw his eyes out, and I won’t be able to hide it. My disdain for him is so wild I can taste it on my lips.

“Have you forgotten we are at war?” he asks .

Sometimes I think it’s all in his head. But I get locked in my room so often, it’s hard to piece together what is happening anymore.

“What do you want, Luca?” I ask, returning my focus to the dying sunset and wishing it would take me with it below the horizon’s waters.

Anything would be better than living like this.

“It’s time for you to serve this family. It’s time for you to step into your birthright.”

His words make me nervous. “What are you talking about?”

“You need to contribute to the longevity of the Moretti name.”

When I turn to look at him, I see the gleeful twinkle in his eyes, and it makes me even more uneasy.

Because my brother likes to play games.

Cruel, torturous games.

He gets off on the evil he inflects on others.

When Luca’s eyes gleam you know he’s getting off on something.

And right now, his eyes are gleaming.

I swallow thickly, wondering what nightmare he has planned for me. “Which means?”

He smiles and it is cold. “It is time for you to get married.”

My eyes widen. “Married? ”

Hearing the derision in my tone, his expression darkens and any minute I expect to feel the sting of his palm on my cheek. Thankfully it doesn’t come.

Because he’s enjoying torturing me in other ways.

“We need to strengthen our family alliances. Through various channels, I put out that the virgin Moretti bride is available for marriage.”

Fear tightens in my chest, squeezing my heart tight and catching the breath in my lungs. Various channels means the dark corners of the underworld where my brother has ruled since our father’s death.

He steps closer, and I’m engulfed in a cloud of his expensive Italian cologne.

“Imagine my surprise when it quickly created a bidding war of offers.” He reaches for a lock of my hair and slowly winds it around his finger. “You’re my most valuable asset, sweet sister. You are going to make me a very rich man.”

“You are already rich. Our father ensured that.”

Luca glares at me. He doesn’t like any reminders that he is only the most powerful man in town because our father built the empire he now rules.

He comes closer and leans in, his breath grazing my cheek as he says, “And you are going to make me even richer when you marry one of these men.” He slides his hand down my body and cups me between my legs.

I stiffen, revulsion rising in my belly.

“This virgin pussy is going to make me a king. You see, I don’t want just the kingdom.

I want the entire fucking world.” He cups me harder and squeezes, making me wince.

It’s not the first time my brother has put his hands on me.

He likes to show me who’s boss, and it’s usually his hands that do the talking.

Especially around my throat. “And you’re going to make sure I get it. ”

He releases me, and I step back, desperate to put some space between us. My nerves rattle.

“Luca please?—”

He sighs. “Of course, if you refuse, there is always Lucretia.”

A gasp hitches in my throat. Our sister is only sixteen years old. Fear grips at my heart when I think of her being forced into marriage at such a young age.

Surely Luca wouldn’t sell her off when she is so young and innocent.

I look at my brother.

Of course he would.

“She’s just a child,” I say.

“She will be seventeen next week.”

The way he says it ignites the protective part of me that would do anything to keep her safe.

“You stay away from her, or?—”

“Or what?” He grabs my jaw and forces me back into the wall.

“You listen to me, and you listen to me good. I am the boss of this family now and what I say is the law. You get in my way and I will destroy you. If your sweet virgin cunt can’t grant me the deals I want, then I’ll make sure all of my men visit you, one after the other, to fuck the disobedience out of you, over and over until you can’t walk or talk or fucking breathe.

And then I’ll send them to Lucretia’s room to do the exact same thing. Do you understand me?”

His hand slides from my jaw to my throat and he squeezes.

I can’t breathe.

I start to see stars, and my hammering heart pounds in my ears. But I know he’s not going to kill me. I’m worth too much to him alive.

Just like I know I will be punished if I don’t do as he says.

And so will Lucretia.

Feeling my lips going numb and the pressure build inside my skull, I try to slap his hand away but he doesn’t release the pressure. In fact, he tightens his fingers as his lips curl into a snarl, and I see the flash of his perfectly white teeth.

“Am I going to have any more trouble with you?”

I hear the menace in his voice. See the depths of depravity in his dead eyes.

Somehow, I manage to shake my head, and he releases his grip on me, and I drop to the floor, clutching my throat and sucking in deep, heavy breaths of air.

“Now pull yourself together and get dressed.” He walks toward the door. “It’s time to find out who your new husband is going to be.”