Page 60 of Cinder (MC Fables #2)

E lla

The moment I close the door, I know my fate is sealed. And for a split second I remember what it felt like to be warm and safe in Lars’s arms, and my heart is grateful to have known what it was like to be loved, but I know I will never feel it again. Because today I am going to die.

I only pray Lars doesn’t die too.

The door clicks shut and Luca nods to Viktor. A cruel smile slides across his thin lips as he tightens his grip in Lucretia’s hair and starts to drag her away. She cries out and struggles against him.

“No, stop.” I scream. “Don’t touch her. Let her go.”

But he ignores me and yanks her down the hallway, her screams fading as they disappear out of view .

I turn to Luca. “Luca, please stop this. Where is he taking her?”

Luca’s eyes gleam with malice and excitement as he takes two predatory steps toward me. “Wherever he wants to.”

“Please, no,” I cry.

“I promised him virgin pussy. He’s going to get virgin pussy.”

I make a run for it, but Luca grabs me before I can make any distance between us, and throws me against the closed front door, knocking the air from my lungs.

I hear the sound of a car door and an engine starting. Please no. Viktor could be taking her anywhere and I might never find her.

My knees buckle at the thought.

Rage and fear collide inside of me. “You piece of shit. What have you done?”

Luca grabs me by the chin. “When the fuck are you going to learn that I can do whatever the fuck I want? I am the don of the Moretti Mafia.”

I glare at him. Tears stream down my face. But I won’t ever bow down to a coward.

“You’re no don,” I say through the pain and tears as he tightens his grip on my chin. “Our father was a real don. You’re just a weak and pathetic wannabe.”

And with everything I’ve got, I spit in his face.

Rage flares in his eyes, and I see the insanity there. No, he’s not insane. He knows what he is doing. He is evil. A scourge. A fucking demon.

He slams me to the floor, and I see stars and taste blood.

Before I can collect my bearings, he grabs my shirt and drags me along the marble floor.

I want to fight him, but my head is thumping with pain, and my world shifts between light and dark as I fight the unconsciousness.

If I pass out now, he will kill me and Lucretia might be lost forever, so I fight it with everything I’ve got.

Luca drags me to the open cellar door and pushes me down the stairwell.

I’m already floppy and dazed, so I bounce down the stairs, feeling every bump and bruise as it forms on my body.

At the bottom, Luca hauls me to my feet and pushes me ahead of him along a narrow corridor.

This is new. The thought registers through the pain.

The stairwell used to lead straight into the cellar.

Not this darkened corridor lit only by wall sconces.

We stop at a door, and Luca punches a code into the keypad on the wall.

It opens, and he shoves me inside the brick-walled room.

My vision is blurry. But I can make out a bed and a nightstand across the room. Someone is on the bed. But I can’t see who it is.

Luca comes up behind me. “Now who’s weak?”

I know he wants me to see who is on the bed, but my vision is cloudy and all the colors swim before me.

Who’s there ?

I try to speak, but I think I’m concussed, and I can’t form words.

Trying to see clearly, I’m only vaguely aware of a shadowy figure in my peripheral vision. As they come closer, I see it’s Carolina.

But she’s not who was on the bed.

“Who else is in here?” I cry. “Please help me.”

But before my vision rights itself, I feel a sharp sting in my neck, and within seconds my world turns to black.