Page 28

28

ELLIE

“Ellie, what the fuck happened to your face?”

They’re not the first words I’m expecting to hear from Sean as I lean over him, checking the crusty edges of the brand burned into his skin.

I don’t blame him, though.

The bruise on my cheek is likely a deep shade of red now, slowly tinging with purple and black.

It’s going to be a long time before I got out in public without any makeup on.

Sean takes my hand before I can take his pulse, bringing my fingertips to his lips and kissing them in a gesture that’s far more tender than he’s prone to. “Ellie, what happened? I remember the brand, but that’s it.”

“You passed out,” I say, the words coming out strangled as I kneel beside him, shaking my fingers out of his grip to check his pulse.

“Okay, that explains the pounding headache I currently have, but it doesn’t tell me what happened to your face.” Sean shifts away from me. “Stop trying to baby me and tell me who the fuck did that to you.”

“Your father.”

Sean’s eyebrows climb high up his forehead, his mouth falling open. He struggles to stand, his entire body vibrating with the adrenaline still coursing through his veins. “I’m going to kill him.”

I settle a hand on his shoulder, guiding him over to one of the chairs. “You need to sit down and take a minute to breathe. You just had your arm burned.”

He looks down at the puckered pink lines marring his skin. “Did an alright job.”

“Be sure to leave me a review at the clinic,” I say, my tone flat as I look at him. “I’m serious, Sean. I don’t know how much blood you lost and between you and Aiden, who looks like he’s knocking on death’s door, I have more than enough to worry about.”

He glances over at Aiden, eyes narrowing and mouth pinching tight, a red tinge rising high in his cheeks. “Do you think he’s going to make it?”

“Not if we don’t get out of here.” I give a small smile to the guard by the door and he gives a slight incline of his head before returning to the stoic expression he’s been wearing since we were locked in here.

There might be some getting to him.

I crouch down in front of Sean, looking at the other bruises that line his face and arms. “You’re hurt.”

“Nothing that my father hasn’t done to me a thousand times over.” He gives me a wry smile, but I can still see the anger burning in his eyes. “I’m going to kill him. I was serious about that. I don’t care how hurt I am.”

“You’re not going to do anything when you’re as beat up and bruised as you are.” I stand up and look around the room, searching for something I could use to knock the guard out.

Unless I can rip out the sink or one of the cabinets, everything is gone from when Noah and his men removed it earlier.

There’s no way to attack him either. He would see me coming.

Sean taps my thigh. “Offer him whatever the hell it takes to get out of here. Aiden or I will pay it.”

I lean closer to him, pretending to take a better look at one of the cuts on his cheek. “I doubt that’s going to help anything. I’m sure Noah pays his men well.”

“Yeah, but I can pay them better. As soon as Dad dies, I’m the head of the Andino family.”

Swallowing hard, I nod.

The last thing I want is to put Sean in a position where he’s going to have to kill his own father, but it looks like there’s no way to avoid that now.

Sean’s eyes narrow, dragging up and down my body. “How are you really doing, El? You’ve taken more than your fair share of hits today and you had that damn mark on your back carved open again.”

“The pain’s manageable.” I shrug, though that only makes the carving on my back ache more. “It’s not great, but I’ve got other things to focus on right now.”

“You could spend a couple minutes to focus on yourself. You’ve got several cuts that are still bleeding.”

I turn my arms over, looking at the small scrapes that have opened themselves back up in the process of caring for Sean and Aiden. “It’s fine. Now, you’re going to be quiet, and I’m going to go talk to the guard.”

“If he does anything to you?—”

“I know, you’ll kill him.” I smile and press a kiss to the corner of his mouth, and though it feels different to be casually affectionate with him, there’s a large part of me that likes it.

Takes a psychopath to make me realize that my husband is a man I really like spending time with.

I plaster on a bright smile—which probably looks a little crazed to the guard. “Hey, I’m Ellie, but you probably know that. I figure if the four of us are going to be trapped together, we should probably know your name instead of calling you that guy over there .”

The corner of his mouth twitches, his eyes crinkling. “Oscar.”

“Well, Oscar, it’s nice to meet you.” I hold out my hand, smile widening when he doesn’t shake it. “Not a man who likes to make friends?”

“Noah would be upset if he knew I was talking to you,” Oscar says through pursed lips, barely moving them with each word.

“I’m sure he would be.” I lean against the wall beside him, careful not to press my carved-up shoulder against the plastic sheets covering them. “Do you like working for him?”

“It’s alright.”

The tone he uses suggests that working for Noah is anything but alright, which doesn’t surprise me at all.

There are men like Sean, who have men under their control but don’t abuse it, and then there are men like Noah who know nothing but abuse.

I jerk my chin in Sean’s direction. “You know, there are other ways to live. My husband believes in his employees. They work for him in several senses of the word, and they’re paid a lot for it.”

Oscar glances at me from the corner of his eye. ‘What about benefits? My little girl is sick.”

I might have a chance at getting him on our side.

“You’d be employed at one of the legitimate businesses and benefits would be instated right away. Full benefits, including an extensive healthcare plan.”

“What do you want?”

“All I want you to do is tell Royce Lynde where we are.”

“That’s it?”

“That’s it.” I smile and push off the wall, stepping away from him and heading back over to Aiden as he groans and shifts, his face contorting into a mask of pain. “You get the message to Royce, and you’ll work for either my husband or my brother. Full benefits. A legitimate job. Paid under the table for another. Extensive healthcare for your daughter.”

The door swings open just as I kneel back down beside Aiden.

I glance at Oscar, but he freezes as Noah comes through the door and looks down at me. His eyebrows are pulled close together and with his mouth set in the thin line, I’m sure that he’s somehow found out that I was trying to bribe his guard.

Noah strides over to me, stopping less than a couple feet away. “What the hell were you just talking to him about?”

“I was telling him that if you don’t give me something to help my brother soon, I’m going to gouge out your eyes,” I say, tone sweet even though I know it’s stupid to provoke him.

However, if I sit here and provoke him, he’s going to stop thinking about what me and Oscar were talking about.

All I need is his anger directed at me.

Noah spins and turns to Oscar. “Go get Jace. It’s time to move the bitch to her new home.”

My heart comes to a screeching halt. “You can’t take me away from them. Aiden could die without me to keep him stable.”

He chuckles, making every hair on my body stand at attention. “I can do whatever I want, Ellie. You should know that by now.”

Jace comes into the cell with rope and a gag hanging from his hand. “You can either make this easy and I won’t knock you out to tie you up, or you can make it difficult.”

I stand stiff as a board, not bothering to answer him. Jace makes quick work of tying my hands behind my back and stuffing the rag into my mouth.

His hand clamps around my bicep, fingers digging into my flesh as he guides me out of the room and back down the hall where the cells are. Noah follows behind us, humming to himself as if this is nothing more than a leisurely stroll.

Noah steps in front of us and holds open the door to one of the cells.

I’m shoved inside and the gag is ripped from my mouth.

Noah follows me into the cell and unties the ropes binding my hands together. “If you want to kill me, this is the only chance you’re going to get.”

He says it with a smugness that has me wishing I had something to kill him with.

If I wasn’t exhausted and in pain, I might be able to attack him, but there’s no way I would be able to kill him before Jace pulled me away.

Noah smirks, tossing the rope over his shoulder. “That’s what I thought.”

“I’m going to kill you one day,” I say, though the words have no power.

Right now, with the state I’m in, I wouldn’t be intimidated by me either.

He leans against the wall, looking at me in a way that makes me feel like prey. I don’t like the way his gaze rakes up and down my body or the way he gives a little approving nod.

“When I targeted you, I was told that you were the difficult sister. The one who didn’t want to be in the mafia and was doing everything she could to fight it, but look at you now. You flourish in it.”

“I don’t know what the hell you think you want from me, but this is enough.”

“I’ll be the one who tells you when it’s enough.” He strides toward me, hooking a finger under my chin and tilting my head back. “You are pretty. I could use a woman like you. If you’re willing to be a good girl, you could spend the rest of your life as my little pet.”

The urge to gag surges through my body. “I’d rather die than be anything to you.”

His smile stretches, eyes shining with amusement as his finger drops from beneath my chin. “That can be arranged.”

I stay still, even though I want to hit him. I want to scream and claw at him, using whatever strength and energy I have left to kill him for what he’s done to my family.

What he’s going to continue doing to my family.

Noah sighs and shakes his head. “You know, I was hoping for more from you, but since you don’t want to cooperate, I’m going to be the bigger person. Show you some kindness that you don’t deserve.”

He’s a cobra ready to strike. I can see it in his eyes.

The man in front of me is the kind who enjoys toying with people’s heads, making them think they’re safe one moment and then sinking his fangs into them the next.

I eye him, knowing that this is too good to be true. “What kindness?”

“You’re going to make a decision.” He tucks his hands into his pockets, looking casual even though this conversation is anything but. “You can either save Aiden or Sean, but you can’t save them both.”

My heart plummets to my feet, the earth slipping out from beneath me.

His words echo over and over again in my head, but they still don’t make sense, no matter how many times I replay them.

I glare at him, trying to hold back the emotions that threaten to overwhelm me. “I’m not going to choose between my brother and my husband.”

“You have the next twenty-four hours to decide, or I slaughter both of them and the rest of your siblings in front of you.”