Page 89 of Dreadful

“It was a flesh wound, Dickie. I’ve always admired you for calling it like it is,” Claudio huffs. “Don’t pretend you ever had the upper hand with one of my men.”

Gertrude clears her throat primly. “Well,Ithink that my Severino’s offer to take us to the theater tonight was a lovely gesture, don’t you, dear? And Judge Blunt, didn’t Severino say that his cousin, Orazio, has offered to give you a luxury shave and a haircut at Luciano’s Cuts? It’s quite an exclusive barbershop. Orazio has to book clients months in advance.”

“The ‘Gangster’s Paradise,’ he called it,” the judge scoffs while I have to stifle my laugh. “What an immature name.”

“Yes, um, I suppose the name could use some improvement,” she murmurs. “Orazio comes from the more…uncouthside of the Luciano name, shall we say. They’re not the brightest bunch, but it’s all in good fun.”

“Hmm, I do have court next week. I might take the boy up on the offer.”

“See, dear?” Trudy smiles brilliantly at Claudio, who doesn’t even care enough about either of them to look up from his phone. “Everyone’s turning over a new leaf.”

“Those boys have always been unpredictable,” Claudio harrumphs. “It’ll take more than a goddamn musical and a haircut to prove their loyalties.”

My brow furrows. The way that the judge and Claudio are talking about him, it doesn’t seem as if they like Severino at all. But if they still hate him, why were they all together tonight?

What is going on?

As much as I’m burning with unanswered questions, the two men have reached the car, and it’s my do-or-die moment. I let go of the van’s side mirror to clutch my knife in my bag and slowly bring it out of its pocket. But my hand stops halfway to hear the judge mumble again.

“Just keep your attack dog away from me, Claudio. I’ll kill the bastard if he tries to threaten me again.”

“You have my word, Dickie. Just do what you’re told, and I’ll keep my dogs in line.”

Claudio still calls his nephew—technically his stepson—his guard dog? They eat Sunday dinner together, go to musicals together, and Sever is just adogto them?

Ugh, forget it. You don’t care, my mind hisses, and I take another step closer.

“To tell you the truth, Dickie, I should’ve put him and the rest of us out of his misery when my brother died. We’d all be better off if that menace was in the ground.”

“Claudio, dear, don’t say—”

“Don’t deny it, Trudy. The boy has been fucked in the head ever since—”

My wrist is suddenly squeezed to the point of pain, forcing me to drop my knife back into my bag. Before I can even register what’s happening, a gloved hand wraps around my mouth and yanks me back against an even harder chest. I quietly try to fight out of the hold so I don’t draw my prey’s attention, but something sharp nicks my neck, and I go completely still to keep it from cutting me.

“Don’t fucking move,vipera.”

I’d assumed the sharp, pointing thing digging into my neck was a blade, but it sinks into my skin with an aching pinch. A gentle rush of fuzzy relaxation flows like a wave through me as Severino depresses the plunger of the needle into my neck.

“You thought you could betray me, you lying snake? Use me as a pawn in whatever little fucked-up game you’re playing with my uncle? If you wanted to play Talia, all you had to do was ask.” He bites the scarred side of my neck, but thanks to the drugs, all I feel is a masochistic throb of anticipation in my core. “We’re about to have some fun,mia bella, vipera.”

The world spins and fades, and I vaguely hear the doors to the van behind me open. I watch helplessly as the two men I hate most in the world drive away. Then the third one gingerly lays me on thick blankets, like I’m precious and fragile. Despite carefully handling me, his sadistic smile is the last thing I see before he slams the van’s door closed and his poison drags me into darkness.

Scene 27

WAKING UPSIDE DOWN

Talia

The cold, damp ground presses against my side, and light shines brightly through my eyelids. Something cozy and soft covers my ankles and silk wraps around my wrists against my chest. Hard links squeeze around my arms, shoulders, chest, waist, and legs. I try to shift, but I’m stuck, and a moan falls from my lips.

A dark, sexy chuckle wafts over my skin, and my core flips.

“Time to wake up,vipera.”

The rich voice makes me smile…until everything splashes back into my memory.

Severino with my arch-nemeses. Me poised to strike. A hard embrace enveloping me. A pinch of darkness sending me to oblivion.