Page 46

HADLEY

I’m not sure which of us is more insane, as Massimo cuts Jimmy’s skin for the umpteenth time. He’s the one with the knife in his hand, but I watch like it’s a riveting movie, unable to look away, afraid I’ll miss some important part of the plot.

Massimo slices.

Jimmy screams.

I used to be a good person, and something like this would’ve made me sick to my stomach. Something broke inside me out there in the woods. It wasn’t the bear traps, it was something deeper. I’ve had so much taken from me. My father, mother, my son, then Massimo. The loss gets to a point where it’s too much to handle. The way Jimmy and Carlo thought they could do what they wanted to me, with no consequence. Maybe Massimo too, although I’ll admit it’s different with him. He has hurt me, but I know deep in my soul, he’d never beat me. Even the first night, when he caught me at the warehouse, and said he’d kill me, I know, he never would’ve done to me what they did. Is he a good guy? Hell no. He did things to me he had no right to do, and he may not know it right now, but he’ll pay for those choices. In the last few hours, he has taught me that I like dishing out what I have been given.

A smile crosses my lips, as a decision is made. Massimo catches the look on my face, and drags his non bloody hand down his face.

“You look like you’re planning to take over the world, little lamb.”

“Something like that,” I respond, refusing to give him more.

Setting his knife on a small table in the corner of the room, he comes back to me and squats down.

“Tell me your thoughts.”

I shake my head and say, “It’s something I know, and something you’ll find out.”

Arching an eyebrow, he grins at me, something equally curious, and slightly afraid, in his eyes.

“If you’re planning to stab me, I welcome it, and it’s deserved. I won’t try to stop you.”

He clears his throat, like he’s pushing away emotions. Massimo likes to make people believe he doesn’t feel a damn thing, but I know otherwise. He can keep that secret from the rest of the world, but not from me.

“Ready to roast his dick?”

I go to stand, and he barks, “Sit the fuck down.”

He isn’t the guy that will ever buy me flowers, and tell me how much I mean to him, but it’s there in moments like this. Massimo doesn’t want me to get hurt, and that’s how he shows that I mean at least something to him.

“Let me stand, I need to do this. You can stay close by, but I need to be on my feet.”

The reluctance in his expression is clear as day, as he drags a hand down his face, before finally relenting. He nods and helps me out of the chair.

“Hey, Bones. I need one of those bbq lighters, and gasoline, or something flammable.”

He grumbles something about taking orders instead of giving orders, which leads to his brothers rolling their eyes, as he leaves the room. Jimmy lays there sobbing. I don’t know why he’s so worried about it, obviously at this point he knows he’s gonna die. You don’t take your cock with you, so I am not sure why it matters. Then again, men are so attached to them, it’s the worst-case scenario, I think, for any man.

Bones returns a few minutes later with Max, a BBQ lighter, and a can of gas in his hands, and a fire extinguisher. For the first time, he addresses me instead of his brother.

“Be careful, Hadley.”

Again, emotion swirls in my chest at the use of my actual name, as I stare at the man that I haven’t seen in so long. Memories assault me as he hands me the lighter.

Luca looks ridiculous, staring down at me with toilet paper hanging from his bloody nose, compliments of his brother, Massimo. I don’t feel bad, because he cut my hair off. He deserved worse than he got.

“I’m sorry for cutting your hair.”

I place my hands on my hips and glare at him.

“You should be, you big jerk! You’re a bully, Luca, and nobody likes a bully.”

It’s not lost on me that his older brother bullies me all the time, and I have no idea why that’s different. I scold myself inwardly. I know exactly why. Any attention I get from Massimo, I’ll take, even if it’s negative, but Luca is not him.

“Hadley?” he asks, snapping me out of my memory.

I glance up at him, and wonder if reading people’s minds is a Bonetti family trait, when he smiles at me and says, “Your hair grew back nicely.”

Massimo chuckles as he pours gas all over Jimmy’s dick, and I’m afraid we may be running for our lives. I learned, when I set my bed on fire, it tends to spread quickly.

After setting the gas can down, he comes back to me with a delicious smirk on his lips. “Careful, little pyro.”

As I get the lighter ready, Massimo barks out, “Jimmy, wake up, man. You don’t want to miss this.”

His chuckle is sadistic, but it doesn’t bother me, because I instantly decide it’s well deserved.

Massimo wraps his arm around my waist, reaching behind him with his free hand to grab the IV pole, moving it closer, so it doesn’t pull on my arm.

Jimmy glances at me, sees the lighter, and freaks the fuck out, screaming and trying like hell to move his legs.

“Not gonna work, man,” Massimo says with a dark chuckle, as I light the flame and start at Jimmy’s hairy balls. I know he likes the knife, but this is worse for this scumbag. He didn’t react like this with the cutting. It makes me happy that I get to be the one causing this level of terror and pain.

“I’m sorry,” he sobs, loud enough that Max and his team come in.

Mia comes for a closer look and giggles.

“Don’t worry, Jimmy. A dick that small can’t take long to burn.”

Once flames surround his pathetic member, and the smell of burned flesh fills my nose, I decide I’ve had enough. Burning humans do not smell good. Taking the lighter away from him, I turn to Massimo, and shake my head.

“Can we cut it now? That smells really gross.”

Bones comes up, puts the fire out with an extinguisher, and flashes me a look of disgust.

“Fucking psycho, indeed.”

Massimo hands me his knife and chuckles loudly. “This might cut easier than you think, I don’t know. I’ve never used it to cut cooked meat.”

I gape at him in utter shock.

“You’ve never done this?”

He stares at me like he’s lost for a moment, before clearing his throat, something like pride shining in his eyes.

“Never, baby. This is the first for me.”

Mia says, “There’s no bone in the penis, so it’ll probably cut like butter.”

I place the knife at the base of his dick, which looks kind of like a burnt vienna sausage, and he screams.

“Please, I’m sorry. Please. I told you everything. Don’t do this to me.”

Massimo whispers in my ear, as he notices what likely looks like hesitation, but it isn’t. I was remembering saying those exact words to him, yet he didn’t stop.