Page 25

“ A t this point, I’m willing to concede the bet if at least we get saved.” I’m fucking tired, and my missing finger hurts like hell. At least they patched me up, but fuck if I don’t miss Sarah.

“I’m more worried about what’s happening if they haven’t found us yet,” Cristian says grimly, and we both share a grimace. Both of us have had the pleasure of news articles being thrown at us.

The door bangs open and I roll my eyes at the men who come in, masked as always, with guns trained on Cristian and me. Even with the guns, they keep back. Fuckers know better than to get too close to me. I’m certain Cristian can hold his own as well.

Whistling precedes the fucker who kidnapped us. I’d rather have Cristian’s fucking Christmas music over this guy’s fucked up choices, like “Don’t Worry Be Happy”.

He pushes a damn cart in front of him as he enters. It doesn’t escape me that there’s two fucking dog bowls on top, but my stomach drops when I spy a newspaper. I’m ready to buy every fucking newspaper out there and burn them down.

Cristian and I exchange a quick glance, wondering whose turn it is to face whatever shitstorm this asshole has created. The fucker must have wanted to be an actor because he grabs the article, clears his throat, and with a bright smile, tosses it right to me, relishing his fucking dramatics.

I let it fall to the ground, refusing to even look at it. Fuck. That. Shit. I have no desire to let this asshole see any of my reactions—at least, live in-person. I’m aware of that damn camera regularly.

“Pick it up.” The man’s voice is soft but steely. At my silent refusal, he shakes his head. “If you don’t, I’ll put a bullet in Cristian, and leave you here without any food.”

Considering he brought us dog dishes, I’m not too concerned about skipping a meal. However, if I let Cristian die, his Family would probably be pissed. And since his son is my Emilio’s friend, I can’t hurt my Caro.

Biting back a retort, I bend down and pick up the article. Scanning it, I struggle to keep my face blank. Fucking pigs went through my house? There will be repercussions for this. The more I read, the harder it is to keep silent. The whorehouse raid isn’t as shocking, although we should have been covered there. I wonder what the fucking governor is thinking right now. He’d better start bringing these LEOs in line if he doesn’t want his own enjoyment to be made public.

When I get to the end, I can’t quite hide my expression, and I know our captor picks up on it. His evil laughter makes me want to ball this paper up and shove it down his throat until he chokes on it. That doesn’t even make the top ten on my list of payback scenarios, which he’ll learn. For now, he can enjoy believing he’s in charge.

“It seems you have been busy. I have no doubt in my Family. Perhaps you’re not familiar with such a concept…” I eye him up and down, not disguising my sneer. He flushes crimson, and for a moment, I think he’s going to grab a gun himself, but as always, he’s nothing except hot air.

“Here. Enjoy your food.” He picks up two dog bowls and slides them toward us. “I’m sure you’ll enjoy dog food—it’s fitting. You both believe you’re alphas, and yet you’re not. Oh, and Cristian? Don’t worry. You’ll be getting news soon.”

Whirling around, he stalks out of the room and the masked men follow, with one of them grabbing the cart our captor left in his hissy fit. I slide onto the floor when they've left, stretching my legs out in front of me as I tilt my head back against the wall.

“Fucker needs to die.” I sigh, staring at the dog food. “I can’t wait to get home and have my chef provide a hot, quality meal. Of course, that’s if my Caro hasn’t killed him.”

Snorting, Cristian says, “I really need that story at some point. Roman constantly tells me Lio makes comments.”

“They just don’t mesh.” Shrugging my shoulders, I keep it short. It’s too much right now. I’m worried about my Boys. I do trust them to take care of things, but fuck, I need to be home.

Cristian taps his foot against the floor as he moves to sit down as well. Dropping his voice to a whisper, he asks, “What did it say?”

It’s happened enough times now that we don’t even have to fucking specify. “Cops raided my fucking house. And the whorehouse. They picked up Antonio, although they didn’t keep him. And it said someone was shot. Of fucking course the writer didn’t specify who.”

“This is bullshit.” His voice stays quiet, aware that our captor likes to listen in and share his opinions. “They’re keeping our men too busy to find us.”

Grunting, I agree as I run my fingers through my hair, not willing to admit how fucked we may be if that’s the case. “As long as your Family and mine are playing nice together, they’ll work it out.”

We both grimace at that. Our alliance was still in progress when this all went down. “Tennant…”

“Yeah, well, Emilio…”

“As long as they don’t kill each other, it’ll be fine.” Cristian doesn’t seem convinced, and neither am I. He laughs softly and I gesture for him to enlighten me, because fuck, none of this is funny. “I was thinking more about how your Boys are probably holding orgies, and being thankful my family is all paired off. Fuck knows we’d be screwed if they started having relationships between each other.”

“Christ. Thank fuck that’s not a possibility. I’m not sure what would have scared me more, them killing each other or fucking each other. Either way, it wouldn’t end well.”

“All we can do is wait. They’ll figure this out.” Cristian’s voice doesn’t waver, and I’m bolstered by it, because he’s fucking right.

“And I’m going to have fucking words with them about how long it took.” This time we both laugh. They will find us, and when we’re back? We’ll help raze this fucking place.