Page 52 of The Temptation

“Devon!” my mother wails as she runs to his side and kneels beside him.

“He broke my fucking shoulder.”

My mother’s angry eyes snap up to me. “Why did you do that?”

Is she fucking kidding me?

I stand there struggling to breathe air back into my lungs. My whole body is still vibrating with rage. Every single muscle is coiled tight, and I’m seconds from snapping again.

If it were anyone else, he would’ve got a bullet right between the eyes, so he should think himself lucky that tonight he at least gets to walk away.

“If he lays another hand on you,” I seethe, “next time it’ll be his fucking neck.”

“Romeo,” I hear a soft voice say through the haze, as fingers gently wrap around my wrist. “I know I promised I’d stay in the car, but …”

“Fuck, Lucia,” I groan.

I don’t want her in here.

I definitely didn’t want them to see her.

“The neighbour’s light came on and I saw someone looking out the window. What if they call thepolizia(Police)? I don’t want you to get in trouble.”

“Don’t worry about?—”

My words are cut short when my mother screeches, “Oh, my God, it’s her.”

When she leaps to her feet and advances towards us, I instinctively move Lucia behind my back.

“Stay the fuck away from her,” I growl.

Lucia may be protective of me, but I’m just as protective of her, if not more so.

I don’t even think twice about what my mother just said because my initial thought is that she’s referring to the woman in my car the other night, but when her gaze moves back to me and she adds, “You’re fucking married women now?”

My head rears back in confusion. “What?”

She points to the woman I’m shielding behind me. “It’s her, the missing woman.”

I’m still dumbfounded, so I find myself repeating, “What?”

“I have the flyer,” my mother replies, rummaging around in her bag. “The one from that man who’s looking for his wife.”

My heart drops into the pit of my stomach when her words register, and as soon as she pulls a folded piece of paper from her bag, I snatch it out of her hands.

My fingers are slightly trembling as I clumsily unfold it, and my anger returns tenfold when I read what it says.

MISSING

HAVE YOU SEEN MY WIFE?

My wife.

Those words have my blood boiling. She will never be bound to that fucking psychopath. Not as long as I walk this earth.

Below is a photo of Lucia, followed by her name and a detailed description. Height, eye and hair colour, etc. But what’s written down at the bottom of the page in large, bold font concerns me the most.

$10,000 REWARD