Page 142 of Thorns of Death

Without thinking, I turned around and bolted. It was too late. A hand grabbed my arm and I jutted my elbow into his ribs. He didn’t even move. So I kicked him. He grunted and I stumbled back, desperate to escape, to protect the boys.

Donatella appeared behind him, her unhinged eyes meeting mine. My breaths became erratic. My heart pounded painfully. Oxygen left my lungs.

“Hello, whore. Have you met my cousin Giulio?” She threw her head back and laughed at my surprise. “Don’t worry, you won’t be the only one surprised.”

Without another thought, I dashed toward the safe room. It was too late, though, and I knew it. I could feel it in the ice that traveled through my veins and bit at my heart.

My muscles burned. I wasn’t a runner. In fact, I hated any kind of physical exercise, aside from sex. I heard thumps behind me and in front of me, closing in. Amadeo’s and Enzo’s dark heads appeared in front of me.

Amadeo glanced over his shoulder. “Don’t look back. Just run.”

My lungs burned. They made headway, getting farther and farther away from me. Enzo slapped his hand on the keypad and the door swung open.

Before I could make it even three steps, I was slammed forward. Acting on instinct, I kicked and jabbed my elbow into the heavy body behind me. Fingers gripped my hair and slammed my head against the floor. A ringing echoed in my ears.

I ignored it as my stomach roiled. A metallic taste filled my mouth.

“Shut the door!” I screamed at the top of my lungs. I thrashed and kicked, fighting him with every ounce of strength I had.

Enzo didn’t move. Amadeo didn’t either. Both of them held their breaths, waiting.

“No, you can make it,” Enzo shouted.

He was wrong. Feeling Giulio’s breath at the nape of my neck, I threw my head back. I saw stars.

“Shut the fucking door, Enzo. Now!” The word was barely out of my mouth when a big, rough hand yanked me up by my hair and pulled me farther away from them. My scalp burned, pain shot through every inch of me, and tears gathered in my eyes. Donatella sidestepped me, making her way to the boys. “Please, Enzo. Shut the door.”

It was Amadeo who finally slammed the button and the door slid shut before Donatella could get to them.

I kept struggling against Giulio, but it was no use. He pulled my arms behind my back and secured them with a zip tie before throwing me over his shoulder.

FORTY-NINE

ENRICO

Iknew something was wrong the moment I saw Manuel’s face. We’d been in this damn warehouse for hours, torturing the last man standing that supposedly worked for Sofia Volkov. If he did, he didn’t know crap.

“Kingston found the mole,” he said. My gut cramped. A bad feeling filled me.

“Who?”

A heartbeat passed. “Giulio. He’s Donatella’s fucking cousin.”

A red mist coated my brain. Fear unlike any I had felt before shot through my veins.

“Isla,” I choked out. “The boys.”

A phone rang at that moment. It wasn’t mine. I had left mine in the car. It was Manuel’s. He glanced at it and stiffened.

“Sì?” he answered. Silence followed. “Stai bene?Tuo fratello?”

He hung up. “The castello was attacked. She’s gone.”

Every muscle in me tightened. Raw rage shot through me, tearing me apart from the inside. It was how it must have felt to have a knife shoved inside you. Two simple words “She’s gone,” and they destroyed me more than any gun or knife ever could.

“The boys?” My voice wasn’t my own.

“In the safe room. That was Enzo who called.”