Page 37

Isabetta

I wasn’t sure how long I was unconscious for, but the first thing I noticed when I awoke was that I hurt everywhere.

I was also sitting up, tied to a chair. My hands were pulled back so tightly that my shoulders already ached, my head throbbed, and I couldn’t move my legs.

When I struggled, the rope that was around my throat tightened, forcing me to stop.

I lifted my head, blinking twice as I tried to work out where I was, but the only thing that greeted me was darkness.

My panic welled as I worried I had been blinded, since I couldn’t feel anything covering my eyes.

My gaze flitted around the room, and I realized the soft light of my halo illuminated only my shoulders and the tops of my arms, but nothing else.

Whether triggered by my movement or something else, a lamp was turned on.

Shadows hugged the corners of the small room, refusing to be banished by the light.

There was no window, and I couldn’t see a door, so it had to be behind me.

Unless whatever had occurred at the boutique was still happening. I couldn’t trust what I was seeing.

There was a table in front of me, the wood warped, with splashes of darkness I didn’t want to think about.

A man sat across from me, silent and staring at me like he could see into my soul.

I struggled again, but all it did was burn through my energy, so I stopped.

Then I took a couple of deep breaths to calm myself while I waited for him to speak.

I hadn’t seen Milo when I looked around the room.

Was he okay? Was he in another room, tied up like me?

The wound on his head had looked bad in the few moments before I had passed out.

I tried calling out for him in my mind, but was unsure if he could hear me.

I didn’t get a response and had to fight tears from welling in my eyes as the man across from me continued to stare.

Frustration, anger, and pain all built inside me, until all I wanted to do was scream.

Why grab me, why tie me up, only to stare at me?

If they wanted information on Renzo, then why weren’t they asking me any questions?

If the point was to hurt him, then why was I still alive?

Was this a kidnapping? A ransom? I had no doubt Renzo would do everything in his power to get me back, but then why the hell was this man just staring at me?

Time stretched until it held no meaning.

How long had we been sitting here? It had only been minutes, hadn’t it?

The tingling in my hands meant it couldn’t have been hours, unless I had only imagined it.

Why wasn’t he speaking? Thoughts whirled round and round, all kinds of terrible situations flashed through my mind.

Milo lay dead in the back of a van. Renzo searching, unable to find me.

Me, tied to this chair, unable to move, and screaming for help.

Havoc tearing the town apart looking for his brother.

All of it was so overwhelming I couldn’t contain my emotions anymore, and tears spilled down my cheeks.

Finally, the man sitting across from me moved.

He was still silent, staring into my eyes, unblinking.

But he leaned across the table, and with a swipe of his hand—that made me flinch backward—he wiped away one of my tears.

As he sat back in his seat, he sucked the tear off his finger, and the silence broke as his voice, deep and crackling, filled the air.

“I have always wondered what the tears of an angel might taste like. They’re not as sweet as I was expecting. I was picturing something like honey, but it’s a sharper taste, more like a lemon.”

What the fuck was I supposed to say to that?

I wanted to cry more, but I also didn’t want to give him the satisfaction.

The absurdity of the situation made laughter bubble up inside me, but I tamped it down.

This whole situation was already weird enough.

I didn’t have to let it threaten my sanity any more than it was.

“What do you want? You know Renzo is going to come for me.” My voice was soft, and far shakier than I wished.

I’d hoped I’d be brave if I ever ended up in a situation like this.

That I would be collected and cold, but I was scared and hurting.

I wanted nothing more to be at home in the arms of all three of my men, all of them safe.

The man smirked at me. “I am not sure that is true, weeping angel. He passes you around. He lets you out in public with someone who cannot protect you, just as he cannot protect his territory. Renzo is weak and his father made a mistake putting him in charge. We are not even from this city, and yet we could walk in and cause carnage in a week. If a man cannot protect the things that are precious to him, then is he really a man?”

The words were clearly meant to cut me, and they hurt.

I squeezed my eyes shut for a second, fighting back tears.

I wanted to shout in defense of Renzo, to champion Milo and Havoc.

But that was what he expected—anger or hurt.

He looked eager for either reaction from me.

It was an effort to keep myself calm. To clench and unclench my fingers.

To take steady breaths that helped me to relax my body.

He couldn’t hide his disappointment when I didn’t give him the reaction he wanted.

The sound of exasperation he made was a minor victory I clung to.

I didn’t want to make him angry, as I was in far too vulnerable a position to risk him lashing out at me.

But since he had set out to hurt me, and I was determined to hurt him back.

“I will let you sit in the darkness with your thoughts then, weeping angel. And I will come back for your tears. I wonder which will make you cry first—the darkness, or the screams of your boyfriend, hmm? I wonder which will fill you with sweeter nightmares? Perhaps we can do something about that sharp, lemon taste.” He pushed to his feet, clicking off the lamp as he did.

Panic surged through me as I was plunged into darkness again.

I couldn’t see him, couldn’t see what he was doing.

Was he going to touch me again? My heart pounded in my throat and the sound was all I could hear.

My breath had surged into panicked pants, though I tried to focus on the light coming from my halo; I wasn’t in the dark.

I couldn’t see far, but I would see him if he came for me, wouldn’t I?

I concentrated on the light, unsure if I could make it glow brighter.

It wasn’t a skill I had ever needed to develop before.

I had been so wrapped up in my panic that I hadn’t heard the man move away.

I had been right about the door being behind me, and for a few seconds, the room was flooded with light.

Every dark and dingy corner was illuminated.

There wasn’t anything that could help me, but for a few brief seconds, I knew there wasn’t anything lurking in the corners, waiting to feast on me in the dark.

There was just me, the desk and the walls.

When the door closed and I was once again left alone, I started to think of a plan.

I pulled at the ropes—to worm my hands out from underneath them—but the loops were pulled tight and all it did was irritate my skin.

I didn’t bother calling out. Though I was sure Renzo was coming for me, I couldn’t just sit here.

What if he couldn’t find me? I didn’t know where I was, so how would he possibly know?

Again, I tried reaching out mentally to Milo or Havoc.

I had no idea what I was doing, other than thinking their names as loud as I possibly could.

Was that how it worked? I wished we had discussed their abilities more.

It could be so useful in a situation like this if I knew how to reach them.

But they had always been so secretive about it.

Huffing in frustration when I received no answer, I slumped in my chair as much as I could. There was nothing I could do. I had to wait here, alone in the dark, and hope they rescued me soon. All I wanted to do was cry, but I didn’t want the man coming back in.

All I could do was stay calm.