Page 148 of Brutal Revenge

He doesn’t smile.

Instead, he stalks closer as his eyes burn with ugly hatred.

“Why are you spreading vicious lies about me?”

“They’re not lies,” I say, finally standing up for both Hattie and me.

His jaw clenches before he carries on as though I said nothing. “Did you think I wouldn’t react? That I wouldn’t hear what you’ve been saying?”

“I told the truth. If that is too much for you to swallow, that’s your problem, not mine.”

“That bitch walked off the roof!” He slams his hand against the glass counter. “Why should I be blamed for that?”

Hearing him talk about Hattie like she wasn’t the kindest soul I ever knew twists the knife in deep.

“You know what you did,” I shout back. “The Hattie I knew wouldneverhurt herself like that. I don’t care what you say; I won’t stop until everyone knows what a monster you are!”

His eyes narrow as his evil laughter bounces around the store. “Lookie here. Someone thinks she’s suddenly grown a backbone. Careful, sweetheart. Your bulldog isn’t here to save you now.”

His reminder that Matteo will always protect me lifts my chin. “You can’t touch me. You know the rules.”

His smirk is straight out of hell. “Who said I was going to touch you? There are much better ways I can force you to walk the same steps as your best friend, and there isn’t a single fucking thing the Carusos can do about it.”

His chin barely jerks when something sharp jabs into my neck. Itdidn’t come from the jeweler. He’s passed out cold on the floor with lifeless eyes.

Gasping, I spin around and throw my palm into the nose of the brute who stuck a needle in my neck. Blood gushes out of his nose, but before I can pull his head down to knee him in the face, my legs go numb and buckle beneath me.

Through the haze, I see Dante charging across the street. He draws his gun and fires at the window of the jewelry store, but the bullets ricochet off the glass.

He screams my name as I’m dragged behind the counter by my hair, and then everything goes dark.

Something sharp and chemical burns under my nose, forcing my lungs to seize and my eyes to water. I jerk awake with a gasp but can’t rub the sting away. My wrists and ankles are bound to a large, rickety chair, and something tight and scratchy is curled around my breasts.

It’s unnecessary for me to open my eyes to drink in my surroundings. I can’t close them. My reflection on a large projector screen announces that they’re held open by metal prongs that eye doctors use during surgery.

My lashes twitch uselessly against the cold metal as panic claws up my throat. Although the sun peeks through dark blackout curtains, the room I’m in is dark. Black sheets hide artifacts that might reveal my location to whoever is watching the livestream a masked man is recording.

I try to warn Antonio that he will regret this. Matteo will burn the world down to find me. But before I can form a word through my scratchy throat, something is shoved between my teeth.

A thick gag deeply lodges in my throat, almost asphyxiating me.

I stop working my throat to bring it forward when Antonio’s silhouette blocks the projector screen.

“What’s the matter, princess? Accommodation not up to yourstandards?” He snickers evilly when I glare at him. “You always were dramatic.”

I continue to glare at him, unable to blink or look away.

He crouches low, then shuffles in. “You want the truth? Fine. I’ll give you the truth.”

With one snap of his fingers, someone places headphones over my ears, and the projector switches from footage of my captivity to a scene my mother forbade me to attend.

Maybe she knew something I didn’t.

A professional did not take the footage from Hattie’s wedding. It’s too shaky from a handheld device. Hattie is glowing in a way that hurts my heart. She looks so beautiful and happy. This is the Hattie I remember.

Seconds into the footage making me weepy-eyed, the music abruptly shifts. It changes from the soft serenade of a string quartet to a heavy rock ballad that rattles my bones.

I wish a poor choice in music was the worst of it.