Page 116 of The Viper's Wife

I raise my hand.

I slice.

I work quickly, sawing through Aceto’s bindings, not knowing if Giovanni or Dom will stop me or simply allow this to happen and report it to my father later.

I yank the darts from his thigh and chest as he tears at the cloth in his mouth.

“Thank you,” he sobs past his missing tongue.

“Run,” I hiss.

Aceto drops from the tree and bursts into a sprint?—

BANG.

The forest is silent, all the little creatures in the darkness waiting and watching.

After a moment, I stand.

I don’t look at my father-in-law’s body.

“This is disappointing,” Giovanni intones. He tucks his gun back into his jacket.

“Then shoot me too,” I say, blood pounding in my ears as I turn toward him. I let the knife drop from my hand and spit on the dirt near his boots. “You want to talk about disappointing? How about the disappointment your mamma and papà must feel at knowing a man of your status, of yourpotential, has been reduced to a glorified fucking babysitter.”

I hold my arms out wide. “But we’re in the middle of the woods, Giovanni. You could get away with it. Shoot Dom too. The Russians would welcome you, wouldn’t they? You’d be okay, and things wouldn’t be so different, would they? You’d be doing what you do best—kneeling at the feet of your master. And if you don’t,I’llbe your new master, and I’m going to greatfuckingpleasure in making sure you know nothing but pain and suffering for the rest of your short, miserable life.”

He waits until I’m finished with my pathetic little speech before turning and melting into the darkness.

“Bootlicker!” I roar after him.

Dom winks at me, takes the lantern, and walks off.

I don’t waste any time. I go to check Aceto’s pulse, rubbing my fingerprints all over his neck in the process, but there’s nothing.

He’s dead.

Unsurprisingly,Giovanni’s car is gone when I finally burst onto the road. The barest hint of sun filters the sky to a dark grey as I walk along the guardrail with my thumb sticking out into the air. No one pulls over for me.

Valeria was right. She’s nothing but an expendable pawn. She doesn’t have the backing of a strong family to protect her. She only has my love, and that’s not enough.

After an hour of walking in the bitter cold, an old man in a Honda pulls along my side.

“Where you going, son?”

I give him my most charming smile. “Got in a fight with my girlfriend, can you believe it? I’m just trying to make it back home.”

He shakes his head, the few grey strands on top of his head waving with the movement. “That’s women for you. Hop in, I’ll get you where you need to go.”

I give him the address to Valeria’s parents’ house and half-listen as the man spends the next hour regaling me with tales of his three crazy ex-wives.

If anyone touched her…

Sickness settles into my bones, siphoning out all the marrow and stuffing the cavities with poison. This is what I have to look forward to. A lifetime of dread, of rage, all for a few stolen moments of sweetness.

The worst part is—for me, it’s worth it. She’s worth it. But if I had to guess? If I had to take a real, honest look at what I mean to her?

I’m not enough.