Page 70 of Vengeful Devotion
“No.”
Lonny’s dark eyes turn wild with anger. His hand moves off my chin, tightening around my neck. “You don’t have a choice, bambina. You’re mine. I own you.”
“No,” I whisper again. “Declan does,” I say, just to spite him, but it doesn’t make it any less true. Lonny squeezes my throat harder and harder. His eyes are near black now. His true form emerging. The evil in him gives me exactly what I want. A glimpse of death.
There’s a knock on the door before it creaks open. “Boss, we got a problem.”
Lonny’s face turns sour, making me laugh as he lets me go. I don’t care that I sound a little crazy. It’s worth it to see the confusion on Lonny’s face as he walks towards the man at the door.
“They hit the house.”
Lonny’s back straightens. He stalks out of the room. My smile melts off my face the moment he’s gone. I pull on my restraints. Hissing at the burn. The sunlight streams in through the window, highlighting the bruises branded on my wrists. I scream out. The frustration being too much. All the repressed memories and emotions come barreling down on me at once, and it’s all too much to carry.
My screams turn to cries. Though it’s not fear or pain fueling them. It’s grief. For my future. For Declan. For myself. Because I know I won’t be making it out of here. Because I never told him how I feel. The tears fall harder. I’m going to die with fucking regrets. Because I let fear hold me back from accepting what Declan wanted to give me. Forever with him. And it’s too late to do anything about it. The silence in the room offers no consolation. It only echoes the despair in my cries.
Lonny strides back into the room. My body immediately goes on high alert, heaving from my sobs. I watch him, my eyes bouncing between him and the bucket lying on the floor. I expect him to go for it, but he doesn’t. Instead, he stomps towards me. There’s a gleam of light in his hands. The sun’s reflection on a silvery blade. I close my eyes, hoping this is it. This is the death I need.
My uncle grabs hold of my arm. His hands squeezing my arms so tight as he swipes the blade across the ropes, cutting me free. I rub my fingers over the bruised, raw skin of my wrist.
“Time to go home, bambina.”
A dark cloud of fear and worry fills my chest. Am I really going to let him take me back there? Do I have a choice? I wasn’t lying when I said I’d rather die than go back to Boston. There’s only one way he’ll kill me.
He cuts the rope around my ankles, and I move fast, kicking Lonny in the face. His head snaps back as he yells. Lonny grabs his nose. I can see blood seeping through his fingers. I go to run but my legs are too weak from exhaustion and starvation. I used all the energy I had to kick him.Shit.Landing on the ground with a thud, I crawl away.
Lonny grabs my calf and pulls me back. “Where the fuck do you think you’re going, Gemma?”
He climbs on top of me. I whimper beneath the weight of him. Anxious tears scorch my face.
“No.”
I flop around like a fish out of water. Doing everything I can to get him off, but he won’t budge. Even if I wasn’t coming off hours of torture, I still wouldn’t be strong enough to fight him. Lonny raises his fist, slamming it in my face. The impact is jarring. My vision blurs and everything around me seems too far away. For a moment, it feels like I’m disconnected from reality. Then Lonny hits me again, and the pain comes rushing in.
My brain is still sinking in shock when my uncle wraps his stubby hands around my throat. I claw at his hands, but he’s not phased at all. Lonny squeezes harder. The coil of pressure matching the weight of his body crushing mine. I can feel my life force leaving me. As it does, Declan’s face pops into my mind. I wish I could tell him how sorry I am. There are a lot of things I wish I could say to him right now. Black dots obscure my vision as Lonny tightens his grip.
“You could’ve saved yourself, bambina. I was willing to forgive your whoring ways. You could’ve had a good life with me, but you chose him. And for that, you will die,” Lonny seethes.
His words are interrupted by the door bursting open. There’s a roar before the weight of Lonny is lifted off me. I cough, sputtering at the sudden blast of air. It takes a minute for my eyes to refocus and the blood rushing through my ears to quiet. The first thing I see is Declan’s back as he stands over Lonny, beating him.
“Declan,” I whisper.
His body goes rigid. Looking over his shoulder, he takes me in for the first time. He leaves my uncle’s bleeding body on the ground and moves to me. Declan looks down at me. With every sweep of my body, the set in his jaw gets harder. He reaches out, running a hand over my hair. There’s so much sorrow swimming in his green depths.
“I’m so sorry, wildflower,” he says, bending down to pick me up. “I’m so, so sorry.”
His voice is tight with emotion. I want to comfort him. To be everything he needs in this moment, but the exhaustion is too much. I snuggle closer to him. His warmth and scent comfort me as he walks us out of the room.
“Grab her uncle, Dean. He’s coming back with us.”
I lift my head despite how tired I feel. “He’s not dead?”
“Not yet.”
I peek around Declan to see Dean dragging Lonny out of the room. Balor is next to him with a gun trained on my uncle. Fresh tears roll down my face. Only these aren’t from pain, but from relief. Relief that Declan came for me. Relief that I survived.
I look around the warehouse as we walk through it. There are bodies of Lonny’s men scattered all over the place.
“What happened?” I ask, laying my head against him.
