Page 118 of When She Unravels
The rope creaks and sways as I climb down, its rough surface harsh against my palms. Lazaro stands on the edge off the cliff, watching my every move, and when I’m nearly at the bottom of the cliff, he turns and starts his descent.
My feet touch the rocks the boat is tied to by a thick rope, and as I try to find my balance, I trip on something.
I glance down.
There’s a fist-sized loose rock beside my foot. Without thinking twice, I bend down, pick it up, and hide it behind my back.
Lazaro jumps off the last rung and turns to face me. He jerks his head in the direction of the boat. “Climb in and sit down.”
There are only two seats, side by side. He unties the rope while I take my seat. When he’s done, he takes his spot behind the wheel.
I put the hand that’s holding the rock between my thigh and the edge of the boat, hiding it from sight. “Where are we going?”
He turns the key in the ignition. “Back home.”
He steers us out to sea. It’s so dark, it takes me only thirty seconds to become disorientated. I have no idea what direction we’re going in.
“New York isn’t my home,” I tell him. “It stopped being that when I got married to you.”
A muscle in his jaw ticks. “I made mistakes with you, but I’ll fix them.”
“Mistakes? Forcing me to kill for you is more than a mistake,” I say.
“That’s not what I meant. I should have spent more time with you. We should have started working on a family.”
I look at him in horror. That’s what he thinks he did wrong? “I’ll never give you a child, Lazaro. I’ll cut it out of my womb before I bring your spawn into this world.”
“You don’t know what you’re saying. But I’ll fix you. I’ll teach you how to see things my way. You’ll never leave me again, Valentina. You’re my wife. My partner. I’ve waited a long time to share my life with you, and I’ll never let you go again. I love you.”
I squeeze the rock in my palm. “You don’t love anything.”
“You’re wrong.”
“Do you really have an explosive on your body?”
He nods. “Our insurance in case they decide to come after us.”
The clouds part to reveal a sliver of the moon. It’s like a celestial eye, looking down at me and waiting to see if I’ll do what I need to do.
I suck in a deep breath.
I’m never going back.
I lunge at him and slam the sharp edge of the rock into his temple. He shouts in pain and throws me off him, but I jump on him again. It’s easier to fight him when I don’t have any self-preservation left.
“Stop it,” he roars.
I land another hit on his head. This one knocks him down. I don’t wait to see if I did the job right this time, I just keep hitting him and hitting him until there’s blood all over my hands.
When I stop, he groans weakly and blinks one eye at me. “We’re a team. We’re good together.”
“No, we fucking aren’t.”
I take the rock with both hands and slam it right into the center of his face.
CHAPTER35
DAMIANO
