Page 16 of Sinner's Vows

“It’s going to be okay. Bullet went in on the lower left side. No vitals there.”

And then, his hand stills. Right there where his fingertips could feel my pulse if they press down a bit harder on my neck, his thumb hovering over my lips. He’s no longer looking at me, but to the others.

The air in this vast warehouse seems to have twisted tight, and I prick my ears, trying to listen.

“Franco Fiore. You hit my wife,” a man snarls. “You bruised her beautiful face. You hurt her sister. You’ve cut into her flesh, leaving a mark I’ll still erase. Let me show you howIl Consigliodeals with men like you.”

His wife? ‘Leaving a mark I’ll still erase.’

I’m not alone. Shudders course through me, and the man starts to stroke the hair by my temple again. It’s the smallest, most gentle gesture, but it does everything it intends to do. It calms me enough to make me breathe slower.

The wife could be Carla. Or Gigi Trapani. But I’ve never heard ofIl Consiglio. Or have I?

The man by my side is looking on, not stopping the gentle caress of his thumb over my skin.

“Fight to the death?” Franco’s voice cuts through the leaden silence.

Just die already.

“And that after I brought you someone in exchange for Gigi Trapani,” Franco continues. “Someone you can all share.”

I shudder. The fucker still plans to sell me out as a whore to these men. I turn my head to see, but the man’s hand cups my cheek and forces me to look at him.

“No. We don’t do that type of shit,” he murmurs to me as he shakes his head. “Whatever you do, don’t look. I’ll take care of you and get you out of here as soon as I can, but I don’t want to distract my brother.”

His brother? I want to look at all the men here, but his hand holds my face so gently, his gaze locked with mine.

“You are a sick fuck, aren’t you?” another voice says.

“That depends.” In Franco’s voice, I can hear the sadistic grin he has before he cuts into you. “If you’re into incest or not.”

The man’s hand stills on my cheek, and I reach for it, trapping it in a weak grip and dragging it to my chest where I press it to my heart. He doesn’t tear his eyes from mine. Instead, they start to search my gaze, then jump all around as he maps the contours of my face.

“What the fuck are you talking about?” someone asks…and here’s the moment where it all goes downhill.

I can already sense it. Franco knows how to play everybody—even these strangers. I can’t watch on as he comes for them and close my eyes.

“I’m talking about a baby sister you all took for dead,” Franco says.

‘A baby sister you all took for dead.’

It’s so quiet, his words echo like a bomb’s aftershocks.

“Sick way to buy yourself some time, don’t you think?” another man says.

I can no longer distinguish the voices. So much rage pulses through the air, but the man by my side doesn’t show any of it as he just lets me squeeze his hand. I’m clutching it as if it’s my last lifeline, right there where my heart beats like a horse’s hooves on a racetrack. As long as he’s here, I’ll be okay. I can die in peace, whatever happens to Franco next.

“If you kill me, you’ll never know.”

Franco sounds pained now, and I loll my head to the side to look at him.

The man doesn’t stop me this time. He lets me look on. Someone has Franco in a choke hold. My gaze jumps to the others surrounding him. Franco hasn’t got a chance. One against many, and they look menacing. I can already see the matching traits. Brothers. All of them.

They’re notmybrothers. It’s impossible.

“If you know, others will know, and we will hunt them down,” one man says, and it slowly sinks in that he has a look-alike; they are so similar, they must be twins.

“If she survives your bullets,” Franco croaks out.

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