Page 17 of Inferno

The reason it’s tight is that it’s so damn dry because I hate him and every time he touches me.

I hiss out a breath as he throws my back against the wall and he grabs my throat so hard my lungs burn.

“What do you say?”

Bile rises into my throat.

“Y-yes. Sir.”

I know when to pick my arguments. Now is not the time to, not when I’m unarmed, on my own, and vulnerable.

Not when with one call he can kill my father.

He shoves me down to my knees and I look away.

I’d rather he cut me up than do this to me. Every time it tears away parts of me and replaces it with evil.

I am the evil that he created. Exactly how he wanted, so he could use me to build his empire.

The woman in the shadows everyone is afraid of. The woman who rips out hearts.

When actually, I’m just a woman fighting to save herself.

I wasn’t born evil.

I was molded, shaped, and twisted into this monstrous form.

And one day, I’ll use every ounce of pain he’s inflicted on me to destroy him.

We will both burn in the fires of hell for our sins, but I will make sure he suffers the flames before me.

It’s just a waiting game.

As he rips open his pants, I recite that line in my head to get me through this.

One day, it will all be over.

He can’t break me.

I won’t let him.

My husband. My abuser. The only way I’m leaving this earth is by taking him with me.

Chapter 5

DECLAN

Finn leans over Conan, who’s nestled between us, his eyes questioning mine.

Yes, being bundled into the back of a truck by two Italian guys when our jet arrived was not how we pictured this going.

But we have to prove our worth to Enzo.

A pothole causes the truck to lurch, and I instinctively tense up as a protective reflex, Conan’s head hitting the roof.

“Jesus fuck,” Conan hisses.

I whack his arm.

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