Page 4 of Savage Claim

I could work with that.

Artem lowered his gun. “You might have done something smart for once, Rossi,” he said. “I’m mildly impressed. I thought to leave her somewhere for Lorenzo to find, but forcing Lorenzo towatchme kill her would be much more useful to me.”

My belly twinged again, and I did all that I could to keep the pain from showing on my face. If they knew that I might be losing the baby, Artem would just shoot me. I had no delusions otherwise. Instead, I forced myself to laugh. “This is a waste of time.” Santino slapped me again although it wasn’t hard enough to send me to the ground. I tasted blood and spat it out on the carpet we were standing on. It probably cost a pretty penny, given how garish it was. “What’s the matter, Daddy? Are you trying to play catch-up for the bruises I gave you?”

“You fucking bitch.” Santino went to hit me again, but I heard Artem clear his throat.

“You’re letting her goad you,” he said distastefully. “She’s either stalling or hoping we’ll kill her quickly. We can’t have that now.”

“Sorry, boss.”

Lorenzo had no idea where I was, and I was not going to wait around to get shot or stabbed or whatever else they might have planned for me. Fuck this. I was not going to give in like this.

“You two are seriously going to kill a pregnant woman?” I asked, glancing back at the guard by the door. He wasn’t concealing his fury now. Good. I wanted him angry.

“This is all useless,” I repeated. I shifted, pretended to play with my restraints, and Santino grabbed my wrist. When he squeezed down, as painful as it was, the nylon actually gave a little.

Artem sneered at me. “You’re going to deny that Vitali knocked you up?”

I shook my head. “No,” I said. “I’m not trying to trick you. I am pregnant with Lorenzo’s baby. I just think killing me is going to bring you more trouble than you want.”

He cocked his head to the side, as if he were seeing me for the first time. “Explain yourself.”

“Thanks to Daddy Dearest, here,” I said, glancing at Santino, “this baby is worth one-point-one mil. Do you think Lorenzo is just going to sit quietly by and watch that amount of money disappear for a second time?” I scoffed. “If you think that’s true, you don’t know Lorenzo, and since Santino sure as hell doesn’t have the money, who do you think he’s going to come after for it?”

The room was quiet for a moment. “She’s lying,” Santino blurted.

Artem’s eyes shifted. “Exactly how much debt did your daughter settle for you, Santino?”

“I told you about my debt,” Santino said fearfully. “I didn’t lie about it.”

“You said you took care of your debt. You had assured me that it was gone.”

Santino winced. “It was.”

“How. Much?”

As they argued, Santino crushed my wrist all the more, and the nylon loosened further. It wasn’t much, but my hands started to throb as the blood came rushing back. I picked at the knot that I could reach and started pulling it to pieces. I was able to get it nearly undone before Artem’s eyes came back to me.

“No matter,” he said, cutting off Santino’s increasingly pathetic supplications. “You had better hope that you’re wrong.” He pushed himself out of his chair; he was taller than I originally thought. As he came around the desk he had been sitting behind,his presence seemed to fill the space. It was chokingly thick, and I tried to step back on instinct.

Santino’s grip on my arm tightened, and I let my hands go slack. Artem reached out and touched my chin, tipping my face up to his. He turned my face so that he could get a better look at the scars that webbed across my cheek. “Pretty,” he said, as if he were examining a dog or a horse. “It’s a shame what I’m going to do to you.”

“Please,” I said. “I’m pregnant. Why would you want to hurt a pregnant woman? I’m not a harm to anyone.” There was that soft, angry sound again.Keep that rage coming, I thought.

Artem hushed me softly, caressing my cheek like I was his lover. I fought not to move away. Or spit in his face. “Santino, take her to get more comfortable, will you?”

Santino turned us towards the door, and I let him walk me to it. I met the gaze of the guard who had been scoffing and muttering to himself and gave him a pitiful look. He shifted his eyes away, but I knew that I’d made an impact. His hands were clenched into fists.

Just as we made it to the door, I twisted my wrist, and the nylon gave way. I wrenched out of Santino’s grip, and when he shouted and tried to grab for me again, I brought my knee up as hard as I could into his groin.

He dropped with a pained squeak, and I ran. The guard on the door could have grabbed me, but he made eye contact, gave me a stiff nod, and then let me go by.

My belly burned as I ran, but I forced myself to go as fast as I could. There had to be a way out of here. The sound of my footfalls echoed around me. I didn’t know how far I got beforesomeone—a big someone—grabbed hold of me. I screamed, the sound ripped itself from my throat, until something was slapped over my face.

There was a strong smell in my nose, and my head became light and fuzzy. I wanted to struggle as I was dragged back down the hallway, but my arms and legs weren’t listening. I was going to pass out, no matter how hard I tried to hang on to my consciousness.

I’m sorry.

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