Page 38 of Curse

Squatting next to AJ on the ground, I open the app showing the cameras at the Edge. Siena’s in her room talking to Olivia. Letting out a breath, I shove my phone back in my pocket. I’m suddenly in a hurry to get back to her as quickly as possible.

Standing up, I head over to the cabinet full of supplies that we keep down here for occasions such as this. AJ is out of it, eyes rolling back in his head. He probably isn’t hearing much at this point, and he’s barely conscious.

I take out a pair of latex gloves and pull them on as I speak, then survey the selection of knives showcased on velvet boards in the cabinet.

“AJ, you just can’t seem to control your mouth, can you? First, you put that nasty ass tongue on my girl, and then you run your mouth about things well above your pay grade. Not to mention lie to try to save your own ass.”

A knife with an eight-inch blade and a nice curve to it that comes to a point calls to me. Crouching down to his level, I turn AJ onto his back and pull his chin down with one gloved hand. “But I’m here to help you with your problem.”

Reaching into his mouth, I pull out his tongue, getting a good grip with the latex gloved hand. In one swift motion, I slice it at the root, pull it out of his mouth, and show it to him.

He seems to return to the present moment, shrieking high-pitched screams garbled by the blood draining down his throat. I press the side of his face into the floor as blood spurts out of his mouth and wipe the tongue up the side of his face, mimicking what he did to Siena.

“See? That’s disgusting. Don’t do that.”

I stuff the tongue back into his open mouth and down his throat. Holding his mouth closed with one hand, I pinch his nose shut with the other, pinning him with my knee as he writhes and fights against me.

I stay there a solid five minutes after he finally goes still, watching my girl on my phone screen. She looks relaxed talking to Olivia. I’ve never seen her like that before, so peaceful, laidback. A wave of jealousy that I don’t quite understand washes over me. Standing, I strip off the latex gloves and drop them on AJ’s corpse.

One less threat to Siena in the world.

Next, I have to deal with Franco. Then Aurelio. And I’m not quite sure how I want to handle either one of them.

My phone buzzes with a text from Vin.

Work

Fuck. That means one thing. Aurelio has a job for us to do, which means getting back to my girl is going to have to wait.

21

Siena

3 WEEKS LATER

It’s been weeks since I saw or heard from Matti. At least two weeks, probably three or more. There’s no calendar in this room, and for the first few days, I was asleep most of the time. Maybe longer.

The hit on the head didn’t turn out to be much, and the cuts on my wrists and ankles from the zip ties healed quickly.

But after all that time on the road, everything with Emily, and then Franco… I just shut down. I slept for days. When I finally started waking up, it was like my body had been replaced with a dull, unresponsive shell. The daze lasted for another few days, but now I’m starting to feel more… something. Not normal. But better.

But the better I feel, the more my thoughts return to Matti. I wish they didn’t.

A soft knock pulls me back to the present. Olivia pokes her head through the door. “Hey, girl. You decent?”

I laugh, waving her in. She’s been a lifeline these pastweeks. At first, she just dropped off towels, meals, toiletries—including the entire line of Bergamot & Basil, the line of bath and skincare products I love—but over time, she started sticking around.

Now she’ll chat for hours, filling the silence and keeping me grounded. I get the feeling that she’s as lonely as I am, and we’ve bonded while holding space for each other.

Olivia steps in, dragging a laundry basket and holding up her phone. “I brought the new Gia Detroit novel,” she announces with a grin. “Girrrrllll… all the spice.”

She laughs, and I laugh with her. Since there is no TV in here and I’m not allowed to have a phone, we like to read smut to each other in dramatic voices for entertainment.

“Definitely don’t want to get caught reading that out loud,” I say, trying to keep my tone light. But my chest tightens, the question that I’ve been trying to bury for weeks bubbling its way back to the surface “Do you… happen to know when Matti’s coming back?”

Olivia freezes for half a second, her expression shifting. Her face becomes unreadable, guarded.

“I never know where he is or when he’ll be back,” she says carefully. Then, almost too quickly, she flashes her usual grin. “It’s part of his charm.”

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