Page 284 of Untamed

The place ahead looms dark and imposing, stone walls veined with ivy, arched windows sealed shut with heavy shutters. Not a single light flickers from beyond the estate. No barking dogs. No passing cars. Just the wind slithering through the trees and the gravel crunching beneath our feet.

We are well and truly in the middle of nowhere.

No neighbours in sight. No way out. No witnesses.

Well, Jordyn, take a good look around… because this is where you’re going to be killed.

The thought settles heavy in my chest, cold and sharp.

They drag us through the front doors, iron and wood, thick enough to keep screams locked in. The inside is worse. Colder. Sickeningly sterile. The kind of quiet that hums in your bones. The entryway stretches high above us with vaulted ceilings and agrand chandelier that doesn’t match the decay peeling from the walls. Stone floors echo with every step we take, the air around us thick with dust and dampness.

It smells like old secrets and rot. My stomach lurches unpleasantly.

“You’re hurting my arm!” Bianca shouts suddenly, twisting in the grip of the man hauling her by the arm. “Let go of me, arsehole!”

“Bianca!” I thrash forward, but the arms around me tighten, jerking me back.

The men exchange a few words in Italian, quick and cold, and then everything fractures.

One of them veers left, dragging Bianca with him.

“No, no, no, no!” she cries. Her voice cracks as she tries to fight, heels scraping against the floor. “Where are you taking me?! No, please, please! Let me stay with my sister!”

I lunge for her. “Stop!” I yell as loud as my lungs allow. “Hey, where are you taking my sister. No. Bianca!”

She reaches for me, her fingers stretching through the space between us, but it’s too late. The grip on my arms is unyielding. She’s ripped away, and her scream tears through the hall as she disappears around a corner.

My own voice rips free. “Per favore, non fatele del male!”

“Silenzio,” one of them snaps.

But I’m beyondsilenzio. I twist, spit, claw, anything to get back to her. My chest burns with rage and helplessness.

“BIANCA!”

I can hear her scream echo once more down the corridor, and then nothing.

Just the thud of boots against stone as I’m dragged down a different hallway. One lined with dark doors and low, eerie lighting. I don’t need to be told where I’m going because I already know.

They’re taking me tohim.

To Nicolai Moretti.

I fight them every step of the way. My heels scrape against the polished marble, hands clawing at the air as I try to twist free. “Lasciami andare!” Let me go. My voice reverberates through the stone hall, sharp and shaking.

But it’s useless.

The man gripping my arm like a vice says nothing, just keeps walking, dragging me through the corridor as though I weigh nothing. My heart pounds in my ears, panic and fury mixing in my veins like poison. Every door we pass is shut tight, tall windows veiled with thick curtains that swallow any hope of light.

A chill travels through my body and settles deep in my chest.

We turn a corner and stop in front of an enormous oak door.

My captor knocks once. A low, calculated knock. Then he opens it and shoves me inside with no ceremony at all.

I stumble into the room, catching myself before I fall.

It’s warm in here, warmer than the corridors. A fire burns low in the hearth, casting flickering shadows against the ornate walls. Thick velvet drapes hang from the tall windows. A grand piano sits silent in the corner, too polished, too perfect. Everything in here reeks of money and madness.

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