Page 107 of Ruined By Blood
"You're right," I say, watching confusion flicker across his face. "I'm not going to kill you."
Hope flashes in his eyes.
I smile.
"Not yet, anyway." I lean forward until our faces are inches apart. "First, I'm going to make you suffer. I'm going to take everything you've built. I'm going to dismantle your empire piece by piece while you watch. I'm going to introduce you to pain you didn't know existed."
I straighten up, adjusting my cuffs. "And then, when you're begging for death? Then I'll kill you."
Henry's face contorts with rage and terror, understanding finally dawning that this isn't a negotiation. It's a sentence.
"Alessio," I say without looking away from Henry, "secure him."
Ican't tear my eyes away from the scene unfolding in my father's study. The room spins around me as if I'm trapped in some fever dream. My mother stands before me, holding a gun to my father's head with trembling but determined hands.
And Enzo. Fierce, protective Enzo who promised tokeep me safe, who showed me what gentle touches feel like, is here too, turning my father's empire to ash around us.
None of this feels real. Just days ago, I was resigned to becoming Cortez's possession. Now the walls of my gilded prison crumble before my eyes.
My father's eyes narrow, his mask of composure slipping to reveal the monster beneath. "Feretti," he spits, shifting tactics. "If you care about my daughter as much as you claim, you'd never hurt her by killing her own father. Blood is blood, after all."
A cold laugh escapes Enzo's lips, chilling and utterly without humor. His eyes remain arctic as they lock on my father.
"Blood?" Enzo says, his voice deceptively soft. "You speak of blood while Sienna's is still dried on your knuckles?"
He steps closer to my father, and I can see the tension in his shoulders, the barely contained rage. But then something shifts in his expression, and a smile spreads across his face.
"You know what, Henry? You're really funny." Enzo's voice drops to a conversational tone that somehow sounds more threatening than his anger. "Talking about blood and family when you've spent years torturing your own daughter."
My father's eyes dart between Enzo and my mother, calculation written in every line of his face.
Enzo continues, "Let me make something perfectly clear. I would burn this entire world to the ground if she even asked for it." His voice carries absolute conviction. "Your life means nothing to me. In fact, watching you die would bring me immense satisfaction."
He pauses, then turns away from my father to find me standing frozen by the door. His eyes soften immediately, the transformation so complete it takes my breath away.
"Sienna," he says gently, extending his hand. "Come here, baby."
My legs feel weighted as I cross the room. The carpet beneath my feet seems to stretch endlessly. When I finally reach Enzo, his hand finds mine, warm and steady.
"What would you like me to do with your father?" he asks, his eyes never leaving mine. "This is your choice. Whatever you want."
The room falls silent. I can hear my own heartbeat thundering in my ears. I turn to look at my mother, her face clear and determined for the first time in years. The gun in her hand doesn't waver.
Then I look my father in the eyes.
Something shifts in his expression as he reads mine.
"Sienna," he says, his voice losing its commanding edge. "You're my daughter. My flesh and blood. You wouldn't?—"
"Wouldn't what?" I ask, my voice surprisingly steady. "Wouldn't want you to suffer like you made me suffer? Like you made my mother suffer?"
It's strange to watch him beg me for mercy. After years of cowering before him, years of pleading for kindness that never came, the reversal feels unbelievable. This powerful man, this monster who controlled every aspect of my life, now looks at me with desperation.
I take a deep breath and make my decision.
"I want him to suffer," I say, the words like poison finally draining from my veins. "And then I want him to die."
I step back as my father's face contorts with fury. The mask of desperate pleading drops away completely, revealing the true monster beneath.
