Page 106 of Tristano

“You like it when they put up a fight,” Gio teases.

“True.” Lorenzo chuckles. “Help me out here, Matteo.”

We watch as both men move the guy across the room and hang him from a hook in the ceiling. The man dangles with his feet just barely brushing the floor.

“Grab a scalpel,” Lorenzo tells Matteo while he cuts the man’s clothes off.

Serena sucks in a breath and squirms in my arms as they start to cut him all over. Some are deep, while others are shallow.

“Do you want to step out?” I whisper into her ear.

Serena shakes her head but doesn’t speak.

Finally the man cries out, breaking.

Lorenzo smirks as he and Matteo step back.

“Are you going to tell us what we want to know?” Bash asks coolly.

“Fuck. You,” the man gasps.

“Well, if you wanted to be fucked, why didn’t you just say so?” Matteo says lightly as he reaches over, grabbing a baseball bat from against the wall. “Do you want me to warm you up with the handle or should we just go for it with the barrel?”

The man’s eyes widen and he shakes his head so fast I’m afraid he’s going to give himself whiplash.

“What the fuck is wrong with you?” the man asks.

Bash, Lorenzo, Gio, Matteo, Killian, and Enzo all start laughing.

I try to hold in my chuckle for Serena’s sake, but the way she glances up at me tells me I failed.

“What’s wrong with us?” Killian asks, touching his chest. “I think the better question is what’s wrong with you? Taking women against their will.”

“Look, man, it’s nothing personal. Those women wanted it.”

“They wanted it?” Serena snaps, stepping forward.

ChapterTwenty-One

“Anima gemella,” Tristano warns, trying to stop me.

“No, let her continue,” Bash says.

I walk right up to the man and get in his face. “What makes you think they wanted it?” I sneer.

“Look at them. Women today have no self-respect, walkin’ down the street half naked.”

I scoff. “Really, that’s what you’re going with? You’re trying to justify kidnapping them because of what they were wearing? What about the children?”

Something I can’t quite name flashes through the guy’s eyes and he shrugs as best as he can. “As far as I’m concerned, we were giving them a better life.”

“Tell me about that. Where did you think these women were going?”

“I don’t need to tell you shit, lady.”

I flinch as his spit lands on my face.

I hear the men behind me move forward but I raise my hand. “I got this,” I tell them without turning around.

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