Chapter 4

I cried out in pain, and the sight only lit Gennaro's face with excitement.

"Yes. Scream louder for me."

I struggled, trying to twist away, but he came after me, thrilled by the sport of it. When I stumbled and hit the floor, he threw his whole weight down on top of me, his filthy hands landing on my clothes and ripping hard.

"No! I'll make you pay for this!"

His reeking mouth was closing in on mine. My hand groped blindly across the carpet, closed around the long iron chain, and I whipped it at his head.

The blow landed, and Gennaro's face went dark. He raised his hand and slapped me.

"You little whore. Marchetti's throwaway trash, and you dare put your hands on me? Wait. Tonight I'll ruin you for good." His thumb dragged once over the old scar I'd given him years ago, that pale seam along his jaw, the way it always did when he meant to take what he wanted.

He reached for his belt, and I seized the moment to slam my foot into his groin. He doubled over backward, and with shaking hands I grabbed the heavy crystal ashtray off the table and brought it down on his skull.

Terrified he'd come back at me, I smashed it down again and again, until warm blood splattered across my face, the heat of it turning my legs to water.

I stared at Gennaro, out cold on the floor in front of me, and the terror inside me refused to settle for a long, long time.

Only when the Feds broke the door in did my mind finally come back to me. I pointed at Gennaro.

"He and someone else set this up to rape me. The proof is in that camera."

A jacket was draped over me, and every taut nerve in my body snapped at once. I passed out completely.

When I woke, the first thing I smelled was the disinfectant of a safe-house infirmary, sharp under the faint trace of gun oil from the man standing guard at the door.

The door slammed open and Lorenzo came storming in, seething. He grabbed my arm, his fingers landing squarely on my wound, and blood welled up around them.

The pain made me suck in a sharp breath, but he acted as if he saw nothing.

"Vittoria's young. She only got reckless because she was trying to help the crew close this pact with the Rizzos. You're going down to the Feds right now to sign the statement that clears her."

"When they took her away, she was so scared her eyes went red."

So while I'd been unconscious, the Feds had pulled the surveillance footage and hauled both Gennaro and Vittoria in.

I wrenched my arm out of Lorenzo's grip and said coldly, "Lorenzo, what makes you think I'm generous enough to forgive two people who tried to rape me?"

Lorenzo went still for a beat. He'd never imagined that I, who had always obeyed him, would refuse, and his expression turned ugly.

"But you're fine, aren't you? Since when did you get so petty? You just have to keep coming after Vittoria."

His voice climbed a few notches, grating in my ears.

I felt the gauze wound around my body and couldn't understand how he could push that sentence out of his mouth.

When I gave him no answer, Lorenzo grew impatient. His tongue wet his lower lip, and his eyes flicked once toward the door, toward whoever waited beyond it, before he reached into his pocket and drew out a jade pendant, dangling it in the air.

"Sign it, or I put this under my heel?"

My eyes shot wide. That pendant was my mother's only keepsake. Back when I was still sure of what I felt for Lorenzo, I'd pressed it into his hand myself.

I never dreamed the day would come when my love would be turned into a blade aimed at me.

"Lorenzo, loving you is the thing I regret most in this whole life."

His gaze dimmed, thrown for a moment, but he didn't take it to heart. I'd fawned over him for more than a decade. There was no way, he thought, that I could just stop loving him that easily.

"Give me back the pendant, and I'll sign."

Right in front of him I called down to the Feds and asked them to let the matter drop. The room was quiet enough that I heard my own voice waver on the line, and hated that he heard it too.

At that, the faint unease in Lorenzo's chest eased into relief. He let out a heavy breath and tossed the pendant onto the sheets beside me.

His phone rang. One glance and I saw Vittoria's name on the screen.

"Okay. I'm coming for you right now. Don't be afraid. I told you, nothing touches you while I'm standing between you and the world."

The words were so familiar. Once he'd made me that same promise. Now he'd handed it to someone else. My fingers closed around the jade at my throat, cold against my skin, and did not let go.