Page 79 of Malevolent King

I lay there and listened with all my might to where they might have taken Sofia. Franco had made it sound like she couldn’t be trusted back in her room.

I strained my eyes as the sounds of talking and footsteps in the corridor faded. After a moment, I heard it. The soft sound of someone crying.

I rolled onto my side, and pain lit up every single nerve. I wriggled myself toward the sound. Most of the rooms on this hellhole level of Sofia’s childhood home had a grate running into a drain at the corner. They had to be connected beneath the floor, because now I could hear the soft sounds of someone in the next room.

Sofia. My little swallow.

“Sofia,lastochka, don’t cry,” I groaned into the grate, flopping onto my front over it, foul smells drifting into my face.

After a long moment, her incredulous voice reached me.“Nikolai?”

“It’s me. You’re not alone. I’m here,” I told her in as calm a tone as I could. “I’m here, and I’ve got you.”

“Franco’s going to kill you. I know it,” she said, and a fresh flood of tears seemed to hit her.

“He might plan to, but we’ll be long gone by then. Don’t worry.”

“Really?”

“Really. We’re already gone. One way or another.” I knew in my gut that if Franco killed me, he’d probably kill Sofia, too. She’d seen too much; she was a liability. The only hope was if Antonio De Sanctis died, and Silvio decided he wanted his cousin around to torment and abuse after. But Sofia wouldn’t be able to take that kind of existence for long.

If Angelo didn’t come through, we were both as good as dead. It was a sobering yet strangely comforting thought. Like my mother before me, knowing that there could be an end to the pain and darkness was a relief. One thing I knew for sure, Sofia and I would be together, in this life or the next. Two intertwined souls couldn’t be easily untangled.

“Fuck, fuck, fuck.” Angelo’s panicked whisper reached me as he sneaked into the room. “They’ve gone to the hospital, but they’ve left guards everywhere. Fuck! I don’t think we can risk it right now.” He sagged and ran a hand through his thick hair. He looked stressed as shit.

I knew the feeling.

“Did you find the stuff I needed?”

He swallowed hard. “Yes, but I need to get it. There are still people here, just not Franco’s. Silvio’s inner circle is still hanging around, waiting for him to wake up.”

I blew out a breath. Leaving before Silvio woke would be preferable, but we didn’t have a lot of choices.

“Then we wait. Once Silvio is up, I’m sure he’ll need to go to the hospital to pay his respects as well, or at the very least get himself seen to. If this goes sideways, whatever happens, your job is to get Sofia out.”

Angelo jerked, his mouth working with a silent protest.

I spoke again before he could.“If I get out of here alive, and she doesn’t, I’ll kill you myself, Angelo, after I kill your little girlfriend. Do your fucking job and protect her with your life, or I’ll make it hurt when I kill you.”

He swallowed hard, otherwise giving no reaction to my vicious words.

“Do you understand the order of importance? Kirill will honor his agreement if you show up with Sofia at his door. I guarantee it.”

“He knows you love her.” Angelo’s words were matter-of-fact. “Or he thinks you’re obsessed with her. Those are different things.”

“Not to a man like me. Watch Sofia’s back, above all. Her freedom is your freedom. Now, we wait and get ready.”

Angelo nodded.

“Is Chiara already out?”

He nodded again.

“Good. Be ready to kill or die to join her.”

My advice only sent more tension through his burly body.

“If you go down fighting to get the girl… then it’s a good day to die. Now, do me a favor and pop my motherfucking shoulder back in.”

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