Page 49 of Killer Love

I jut forward, extending my arms to her, but I’m not close enough to stop it. “No!”

He slashes along her throat, opening a deep, crimson wound from ear to ear. She slumps forward and I catch her in my arms as she tumbles from the chair, wheezing and gasping for air.

“No! No!” I cry. “Rosalie…!”

I lay my hand over her neck, pressing hard to stop the blood from pouring out, but it pools through my fingers. An unstoppable deluge of red.

Rosalie claws at my sleeves, but more of her strength disappears with each passing second.

“Rosalie, I’m so sorry…”

She quakes in my arms, letting out one final cry before her eyes close.

I lay my head against hers as her hands fall, limp and lifeless, to her sides. My tears mix with the blood on my hands and I cradle her closer to me, refusing to let her go.

“A Zappia woman must never betray her life maiden,” Gio says, his voice stiff and rehearsed as if he were reading out of a sacred text.

“Shut up.”

“To do so is punishable by death—”

“I said, shut up.”

Gio leans down and rests the blade against my cheek. “I would be more respectful if I were you, Sofia.” He drags the knife’s edge along my skin, and I feel her warm blood stain my face as he rises to his feet. “Get up.”

“No.”

Rosalie, forgive me.

“Stand up, Sofia.”

“No.”

I pull her closer. It’s always been me and Rosalie, ever since our parents died. She’s all I have left… She’s all I have…

Gio grabs my arm and forces me off the floor with one quick jerk. Rosalie slides from my grip and settles on the floor beneath me. I cringe at the sound and the blood. There’s so much blood…

“Sofia.”

I lay my red-soaked hands on his chest and shove him away, leaving a bright smear on his perfect, white shirt. “Let go of me—!”

He takes hold of me again, digging his fingertips into my skin. “One more outburst like that and it’ll be his blood on your hands.”

Lucian.

“Where is he? What did you do to him?”

“He’s safe,” he answers through his teeth. “Whether he stays that way is up to you.”

“Do what you want to me but please don’t hurt my son.”

Gio shakes his head. “I’m not going to hurt him, Sofia. I will raise him as mine, I can promise you that. But you? No, you will suffer for what you’ve done.”

“Just kill me now. Get it over with.”

“Why would I do that when you deserve a fate far worse than death? I have something better in mind for you.” He lays the blade on my cheek again. “First, I’m going to cut out your tongue so you will never speak your own name again.”

I cringe away but he holds me against him, forcing me to look into his black eyes.

---