Page 50 of Killer Love

“Then,” he continues, “I’ll pluck out your eyes to cast you into darkness. I’ll throw acid on your pretty face so no one will ever recognize you again. I will destroy you in every way I can think of and then…” He smiles. “I’ll sell you to the underground where you’ll live out the remainder of your days with the rest of the ugly, diseased whores.”

“Gio, please—”

He presses the blade against my eyelid. I close my mouth, shaken to the core.

“Lucian will grow up,” he says, “and someday, he will ask me about his mother. Do you know what I’ll tell him?” He waits, enjoying the silence as I tremble in his grasp. “I’ll tell him that you abandoned him. I’ll tell him that you never loved him or wanted him.”

“No…”

“For that, he will despise you and then he will forget you ever existed… just as I will. I think that will suffice, Sofia. I think that is what you deserve.”

“I want to see him.”

He shakes his head. “No.”

“Let me see my son.”

“He’s my son now.”

“Luka won’t let you get away with this,” I warn. “When he finds out, he’ll come back for us.”

Gio’s eye twitches as I say his name, but his lips curl. “No, he won’t.”

“Yes, he will. He cares about Lucian—”

“Luka Lutrova won’t come back here again because he’s dead, Sofia.”

I let the tears fall and his face goes blurry in my vision. “No, he’s not…”

“I had him killed this afternoon.”

“No…” I shake my head, refusing to believe it. My sister’s blood is still warm on my hands. I can’t bear the thought of losing Luka, too.

“Did you like it, Sofia?” he asks. “Did you like him being inside of you? More than me?”

I bite my tongue in disgust.

His smile fades and he lays a hand on my cheek, drawing a slow, gentle line down my face with his thumbnail. “Would you believe me if I said I loved you?”

“No,” I answer, giving in to my anger.

“Say you’ll love me,” he whispers. “Say you will, and I’ll love you back. I’ll spare you.”

“You’re not capable of love, Gio.”

“You might be right about that,” he nods, “but I am very capable of joy and I’m really going to enjoy this.” He rests his hand on my neck. “Get on your knees, Sofia.”

“No.”

He wraps his fingers around my throat. “I said, get on your knees.” He shoves me backward until my head hits the wall. I flinch as the pain rattles my spine. “You might not have taken your wedding vows seriously, Sofia, but you are still my wife and you will do as I tell you. Get on your—”

I kick up my knee, firing it forward with all the strength I have left. It connects with his groin and he doubles forward as I reach for the knife in his hand.

Gio lets the blade fall to the floor and he wraps his other hand around my neck. He fights through his pain and squeezes my throat even harder as I struggle to breathe.

“G—io—” I cough and scratch at his hands, but he doesn’t let up.

He leans over, forcing me down to my knees. I can’t do a thing to fight him. My vision blurs. My lungs ache for just one burst of air.

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