Page 60 of The Devil In Disguise

Dirty chunks of food and blood spurt out of his nose and leak from under the tape. My gloved hand rips the tape completely off, allowing Renato to hurl the rest of his insides to the floor.

“Guys, I’m in. I have the location and time of the auction, but we need to move soon. It’s hours away from here.” Luci pops back in, ignoring the mess behind me. Relief strikes me and all I care about is that we’re one step closer.

I’m coming, baby.

“Thank fuck,” I breathe out. “You guys meet me in the car with the chest of weapons, I’ll wrap this up.”

They head outside while I remove the blindfold and headphones, strolling back up to him with my trusty bat. He’s hanging on by a thread and it shows. This might be the best I’ve seen him look.

He coughs, lifting his eyes to mine. “I should have killed you, too, when I got rid of your mother.”

In all the turmoil, I never even stopped to wonder…

The unexpected bomb he dropped sends an electrifying jolt through my body, rendering me speechless. Chucking the bat at him, I forgo it, walking straight up to the red jerrycan against the wall. My eyes sting as I allow the emotions pouring through me to wreak havoc. Pouring the majority of the gasoline all around the floors and wall, I toss it aside and release him from his chains. Going for the flamethrower, his body tries extra hard to move away upon seeing me. It gets him nowhere.

I loom over him at a short distance. “Look at me, bastard.” There it is. The tear streaked, sick looking face of defeat.

“Burn in hell,” are my last words before I let the flame rain down on him, incinerating the monster from all my nightmares. The flames spread quickly throughout the warehouse, forcing me to run out before I get trapped in their wake. Coughing up all the smoke that entered my lungs, a shout pulls my attention to the right.

“Get in, lunatic. The place is going to blow.” Luci’s face hangs out the window as he drives up to where I stand. Jumping in the backseat, Luci speeds off right on time. Seconds later, the building blows, nudging the car with the force of it.

“Well, you definitely wrapped it up,” Luci comments playfully.

“No need for cleanup, either. Nice exit,” Marco adds.

At my silence, Marco turns, cocking a brow at my dazed expression.

“It was him.” I’m barely audible. The confusion written on Marco’s face is confirmation of it.

All these years…

I clear my throat and look into Luci’s eyes through the rearview. “He killed Mama. While I was asleep, oblivious to the monster he truly was.” Despite my best efforts, my voice cracks halfway through speaking.

Dropping my eyes to the steering wheel, the death grip Luci has on it shows me he feels it, too. Marco’s brows raise to his forehead, his face dropping as he faces forward.

“Figlio di puttana,” Luci hisses.

We drive in silence for a few minutes until I break the silence. “We won’t let him win. He can’t take her, too. We need a plan.”

Marco and I glance at Luci, waiting for him to give us what he has so far.

“Have either of you heard of Seraphina Hall?” We turn to each other with the same puzzled expression, then back to Luci.

“No. What is it?” Marco asks.

“Figures. That’s more Dario’s style,” he responds more to himself than us. “They call it a pleasure playhouse. It’s supposed to be a sort of BDSM retreat for people to pay money to indulge in all different types of fantasies and kinks. Underground is where they hold the girls they keep captive until it’s time for the monthly auction, but they also use some of the rooms above in the club.”

I’ve heard of those places—clubs for people to enjoy their kinks—mainly from Dario. They definitely are going to have heavy security on the main floor. How will we make it under?

“My guy got me a spot on the floor, I’ll be on the inside posing as a buyer. Hopefully, I’ll be able to bid on as many girls as possible and they can go straight to Maven’s team. Ky, once I’m inside, Benito and I will help you sneak in. You’ll have to be stealthy moving around. A lot of these people will know who you are and we need to avoid getting found out, at least until the girls are out of the building safely.”

“What about me?” Marco asks.

Luci pauses to make a turn. “You will stay with Maven and her team around the perimeter. We’ll each have an earpiece, so wait for mine or Kylo’s signal.”

Nodding, he agrees. “I can do that.”

A quick search shows a sprinkling of pictures from the interior of the mansion. Going down the rabbit hole of comments and information on the place doesn’t take long. Only about an hour and a half into the drive, we’re pulling into a parking garage.

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