Page 29 of Wild Angel

I don’t know how I summon the strength.

Strange. Vito and I have taken plenty of young girls out of my uncle’s bedroom after he was done with them.

Their pain, their humiliation… never affected me.

I was—I still am—cold steel.

At least…I thought I was.

None of them looked as broken as Nyx. The sight of her sends a signal to my brain. Adrenaline starts building. With it, fury.

Every inch of my skin is prickling, and I feel seconds away from launching myself at Sergio and ripping out his throat with my fucking teeth. I want to disembowel him with my bare hands, and then strangle him to death with his own intestines.

But I can’t.

Nyx needs me.

I needher.

And unless I get her out of this room, none of us are going to get what we want.

Sergio shoves her away from him, and she collapses again. Her hands barely come up in time to stop her crashing face-first onto the carpet.

As if sensing I’d lunge at him, Sergio steps back and spreads his arms. A benevolent deity offering me a gift. I move forward, erratic as I fight to control myself.

The sound Nyx makes when I slide my hands under her and lift her from the bloodstained carpet shrivels up my heart.

I expect her to fight me.

Iwanther to fight me. That’s the only way I know she’ll survive this.

But she doesn’t.

She dangles from my arms, limp and unresponsive, staring at nothing.

I turn around and make for the door. My legs shudder, caught between conflicting commands. I look up, lock eyes with Vito. He’s shaking his head, ready to intervene if I’m planning violence, and then starts looking around. He rushes over to a nearby couch and drags the white cashmere throw from the back, hurries up to me.

“Savage,don’t,” he whispers furiously, his eyes flickering from me to my uncle.

The motherfucker is still just standing there. He’s lit himself a fresh cigar, and he’s watching me like I’m some new puppet show.

Vito is right. I shouldn’t.

My legs move me closer to the door. Vito manages to cover Nyx’s body with the throw, but I can still see her face, and that’s what sends a surge of fury pounding through me.

“I’ll kill you,” I murmur.

“Savage!” Vito throws a horrified look toward his father, shakes his head. Like he’s telling Sergio I didn’t mean it.

I do.

With every motherfuckingfiber of my being.

“I’ll kill you!” I yell, turning so suddenly that Nyx’s hair slaps against my thigh.

Sergio’s lips crook up around his fat, stinking cigar. His smile is both vicious and fatherly.

He nods, just one.

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