Page 79 of The Devil's Pawn

I draw in a stuttered gasp from the loud noise.

The van must’ve hit something, but the driver continues rushing down whatever road we’re on now. There are no windows back here. I’m blind.

I remember there being a security officer at the gate when I first arrived at the community Dante lives in. Why didn’t he call for help? Did they hurt him?

“Who are you?” I ask the man.

He doesn’t respond as his fingers dig deeper into my hip.

My skin crawls. Creepy, rotting dread enters the pit of my stomach.

“You don’t recognize your own fiancé?”

My inhale freezes on a gasp as blood drains from my face, an icy shudder running up the length of me.

This can’t be real.

This is a dream.

She wouldn’t.

She couldn’t betray me like this.

Thud.

Thud.

My heartbeats are no longer my own. They explode so quickly, I’m afraid my heart will rip right out my chest.

“Car-Carlito? Wha-what are you doing here?” My voice is broken. Small. It’s pitiful that it even belongs to me.

“When your mother called and told me the happy news of having found you, I couldn’t wait to come.”

“She called you?”

The disbelief is etched so deeply in my tone, it’s hard to hear it. My mother’s betrayal hurts far more than I can ever forgive.

She never meant to let me go. Her control over me has no end. I should’ve killed myself when I had the chance.

A sob slips from my throat as tears well up within my eyes and stream down my face.

An evil chuckle breaks from his mouth. “My God, you’re pathetic.”

He moves forward, facing me now. His hand reaches for my jaw, fingers gripping harshly.

“You’ll be crying a lot worse after what I do to you,” he spits out crudely. “You better hope you didn’t fuck that asshole—or anyone, for that matter. I’ll fucking kill you if you did.”

I pant, the gasping exhales leaving me in a frenzy. His hand falls away.

“When we get to where we’re going, you’re going to tell me everything you’ve been up to with him. I can’t even say his fucking name!” he bellows.

“His name is Dante,” I fire back, the angry waves of emotion rocking my very foundation.

“Shut up, you slut!” he screams so loudly that my head whirls back, but not before the handle of his gun slams into the back of my head.

Stars form before my eyes as my eyelids drift to a semi-close. I whimper in pain, inadvertently covering the burning ache in the spot he hit me.

Everyone I ever thought was on my side—or should’ve been—has betrayed me. My parents. Dante. Even Chiara didn’t tell me the truth about everything she knew. All of them are liars.

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