Page 54 of Texting My Mafia Savior

Enzo mutters something through his gag. I shake him so hard I feel his bones rattle. “He’s lucky I didn’t end him right here in the street for daring to treat you like that, the bastard. No one may do that, Arria. No one.”

Arria walks ahead across the dimly lit lobby. The apartment building isn’t in a significant part of town, but we must be quick. Somebody could see us, call the cops. That would be bad. We can’t have Don Caruso showing up with the cops outside. He’ll never come in, then—that’sifLucy can lure him here.

We take the stairs, Arria walking ahead, making sure nobody’s going to interrupt us. Enzo has shrunk back like the coward he is. I know this night is going to take a piece of me. I tried to live on the bright side, be The Savior, and nothing more. But they couldn’t help themselves. They had to summon the Nightmare.

Finally, we make it to the apartment. I shove Enzo inside, drag him over to a chair, grab the rope from the table, and begin tying him up. Arria looks at me with that same confusion on her pretty face. I hate it. I can’t stand it. She agreed to this plan but maybe the darkness was easier to handle in theory.

“Now what?” she says, having tied Enzo up.

“We pray Lucy can make it.”

“Then?”

I take Arria’s hands, holding them as gently as possible on a night like this. Already, parts of me are becoming cold. The savage in me is waking up. I’m going to have to kill two men tonight. There’s no going back. I’ve kidnapped the mafia prince. If I let him go now, he’d never forgive, never forget.

“We go on with our lives,” I tell her.

“What does that mean?”

“I can’t think about tomorrow,” I admit. “Tonight is messed up enough.”

She squeezes my hands supportively. “You’re doing the right thing.We’redoing the right thing. We’re in this together.”

“When you looked at me earlier, I thought you were judging me.”

She shakes her head. “This isn’t my world. It’s a shock. That’s all. I amnotjudging you, I promise.”

My nerves get worse the longer we wait. Every second we spend sitting here, with Enzo tied up and Arria unable to hide her anxiety, is another second we risk everything going wrong. When my phone buzzes, I leap on it. Is it Lucy?

I smile, somehow. Arria’s a miracle worker.

Arriana:I don’t want to keep talking in front of HIM. How are you holding up?

She’s looking at me with those understanding, beautiful eyes of hers.

Me:I’m doing okay, angel. Mostly, I don’t want you to fear me. We both know what I’m going to have to do.

Arriana:For the city. For us. You said they were bad men.

Enzo looks at me, then at Arria. I glare at Enzo, before he can smirk, laugh or make some other derisive gesture. He lowers his gaze. He’s a coward without his men backing him up—when he can’t bully women and kids.

Me:They’re evil. If I’m the Savior, they’re mafia monsters.

Arriana:What will you do to him if Lucy doesn’t get here?

Me:I’ll have to get rid of him now either way. He’s seen too much. He knows how much I care about you. How much you’ve changed me. When this is over, I’mgoing to put the darkness behind me. I never wanted to be part of this world. We’ll build a life worth living, Arria.

The whole time I type, Arria watches me with emotion on her pretty face.

I watch her as she types. Her cheeks are flushed with her emotions. Her thumbs move quickly. I want to hold her, glide my hands through her hair, be with her.

Arriana:I was going to ask, what about Dad? What about my travels? Blah, blah, blah… Here, now, none of it seems to matter. It’s like all this evil has made me focus on the good.

Me:I know the feeling.

Arria freezes when I stand up. Her senses aren’t as attuned to her surroundings as mine are. Outside, footsteps approach the door. I stalk to the edge of the hallway as Enzo moans through his gag, trying to warn his father. Both of them are sadists, I remind myself. Both of them have done unspeakable things.

I almost regretted telling Arria about all the things they’d done. Why did I do it, to absolve myself in her eyes?

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