Page 169 of Devil Mine

“Adriana,” I grit out.

He shakes his head. “You always assumed she was dead, but did I say we killed her?” My vision blurs, my body temperature dropping abruptly. “Wesoldher. Well, after Rocco had his fun with her, that is. He was obsessed with Adriana. Dadurian drugged her, that part was true, and then we left her with Rocco. Who knows what he did to her while he had her, but I doubt it was pretty. When he was done with her, he sold her. She’s probably dead by now, but she was alive for far longer than you believed.”

My lungs empty at the unimaginable horror of what he tells me. I can’t bear to think about what my sister lived through. What I couldn’t save her from.

Raw emotion mangles my organs into useless pieces of flesh. I have difficulty swallowing around the mass present in my throat. My thoughts rac–

Click.

There’s a click.

A terrifying click that I recognize instantly.

My heart lurches into my throat as I realize that Marco just pulled the trigger of the gun he has pointed at my wife’s head.

“One bullet. Six shots left.”

“Stop!” I roar. “What the fuck do you want? Tell me what you want and I’ll give it to you, just don’t hurt her.”

Dead eyes find mine. “What are you willing to give me?”

“Anything! Anything you want.” I vow, my eyes wild. They ping back and forth between the two of them. “Take me. Kill me. I’m the one you want. Tess doesn’t know anything and she doesn’t even want this life. If you kill me, she’ll go back to her CEO role and her society events and she won’t have anything to do with cartel business again. You kill me and you take my position without a war. It’s yours. You can have it, you can have everything, just, please, save her.”

Tess thrashes on the floor. She shakes her head violently, her eyes pleading with me when her mouth can’t. She shouts unintelligible words behind the tape.

She doesn’t want me to do this, but I won’t let her die for me. I can’t.

I look away from her and at him.

He considers me thoughtfully for long moments. Then he nods.

“I accept the trade. Tie him up,” he orders.

I’m forced violently down to my knees. Hands pull at my hair. Others yank my arms behind my back. A fist comes down on the side of my face. A foot between my shoulder blades shoves me face down into the floor. I don’t fight them. I let myself be pushed and dragged, my eyes never wavering from Tess. She jerks towards me, but Marco grabs her by her hair and yanks her back.

“Let her fucking go,” I shout. “You said you’d let her go.”

There’s a dark gleam in his gaze that makes me think he’s not going to do it, but then he takes a knife out and swipes at her back. He releases her and she falls to the ground.

The second her hands are free, she rips the tape off her mouth, crawls up to her knees, then her feet, and runs to me. She shoves the men off me with an enraged cry and pulls me to my knees. Her face is a picture of raw emotion, fear and desperation battling for dominance as she cups my face.

“I won’t let you do this,” she whispers brokenly.

Tess throws her arms around me and falls into my body. She hangs from my neck, her knees settled between my bent legs, her chest pressed against mine. She holds onto me for dear life. I can feel her heart beating madly against my body. For a moment, I experience what it’s like to live with two hearts. One occupies each side of my chest until the jerky, irregular beats merge into one steady rhythm.

My eyes flutter close.

This is real power.

I realize everything that came before it was a poor substitute.

I’d give anything to have my hands free for thirty more seconds so I can hold her back, so I can crush her against me one final time before I die.

Then I open my eyes and remember the gravity of our situation. I remember that holding onto me is the very last thing she should be doing.

“Tess,” I warn urgently. “Get out of here. Run.” She doesn’t budge. I feel something wet hit my neck and I realize she’s crying. “Tess, please. Get the fuck out of here now.” I try shrugging her off, but she holds on. I realize that she’s protecting me with her body. That she doesn’t intend to leave. Hopelessness has my tone just past the threshold of hysteria. “Amor. Please, go.Run.”

The longer she stays, the more time Marco has to change his mind. I feel my sanity start to fray at the edges.

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