Page 150 of The Devil Can Be Kind

My heartbeat pounded in my ears, and my stomach lurched sickeningly. I stumbled back a step, struggling to keep my footing as I tried to move away from the looming presence of the monster before me.

He looked just the same as I remembered.

For a moment it was as if it had been only days rather than years since I’d last seen him. Then I noted the change in his eyes. They were predatory,derangedas they ran over my body, silhouetted against the darkness.

Sofia sauntered toward the man without hesitation.

“Sofia, no—" My strangled voice rang out, trying to warn her.

“I did as you asked, Darling. I brought her here for you,” Sofia cooed to him.

My stomach fell to the floor.

It was a set-up.

She had lured me outside to face a monster. To my death.

I gagged when a wicked smile contorted her lips as she approached the man, stroking his chest lovingly and gazing up at him adoringly.

He leaned down and sealed his mouth to hers. She all but threw herself at him, latching onto him passionately and moaning into him. Ricardo showed no such enthusiasm, his eyes remaining trained on me the entire time, with an intensity that made me feel like I was being hunted.

I looked away and closed my eyes, not wanting to see any more of the disturbing display before me.

“Now. Kill the bitch.” Sofia’s words had my eyes immediately springing back open.

She was standing before Ricardo, his arm possessively wrapped around her shoulders as she looked at me with unrestrained hatred unfurling in her eyes.

I gulped as another wave of fear sliced through me.

Part of my brain screamed at me to run, but I knew it would be futile. Ricardo was not only stronger than me and faster—he was also armed. I would be dead before I could even get to the gun at my thigh.

I watched wide-eyed as Ricardo reached his hand across Sofia’s face and yanked her head suddenly to the side, the movement so violent that a sickening snap obliterated the silence.

Her body fell limp immediately, and he tossed her to the floor as if she were no more than a bag of bones, her glassy eyes frozen in the night.

A strangled cry tore from my throat and I fell to my knees. Bile rose in my throat and this time I couldn’t keep it down. The world swirled before me as my stomach emptied itself.

I hardly registered a presence kneeling beside me on the floor until a large, calloused hand pulled my face painfully to the side.

“You should have known this was going to happen, my love.” Ricardo said softly. His dark, soulless eyes piercing into me. “You’ve always been mine.”

The smile on his face suddenly dripped into a hateful grimace as his eyes fell to my dress.

“It seems you forgot that,” he spat, shoving my face away from him as he rose to his feet.

He turned on his heel, pacing the distance between me and Sofia’s lifeless body agitatedly.

My hand subtly searched for the hard edge of my gun through the fabric and a tear trailed down my cheek as I realized how impossibly trapped it was under the material. A sob bubbled in my throat as the last of my hope extinguished.

“Imagine my surprise when after all these years of waiting for my ridiculous father to die, I find youkidnappedby the La Torre’s. Howdarehe take what is MINE!” He roared, swinging around to face me so ferociously I flinched and braced for impact.

“No, no, no, no!” Ricardo cooed, kneeling beside me once again and taking my face between his hands. I tried to wrench myself away from his touch, but he latched onto my skin with a bruising force. “Don’t be afraid, my love. I am here to save you.”

I couldn’t fight him as his lips crushed fiercely against mine. Silent tears rolled down my face and I wanted so much to fight him off, to push him away, but I couldn’t.

I was frozen. Terrified and caged by absolute and inescapable fear.

“You see, my love, I have always wanted you. You caught my eye the moment our fathers joined forces all those years ago. You are such a beauty, Adalyn.” He murmured, tracing his hand down the side of my cheek and I fought the urge to spit in his face. “I demanded my father broker our marriage the moment you turned eighteen, but both him and your insolent fatherrefused. So…I took what was mine on your eighteenth birthday, regardless of whattheywanted. It still wasn’t enough to force them into a deal though.” He spat.

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