Page 108 of Brutal King

“Wait!” He raises a hand to stop Noah before his knuckles make contact with my face. “Wait.”

“You can’t believe him. He’s bluffing,” Noah tells him.

Luca stares me down as I’m sure he imagines putting a bullet between my eyes. His jaw tenses and the veins in his forehead bulge.

It makes me smile to see him so distressed.

“Change of plans,” he says.

“What? You don’t want to play anymore?” I tease.

“Luca, you can’t be serious.” Noah points a finger at me. “If we let him go, we’ll never be free.”

“Ooh, I don’t envy your predicament,” I say with glee.

“Shut the fuck up,” Luca hisses.

“He’s right, you know,” I continue. “If you let me go, I’ll be a thorn in his side until he gives up.” Noah glowers at me and I laugh. “Don’t worry. There’s enough of me to go around. I’m good at multi-tasking. I’ll harass Arran too. But Sofia will be alive. So, what will it be?”

“Ignore him,” Luca says to Noah. “Come with me.”

They leave me without another word. Not even a backward glance.

“Don’t take too long,” I say to their retreating backs.

A long while later, the steel door to the hold opens again. This time, it’s Rowan that walks in.

I’m hallucinating, obviously. The beatings have taken their toll. I smile anyway. “Come to keep me company?”

Luca steps in behind him. “You have five minutes.” He looks at me and growls. “If you’re still on my property, I’ll fucking kill you both.”

Rowan hurries to me and begins to tear into the ropes binding my wrists with his blade. “You’ve really fucked us both, Dionne.”

“What? Why?” I ask, confused. My hands come apart and pain instantly shoots up my arms. “Fuck!”

“I’ll explain in the car.” He goes to work on my legs, moving quickly. When he’s done, he grabs me roughly and tugs me upward.

“Fuck. Fuck!” I nearly double over as I’m hit with a wave of nausea.

“Come on. We don’t have time.” He throws my limp arm around his shoulders and half carries, half drags me out of the room.

“Bye everyone,” I say to the guards staring at us. To Rowan, I say, “You’re actually here?”

He gives me a side glance. “What the hell else was I supposed to do?”

Somehow, he’s able to get me up the stairs and through the house. Luca and Carina are standing near the entrance. Luca comes close and grinds through his teeth, “Remember our deal, Rowan.”

But my brother ignores him, getting me past the front door and to the car waiting beneath the portico. He helps me into the passenger side of the black sedan. I drop inside with a grimace.

Just as we pull away, Luca comes out to give us one last glare.

“What deal did you make?” I ask Rowan. “Don’t tell me you sold my soul to the devil.”

“Not yours.”

“Whose?” I sit up and narrow my eyes on him.

“Mine.”

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