Page 53 of Burning Beauty

With that thought in mind, Nic picked up the phone and dialled his Las Vegas contact. It was time to reunite Maria with her brother.

Chapter Twenty-Eight

"You have to eat something, sweetie." Cassandra ran her hand down Maria's back in a soft caress.

Maria was laying on her side in Nic's bed, in Nic's room. She'd tried to leave, to go back to her own room, but she was blocked at the door by a bodyguard and told she would not be allowed to leave without the boss's permission. Maria had shuddered at that and retreated back to the bed. There was no chance she was going to defy Nic's orders and risk him murdering someone else.

She'd been in his room for two days now, trying to ignore him when he was present. When he was sleeping in bed next to her. At night she would lay silently, stiffly, afraid to move, afraid to draw his attention. He hadn't tried to touch her yet, but she knew it was only a matter of time. If he'd intended to let her go, he would have done it by now. She belonged to him and he was determined to keep her. Even if she hated him. Even if she was terrified of him.

"Please come down for dinner," Cassandra persisted.

"Will he be there?" she asked, her voice hoarse from crying.

Cassandra sighed and pulled herself into a more comfortable position next to Maria on the bed. "Yes, he's always present for the evening meal, unless he's away on business."

They fell silent again. Cassandra probably realized that as long as Nic was downstairs in the dining room Maria wouldn't go. She was determined to avoid any and all contact unless she had no choice. She had watched him put a gun to someone's head and then blow the man's brains out. Literally. Maria had seen brains splattered on the driveway.

Bile rose in her throat and she lurched off the bed so suddenly Cassandra called out in alarm and the bodyguard came rushing in. Maria ignored them both, bolting for the toilet. She shoved the lid back and threw up. The only thing in her stomach was what little liquid she'd drank to appease Yara. It burned her throat coming back up.

She reached up with a shaky hand and flushed the toilet, then pushed herself back to lean against the bathtub. The tears started coming again, despite her determination to stop crying. She'd try again tomorrow. Today, her heart was broken, and she couldn't deal with it. Watching the man she loved kill someone changed her. It chilled her in a way that nothing else in her life had ever done. She had grieved for Marc, had grieved for her life prior to his death. She had been frightened and angry when Franco had gotten his hands on her. But nothing, absolutely nothing in her life could compare to the painful shattering of her heart when Nic pulled that trigger.

She cried for that lost piece of herself. Then she cried for her dead mama and her lost brother. Nothing in her world seemed right and there was nothing she could do to fix it as long as she was trapped in a home with a monster.

Cassandra sat on the floor next to her and held her while she cried, rocking her and saying soothing words that Maria didn't understand. When she started to calm down, she asked, her voice nasally and husky from crying, "Is that Italian?"

Cassandra beamed at her and said, "Si, chica."

Maria let out a watery laugh. "I didn't know you spoke Spanish too."

"Si, chica," she confirmed with a grin.

"Is that the only thing you know how to say?"

"Si, chica!"

Maria actually laughed out loud, hiccupping a little. She scrubbed her face with the sleeve of her sweater. "What did you say to me in Italian?"

"That we shall drain the blood of all your enemies and feed their flesh to our hell hounds," Cassandra said cheerfully. "Then I said that we will go on a shopping spree that will put all other shopping sprees to shame with the credit cards of our dead enemies."

Maria laughed again and shook her head. "You are one crazy chica, and I adore you."

"Same," Cassandra said with a smile. She reached for Maria. "Let me help you up."

A wave of dizziness hit Maria as she straightened, and she felt nauseous again.

"Take it nice and slow," Cassandra said soothingly, an arm around Maria's waist. "You haven't eaten in days."

Maria sighed gratefully as she stretched out on the bed. "I just need to nap, I'll be fine."

Cassandra shook her head. "All you do is sleep. I think I'll send the doctor in to check on your vitals."

"Please don't!" Maria didn't want the doctor near her. He had a weird air of desperation around him. It had taken her awhile to figure him out, but she thought he was probably in awe of the money he was earning while being utterly terrified of his host. Maria didn't blame him, but she also didn't want him near her.

"Okay, no doctor," Cassandra said, narrowing her eyes at Maria. "But only if you accept a tray from Yara and try to eat as much as you can."

"I promise," Maria assured her. "Honestly, I'm not trying to starve myself or anything, I just... every time I try to eat... I see Antonio’s face."

Cassandra looked at her with compassion. "I get it. You should never have seen that. Nic made a huge mistake forcing you to witness an execution. He's used to being the boss, to making the decisions for all of us, whether right or wrong. He's never had to answer to anyone before."

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