Page 90 of Pray for the Damned

We have a lot of years ahead of us, and there’s no chance she’s getting rid of me.

“Seems your brother has been hiding something from us,” Dad tells him, and I barely catch my eyes before they roll. If only he knew.

“Where are her clothes?” Kade barks. “Draper won’t be happy if he shows up here and all these fuckers are eyeing his property.”

Waverly flinches beside me, her breath stuttering as she sucks it in.

There’s nothing I want more than to reassure her, than to let her know that everything we say is a lie that we’re forced to play along with. But I can’t. We need her reactions to seem real, even if that means hurting her in the process.

Dad looks between Kade and the trembling woman beside me but sighs and nods to one of the guys from the van. “Get her a blanket or something.”

Kade turns to our father and crosses his arms over his chest. “What the fuck am I doing here? You pulled me out of a job for this bullshit.” He holds his arms out. “A handover is hardly in my pay grade.”

Fuck me. If it weren’t for the fact I know how much he cares for Waverly, I would believe every word out of his mouth. There’s not an ounce of emotion in them, and I hope that whenwe leave here tonight, our girl can find it in herself to forgive us for whatever we have to do to get her out of here.

Dad makes a noncommittal sound and turns back to us. “I thought we could have a little fun. You see, I haven’t told Salvatore we found the girl yet, and after all this time, I doubt he’s expecting us to. He wants her, but he’s also a reasonable man.”

Kade’s bored look doesn’t flicker as he stares at our father, waiting for him to say whatever the fuck he’s alluding to, but I have a feeling I’m not going to like it any more than most of the shit that sprouts from his mouth.

“Can we get on with it?” he asks as he buries his hands in his pockets.

A soft sob drags my attention back to Waverly, who finally has a blanket wrapped around her, allowing me to relax just a little. Having all these eyes on her was making me murderous, which was making it difficult to think through our situation and make a plan.

“Get him up.” Dad nods to me, and I quickly find myself dragged to my feet. Every muscle in my body is on fire from the beating I took, but I refuse to let them see my weakness. The fucking cowards jumped me from behind, giving me no chance to fight back.

I steady myself the best I can, but with my hands bound, my balance is off.

My father steps toward me, his dark eyes that are so like my own glistening with callous hatred. He never much cared for me, because I wasn’t as ruthless and deadly as Kade, but this is something else entirely. He wants to watch me burn, but I don’t plan on giving him that pleasure.

“You ruined everything,” he spits through clenched teeth. “You were supposed to be like your brother. The two of you weresupposed to take your place at the top and run this business. But you had to go and ruin everything, didn’t you?”

“No,” I say. “I just took control of my own life.”

His hit comes out of nowhere, almost knocking me off my feet, but hands grasp me from behind, keeping me up.

“Dad,” Kade sighs. “Didn’t you always tell me it was rude to play with my food?”

“But your brother?—”

“My brother forged his own path, and it hasn’t impacted the business at all,” Kade finishes for him.

“Hasn’t impacted the business?” he shouts. “He’s been harboring the woman that our most valuable client has been fixated on for a decade!”

“Then let’s just hand over the girl and move on with our lives. This is not worth any of our time.”

Another sob breaks from Waverly, but everyone in the room is too focused on the altercation between the three of us. I long to pull my girl into my arms and tell her everything is going to be okay, to tell her that everything we’re saying is to protect her, but I wouldn’t blame her if she never forgives us for our false cold indifference.

“No,” Dad barks. “I want to see where your brother’s loyalties lie. So we’re going to play a game.”

“A game?” I ask, my throat closing over at the thought of what he’s proposing.

He nods. “You have a choice. You either pledge your allegiance to the family and drop the fucking religious bullshit, and we hand her over to Draper. Or I’ll make you watch as my men take turns on her until her body gives up, and only then will I kill you both.”

CHAPTER SIXTY-THREE

WAVERLY

Terror lanced through my body at his words.

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