Page 104 of Cruel Secrets

And with not much thought at all, I break his nose.

“Fucking Christ,” Noah roars before I get my hands around his throat.

Jace steps in, looping an arm around my waist and dragging me off Noah, even as Skyla shrieks every threat under the sun.

The men with the family tie them up, stuffing rags into their mouths and shoving them in the corners.

I kick at Jace, clawing at his arm and trying to get free. Every rational thought leaves my mind as the need to protect my baby takes over everything else.

Noah gets to his feet and wipes the blood from his face as it continues to trickle from his nose. “You’re going to tell me where Bianca is.”

“Like hell!”

Jace drops me and Noah is the first to attack, grabbing me around the throat and shoving me up against the wall before I have a chance to rip his eyes out.

Noah keeps one hand around my throat, limiting my breathing, while the other wraps around my wrist, hauling it high above my head and bending it at an unnatural angle.

I bite down so hard I’m on the verge of cracking a tooth as tears spring to my eyes.

He smirks, pushing my wrist farther to the side. “I’m going to break your wrist if you don’t tell me where she is. You know that. I know that. Why don’t you save yourself the pain and tell me where the hell you hid my niece?”

“I’d rather die than let you get your fucking hands on her.” I drive my knee up into his balls as hard as I can, and he drops my hand but the one around my throat squeezes harder.

“That was stupid, Gia. Very stupid.”

“Fuck you.”

He takes a butterfly knife out of his pocket, flipping it open and drawing the blade along my jaw. “Do you think your daughter would still love you if you were missing a face? I don’t think she would.”

There’s a thud in the corner of the room as Dominic kicks out the knees of one of the men guarding him.

Noah sighs and motions to Jace with the knife. “Go take care of that.”

The gunshot cracks through the room before Dominic’s body slumps against the wall, staining it with blood.

“No!” I scream and claw at Noah’s hand, but it’s no use.

His hold on my neck tightens before he slides the knife along my jaw just below my ear, cutting me. “Now, you’re going to get one last chance to tell me where the fuck my niece is before I’m forced to do something I really don’t want to do.”

“Go ahead and kill me, then.”

He slams the knife into the wall beside my head. “Do you think this is some kind of fucking game, Gia?”

“None of the others know where Bianca is,” I say as Sean yells muffled threats against his gag. “If you kill me, you have no chance at finding her and we both know it.”

It’s a bluff and it’s one I’m desperate for him to believe.

Noah eyes me for a moment before letting go of my throat. “Maybe we should try to be civil, don’t you think?”

“No.” I rip the knife out of the wall and slam it into his thigh before I take off running.

“She’s mine!” His voice booms through the house, the heavy pounding of footsteps coming to an immediate stop.

I slide around the corner and into the garage, looking for the baseball bat I saw in here when we first arrived.

Before I can cross the garage, Noah’s hand is locked around my bicep and he’s hauling me back into the house. He drags me into the living room, grinding his teeth as he shoves me to my knees in front of the others.

His breath is warm against the shell of my ear. “I already had one of your little friends killed. Do you think I won’t kill another? I still owe Sean and Ellie a death sentence.”

---