Page 72 of Curse

“As soon as he gets the flash drive from you, you will see for yourself. Just like Liana.” he says darkly, running his palm up my thigh, pressing hard, kneading my flesh, bruising me with his meaty fingers.

I glare back at him, beads of sweat popping up along my body, trying hard to ignore the searing pain from the burns on my hip and thigh, not to mention the cuts on my back, wrists, and ankles from the plank and ropes. Swallowing hard, I focus on breathing around the gag.

Aurelio’s next punch comes out of nowhere, landing again on my stomach, and the board beneath me continues to crack, dropping a few inches.

I gasp, and try hard to pull in a breath, the wind knocked out of me. The gag is fabric, and it comes loose in my mouth, half of it sucked into the back of my throat as I hyperventilate. I start to choke on the gag as he hits me, raining relentless punches onto my abdomen and thighs.

I fight against the restraints, trying hard to loosen my hands so I can slide one out and remove the fabric from my throat. All I can see is Aurelio’s hulking form, his face moving in and out of my vision as he hits me over and over.

I can’t hear anything. I can’t even feel him make contact anymore, but I know he is as my body rebounds from eachpunch, the board continuing to crack and slip beneath me.

The room spins, my vision darkening. The board finally snaps in two, bending my body in half awkwardly as I fall hard to the ground, still tied. Aurelio’s shouts disappear and a white rush of silence washes over me as my body goes slack, and I stop fighting for breath.

It feels like a saw is ripping through my throat when the gag is ripped out of my mouth. When my vision begins to clear, it is not Aurelio but Matti’s face I see glaring down at me.

Gasping, I pull in as much air as I can into my lungs, but they feel locked, like they’re wrapped in plates of steel. I train my gaze on Matti as he works on the ties binding my wrists, too desperate to breathe to feel pain anywhere other than my lungs.

When Matti leans down, his lips against my ear, I close my eyes. His voice is all I can hear. Angry. Venomous. Cold. It slices through the thick silence in my head like a knife.

“You shouldn’t have fucked with me, Siena. You have no idea what I’m capable of.”

36

Matti

Iam finishing untying Siena’s hands when a heavy weight crashes down across my back. Glancing over my shoulder, I see Aurelio. He’s towering over me, a fire poker clenched in his thick, calloused hands.

Without hesitation, I shoot my leg out, my foot slamming squarely into his kneecap. A sickening pop follows as his bad knee, burdened for years by his massive frame, bends backward. His scream pierces the air as he crumples to the ground.

“Security! Where is my security?!” he bellows, his voice frantic and cracking.

I don’t bother telling him I dispatched his guards on my way in. My attention snaps back to Siena, who is blearily trying to untie her ankles from the splintered remains of the board.

Her skin is a mess of blood and bruises—her wrists raw, her cheek sliced, and her hip smeared with crimson. Guilt and fury surge through me, a toxic mix that is becoming all too familiar.

Aurelio groans behind me, and I turn to see him rolling onhis back, trying to gain enough momentum to stand. The fire poker is on the floor beside him, his hand twitching toward it. Before he can grab it, I’m on my feet, snatching it and holding it out of reach as I tower over him.

He glares up at me, defiance burning in his bloodshot eyes.

“Your life is worthcazzonow. You fucking let pussy overtake your brain. I’ll make sure you and your bitch are both put down like dogs.”

He swings his arm wildly, trying to swipe at my legs, but I bring my boot down hard on his forearm, a satisfying crunch accompanying his screams.

Without pausing, I bring the poker down across his chest, forcing the breath from his lungs. He wheezes and clutches at his shirt, his face contorted in agony.

I swing again, this time smashing his hands as well as his ribs. Two fingers twist at grotesque angles, and his howls turn shrill. Adjusting my grip on the poker, I point the sharp end down, hovering it over his dick.

“You touch her,” I growl, my voice low and lethal. “You lose more than just your fingers.”

“NO!” Aurelio screams, twisting just enough that my thrust lands the poker in the thick flesh of his hip instead. His cries morph into a high-pitched wail as blood pours from the wound. I raise the poker again, ready to strike, when a man’s voice cuts through my rage.

“MATTI!”

Vin is in the doorway, his face a mask of anguish. It’s a look I’ve only seen once before, when we were kids and he found out his mother was gone. His gaze darts to Aurelio writhing on the floor, then back to me, fear on his face.

I know I can’t dismantle this man the way I want to rightnow, not with Vin looking at me like that. I throw the poker against the thick wood wall next to Vin, shattering a picture frame hanging there. “Get him the FUCK out of here before I fucking rip his head off!”

Vin steps over the broken frame and makes his way to Aurelio, grabbing him by the collar and grunting as he drags him away from Siena and me. Aurelio thrashes and screams in Italian, his voice a grating rasp.

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