Page 22 of Tortured Hearts
“Because you taught him to!” Flinging the door open, I slam my feet on the asphalt and stomp toward my condo. I can hear his muttered curse behind me, but I don’t turn around. I let him chase me until we both reach the front door, and even then, I stand with my back to him, fighting tears. “You wound him up and turned your back on him.”
“I won’t apologize for doing everything in my power to protect you.”
I glare at him over my shoulder. “Don’t you see the hypocrisy in that? Your vendetta againstGianni isn’t because of who he is… It’s because you share the same agenda, andhe’sthe one ticking off all the boxes.”
Spinning back around, I punch in the security code on the keypad next to the door. As usual, when forced to face his own sins, he falls mute. Frustrated, I shove the door open, then lock it behind me, not bothering with the light switch. Maybe it’s because I know the moment I let in the light, everything about today becomes real, and I’ll be forced to face it.
Or maybe you’re afraid to look down and see the red stain on your feet.
I press the heels of my palms to my eyes, then slowly drag them down my face. I used to be afraid of the dark. Now, all I want is to disappear inside of it.
Same habit. Different extreme.
Maybe a long, hot shower will wash away this feeling of dread.
My limbs feel like lead as I shuffle across the living room. There’s a static in the air I can’t explain. Kind of like hearing the roar of traffic, yet still standing in the middle of the intersection, spinning in circles. Hopefully, by the time the water turns cold, I’ll have made sense of the chaos my life has become.
I’m almost to my bedroom when a creaking noise from behind sends my hand flying to my chest and my heart into my throat. Cold dread pools in my veins as I stand frozen, listening for …what, I don’t know. A mouse? A ghost? Both? At the moment, I’d take a demon rodent over what I fear is the most likely source.
I’m regretting that decision not to turn on the lights. I feel like that idiot in horror movies everyone hates. The one who’d trust the blanket of silence I’m currently under.
But I don’t. One stupid mistake is enough.
I need a weapon. Sinking my teeth into my bottom lip, I lift my foot off the floor, reach back for my shoe,and bite back a curse.
Of all timesnotto be wearing stilettos…
Removing my sandal, I tighten my fingers around the arch and turn, ready to swing.
I never get the chance. I’m blindsided from the opposite direction and yanked against a hard chest, a cloth slammed over my face. The sandal falls from my hand at the first hint of its sickeningly sweet scent.
Chloroform.
Holding my breath, I swing my elbow backward and stomp my foot. Both connect, and I hear a deep groan as the arm around my waist loosens. Seizing the opportunity, I lunge forward, a move that sends both of us tumbling to the ground.
I’m spinning faster and faster, cars coming from every direction.
I claw the floor trying to crawl out from under my attacker’s heavy weight, but it’s like being pinned by a mountain. I open my mouth to scream only to fall silent when he swings an arm in front of my face.
“Going somewhere?”
I still, the familiarity of those words slamming a fist into my gut. Trapped between a wall of shock and spiraling rage, I clench my fists, one word escaping my lips before they’re crushed behind the darkness of the cloth. “You…”
Chapter Eight
GIANNI
Hours later, I’m alone in the interrogation room, staring holes into a two-way mirror and counting the seconds in my head to keep me from ripping the door off its hinges. I’m on second forty-two of minute one hundred and twenty when Reese comes barreling through it, his face twisted with rage. I barely get to my feet before he lunges, his hand clamping around my throat as he shoves me into the wall. “Where is she? What did you do to her?”
I grunt as my back hits concrete. “What are you talking about?”
“Don’t act like you don’t know what happened.”
“How would I? I’ve been locked in this…” I trail off, one word in his tirade landing a hard kick to my chest. “What do you mean,she? Did something happen to Becca?”
“No,somethingdidn’t happen to Becca,” he shouts. “Yourfucking family happened to her.Youhappened to her.” His voice shatters, his hand dropping from my neck as his eyes fill with tears. “All she did was trust you, and now she’s gone.”
I freeze. “What do you mean, ‘she’s gone’?”
