Page 147 of Cinder
I look at the old man.
Five months.
Five goddamn months, drugged and locked in a cellar.
Killing Luca Moretti once isn’t enough.
The evil fuck should’ve died slowly, over and over again.
CHAPTER 65
Ella
I still can’t believemy father is alive. I ride in the ambulance to the hospital and stay with him. The doctor says he will live. But he is very unwell. Severely undernourished and weak, with extreme muscle deterioration.
The only reason I leave his side is to check on Lucretia.
After saving her from Viktor, Beast took her back to the clubhouse, and it’s where I find her, asleep on Annika’s lap in the library, with the rest of the old ladies and club girls around her.
“She finally drifted off to sleep about twenty minutes ago,” Annika says quietly.
I kneel in front of her and Lucretia. I don’t want to wake my sister. She looks peaceful. At the hospital, Beast assured meViktor hadn’t had a chance to do the unthinkable to her. But if the Knights hadn’t shown up, I don’t doubt he would have.
I think about Viktor’s head in the box, and I’m happy he’s dead.
I reach out and stroke my sister’s hair.
“Thank you for looking after her,” I whisper.
“She’s been through a lot,” Annika says.
I try to bite back a sob, but it breaks through. “I know.”
“But so have you by the sounds of it,” she says. And the hand she puts on my arm is kind and comforting. Which I never expected from the ice queen.
“I’m so sorry I lied to you,” I say, rising to my feet as I cast a look around the faces in the room. “All of you.”
“Hey, you don’t need to apologize. From what Beast said, you didn’t have a lot of choice,” Luna says.
“I don’t think I would’ve been as strong,” Bambi adds.
I turn to Mya. My bestie. And my face cracks with another sob. “I’m so sorry.”
“Oh honey.” She wraps her arms around me and hugs me close. “I can’t imagine what you were going through.”
“Beast says your father is alive,” Belle says, nursing Lucy in her arms. “How is he doing?”
“They’re running tests. They don’t know what’s been done to him in the cellar.” Just the thought makes me want to shoot Luca again. “I should really get back to the hospital.”
My gaze slides to my sister.
“We’ll look after her,” Annika assures me.
“She has all of us looking out for her,” Bambi says.
Demri takes my hands. “Go be with your father. Lucretia is safe.”
I look at the women rallying around my sister.Around me.“I don’t know how to thank you guys.”
