Page 80 of Cinder
Carolina tsk tsks as she brings a cigarette to her red lips. Her eyes gleam as she waits for her son’s reaction.
She doesn’t have to wait long.
Luca strides across the room to stand right in front of me. I don’t flinch, but it takes everything for me not to. At first, he does nothing but stare at me, those black eyes boring into me like laser beams, his lips thin and tight. The hairs on the back of my neck stand on end, and my stomach twists.
Like the crack of a whip, he grabs my chin and squeezes until I think my jaw is going to shatter. I wince beneath his vice-like grip and feel the pain shoot along my jaw and into my skull. Just when I think I’m going to pass out from the pain, he lets me go, and I fall to the floor, the breath I was holding erupting out of me in a coughing fit.
“Now, what is the update?” he asks, as if he didn’t almost break my face.
I rub my jaw. “There’s a party on Saturday night. It will be a chance for me to look for the book properly.”
“You mean, you’ve been working there all week, and you haven’t even tried to find the fucking book?”
“I need to build trust.”
“No, you need to get that fucking book before I lose my patience.”
I climb to my feet. I feel too vulnerable looking up at Luca. I need to be eye level with him. “It’s a locked room. I have tohave a reason to be in there, and for that to happen, they need to trust me. I’ve already been caught once.”
“Ah yes, by theenforcer.” He says the title theatrically to mock it. “These stupid titles are bit childish, aren’t they? Enforcer. President. Treasurer. What are we, kids in the playground?”
Okay,DonMoretti.
I bite my tongue. Keep my expression neutral. Despite envisioning Lars showing Luca what he does to people who call his title childish. I’m thinking a bullet to his face. No, Lars would get up close and personal with his fists, and he wouldn’t stop until they were both bleeding. Lars from his knuckles, Luca from the area that used to be his face.
A surge of warmth spreads through me.
I’d pay a billion dollars to see that.
“Have you seen much of this enforcer since you’ve been working there?” Luca asks.
I look him in the eyes. “No.”
It’s easy to lie to someone’s face when there is so much at stake.
“He offers you a job but doesn’t check in on you?” Carolina asks.
I answer her but keep my eyes locked on Luca. “I don’t think I made that much of an impression.”
“Enough for him to offer you a job,” she says.
“I was in the right place at the right time. I don’t think he has given me a second thought.”
Luca tilts his head. His eyes roam my face looking for inconsistencies or something that might show I am lying. But I give him nothing.
“I’m just asking for a bit more time. But I will get the book.”
“Good. Because I’ve decided that if you don’t come up with the goods, I’m going to gift Lucretia to Viktor for his troubles.” He smiles with glee. “Just think, you’ll be sister wives.”
In my silent rage, my gaze slides to my bed where I keep a knife under the pillow for protection. Could I reach it before he has a chance to stop me?
Could I plunge it right into his heart before the self-satisfied smile even leaves his face?
“Did you hear what I said?” he says, irritated because he hasn’t gotten the reaction he was hoping for.
I look from my pillow to his smug face, mentally counting the steps it would take to reach the knife and the seconds it would take to plunge it into his neck.
But the impulsive move would be a fatal move if I don’t succeed. He would hurt Lucretia.And make me watch.
