Page 13 of Savage Knights (Princes of Devil's Creek 3)

I cleared my throat and sat straighter, my chin held high. A man like Lorenzo was used to people fearing him, and I didn’t want him to see me sweat.

“Marcello mentioned you,” I said in a nonchalant tone, as if his position of power meant nothing. “He said you’re his uncle.”

“Great uncle,” he corrected. “His mother was my niece.”

Lorenzo looked too young to be Evangeline Franco’s uncle. If she were still alive, she would have been around fifty years old. He couldn’t have been more than a few years older than her, give or take.

“You don’t have to fear me, Alexandrea.” Lorenzo reached across the table and tapped a heavy gold and diamond ring on the side of my plate. “I didn’t poison your food. Eat.”

“Where are you taking me?”

“Isola del Diavolo,” he said with a creepy grin.

I shoved a few pieces of steak into my mouth and spoke to him between bites. “Why are you doing this to me?”

Before he could answer, several pairs of shoes hit the floor in the hallway, moving toward us with speed. He shifted in his chair and glanced at the entryway as two men entered the room with my mother. They tied her wrists behind her back, and a bandana covered her mouth.

I grinned at the sight of her vulnerable and with no way out of this mess. Lorenzo tricked her into bringing me to him. Now, she had nothing to show for all of her scheming.

Stupid bitch.

Lorenzo rose from the chair and ripped the bandana from her mouth. My mother shouted one curse after the other. He slapped her across the face so hard her eyes rolled back into her head.

A single tear slid down her cheek.

I’d never seen my mother back down to anyone. She steamrolled my father and exerted her power over Aiden and me. To see her scared, her limbs shaking with fear, filled me with a sick satisfaction.

For my entire life, she was always in control. The one pulling the strings. I wished Aiden was here to see it for himself. To see the moment our mother had accepted defeat.

“You think you’re so smart?” Lorenzo bent down to match her height, clutching her chin with his fingers. “Thought you could hand over your daughter and walk away unscathed.”

“I…” She tripped on her words, unable to finish her thought.

Did she not know Lorenzo Basile was Evangeline Franco’s uncle? My mother was ruthless and had a black heart made of tar. She thought she could play a game with monsters because she was just like them.

I soaked up her fear, drank it in the way Damian would savor a kill. It was too delicious seeing her tremble before a Mafia boss. The man who thought he would get me down the aisle.

That wasn’t fucking happening.

Over my dead body.

“You killed my niece,” Lorenzo said in a deep tone, his lips so close to hers they could have kissed. “You took her from this world. But death is too kind for you.” He ran his thumb across her bottom lip and smirked. “You’re taking your daughter’s place at the auction tonight.”

My lips parted.

Take that bitch!

My mother whimpered when he touched her again. This time, he wrapped his long fingers around her throat and squeezed.

“Please,” she choked out. “My father is a powerful man. He will give you whatever you want.”

“Your father disowned you thirty years ago. He hasn’t spoken to you since.” Lorenzo pointed his free hand at me. “Alexandrea and her brother are the heirs to the Wellington fortune. You’re nothing more than a whore who flaunted herself at my men to make a quick buck.”

“No, I didn’t,” she said in her defense. “I had a partnership with Sal. He said I could collect the money and walk away if I turned over my daughter.”

Lorenzo refocused his gaze on her and clasped both hands around her throat, lifting her feet off the floor. “I have lined up the most depraved men on the planet to bid on you. They will break you mentally and physically. Suck the soul from your body and make you wish for death.” He laughed in her face. “You will beg for the privilege of them ending your life. But they won’t. For as long as I live, you will endure my wrath. You will repent for your sins.”

“I’m sorry,” she choked out.

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