Page 2 of Cassio (Belles & Mobsters 3)

I followed, the sound of Luca’s curses behind me as he followed along too. We walked through dark corridors. Both of us kept our eyes and all our senses alert. It wouldn’t do us any good to have Callahan forever in our debt if we were dead.

Finally, the boy stopped and pointed his head towards the door. I inched carefully and glanced through the small iron bars on top of the wooden door.

Holy fuck!

That was the first thought as I saw a young girl crouched into a ball in the corner of the room, rocking back and forth. Her knees pressed against her chest, her arms wrapped around her legs, and her face buried between them, she rocked as if she tried to soothe herself. I couldn’t see her face, but now I understood why the kid called her a girl with fire in her hair. An abundance of red curls hid her face, the colors of a burning sunset. Just like fire.

She looked fragile. Callahan said she was fourteen, but it was hard to tell. Even from here, I could see her legs were covered in ugly bruises.

“Can you open the door?” I asked the boy.

Luca still had his gun trained on him, in case he tried something stupid. The boy’s eyes darted to the wall next to the door, and I followed his gaze. There was a key hanging there, and without question, I grabbed it and shoved the old fashioned key into the lock. The door was a heavy wood, probably dating back a hundred years. It was meant to keep soldiers behind them, not women or children.

As soon as the lock sounded, the girl’s whole body startled and her head snapped up.

“Jesus fucking Christ,” Luca’s furious voice reached behind me.

Blood was smeared all over her face, a big gash against her temple, her lip split, and a purple bruise marred her right cheek. What the hell did they do to her? She looked like she had been beaten badly. Fury and rage boiled inside me, but I controlled it, to ensure I wouldn’t scare her.

The moment her eyes connected with mine, all the oxygen left me. She was just a kid, but her eyes… those breathtaking, bruised, big blue eyes dominated her heart-shaped face. There was so much pain in them, my heart actually clenched. I had seen death, killed my fair share of men, caused pain and destruction to a lot of them, but nothing had ever gotten to my blackened heart. The pained look in this girl’s eyes just about brought me to my knees.

She eyed me warily… resignation in them. She was a fucking kid. What have they done to her?

“We are here to help you,” I spoke softly. “I’m Cassio. This is my brother Luca.” Her eyes remained on me, unmoving. She didn’t trust us. “Callahan sent us.”

No recognition, no movement. “We came to take you home.”

I slowly inched closer with each word.

Her tongue swept over the cut on her bottom lip, then she bit hard into it, causing blood to trickle down her chin. She didn’t ease the bite, and I worried she’d bite her lip off.

“I don’t want to see anymore,” her voice was hoarse, as if it hurt her to talk. “P-please, don’t make me.”

I had no clue what she was talking about. I swallowed hard and emotions I had never felt before threatened to come to the surface. That should have been my first clue. My heart never moved. For anyone. I was a stone cold killer, ruthless against my enemies and cold towards everyone else.

After all, it was the reason the underworld was scared of me and my brother. Cross me once and you were dead. None of this bullshit with second chances. Those kinds of sentiments got you killed.

“We are taking you home,” I said firmly, shoving my heart that felt for this girl to the back burner. I had to remind myself soft was not who I was.

She didn’t move, and I took another step towards her.

“I want my mom,” she murmured, her ocean pools tempting me to drown in them. A piece of my heart cracked at her admission. No kid should go through something like that. Luca and I endured beatings from our father and had seen cruelty from an early age. We were used to it; this kid was not.

Goddamn it, I didn’t need this now.

“She wants you too.” I kept my voice low and soft. “We’ll take you home. Can you walk?”

I reached into my pocket and pulled out a lollipop. It was a habit I’d had hard time getting rid of. When Luca and I were kids, if our father decided to beat us, it was the only thing that made Luca feel better, so I always kept one on hand. I extended my hand with it, and her eyes watched my outstretched hand and the lollipop as if she was scared that if she reached for it, it would disappear.

“It’s okay,” I urged her on. We really had to get going, but I didn’t want to cause her more pain or scare the shit out of her by picking her up without her consent. God knew what she endured here. “Take my hand.”

She reached out, her wrist at a weird angle that told me it was broken. Her hand shook badly as she slowly, painfully slowly, reached for mine, revealing blue and purple bruises all up her arm too. I gritted my teeth to stop curses from leaving my lips. The last thing she needed was my fury. Although I tempered it, she still sensed my rage because her reach faltered and fear flashed in her big eyes.

I closed the gap and our fingers touched. “Let’s go home to your mom.”

She gasped softly in surprise. “You feel real,” she whispered, her voice shaking. She took the lollipop, but I could see the pain that crossed her features as she picked it up.

“That’s right,” I told her. “We’ll get you out of here.”

---