Page 2 of Damaged & Deadly

“Red,” Cain growls, grinding his teeth. “Don’t do this.”

There’s a hitch in Trouble’s voice that has me seeing red and wishing to the fucking stars that there was something—anything—I could do. “I have to.”

The second those words are out of her mouth, Cain turns tail and storms out of the church. His body is coiled tight as he strides back to the car, slamming the door loudly as he climbs in. I follow him at a slower pace, watching from a distance as he struggles to control his anger, and my heart tears to shreds with every step I take away from the church.

Torturing myself, I listen as Red robotically recites her vows and as she says those two final words, solidifying her fate and ours.I do. I hear a roar from within the car, and Cain breaks apart, his fist slamming down on the dashboard.

I thought I hit my lowest when Evie was taken, but this is a desperation like nothing I’ve ever felt before. It twists with hardened resolve, and I know I will stop at nothing to get Red back.

Chapter 1

I’m in a nightmare. A real-life, living nightmare. Nothing around me penetrates through the rushing of blood in my ears or the ice in my veins. In a detached, peripheral sense, I’m aware of Dante’s tight hold on my hand as he tugs me down the aisle. The false, happy smiles of faceless, nameless people in the church pews as we pass. The vicious curses and furious snarls in my ear. But I don’t process any of it. I’m in the grips of a cold, dense, suffocating fog. It chills me to the bone, numbing the chaos of emotions threatening to pull me under.

As I’m dragged out of the church hall, a wave of panic washes over me, and I begin to pull on Dante’s death grip as I look over my shoulder to try and spot my brother in the crowd. He was with Giovanni and his thug of a Consigliere. I can’t leave him there with those monsters.

As the doors swing shut behind me, I fight and struggle furiously to get back to Luc, but Dante’s hold on my wrist tightens to the point of pain—or at least, it would be painful if I was capable of feeling anything other than this chilling numbness of terror. Unperturbed by my attempts to get free, he tugs me through the church until we reach the room I got ready in earlier. Shoving open the door, he hauls me inside, with Enzo fast on our heels.

With an angry snarl, I once again attempt to escape his hold. This time Dante lets me go, and I spin to glower at both of them. The great thing about the icy numbness I’m currently experiencing is that it’s the Reaper's perpetual state of being. The place I go to when I need to not feel. That quiet part of my mind where I can shut everything off and do what needs to be done for the greater good. So while I may be freaking the fuck out right now, the cold, detached part of me that resonates with the Reaper is the part that’s in control. She’s driving this ship, and I’m more than fucking happy to hand her the wheel and watch her steer.

I glare at the two men in front of me with every ounce of my perfected Reaper’s glower, throwing the full force of my anger, loathing, and frustration into the look and letting them plainly see just how badly I will fuck them up if either of them had anything to do with this. I won’t show any mercy. I will quite happily rip them limb from limb, keep them alive while I yank out their entrails and force-feed them down the other’s throat.

“Did you know?” I snarl, ignoring Dante’s flash of confusion.

“Know what?”

“No, Sawyer. We didn’t. I swear.” My eyes narrow on Enzo as I scrutinize him. His wide, pleading eyes beg me to believe him, but I don’t know if I can. I don’t know what to believe anymore.

“Know what?” Dante repeats angrily, his gaze snapping back and forth between Enzo and me. “Who was that kid?”

I flick my attention back to Dante. My eyes narrow suspiciously as I try to get a read on him—a pointless task as always. Based on how he dragged me out of the church, he knew something was going on, but the deep furrow on his brow would suggest he doesn’t knowwhat. I purse my lips before deciding to answer him. “My brother.” My throat closes over as a fresh wave of emotion threatens to break me. Just saying those words aloud has the knot in my stomach tightening, bile churning precariously, but I’m made of tougher stuff than this. So instead of crumbling, I shove all those out-of-control emotions back into their box and straighten my spine. “How did your father find out about him? Or track him down? How the fuck did he even capture him?” This last question is directed into the Bluetooth earpiece that’s still keeping me connected to Cain and Oliver.

“We’re finding out,” comes Oliver’s curt response. I can distinctly hear the angry undertone in his voice, even if he is managing to put his feelings on hold to get to the bottom of this shitshow.

Dante doesn’t seem to have a response to the questions I asked him, and rather than waiting for one—what does it matter how his father found out?—I ask a more pressing one. “What does he want with him? He…” I trail off as images of Luc with his black eye and split lip penetrate my mind, and tears build behind my eyes, even as I grind my teeth and force them away.

I close my eyes, taking a moment to gather myself. When I open them again, Enzo is standing in front of me. His lips are pressed into a flat line, but I can see a burning intensity in his eyes. I don’t know how, but I get the impression he wants to reach out and… I dunno what. Hug me? Comfort me? Other than after the whole fiasco at that sex club, he hasn’t tried to offer a comforting touch, and he pauses now as if sensing I may not respond well to it. He’d be right. I can’t tell if his touch will blow the fuse of my anger and send me catapulting into a rage-filled blowout or if it will knock down the dam holding back my tears. Either way, I don’t want it.

Before he can say anything, there’s a knock at the door, and without waiting for a response, it swings open. A far too happy Giovanni strides in. The second I lay eyes on him, I want to smack thefuck yousmile off his face. “How are the happy bride and groom?” he asks, apparently ignoring Enzo’s presence and the furious glower I’m throwing at him.

“Where’s my brother?” I bark, refusing to simper to this fucking psychopath. My anger doesn’t appear to bother him as his gaze lands on mine. Amusement shines in his eyes, only adding fuel to the fire.

“Did you like my little wedding present? I couldn’t let your special day go by without your family being present.”

“What the fuck did you do to him?!” I all but scream.

He waves a dismissive hand. “Don’t worry about him, he’s in good hands.”

“His appearance would say otherwise,” I snipe derisively.

“Kid put up a good fight when Santos tried to take him, but he’s where he belongs now. He’ll come to realize that in due time.”

What the fuck does that mean?

“Luc has nothing to do with any of this. Whatever it is you want from me, you don’t need to use him to achieve it.”

Giovanni laughs at that. “Oh dear, I don’t want anything from you. You’re my son’s whore. You barely even register on my radar.”

I pause, unsure how to respond to that. Huh, definitely not the response I was expecting. I thought for sure he brought Luc here to threaten me for some asinine reason, but if not me, then who?

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