Page 19 of Fall into Savagery

He gasped some more before he picked himself up off the floor and left.

Leo looked at me.

I smiled. “Look at you. Working for the likes of Luca Monroe. How far you have fucking fallen.”

He pulled his arms back and punched me in the side. I let out a small groan, bending forward.

My eyes met his as he looked calmly back at me. “I work with him, not for him. Don’t fucking try anything funny. Or next time, it won’t be my fist but a bullet.”

Then he walked out of there. I waited until he closed the door behind him before my hands moved under the hay, looking for the key.

I fisted it in my hand, the sharp edges of it digging into my skin and bringing back more awareness into my mind.

Now to wait for an opportunity to present itself.

6

CATALINA

I tookin the large mansion just on the outskirts of the city, overlooking the beach.

I had never been to the beach before, and right now, I had no desire to look at it.

Turning away from the window, my eyes clashed with clear blue ones across the room.

He was watching me intently.

I didn’t think he had even looked away, not since a pretty and young maid showed us to this room.

I wished he wouldn’t pay such close attention to me.

Wished he would just let me give in to the urge to break down.

I was simply hanging on by a thread, and I didn’t know how long I could hold on.

I held my breath when Mikhail took a step toward me. Then another one. And another one, until he was standing directly in front of me.

He cupped my cheek, his thumb swiping back and forth on my bottom lip as he looked me in the eye.

We said nothing for one long second.

Then, “Would you like to take a walk with me? We can go near the ocean. You can dip your toes in the water.”

I had never told any of them I wanted to see the ocean.

How much I wanted to feel the sand beneath my feet. Wanted to know what it was like to look out to the horizon and feel … free, and he was offering me these things, yet I didn’t want to experience this when such a dark cloud hung over our heads.

Not when Damien was still missing and probably—I swallowed—tortured, or dead.

But the alternative was to be stuck in this large, pretty room that was looking more and more like a cage the more time I spent in it.

I nodded, ignoring the way Mikhail’s shoulders sagged in relief.

He grabbed my hand and pulled me out of the room.

I focused on the warmth of his palm to keep me grounded.

I didn’t even know when we got outside, but then I felt the cool breeze on my face. My nose twitched when I smelled the ocean for the first time.

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