Page 61 of The Veiling

I sighed. “I’ll just go read.”

He placed his finger under my chin, forcing my gaze to his. “When I get home, I’ll take you out somewhere special.” He pressed his lips to mine. “Just us.”

“And them,” I remarked, knowing we never went anywhere truly alone.

“We’ll go to the country club. I’ll have Grace call and shut it down for us.”

“You know I hate when you close places down for us.”

“But we need this alone time.”

I nodded. “Okay, I’ll agree to it just this once. And probably next time, too.” I snickered.

“Boss, we need to go,” Joseph appeared in the foyer.

“Gooo.” I nudged him playfully. “I’m going to go suffer in the library.”

He smirked. “Real torture.”

“Ew, books,” I joked. “I love you.”

He pressed his lips to mine a last time. “I love you too, amore. See you in a bit.”

I watched as they sped out the front door, then picked up my phone, scrolling to Giacomo’s name in my contacts. I really wanted to go to the juice bar soon. Placing the phone to my ear, I waited for him to answer, but he never did. Chewing the inside of my bottom lip in deep thought, I wondered if he had possibly gone down in the basement to work. If so, the power tools were more than likely too loud for him to hear his phone. Ever since Jesse escaped before, they had been constantly working on improving it.

Normally, I would have not gone down there, but I figured it could not hurt. I ambled to the elevator and got in, taking it to the bottom floor. The doors parted. The hallway was dark, but the moment I stepped out, LED lights illuminated the long corridor.

I did not hear anyone but heard a small clank. Something felt wrong. I crept down the endless tunnel toward the holding area, wondering if Giacomo had gotten hurt. A muffled sound caught my attention.Oh no, Giacomo! He IS hurt!I raced toward the noise. My heels dug into the concrete when I reached the end, and I gasped. “Oh my God!” Panic gushed through my body. Terror flowed through my veins.

Felipe!He hung from his arms, secured to some pipes and bars attached to the walls. Shackles held his ankles to the floor. A thick chain was secured between his lips. His face was bloodied, and he was wearing only a pair of ripped black slacks. He perspired as the red coils of a heater blazed on him.

His watery, soulless gaze met mine.

My blood felt as if it were draining from my entire body. I grew light-headed as the reality began to overwhelm me.Why was he alive?! Why the hell was he in our home?!It then occurred to me why Valentino was acting weird. He had my biggest threat right here in the house! The home that was supposed to be my safe place and refuge! In that very moment, something inside me switched. I was no longer scared of Felipe at all. I was no longer scared I would be taken away or sold. I was infuriated.

The very man who had hurt me so many times, had hurt my friends, and had killed my own flesh and blood, was right there in front of me. He could do nothing. He was at the mercy of me now. I had never been one to believe in hurting another human being but the devil himself was staring me down, almost as if he were taunting me to do something.

And then something inside me changed just a bit further. I surveyed the array of torture devices on a nearby table before turning my attention back to him. Never averting my scowl, I stepped over, picking up a taser. “You have caused so much pain and destruction in my life since I was a child. I watched you torture and murder my father when I was old enough to remember. You took the one person from me I needed as a little girl when I no longer had a mother.” I turned the taser on and pressed it to his bare foot.

He jumped, sucking in a sharp breath.

“You kidnapped me. You groomed me for a life of crime and prostitution then wanted to arrange a marriage.” I pressed the taser to his other foot, leaving it on him a little longer.

He trembled then growled at me.

“The one mistake you made was paying Valentino to watch me and thinking it would never come back on you.” I narrowed my loathing gape on him. “You think I’m just this little girl who’s scared of you.” I set the taser back on the table and picked up a metal baseball bat. “I’m no longer little.” I drew the bat back over my shoulder. “I’m a survivor, and I’m no longer scared of you.”

His eyes widened to the size of saucers.

“Remember me like thisUncleFelipe, because this is the last damn time that you’ll ever see me!” I swung the bat as hard as I could, hitting him in the stomach.

He yelled through the restraints, drooling as his saliva strung from the chain between his lips.

I swung the bat once again, hitting him in the middle of his mouth. “Fuck you,UncleFelipe! You’re a piece of shit who will rot in hell for what you’ve done!”

Shaking with rage, I tossed the bat to the other side of the area and left him in his own pool of blood. Livid, I stomped down the long hallway and got back in the elevator, taking it to my bedroom floor.

RING! RING!

---