Page 44 of Ruined

“That’s a big compliment coming from him,” Bobby says. “It also means he’s going to fuck you soon.”

“What do you mean?”

“It means he’s already out. You might not know how. He might still physically be there, but trust me, baby girl, he’s out.”

“Baby girl,” I snort. “Since when do you call anyone baby girl?”

“Since now,” Bobby grins. “I can’t wait to see what he does to you.”

I shrug. “He’s barely been in there twenty-four hours. I owe him three days at least.”

“Three days,” Bobby nods, tearing into a fresh pizza slice like the animal he is. “That’s going to be an eternity for Angelo. What are you going to do with those three days?”

“What do you mean?”

“I mean, where are you going to run?”

“What?”

Bobby looks at me and stops eating. That’s how I know I’ve truly shocked him. “You’re kidding, right?”

“Kidding about what?”

“He’s going to kill you when he gets out of there. He might leave you alive, but you are dead, Riley.”

“He said he was going to spank me and put some butt plugs in me or something. Basic sex stuff.”

Bobby laughs. “He’s not going to spank you. And sure, he might use toys, but do you really think he’s going to content himself with some trite, amateur-porn level vengeance? He is going to punish you in ways you can’t currently imagine. Trust me, if you keep him down there for three entire days, he will make sure you never, ever dare capture him again. He’ll make it so if you ever think of vengeance, you’ll be too shit scared to move. He’s going to teach you more than respect, Riley. He’s going to crawl inside you and make you his fuck puppet for the rest of time.”

He laughs harder when the smirk fades from my face, as if he finds it absolutely hysterical I hadn’t considered how far Angelo might go in retaliation.

“No, this isn’t about his revenge. This is about my revenge.”

“It’s always about Angelo’s revenge. What you’re doing right now is something I’d never dare do.” Bobby makes it clear, his big dark eyes wide with intensity as he tries to ensure that I understand just how badly I have fucked up. “And I shot the fucking guy.”

“So I should have let him out right away when he told me?”

“You might have been able to let him out right away, but he would have been disappointed in you. Now you have no choice. You have to follow through. He won’t respect anything else.”

“So he won’t respect me if I don’t carry this out, and if I do, he’s going to all but kill me?”

“Exactly. Are you going to have that last slice?”

I gesture for him to take it. I’m not that hungry anymore.

To run from Angelo, I am going to have to rob Angelo. I’ll need money. And I won’t have any protection from any of the enemies who now have me on their radar. Bobby and I haven’t exactly been careful over the last few months. We’ve been Angelo’s attack dogs, wild and brutal and cruel.

It occurs to me suddenly in a way it should have occurred to me before, that I, too, am probably on a kill list now. And not just one.

“Fuckkkkk,” I groan to myself.

Maybe I can negotiate my way out of this.

I go back down to Angelo. He is sitting with his back against the pillar, hands between his knees. He looks almost relaxed, as if he is basking in an unseen sun.

He doesn’t move when he senses me. He stays just as he is, still and stoic. I can feel him acknowledging me, though. His energy extends out and wraps around me.

In this basement lit only by slivers of light coming in through the half circular windows that sit in the thin slice of the room that is above ground, he is a dark and fundamentally supernatural force.

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