Page 60 of Savage Sin

“Something like that. Father knew you would be a pain in the ass.El Rusoconfirmed it. It took us a while to find you. Well, the right one of you, that is. Your little scheme didn’t work. But I had fun hunting you down and practicing how to dispose of bodies.”

“What’s he talking about, Rage?”

Arrogance pulls at the corner of his lip. The gun at his back doesn’t scare him, but it has my heart beating so fast I feel lightheaded.

“I called in some favors. Asked a few nomads to ride around the state with a Savage cut saying they were me.”

My step-brother leans over Rage, who doesn’t seem bothered by the fact Stefano is batshit crazy on a good day. “I would drop that smile from your face,cabrón. When I killed a couple of them, they were cursing you to hell.”

“I’ll return the favor.”

Stefano’s laugh is sadistic.

“How did you find us?”

Yeah, good questions.

Stefano’s eyes fall to where the knife wound is and looks like he’s going to say something but thinks better of it. “Ghost,” he finally admits. “You should be more careful who you let in your circles.”

“Same for you. I hear your father has a new partner?”

“He filled us in on your little familial war going on between you Savages and the Bratva.”

Rage shrugs, like it’s no big thing to be this close to crossing the bridge. “Welcome to the war.”

Rage’s gaze falls to the gun on the ground between us. He’s been stalling this whole time.

I shake my head like I’m sick to death of all this back and forth. Don’t get me wrong, I am. The acid in my throat burns with bitterness. But I hope Rage understands I’m actually telling him he better not even try to go for that gun. Stefano is wicked fast with a gun. And that is when he doesn’t already have it pointed at your back. His trigger finger has no control. One twitch from Rage and I’ll be wearing his blood.

“Actually, you made this easy. I’m here for the both of you.” The gun comes back to me, only this time his finger is on the trigger, not to the side.

“Rage. Now. He’s going to kill you. Let me go.” I push to my feet with my hands raised, the second Rage reluctantly lets me go. Our eyes connect and I silently plead for him to let this happen. Long exposure to the smoke leaves my eyes burning. But I don’t dare wipe at the tears trying to wash away the burn. Trigger Happy Asshole will take any excuse to put a bullet in me. I’m actually surprised I’m not already dead. Rage too. There’s a bigger plan going on here and I’m stuck in the middle of it with few options of escape.

“Ah, ¿que paso, amor?Don’t cry. You will be reunited with your dead sister soon enough. I’ll put you in the basement next to her body. Promise.”

Madness is one thing, but this man has gone off the rails and he’s taking me with him.

“Dead?” I scan his face for proof of lies, but his expression is wiped clean of emotion.

I forget about my burning eyes. “What?” Panic drills into my heart and seizes the muscle. “What did you say?” A black hole opens up inside my chest. No, I didn’t hear him right. “No. I refuse to believe you.” I slice a hand between us, wishing it were a machete aimed at his head.

“Muerto.” Dead. Stefano pronounces each letter with a sickening emphasis, an unholy gleam in his eyes.

“Don’t listen to him. Eyes on me.”

Stefano rears back and clocks Rage on the back of the head again, causing him to fall forward. He braces his weight on his hands. Another one of those and Rage won’t fare well at all.

Brown eyes go pitch black when Stefano turns his focus back on me. “Believe it or not, I’m happy to see you are still alive,hermana. You’re my prize for a completed job.” He acts like I didn’t receive the worst news of my life a fraction of a second ago. His change of topic gives my brain whiplash. I stumble to keep up.

Job? As in my death? No. That can’t be. You can’t keep a prize if it’s dead. So what’s the job?

I swallow past the bile building up in the back of my throat as realization dawns. Dangerous levels of anger and grief rise inside me, warring for control until my hands turn clammy. Silver dots go in and out of focus. I can’t take a deep breath to save my life.

Rage is the job. Whatever twisted sense of humor fate has brought me here and now my family gets a second chance at killing me. After they kill him.

Don’t show fear.Don’t show fear.

Stefano stabs his fingers into Rage’s hair and pulls him back to his knees. My step-brother is so focused on me, he doesn’t realize he’s just armed Rage.

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