Total pages in book: 75
Estimated words: 72480 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 362(@200wpm)___ 290(@250wpm)___ 242(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 72480 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 362(@200wpm)___ 290(@250wpm)___ 242(@300wpm)
But I’m not giving up that easily.
“C’mon then!” I growl, beckoning one. “Bring it!”
He charges me head-on, enraged by my words, but I dodge him right before he slams into me, and he rams straight into the wall. They might be with many, but they’re not smart, and I know just how to use that against them.
Another one comes in, but Claudio incapacitates him with one quick jab in the throat. I fend off the next one, using a punch to the stomach and a knee in the jaw. One by one, they all fall. But more keep pouring in like an endless stream, and the more I fight, the more I’m beginning to lose what little energy I had left to fend off our attackers. And we’re not a single step closer to any exit if we can even find one.
“How many more of you are there?” Claudio growls after punching down another one.
“As many as it takes to make you kneel.”
The shrewd voice up ahead makes my skin crawl.
“Molly,” I say through gritted teeth as she steps into the hallway, blocking the only exit from this hellhole.
“A little birdie told me you were trying to escape,” she says, flicking her finger back and forth. “Bad little dog.”
“Come here and fight me, you witch!” I bark.
Claudio steps in front of me. “You want him? You gotta go through me.”
She clacks her long fingernails together, throwing a terrible smirk at us. “Hmm … I think I will.” She points at us, and yells, “Get ’em!”
More guards than ever before come pouring in, this time wearing a whole different outfit, causing me confusion. Were the guards we fought just now and before not hers? Because these men coming at us right now are definitely Irish, but the other men who we just beat up definitely do not belong to the same family.
Are we even in Irish territory? Or are we being kept elsewhere to keep Mario from finding out where I am?
Of course, Molly would do something so devious to try to shake off anyone who would come to rescue me.
“C’mon then,” Claudio growls, punching his way through the men who come near.
I throw some punches too. Even though every muscle in my body aches, I refuse to give in.
However, they just keep coming and coming, and eventually, one of them manages to grab my arm while another grabs me by the neck, and they pin me down to the floor. Soon, Claudio is captured too, and shackles are put around our wrists which are bound on our backs.
“Give up, Marcello,” Molly muses. “You can’t win this fight.”
“Like hell, I will!” I yell back. “Mark my words. You will die by my hands.”
The chilling look I give her even makes her smile disappear, and she sucks in a breath. “Take them away.”
We leave the hallway filled with bodies behind as the guards escort us to a new area. The place looks grimy, old, and dusty like no one’s been here in ages. There are a dozen doors with small peeping holes in them but no windows. When one of the doors is opened, and I’m shoved inside, I dig my heels into the floor. One of the guards picks me up, and they haul me inside, locking my wrists to a small bed in the corner.
“I’ll kill you all!” And I spit on their faces.
They don’t even flinch.
“Where the fuck is Claudio?” I bark, but there’s no response.
The two of them leave, slamming the door behind them.
“LEAVE CLAUDIO THE FUCK ALONE!” I yell because I know they’re probably going to bring him to another cell to try to separate us. They know what we’re capable of now when we’re together. Of course they don’t want me to try that again.
“Fuck!” I stomp my foot on the ground and bite away my rage.
The door opens up again, and Molly walks in only slightly, leaning against the doorjamb with her brow raised and a vicious smile on her face.
“There you are again, chained to a bed in this miserable little cell. Pity you couldn’t save your cellmate,” she muses.
“What are you going to do to him?” I growl, jerking my chains. “TELL ME!”
“Whatever I want, dear.” She touches her own skin right underneath her neck. “Maybe I’ll even enjoy myself a little before chopping him to pieces.”
“You’re a sick, twisted bitch, you know that?” I hiss.
“Not as sick as you for impregnating my little girl,” she spits back, and she approaches me only to slap me in the face hard. “But you will learn your lesson.”
“Oh … just like Frank did, right?” I quip.
Her nostrils flare, and her lip twitches. I know she wants to do something, but she won’t kill me herself. No, she wants to keep those manicured nails and that caked-on makeup intact to hold up the façade of being a perfect woman.