AllFreeNovel
Share Us
And I’ve never loved like this—even before her, it’s never felt like this. I’ve never loved this deeply, and that scares the fuck out of me. I know how hard it was to recover from losing someone I loved before. If I lost Rialta—fuck, I can’t think about it. It would be like falling into the deepest parts of hell. And the person I’d become would wipe out the rest of humanity on Earth.
If she hates me, that’s fine. I don’t need her to love me. I just need her to still be mine.
I want to rip Andrea’s arm from her shoulders. I want to throw her over my shoulder caveman-style and tell her she’s mine. Tell her I love her and that I’d do anything for her. I’d even let her be with someone I hate, someone like Andrea, if that’s what she really wants. I just need her to know in my heart she’ll forever be mine—the woman I love. The woman I’d die for. No matter how much she hates me.
Is this really how she feels? I need to know the truth. I need to know if she’s always been scheming against me. If Andrea and her have been friends or even lovers before. She loved Kit, but was he the only man she loved?
I pour my heart into my expression as I look at her. I’m not angry with her for what she did. If I did kill Kit, I deserve this. Even if he was wrong for her, I should have never hurt her in this way. It’s unforgivable, and I want her to know that.
But Andrea is a power-hungry man. He’ll do whatever it takes to take over her father’s empire. He’ll do worse than just force her into a marriage—he’ll rape her, torture her, and worse to get what he wants from her.
I know evil, being evil myself. And Andrea is evil. Whereas I have my limits with people I love, Andrea doesn’t. He only loves power.
Rialta doesn’t change her reaction. She doesn’t look at me as if I’m anything but scum.
Andrea turns and whispers something in her ear.
She nods solemnly and takes a step back into the shadows of the basement and out of my sight. It’s one of the greatest ways he could torture me. I can’t communicate with her. The only thing worse would be torturing her himself.
The only thing I can be comforted by is that Andrea won’t hurt her yet. He needs Vincent to agree to let him marry her after he kills me. And Vincent won’t let him do that if he hurts her. And if he doesn’t marry Rialta, then he doesn’t get Vincent’s power.
That means there’s nothing Andrea can do to hurt me.
He walks toward me as his men stand around the room smirking, anticipating enjoying what he’s going to do to me.
“It took you long enough to wake up. I was afraid my dear Rialta might have overdosed you.”
I smirk. “Vincent hasn’t given you permission to kill me yet. He’d kill you for not following his orders.”
Andrea’s nostrils flare—I struck a nerve. “No. After he sees all the evidence I have against you, Vincent would be happy for me to kill you. But then I couldn’t torture you and get revenge for Rialta. You killed the love of her life. You should pay with more than your life.”
Andrea doesn’t give a damn that I killed Kit or hurt Rialta, but there is no use arguing with him. The men in this room are Corsi men, and I can’t appear weak in front of them. Andrea is a backstabbing, ruthless bastard who only cares about himself. I’m sure he’s already betrayed some in this room. I need them to see I’m worthy of saving. I’m on their side, and I would help them. If I look weak, no one will think I’m worthy of being the next Corsi leader.
When I don’t respond, Andrea grows impatient. He walks over to the wall behind me. I don’t have to look to know there are all kinds of devices meant to torture me with.
I don’t know what Andrea’s past is, what has made him who he is today, and why Vincent wouldn’t choose him for Rialta in the first place. But none of that matters.
“This is for Rialta,” Andrea says menacingly a second before a whip strikes my back.
My body jerks forward, and my skin burns immediately as the familiar touch of leather hits my skin but doesn’t break it open yet. Andrea put all his fury into that strike, but the anger made him lose control. It takes some finesse and practice to use a whip to inflict the most amount of pain. Although I’m sure he’ll strike me long enough to find his stride.
It’s effortless for me to keep quiet as he strikes me again and again. The first dozen blows are weak and won’t even leave a lasting mark.
Instead, I stare into the black void in the direction of where I hope Rialta is standing and watching.
I don’t know how she’s feeling. Is she enjoying watching Andrea get revenge for her? Does she feel this is justice, or…?
I stop myself from hoping this is all a farce. She can’t really care about me, especially if I really did kill Kit. If I did kill him, I’m sure I had a good reason. She was mine. I could feel it. I could feel her falling for me, wanting me. Kit didn’t matter. He was gone. She had let him go and forgotten about him.
Killing Kit would have only hurt my cause. So why did I do it?
Everything’s foggy. It will take time for me to remember what happened. But I will, and when I do, I’ll have a chance to win her back. If my action hurt her this badly, I did it for a purpose. I had already fallen for her at that point. And as much as I hated her ex, I would have never hurt her like that without cause.
Now isn’t the time to tell her that. Now is the time to listen, to figure out where her head is and what she wants from me. Does she truly want me dead or not?
Suddenly, Andrea finally breaks my skin. I can feel my warm blood running down my back. The burning intensifies as he strikes me again, and more blood flows. It hurts. It feels like he’s tearing my back apart, ripping every piece of flesh from my body.
But it won’t break me.
