And regardless of what people thought, I hadn’t always been an asshole. That part of me was still somewhere in there. The deep dig to find it was usually rather hard. But not with Vittoria. Her sorrow cried out to what was left of my blackened soul.

The internal war raged on. My initial desire to see her pay for her crimes was sorely outweighed by the need to guard and protect her.

As I watched her body shrink in on itself, my fingers twitched around my phone.

So, she wanted to talk.

I clicked out of the surveillance app, placed my phone screen side down and leaned back in my desk chair, considerate.

Her tears were not enough to sway me.

That would be a conversation she would have to earn.

13. We bleed together

Chapter 13

We bleed together

Vittoria

One. Just one.

One escape attempt and my outside privileges were promptly revoked. The sound of drilling and jarring metal coming from all corners of the house were a dampening on my spirit. A quick glance to the window on my left and the offending items had my face screwing up in abhorrence.

Well, now you’ve done it.

If I considered myself a prisoner before, I was now officially a caged animal. The bars on every window made sure I knew it.

What’s worse is Ettore sent over his brother to deal with it. And if I had to look at his smug smirk one more time… My teeth gritted so hard that my jaw ached. When Daniele went around to each window and gave it a solid wrench, checking its strength, a stabbing pain behind my eye told me I was on the verge of a migraine.

Look, had my it been the best idea for an escape?

Some would have called it inventive.

I, unfortunately, was not one of those people.

Let’s be honest, once I was in the crawlspace, I basically had an immediate panic attack. I was not great in teeny spaces. To make matters worse, I got turned around and, mortifyingly enough, couldn’t find my way back out. It took a moment of extended consideration, but eventually I had to call out for help. Like a kitten being rescued, Marco – who was three times my size, mind you – was sent in after me and seeing his angry face crawl towards me had me backing up.

His growled, “Stop moving,” was enough to paralyze anybody.

My cheeks flamed and my throat swelled with embarrassment. Even more so when he positioned us so that I was on my knees in front of him and he guided me back to the manhole with a splayed hand on my butt, pushing me along, because my legs had turned to jelly and refused to work.