“Whatever you’re holding over her head to keep her here, it won’t always work. If you knew Ciana as I know her, you would have already realized that.” I took the box that was still being shoved against me. An odd, stomach-turning smell was coming from inside. How I hadn’t noticed it until right then, I wasn’t sure, but now that I had, it felt as if it were being burned into my sinus cavity and would never leave it. Figuring there was a dead animal in the box, I glared up at the man. “Ciana will find a way to leave you, and when she does, we will be waiting for her. All she has to do is say the word, and her family will be here, ready to fight for her. Every last one of us would willingly die for her.”

Bain clenched his jaw, that bored facade he’d had going on fading before my eyes, replaced by a look that told me loud and clear why everyone who’d ever come face-to-face with this bastard had been terrified of him. I was anything but fearful of him, however. If he wanted a fight, I was ready and willing to throw hands anywhere, anytime. Right then and there, preferably. No matter who was the victor, I would be satisfied. Either he would kill me, or I would kill him. The former would put me out of my misery. Take me away from the hollowness of having to exist without Nova and put me one step closer to reuniting with her. The latter would allow me to free Ciana from him and his tyranny.

“As would I.” He lifted one arm, waving it at the house where Ciana had disappeared. “She and those babies are my life now. I don’t care if you don’t believe me. I don’t need your faith in my affection for her or them. The only one I have to prove myself to is Ciana.”

“She might love you, but she will never trust you. And for Ciana, once you’ve lost her trust, you’ve lost her too.” I turned away from him, walking back to the car I’d arrived in, calling over my shoulder. “It’s only a matter of time before she comes to her senses. Once she does, you should probably sleep with one eye open.”

I climbed into the back seat without looking back. The guards took their places on either side of me, and the driver pulled away from the house. The smell coming from the box didn’t seem to bother the other men, and I tried to ignore it, but my curiosity was getting the better of me. My fingers clenched around the sides of the box, fighting not to open the lid.

I figured it was a dead raccoon from the weight of the box. The smell was that of something dead and decaying, but I refused to open it and react in front of Bain’s men.

At the gate, I stepped out of the car and through the door of the gate. Mom, Pop, Zio, and Dante were already standing outside their vehicles. Seeing me, Mom ran over, her eyes eating up the sight of me, visually checking me for wounds.