CHAPTER THIRTY SEVEN
“WE HAVE TO FIGURES OUT HOW WE'RE GOING TO GET OUT OF HERE"

SCARLETT DEL GATO

“I love this new side of you: being a fierce bitch and all, but how are we going to get out of here without being seen?” My brother asks me. “Diablo And Vincent has people on watch almost everywhere. It would be impossible to leave here.”

I was staring out of the window, seeing the sun start to come up again. Heaven only knows for how long I’ve actually been staring out of the window, thinking of how we’re going to get out of here in time before they plan their attack on the Castiglione brothers and the three J’s.

The thought of any of them dying made my heart palpitate inside my chest.

I shrug half-heartedly and walk back to the unmade bed before I plop myself down onto it. “I don’t know, Toni. But we have to figure something out soon. We already wasted enough time knocking and waiting for them to unlock the door, but no one came for hours.”

Antonio sighs and runs his fingers through his tousled hair. “The only thing we can do now is wait for one of the guards to bring us food and water then we can attack him and leave the house.” He suggests and I nod.

“It’s better than jumping out of a three storey mansion.” I tell him, brushing my fingers through my hair. “But if the guy comes to give us food, how do we leave here without guns or weapons? They’ll be everywhere like you said.”

My brother frowns, deep in thought. “The first time they brought me here, I saw an armoury room. There are a lot of guns to choose from. If we can get to that room, we can leave here, armed and ready.”

I nod.

It was a good damn idea but it’s the thought of getting to the armoury room that’s getting to me. It won’t be that easy, my brother knew it and I definitely knew it.

Nothing is easy these days.

“That’s the only chance we have then.” I tell my brother. “But are you fit enough to fight, Antonio? You look unfit to fight, and weak.”

Antonio chuckles. “I will be fine, Scarlett.” He says, dismissing me with the wave of his hand. “The only thing I’m worried about now is getting to the brothers and telling them the truth about everything. That’s the only thing keeping me going right now is getting you out of here alive.”

• • •

We didn’t wait too long for someone to bring food, but when the door to the room finally clicked open, it wasn’t just a random guy bringing us food and water like we had hoped.

It was Vincent and he looked awfully pleased to see us.

“I hope the two of you caught up,” he pauses, grabbing me by the arm and hauling me up to a standing position, “because now it’s time to separate the two of you.”

“Where am I going?” I ask trying to shrug his hand off, but he tightened his grip around my wrist.

He doesn’t answer me.

“Where are you taking her?” Antonio growls, getting up from the bed but Vincent pulls out a knife from his pocket and presses it to my neck.

My brother steps backward with his hands up in the air.

Vincent chukles. “The two of you sure are stupid…” He laughs. “Did you really think that I’d leave the two of you here to plot your escape together?”

I swear my heart stopped beating.

There goes our only chance of escaping; it slipped right through our fingers.

I squirm underneath the blade he has held against my neck and when he started to back out of the door, the blade slices me but not enough to draw blood, but enough for it to sting like a paper cut.

“It’s okay, Antonio.” I tell him over my shoulder, wincing when the blade cut deeper into my skin, just enough to draw blood. “I just got you back so don’t do anything to jeopardize that.”

Vincent leads me out of the room and closes the door behind us before he locks my brother inside. With every step I took away from my brother, I started to feel sicker and sicker to the stomach up to a point where I started to feel nauseous. I could throw up all over the wooden floors down below.

I already lost Antonio once, I won’t lose him again, so I just had to obey Vincent before he really kills the two of us before we could plan our escape.

Vincent leads me down the hallway before he turns sharply to the left. There was another room in front of us and he didn’t hesitate before he nudged me inside of the unfamiliar room.

He closes the door behind him and locks it without saying anything else.

I look around the room and see nothing I can use to open the locked door, like a paperclip or even a hairpin.

Luck was definitely not on my side this time, not that it ever was.

I walk around the room, trying to see if there was anything, anything I can use to open the door but I give up after a while of endless searching and finding nothing I can use.

There was absolutely nothing in the room except for a single bed, a nightstand with a lamp sitting on top of it and one window that was a few storeys up.

So my chances of jumping through the window is a no-no, not unless I want to break a few bones and still attempt to get my brother out of here in one piece without getting shot to death.

I don’t know for how long I waited, sitting on the bed, but the door to the room unlocks again and Diablo steps through looking as smug as always.

He closes the door behind him as he enters but he never locks it—he doesn’t have a key. He doesn’t even have anything on him I can use to unlock the door.

“Aren’t you supposed to be at school or something?” I ask him, rolling my eyes when he sits down right next to me on the bed, his knee brushing mine in the process.

“Aren’t you?” He backfires, but then chuckles. “Oh, guess not.”

“Here to taunt me some more, Diablo?” I ask him, watching how he taps his fingers on his thigh while he looks at me with his signature smirk. “You knew what your brother was planning all along but you didn’t even tell me. You’re just as evil as he is.”

“I never said that I wasn’t evil.”

“I thought you had some heart, but I was clearly wrong.”

Diablo chuckles before running his fingers through his hair. “Then you’re definitely going to hate me when I tell you that I found Giovanni at my house, where you left the car the other day. He was not happy at all when I told him about the deal you made with me in the bathroom the other day… when you kissed me trying to get answers from me about your brother.”

My heart constricts inside my chest just thinking about how desperate I was the last time. I was desperate but Diablo never agreed to tell me the things I needed to know.

His brother did.

So the kiss was just Diablo trying to have something on me so he could tell Giovanni all about it. So he could use it against me to try and get Giovanni to turn on me.

Giovanni would think I betrayed him.

“You didn’t.” My words came out more like a whisper.

“I did, and he was not happy.” Diablo slaps his thigh, laughing. “Oh, I wish you could’ve seen the betrayal on his face… It sure as hell was priceless.” Diablo says, laughing afterwards—a real evil laugh this time. “I don’t think he’s going to want you now seeing that you betrayed him like that.”

“What do you want from me, Diablo?” I ask him. “Do you find joy in making my life hell? Are you really that sadistic?”

Diablo taps his lips, nodding. “I think I am… but at least I got you out of there before my brother plans his attack. So you should actually thank me for saving your life, sweetheart.”

“You’re an asshole.”

I get up from the bed, trying to get as far away from Diablo as possible, but mostly to the door without him noticing my plan.

Just looking at him makes my blood boil and the fact that he’s smirking at me is making it worse.

I’m really contemplating throwing him out of the window.

“Don’t be like that, Scar… You can do better than Giovanni anyways. He’s a murderer. He’s ruthless, sadistic and unsympathetic. Do you really think he cares about you after he found out what you did to get your brother in the first place?” Diablo asks, getting up from the bed.

He stops in front of me, looking me dead in the eyes.

“He doesn’t, because he thinks you betrayed him just like your brother did.”

“Giovanni knows my brother had a reason for betraying him.” I tell him, bawling my hands into fists. “He knows everything.”

“But yet he hasn’t come to your rescue yet.” Diablo says, smiling wickedly at me. “I wonder what’s keeping him.”

“Maybe he’s plotting to kill you, just like how I’m plotting to kill you right now.”

Diablo grabs his chest, hissing. “Ouch… that really hurt my feelings, Scarlett. I’ve been nothing but generous this entire time. I kept my promise about your brother… I never laid a finger on Eden… and you’re still in one piece… so why are you suddenly being so harsh towards me?”

“Are you afraid, Diablo? Am I sensing some fear radiating off you?”

I step forward, leaning into Diablo. He never backs away; he only looks at me through his eyelashes and smiles down at me.

“You should know better than to threaten me, sweetheart.”

“I just did. What would happen, Diablo? I’m not afraid of you.”

The rapidly beating heart inside my chest was giving it away that I was afraid of him—but so far so good.

I was standing tall and keeping myself strong in front of him, it seemed to work because he never sensed the fear coming from me.

Diablo’s hand reaches out and tucks a strand of my loose hair behind my ear while he was still smiling down at me, his eyes never leaving mine. “I like it when you act tough.”

“Do you now?” I ask, running my finger along his chest, playing along with his game.

“But I liked it more when you were desperate.” He says when he rests the hand he used to tuck a strand of my hair behind my ear on my shoulder.

“You mean when I kissed you?”

He nods, his hair falling to his face when he did, but he tossed his hair back again. “You are a great kisser though.”

I stand on my tippy toes, leaning into his ear. “Do you know what else I’m great at?” I whisper before looking at his reaction.

He smiles widely and shakes his head. “No, I don’t. What is it that you’re also great at?”

“This.” I say before kicking him straight in the crotch.

Diablo grunts before he falls to the ground, clutching his man parts.

I didn’t think twice before I ran to the door, opening it and closing it behind me. I see the keys still in the door and quickly lock it right before I see the door handle turning.

“Do you really think you can leave here alive, Scarlett?” He asks through the closed door.

“No, but it’s definitely worth trying through.” I tell him before I make my way down the hallway, to my brother’s room where he was being held.