We didn't blow out, that was a good sign.

"See?" I said to Victor. "We're still alive."

"That doesn't mean anything." He took the box from me and brought it into the apartment. "If we're going to do this, at least let's do it in private."

"I knew you'd change your mind." My legs moved on their own, almost running over to the couch to sit next to Victor.

"It's a phone." Victor looked at me dismissively as he took the object out of the box. He unlocked it without wasting any time. "There's a video in here."

"It's probably another death threat like the one in the letter." I tilted my head, resting it on Victor's shoulder to see the screen. "What are you waiting for? Press play."

The video started and my heart broke. In the center of the screen, tied to a chair and wearing only boxers, was my brother. His body was covered in wounds that wouldn't stop bleeding, and his beautiful black hair had been shaved off.

A man with his face covered approached him, carrying a steel bar with a red-hot tip.

I kept my eyes open just to see how that bastard began to burn Luca all over his body. Each of his screams tore a new hole in my heart.

I couldn't see it anymore. 

"Turn it off," I ordered Victor. There was no reason to keep watching. I wanted to remember Luca as the cheerful, strong man he was; I wasn't going to let that video ruin my memories forever. Also, my heart wasn't strong enough to see him suffer like that. 

How could they do something like that to him? They stole my brother's life just for their own amusement, and as if that weren't enough, they made him suffer during his final moments.

I'm going to find them, I thought as tears began to fall down my cheeks.

I missed him so much. There was nothing I wanted more in the world than to see him again, to make up for the time I wasted when I decided to run away.

Victor hugged me, pulling me to his chest. At that moment, I broke down. All the pain I'd bottled up came out in the form of cries and screams, while I clung to Victor's shirt as if my life depended on it.

"I'm sorry," I whispered when the tears subsided a little without lifting my face from his chest.

"Don't be." Victor stroked my back and kissed the crown of my head. "Let it all go, it's better for you this way."

I cried and cried until my eyes began to burn and my throat went dry. I can't remember exactly what happened at that moment, but when I came back to reality, I was sitting on top of Victor, hugging his body with my legs.

"Are you better now?" he asked, lifting my face.

I nodded and Victor gently tucked my hair behind my ear. He brushed his fingers against my cheeks before pecking my lips.

"What do you want me to do?" Victor asked. "Do you want me to find them? Do you want me to hunt them all down one by one until you're satisfied? Just tell me what to do. I'll burn the whole damn city down if that's what you want."

He sounded so sincere, and his eyes held so much determination that I couldn't help but fall for him a little more. At that moment, I realized that no matter what I asked of him, Victor would do it for me.

"I want them dead. I want them to suffer exactly the same way Luca suffered in that video." All the hatred drained from my body.

"Don't worry, I'll find them." Victor peppered my neck with kisses. "Give me a few minutes to talk to Jacob. I assure you, he'll find them. Besides, those idiots gave us a clue with the video."

"Will you stay with me?" I asked, caressing his chest.

"Where else would I go? I can't leave you alone after that threat. If they even try to get close to you, I'll tear them apart."

"And what are we going to do when Jacob finds them?"

"You said it yourself, they're going to suffer the same as your brother," Victor replied. "I'll take care of them myself. I can't let them go unpunished after they threatened you."

The sadistic smile Victor had on his face was all I needed to reassure myself. There was no doubt he was going to have fun with those sons of bitches.

×××

"Are you sure you don't want to live here again?" my father asked for the second time at lunch.

He and Victor had conspired to bring me to visit my family, the perfect excuse to keep me locked up in a mansion with heavy security.

"I told you I'm fine in the apartment." I took a sip of water. "Victor always keeps his guard up."

"As he should," my father said.

Victor, who was sitting next to me, placed his hand on my leg, slowly moving up until it was under the hem of my dress.

"I never fail a job," he commented, squeezing my leg.

My father didn't seem to suspect anything about what was going on under the table, yet I didn't want to take any chances.

"I'll be fine," I insisted. Carefully, I slapped Victor's hand to get him to let me go. "Besides, we already know where to look."

"I'm worried your uncle is involved with our enemies." My father poured more wine. "He knows a lot about our organization and has important locations. He even knows how to get past this mansion's security."

"We've dealt with worse in the past." Victor kept his demeanor calm despite the tension in the dining room.

I was about to argue that nothing was worse than betrayal from within the family when Victor's phone rang.

He quickly pulled it out of his pocket and read the message. I tilted my head, catching sight of a picture of a storage unit.

Not just any storage unit, the one where my brother had been tortured and murdered.

"Jacob found the place where Luca was held," Victor explained, offering his phone to my father. "The storage unit belongs to Santino"

I saw red. If I could have, I would have destroyed the entire dining room right then and there.

Was my uncle the culprit? How could he do something like that to his nephew? All to gain a little more power.

"I want him in the torture chamber within the next hour. You better get moving." My father nearly crashed Victor's phone.

"Of course, sir." Victor stood up.

He almost stepped through the door when the sound of gunfire filled the room.

"We're under attack," someone shouted. "It's Santino's men."

"Looks like Jacob wasn't so quiet," Victor said before running toward me. He grabbed my arm and pulled me out of the chair. "We have to go."

"Wait." I slapped his chest. "We can't leave my father here."

My father looked at me and smiled. "Victor's right, you have to get to safety. I have some unfinished business with my brother's followers."

"Be careful," I shouted as Victor dragged me out of the room.

In the hallway, the sound of gunfire was much clearer and slowly getting closer.

"Do you have your gun?" Victor asked, checking the corner before moving into the next hallway.

"Of course. Who do you think I am?" I pulled the gun out of my purse.

"The person who always has to go back to the apartment because she forgets to grab her wallet."

A group of men and women walked past us toward the mansion's entrance. My uncle's followers must have been too many.

"Hurry up, we need to get to the second garage before they find you." Victor shot a man who came out of one of the rooms. "Fuck, it's late."

Running from a group of assassins in high heels was a task I wouldn't wish on anyone. Victor had to slow down to keep up with me; he turned around every two seconds as if I were about to disappear.

"Change of plans," he said. "There is so much bullet noise coming from the garage area, it's not safe to go there. We still have the safe room, but you'll have to hurry if you want to get there before they catch us."

"Fuck the shoes," I muttered and bent down to take them off.

Without the shoes, it was a different story. We were able to cross the right wing in what had previously taken me to get to the end of a single hallway.

Everything seemed to be going perfectly, at least as perfectly as it can be in a chase.

Until a bullet flew in my direction and embedded itself in my shoulder.

×××

Author's note: Next chapter is the last one, I hope you're ready for the end of the book.