Total pages in book: 59
Estimated words: 54522 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 273(@200wpm)___ 218(@250wpm)___ 182(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 54522 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 273(@200wpm)___ 218(@250wpm)___ 182(@300wpm)
I open door after door, lining the hallway. All of them are empty until I reach the last one. As soon as I throw the door open, I see Isla sitting there, tied to a chair and shaking like a leaf.
“Oh my God, Vincent,” she cries when she sees me. “I heard the noise in the hallway and thought that you were that monster, Angelo, coming back for me.”
I run toward her, dropping onto my knees, and put my hands on the sides of her face before kissing her forehead. She flinches when I touch her, and the sight of a growing deep purple bruise on her cheekbone makes me seethe with anger. Thank God she’s alive. But God help the man who touched her and caused her injury. I take a moment to kiss the wound gently, marking her as mine and vowing to repay the swollen, temporary imperfection on her perfect face with violence against her attackers tenfold.
“I am a monster,” I tell her. “But even monsters protect what’s theirs.”
Just as I untie her, she screams. “Vincent, watch out!”
I turn quickly to see another one of Angelo’s men in the doorway. He draws his gun, and I lunge at him to knock it out of his hand before he can shoot. Then, pulling on all the rage and fury brewing inside me over seeing Isla bound, bruised, and sobbing in fear—I punch the man on the side of the skull with all the force I can put behind my punches. When he crumbles to the ground, unconscious and clearly beaten, I still don’t stop. I continue punching him until my knuckles are bloody and bruised, and his head is a pulp. Angelo Barone needs to know that none of his men here survived this. I want him to know that I killed this man with my bare hands, and I want it to be a lesson for him to remember before he ever thinks about taking something from me again.
Angelo told me once that he was going to take everything from me, and I want him to know that he was wrong. I am the Devil of Vegas, and he is no match for me.
“I’ve got you now,” I say as I get back to Isla and untie her with bloodied hands. “You’re safe.”
CHAPTER 17
ISLA
Ihad the horrific experience of being kidnapped and hurt by Angelo Barone, but it’s not my first trauma. And so, after a few days of recovering, I’m ready to move on from it. But Vincent is not.
I know I’m in love with him, and I know that my heart chose to stay with him, although it’s feeling a lot less like I ever had any choice in the matter. But I can’t spend my whole life feeling trapped and imprisoned. I need some freedom. I can’t just give up everything about my life that made me who I am.
“Vincent,” I say to him over coffee as we sit together in the early morning. “I want to dance again. I want to go to the theatre. I had the horrific experience of being kidnapped and hurt by Angelo Barone, but it’s not my first trauma.”
“You can train here.”
“No,” I shake my head as I look around the house. “I can’t. I need the studio, and the stage in the theatre, and the creaking of the old wooden floorboards beneath my feet. Don’t you understand? Dancing isn’t just a good pair of pointe shoes and a barre—it’s a feeling, and I need to get that feeling back in order to continue my training. I’ve grown stiff and sore and unhappy.”
Vincent looks at me and frowns. I truly believe that he doesn’t want to see me unhappy, even if he’s the one causing it.
“Isla, you were just kidnapped, and you haven’t even had time to process that fully yet.”
“Dancing helps me process it. It’s the one thing that helps me mentally and physically. I need to dance, Vincent. Please let me go back to the studio and the stage.”
“No. I won’t allow it,” he says definitively. “I almost lost you once, and I will not risk that again. Angelo is still out there in the wings waiting, and he’s angrier than ever now. He’ll come after you again because he knows it’s his best way to come after me.”
“You’re being too protective of me now,” I protest. “I feel caged in here. You can send men with me to guard the doors and keep me safe. You can have Marco follow me everywhere and watch over me when I go outside the house, but I need to be able to leave.”
“No.” The finality in his voice leaves no room for discussion. “I will give you anything you need, Isla, but you will stay here. I will give you everything but freedom.”