Page 64 of Traitor
I found it in me to reach up and wrap my hands around his neck, but the doors burst open before I could squeeze. Ronnie stood and backed away from my grip, causing me to fall to my knees. I felt men grabbing at my arms before another one stood in front of me, hovering over me as if I were his next meal.
“And make sure it’s painful, you guys,” Ronnie said.
Then, that slimy little fucker walked right out of the room. Leaving the doors wide open.
“Char!” I roared.
The man in front of me punched my jaw and my mouth immediately pooled with blood.
“Char! Run!” I exclaimed.
I felt a boot slam straight into my gut and I bent over, heaving for air as I choked on my own blood. I closed my eyes as an elbow came down against my spine, and for some reason the bottoms of my feet began to burn. The pain was excruciating. I took blows and punches and kicks from every angle as I felt my ribs fracturing. I spat one of my teeth onto the pristine tiled floors as my blood splattered with every hit.
This island isn’t safe without you. You have to get up.
My mind dragged me back into the recesses of my memories. Beautiful memories of splashing around in the ocean with my mother and riding around on the backs of horses with my father. Memories of running around in the schoolyard and playing on the playground with the waves lapping against the island only half a mile away. I remembered back to the times where I laughed until my stomach ached with my father and playing shadow tag with the boys in the neighborhood on the weekends.
I remembered back to a time where this wasn’t my life. Where blood and death and vengeance didn’t constantly course through my veins.
And I knew the Luccheses would bleed this island dry of all its happiness if I didn’t do something.
“Pathetic, isn’t it?” one of the men asked.
I felt a punch directly against my gut as my body sagged over.
“Bleeding on the floor like a strung-up animal.”
Another punch to my temple sent my head flying off to the side.
“I can’t wait to bury your body and claim the boss’s bonus for myself. My fiancé’s been looking at getting a new car as a push gift.”
“The fuck’s a push gift?”
I spat yet another one of my teeth out onto the floor. “It’s a gift you get a woman for shoving your child out of her vagina. I mean, come on. Everyone knows this.”
The man in front of me growled. “You son of a bitch.”
When he went to throw his punch, though, I tucked and rolled. The men scrambled to get back to me as I rolled toward the fireplace and reached for the poker off the wrought iron rack. And when I got it in my hands, the first thing I did was jab backward.
Before I heard the cry of a wounded man behind me.
“That’s for my teeth,” I grunted.
I stood to my feet and pulled the poker out before slamming it against the face of the other man charging me.
“That’s for my ribs,” I said as I groaned in pain.
Then, I staked that damn thing right through the stomach of the third man racing at me from down the hallway.
“And that’s for Char, because if you’ve laid a finger on her, I’m going to slaughter your entire fucking family.”
I kicked the man in the face as he plummeted to the ground before I stood crookedly on my legs. My ribs were on fire. I still couldn’t feel my tongue. And damn it, I needed a fucking antidote. But, as I squinted my eyes and peered down the hallway, I knew one thing was for certain.
My love for this island would always make me the strongest man in the room.
“Ronnie!” I roared.
I stumbled out of the room and planted my hand against the wall.
