“We’ll hold them for you, brother,” Tony said with a grin.
Gino stepped out of the truck and moved swiftly into the house. He made quick work of the large imposing staircase that swept up from the foyer to the floors above. He entered the private floor using his access card and headed for Rosa’s room. He breathed a sigh of relief when he heard her moving about behind the door and lifted his hand to knock. He saw the strapping he still wore around the wound left behind when Tito took his finger, and memories of that night slammed into him.
****
“N-no, please.”
Gino froze in the middle of the sidewalk at the frightened female cry. He glanced around, looking for the woman in question. He stepped toward the dark alley that ran down the side of the casino the Carlisi family owned and operated and caught movement by one of the delivery bays.
Frowning, he headed in that direction. He started to walk a little faster when he heard the distinctive sound of flesh meeting flesh and that same woman gasp.
“You think I didn’t see the way you were looking at that bastard, bitch?”
Gino got a look at the man just as the big bastard pulled his right hand up and backhanded a small woman with shoulder-length dark hair right across the face. The crack of his hand echoed around the alley, and from the way she dropped to the ground without a sound, he knew that she’d been used to the pain that came with such a strike.
“Hey, asshole!” he yelled as he strode closer. “Takes a big fucking man to strike a woman. Why don’t you try it with me and see how you get on?”
The man looked up to watch Gino’s approach and grinned. “Ahh, here he is now. Look, bitch, the part of the white knight charging in to your rescue, Rosa, will be played by Gino Esposito.”
Gino stopped close to the man and glanced down at the woman, Rosa, who was still on the ground. In the glow from the security light over the delivery bay, he could see blood well and spill from the split in her bottom lip, and fear shone in her chocolate-brown eyes, but she was stunning. That was easy to see.
He reached down a hand to help her up. “Come, sweetness, let’s get you up off the ground.”
The man roared with laughter. “This bitch ain’t anything sweet, you dumb fuck. She is nothing but trash. She belongs on the fucking ground.”
Gino stepped into the man, hell-bent on ramming his fist in the fucker’s face, but stopped when from the ground, Rosa gripped his leg. Then the bastard pulled a gun on him. He held his hand down again to help Rosa up but kept his gaze locked on the threat in front of him. He knew he had to comply with whatever was to happen or risk them hurting her.
Gino went without a fight, allowing them to restrain him before throwing him into the back of a van, Rosa tossed in with him. It wasn’t long after that he found himself tied to a chair in Angelo Battaglia’s inner city apartment.
What followed was a nightmare. Tito, who’d been waiting for them, soon recognized that beating Gino and using his knife to slice cuts into his torso didn’t get as big a reaction from him as when he turned those tactics on the woman. The fucker had stumbled across Gino’s personal nightmare, forced to watch as someone tortured and tormented someone weaker than them.
Gino had cursed and begged for them to leave her alone, but they didn’t. God, the things they’d done to her had turned his stomach. They stripped her in front of him, and he could see the bruises and scars that covered her body, and had to endure the shame of being unable to help her. He was thankful for the moments when Tito would be enraged by whatever curse or insult Gino had thrown his way and turned his blade or fists in his direction. But every time, without fail, Rosa would do something to call attention to herself and Tito’s focus would switch.
His actions got worse, the beatings harder, more blood was spilled from both of them, and Gino thought he would go crazy. At one point, Tito held a gun to Gino’s forehead, swearing and cursing, and he figured his time had come. But Rosa stepped in once more, slapping the gun away. She turned to run, but Tito grabbed her by her hair, pulling her down to the ground. Gino had witnessed his mother’s death at the hand of his own father, but what followed in that apartment was the hardest thing Gino had ever had to witness. He’d thrashed, gone crazy in the chair, making both his wrists bleed as he tried to get to her. To stop her torment, to stop the violation, but there was no escape.
He kept his gaze steady on hers, desperately trying to get her to understand that he was there with her. Later, Tito made her film Gino’s torture, the video they sent to Gavriil, calling out Tony and Leona, looking to avenge his brother. She’d vomited when they took his finger, as if watching that done to him was harder for Rosa to bear than what she’d had to endure.
****
The door opened in front of him, pulling him out of his memories as Rosa appeared before him with a bag in her hand. From the startled look on her face, she had no idea he’d been standing here. He lowered the hand he was about to use to knock on the door as he held her stare. She was so fucking beautiful, and if he didn’t pull his head out of his ass like Tony said, she was going to walk out of this house, out of his life, and never come back. One look at the resolve that shone in her beautiful eyes told him so.
Gino had to come to terms with own his failures and what he’d witnessed. He hadn’t been able to protect her, or stop what had happened to her that night. But he wasn’t going to fail her now. Gino was going to do exactly what he promised her he would do. He was going to protect her from anything and anyone looking to hurt her.
Even herself.
