The Slayer (Untamed Hearts #2)(122)

“I’m twenty-four. Check my driver’s license if you don’t believe me. Your sources must be mixing me up.” Tino snorted in disbelief. “You got the wrong friggin’ guido.”

“Why do they say to beware?”

Tino shrugged again. “Maybe your source thinks we all look alike.”

“My source is Italian,” he said with a glare. “He would know an enforcer in your organization.”

“Yeah, why? Who’s your source?” Tino asked but never got an answer, because someone knocked and then opened the door.

Alaine couldn’t help but turn her head to look. It was the man from the club, Angel. He had another young man standing at his back as the two of them walked over. Angel looked down at Chuito, with a big, pleased smile on his face.

“Ay Dios mio.” Angel shook his head, laughing. “Mira esto. Diablo, ahora sí que se jodieron ustedes.”

Chuito actually had the gall to flip him off, while still keeping his hands behind his head.

“What are we doing?” Angel asked the Russians.

“We caught the wrong Italian,” the Russian explained. “We’ll wait until the one we need gets back. I guess the boss gets the coffee in their organization; good thing we didn’t kill him when he pulled out. He has information we need.”

“You gonna smoke his friend?” Angel asked as he lifted his chin toward Tino. “This is the motherf*cker from last night. The drunk with the Ferrari.”

“He set you up,” the Russian confirmed. “And you fell for it. They found you. They could’ve killed you last night.”

Chuito winced at that, as if regretting that he hadn’t.

“You can have yours. We’re keeping the woman and the Italian,” the Russian leader said. “I don’t know who the woman belongs to. Maybe they all share her. Or maybe they don’t give a shit. Either way, she’s worth keeping.”

“Why the f*ck do you get to keep her?” Angel shot back.

“’Cause I said so,” the Russian said simply. “We get the whore.” He eyed Alaine as she knelt on the floor. “What do you do for the Italians, sweetheart?” He stepped away from Chuito, gesturing to one of his goons to guard him, and then squatted down until he was eye level with Alaine. She flinched when he used his gun to push the neckline of the hoodie aside, exposing the marks Chuito had left on her throat. “You like it rough? I can give it to you better than they can. I invented rough.”

Alaine swallowed hard. Her heartbeat was still deafening her. Her cheeks were hot, but the fear was glacial, making her stomach feel leaden. She tilted her head and looked at the Russian, staring at the rim around the blue of his irises to keep herself from turning away.

She couldn’t find a way to speak. She was too terrified of saying the wrong thing, of somehow having all their murders on her head. It was cowardly, maybe, but all she could really manage was to look death in the eye rather than hide from it.

“Motherf*cker—” Chuito started before Alaine had to respond.

“Chu—” Tino snapped in warning.

“No.” Chuito shook his head, his hands still threaded behind his neck. “No. Just—” His voice was shaking with fury. “You will have to kill me.”

“Oh, now he speaks English.” The Russian laughed as he turned back to Chuito. “You can die. Doesn’t bother me. I’m still going to f*ck her.” Then he shoved his gun underneath Alaine’s chin and said, “Or maybe I’ll just kill her instead. I have unique tastes. Pain turns me on. All pain. You think you’ll feel pain if you watch this bullet tear through her skull?”

Alaine closed her eyes, feeling her entire body start shaking as the terror swooped in and claimed her, making her almost numb with it, because there was something in the way he said it that seemed very honest. Like he would kill her just to watch Chuito’s reaction to it.

She prayed, silently, asking forgiveness not just for her sins, but Chuito’s as well, because she knew instinctively he was going to follow her.

“What do you want?” Chuito choked out, and Alaine opened her eyes to see Chuito staring at the Russian with a look of abject pleading she hadn’t thought was possible for him. “You’re bored. You want to hurt someone? Hurt me. Go for it.”

The Russian was quiet for a moment and then said, “I’ve decided I like to watch.” He glanced to Angel. “She belongs to one of yours. Clearly the Italian could give a shit, so you take her. Fuck her. Let him see you do it.”

“Angel, I will f*cking kill you.” Chuito obviously chose to speak English so everyone could understand him. “I will find a way to cross over and torture you if you touch her. I swear it on Juan’s name; I will drag you into hell with me, cabrón.”

Alaine looked to Angel, who was staring down at Chuito with an unreadable expression, and she honestly tried very hard to read it because her fate depended on it.

“I like to watch too,” Angel finally announced. “Seeing this hijo de la gran puta suffer gets me off more than it gets you off. Let my boy f*ck her. We’ll all watch him suffer. If anyone needs a little humility, it’s this motherf*cker.”

“Ay Dios mio.” Chuito shook his head, looking from Alaine to Tino, as if searching for a solution.