Dom moves Lex to the far corner, like a discarded toy. He grabs the poker, pushing it deeper into the flames. I don’t take my eyes off Lex’s chest, counting his breaths. I need to make sure he’s okay.
I would not let him die now.
Movement to the left has me glancing to the front entryway. There’s a ripple of a shadow and a body emerges. Nico, cane in hand, walks into the family room, back straight and head held high.
He scans me once and smiles softly, though I can see fury in his dark eyes.
Nico is frail, older. The cancer is slowly killing his body and yet he’s here. For me.
Dom stops short, glaring at his father. Nico sighs, as if his disappointing child just drew all over the walls.
“Is Lex alive, son?”
Dom rolls his eyes. “For now.” He waves the blazing red poker in the air. Vaguely, the end looks like a D in iron scrollwork.
It’d be pretty, the glowing tip a contrast to the black, if it wasn’t too close to my face for comfort. The heat sizzles, popping against the cool air, and I jump.
“Do you remember, Papa, when the De Luca men would brand their women?”
Nico goes oddly still.
I tilt my head, looking into Dom’s face as a deeper fear snakes down my back. My whole body locks up and I have to fight the urge to freeze in the face of this danger. This is not the time to shut down.
“I do,” Nico replies, hands crossing over his cane. He puts all his weight on it. “It was forbidden by my great-uncle.”
“Stupid, really.” Dom turns toward me. He shows me the end. Yep. Definitely a D. “The men would brand their women, not just for ownership, which is a plus. But for protection.” He lowers it to the top of my right breast. Nico surges forward, but Dom turns, leveling his gun on his father. “Ah, ah. I haven’t finished explaining the practice to her yet. She needs to know if she’s going to be married to me.”
Nico halts, eyes narrowed at the gun inches from his face.
Even if he was healthy, he wouldn’t survive a shot that close.
“As I was saying.” Dom looks back at me with an insane smile on his dark face. I want to vomit all over his knock-off designer shoes. “It was for protection. See… other families, they liked to steal women. Use them. Return them. Women were property. Fuck up the property, and it’d be a way to shame the man.
“But they agreed a long time ago that if a woman was important. Like a Capo or Don’s wife? They could be branded and that meant they could be kept safe from the family’s ministrations.”
The poker hovers over my skin again and I bite back a scream. It’s so hot, so fucking searing that I push against the chair to get more distance. Strands of my red hair burn on contact.
“I’m the wife of a Capo,” I rush out, chair leaning back. “I don’t need to be branded.”
He laughs. It’s dark and twisted, filled with so much malice. “Not yet, you’re not. But you will be. Consider this my proposal.”
Lex wanted to own me in ways with beauty and dedication.
This is pure ownership.
I can’t let him own me.
I glance back to Nico, to the gun leveled at his face. There’s a knife on Dom’s hip that could slice me free, but Nico can’t reach it. He’s too far.
The only way to get out of this, to get the knife, is to allow Dom to mark me.
The idea makes my head spin and my stomach churn. A brand. Like a fucking cow. A piece of property, meant to be a sign of status, of raw ownership and nothing more.
The poker waves in my face again. Sweat drips down the nape of my neck, my body freezing even as I know I can’t stay rooted.
Then I see Lex, in the corner, unconscious. He came to rescue me. Now, it’s up to me to rescue him.
I don’t want to do this, but I know I have to do it. Because Lex would do it for me.
For Lex, I can endure this.
Locking eyes with Dom, I smirk, mind made up, even though fear punches through me with a viciousness I don’t expect. “You don’t have the balls, little boy.”
That’s the right move. Attack his manhood and he’ll react, classic if not totally unimaginable. At least Lex could take a few hits.
He snarls something obscene, throwing his body forward. The poker touches my skin and the pain is immediate. Flesh melts and sizzles, blood boiling under the heated touch. My whole body reacts and I scream, unable to hold back.
It hurts, everything hurts. Nerve, shock, pain. All of it. It collides together and I push pass the urge to pass out, holding on to my consciousness by the tip of my strength.
I reach for the knife and hold on.
The branding feels like it goes on for an eternity, but in reality, it’s only seconds. When he pulls away, I can feel my skin tear with it, peeling off like wet tissue paper. My body starts to tremble, and I know I’m going into shock, but I breathe through it, long hard puffs. At least listening to Collins prattle on about her medical texts counted for something.
The knife slips into my hand, as Dom turns back to his father. I don’t waste time in sawing into the bindings.
“See? She’s tough. I own her now.” He clicks the safety off and holds it to Nico’s skull. He presses so hard the old man winces. “I’m your only son. That spot was mine. She was mine.”
Nico shakes his head sadly. “No, Dom. This wasn’t your family to lead. Sloane was never met to be yours. You don’t own people. You don’t own families. They choose you. The family chose Alessio.”
Dom smiles ruefully. “They’ll choose differently when you and Lex are dead, and I’m the only true De Luca left.”
His finger twitches as the rope snaps. I plunge the knife into Dom’s thigh, using what little strength I have left. It won’t kill him, but I hope it fucking hurts.
He falls with a wet cry, and I leap from the chair.
Nico wrestles for the gun with his son as the poker is forgotten. I drop to the ground, cradling my purse to my hands and take out the little black revolver.
A shot rings out and instinctively, I throw my body over Lex, praying that he’s still alright.
I won’t lose him now. Not like this.
Glancing up, Nico is on his side, a red rose of blood forming through his white dress shirt. Dom is standing over him, all his pressure on his good leg. The knife is still protruding from his thigh, stuck in him as blood drips onto the cream carpet.
“Don’t,” I say, shakily, rising to my bare feet. My shoes are long gone, my height abysmal next to these men. “Don’t kill him.”
Dom looks back at me, face completely discolored in unhinged rage.
“Who are you to command me?” He sneers. “As a wife, you don’t control me. I control you.” He turns back to his father. “I’ll be with you in a minute. Someone needs to teach a bitch how to heel.”
Chills break out over my arms but I hold firm. It’s the same thing my father would have said. Raising the weapon the way Lex taught me, I stare at my target the way Nico instructed. Take a deep breath. Calm my thoughts. Let my finger lightly touch the trigger.
Dom laughs and my finger twitches.
The bullet cuts through his shoulder and the gun drops, a stray bullet flying into the air. It hits the fireplace, an explosion rocking the stone. Debris flies out, ashes and small sparks landing on the curtains and carpet without warning.
Flames rise and the entire room turns into a vortex of heat. The dated home goes up without much thought, everything feeding the fire.
Nico stands, and we lock eyes, even as Dom screams in pain at our feet.
“Go,” Nico commands, grabbing my arm. “I’ll get Lex.”
“No!” I whip my arm away. Carefully, I slide his arm over my shoulder, directing Nico to the other side. “We just have to get to the doors. You can’t lift him on your own. We’ll go together.”
As one, we stand moving with Lex between us. Nico is too tired from his gunshot and disease, and I’m half Lex’s size. We struggle, Lex’s frame bulky and it takes us too long to cross the short distance, but I will not let Lex stay in another fire. He doesn’t get to die this way before I’ve told him how much I love him.
The fire licks at our backs as we cross the threshold on unsteady feet, pure adrenaline pushing me out as cold night air whips across my face. I inhale, coughing up smoke, knees buckling under the weight of my husband.
The minute I drop Lex into the grass, Nico falls to his knees, and I’m hauled back into the flames.
