[Book 2: Bound by honor]
"Jennifer Scuderi has always rebelled against the Mafia's strict rules, and nothing enrages her more than the idea of being tied down in an arranged marriage. But when Valentino Vitiello, the dangerous and relentless enforce...
Oops! This image does not follow our content guidelines. To continue publishing, please remove it or upload a different image.
Jennifer
The entrance hall was a mess. Blood and broken glass littered the floor. At least the bodies were gone, but a trail of blood led outside to a pile of dead Russians. I really hoped they didn't treat Umberto's body like that. My chest tightened but I fought the sadness. Umberto had chosen this life. Death was part of the game.
I blocked Rose's view of the corpses and dragged her toward the living room, which wasn't in much better shape. The white couches would definitely have to be replaced. I didn't think any bleach in the world could get out the stains. Rose made a small distressed sound and I pulled her further along, already regretting that I had allowed her to come with me. A couple of men were taking a smoking break on the terrace, and glanced our way as we passed. They didn't seem bothered by the blood. I walked faster.
"Hey," Rose protested but I ignored her. If I'd been on my own, I wouldn't have cared but I didn't want to put my sister in danger.
We headed to the back of the house where the kitchen was, and almost bumped into another man. "Watch where you're going," he said, then paused and actually checked us out. I didn't know him and I had no interest of finding out more about him.
I pushed Rose past him. His eyes followed us all the way to the back of the corridor. When we turned the corner, we came face to face with a steel door, which was left ajar. A cry of pain carried out from below and made me shiver.
Rose clutched my arm, blue eyes wide. "What was that?"
I swallowed. I had a pretty good idea what was going on but I wasn't going to tell her that. "I don't know." I took a step closer to the door, then hesitated. I couldn't take Rose with me, but I couldn't leave her alone in the hallway when there were so many creepy fucks running around. I opened the door and peered down a long, dark staircase. Light spilled out from somewhere in the basement. Rose was almost pressed against my back, her breath hot against my neck.
"You don't want to go down there, right?" she whispered.
"Yes, but you will stay on the stairs."
Rose followed me a few steps down before I gave her a warning look. "Stay there. Promise me."
Another cry sounded from below.
Rose flinched. "Okay. I promise."
I wasn't sure if she meant it but she looked freaked out enough that I was willing to take the risk. I crept down the remaining steps, but halted on the last step, scared of what I might see. Exhaling, I stepped down and found myself in a huge basement. Bile shot up my throat. I wasn't stupid. I knew what the mob did to their enemies, especially if they wanted to get information out of them, but hearing stories and actually coming face to face with the horrendous reality of it were two very different things.
