Page 84 of Poisoned Promise
“So when Reese here finally came to me and said you were harboring the bitch that killed my Tee, and not only that but that he suspected you were up to something, something that would allow her to escape all consequences.”
“Reese…” His name falls weakly from my lips as I struggle to keep up.
Toph and Reese, my Toph and Reese, actually work for her?
All this time?
I try to meet Toph’s gaze but he avoids it, refusing to look my way and my heart clenches.
“You’re making a mistake, Caterina. It’s really not what you think.” I’m clutching at straws as the floor collapses beneath me and the trusted circle around me, the men I thought I could lean on to talk my way out of this, turn their backs on me.
“Am I?” Caterina’s rage overflows and she slams the decanter down on the desk behind her, shattering it into a thousand pieces. Then she turns and yells at me. “Tell me, Felix, when did you realize that Dove James was actually Dove Healy?”
My blood runs cold and our eyes lock.
So, she does recognise her.
Is this something I can work in Dove’s favor?
The heir to Captain Healy’s fortune has to have some sway here.
My mind races, formulating plans that collapse within seconds under the weight of Toph and Reese’s betrayal.
I can’t think.
Dove needs me to think but I can’t do it.
“Caterina…”
“Dona,” she spits at me. “You’ve lost the privilege of my name, you fucking rat.” She walks forward, entering my space with a sway of hips and fury blazing in her eyes, but even as she gets close, she smiles. “You’re going to pay for this. The only reason I haven’t killed you for being a traitor is because the world doesn’t know yet and I don’t need the hassle of those fucking familiesthat smile at me but only trust you. But that doesn’t mean you aren’t going to suffer.”
She reaches for me and despite my recoil, she presses her palm flat to my cheek. “We had something special, Felix.”
“No,” I reply tightly, contemplating my odds of survival if I take her hostage. “We had grief and pity. Nothing else.”
Her eyes turn dark and cold and she pats my cheek. “Really? It would pain you then, to learn that all this time, not only were you harboring the cunt that killed Tee, but you were also hiding the bitch who killed your best friend?”
The ground falls away from me and sickly tension pulls through my gut like a cold, sharp blade.
“What?” I croak out. “What did you say?”
24
DOVE
Everything hurts.
It’s not the first time I’ve been tortured but in my fifteen years away from this world, the techniques of surviving are lost to me.
I can’t distance myself from the men who enter my cell and taunt me while I’m hanging by my wrists from iron cuffs that slice into my skin.
I can’t fight back when they ball their hands into fists and beat my naked body like I’m nothing more than a punching bag.
I can’t stop their hands from wandering when they secure manacles around my ankles and chain them to the ground so I can’t curl up to avoid their blows.
I can’t turn my mind off when their disgusting fingers wander between my legs and they whisper in my ear that the only thing stopping them from raping me is because Caterina hasn’t come yet.
I pray she never comes.
