The Price (House of Sin #5) - Elisabeth Naughton Page 0,1

expected. It was cold. Cold and clammy. As cold as the fingers of death that had tried to draw me into the darkness before.

“Now, there’s nothing to be frightened of, but you really do need to learn to be more docile. We’ve wasted precious time because you were so combative.”

I was having trouble following her, but I wasn’t sure if that was because I was still fuzzy from whatever drugs the men in black robes had given me, or if I was dreaming this entire conversation.

“Wh-what’s going on?” My voice shook even though I tried like hell to keep it steady. “Where’s Luc?”

“Do not worry your simple little head about Luciano. He is anxiously awaiting your arrival.” She squeezed my hand in a way that was anything but reassuring. “That’s why I’m here. To take you to him, of course.”

She was placating me. But I ignored her condescending words because the chill to her voice put me on instant alert.

This woman wasn’t the innocent little wife she made herself out to be. I sensed she knew everything that happened in the Salvatici House. Knew and supported it.

“What did you do to him?”

She had the audacity to gasp. “Why, I did nothing to my son. What kind of mother do you think I am?” Her cold fingers released mine, and she pushed to her feet. “Regardless of your distrust where this family is concerned, it has become obvious to Antonio and myself that Luciano cares for you greatly. As such, we decided it was past time we welcomed you into the family properly.”

She nodded toward something at the foot of the bed. “Seeing as how you are not dressed appropriately, I brought you something to wear. I’ll step out while you change, then I’ll be back to take you to Luciano.”

Her heels clicked across the floor. Seconds later, she knocked against something solid. Hinges creaked, then a heavy door pushed inward, flooding the room with light that blinded me.

I lifted a hand to block the glare and tried to see past the opening. Luc’s mother, dressed in a fitted skirt and trim jacket, stepped out into the hallway and spoke in a low voice with another person I couldn’t quite make out. Seconds later, a light flipped on in the room, burning my retinas. I dropped my eyelids just as the heavy steel clanked shut.

It took several minutes for the spots to clear from my vision, and when they did I realized I was in some kind of cell.

The walls and floor were cement. There were no windows, no furnishings beside a wrought iron bedframe and a dingy old mattress. And there was a drain in the middle of the floor that sent all kinds of horrible images through my mind.

I swallowed back the nausea and looked away from that drain, telling myself not to hyperventilate. But I had no concept of time. I didn’t know how long I’d been out or even what country I was in anymore. And as much as I wanted to believe Luc’s mother was telling the truth and that Luc was somewhere close waiting for me, I knew not to trust her. Not after she’d stood back and let the leaders of her House beat and imprison her youngest son, Dante. Not after I’d learned she hadn’t stopped those same leaders from murdering Dante’s pregnant wife.

My stomach revolted as that memory rushed clear and sudden through my mind. They’d killed Maricella because Dante had married her without approval. That was why Luc had gone to meet with his father. So his House wouldn’t come after me in the same way.

I pressed a shaky hand to my abdomen. This vile family had nothing on the most sadistic of secret societies. They might not be Satan worshipers but they were cult-like and evil right to their very core. Power corrupted. And the Salvatici family had been corrupt for hundreds of years.

My hope faded as I looked around the dingy cell. Ultimately, they had come after me. Nothing Luc had done to try to stop them had worked. And if they planned to do to me what they’d done to Maricella...

Sickness surged up my throat. I breathed deeply, fighting to stay in control. I wasn’t going to be afraid of them. I’d made the choice to come back to Luc even knowing it might put my life in danger. But Luc... He’d snap if they hurt me. And if that happened, I was terrified of what it would