I stole her and kept her under my command, forced her to obey me, and bent her will over my knee.
She’s been my weapon, my captive, and my toy.
The first time I broke her, I did it for revenge.
The second time . . . for pleasure.
This time, she’s breaking because I’m a liar.
I showed her that her life is a lie, but she’s showing me that I haven’t been living in a truth either.
Now we’re being hunted like animals, and she’s the only one who understands the forces aligned against us.
I thought she was a foolish, weak little sheep, but she’s as shrewd as a fox.
She’s not a pawn to be pushed around the board, but a wartime queen.
I will do whatever it takes to protect her, even if she starts a war to get away from me.
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“You’re really talking about a truce?”
“Call it what you want.”
“Fucking hell.” He laughs to himself. “You aren’t the same guy since you took my sister.”
I’m not. The Dario Lucari who lived the hour before he took Sarah had sold his soul to destroy the Colonia. This is my last chance to buy it back for her.
“I’m offering an end to all of this.”
“You started this war, and now you’re offering to stop it? Like it’s a bargain? And my sister? Remember her? She’s part of the deal.”
I expected him to try this trade, but it still pisses me off. “We’ll disappear. We’ll leave New York. That’s all you get out of me.”
“Why would we do that?” He looks into the tunnel. The light is dim yellow and the air curls unpredictably, catching wrappers and plastic bags in looping whirlwinds—only to casually drop them on the tracks. “For what? We don’t want peace. That’s not some prize. We want you strung up like a side of beef, and we want Sarah back.”
“She’s better off with me and you know it.” I wasn’t sure if he knew that until I see his reaction. He knows. He just doesn’t care. “You want to fight for her, you’re going to have a fight. But then what? Drag her home? To do what with her? Turn her out like a whore? Or slice her up and sell her?”
His flinch is slight and as fast as a blink, but it tells me there are things the Colonia do that he doesn’t like thinking about. He was born human and raised to be an animal. Now he’s trying hard to die an animal. But the real him—the human—keeps slipping out. He’s a soft touch, a reformer, and too much of a coward to change anything before his father is out of the picture.
“We can’t let you live.” His voice is partially drowned out by a warm wind from behind him. A nearly empty train arrives on the opposite platform. “Your deal is bullshit, and it sucks.”
We say nothing for a moment, while the doors open. He hides his anxiety. I hide my regrets.
Say you want peace, Massimo. All you have to do is want it.
Mr. Post doesn’t get on the train.
Revenge is exhausting. It takes up too much mental real estate. Too much time. Too much love. I need all of it for something else.
The conductor’s voice gurgles, and with a double beep, the doors slap closed.
We’re just two men talking.
Wind gusts from behind me. Train on our side.
“I’m not coming to you with another deal.” I shrug, offering to clean up a mess I made.
Massimo’s sneer tells me the discount on salvation won’t result in a sale. “Without Sarah, there’s no deal.”
“You can’t have her. Ever. She’s mine.”
CD Reiss is a New York Times bestseller. She still has to chop wood and carry water, which was buried in the fine print. Her lawyer is working it out with God but in the meantime, if you call and she doesn't pick up she's at the well hauling buckets.
Born in New York City, she moved to Hollywood, California to get her master's degree in screenwriting from USC. In case you want to know, that went nowhere but it did give her a big enough ego to write novels.
She's frequently referred to as the Shakespeare of Smut which is flattering but hasn't ever gotten her out of chopping that cord of wood.
If you meet her in person, you should call her Christine.
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