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Trying to get her rapid heartbeat under control, she atte that the er and killed her mother was this man’s brother "Are you a friend of Mario’s?"

"A friend?" Ferdinand laughed bitterly "No His friends don’t live long We’re cousins, if you didn’t know He sent one of his ot the upper hand and killed Mario’s henchave me a present before I ended his o of her hands and went to work on her belt, but she couldn’t let hi

With a superhu to hit hi, but the pain streaked across her skull with a vengeance, and she collapsed back against the bed in a near faint

"Hell, I figured you wouldn’t go easy Just know this You’re mine The bastard who turned me is dead, but I’m not about to live alone like this And since Mario killed Candy, you’re it, dollface Mine" He sla an eruption of pain so profound that she cried out, and the darkness swiftly closed in on her again

The sound of gruff angry ht Alicia to semiconsciousness as she lay naked on a soft mattress, presumably in Ferdinand’s bedroo, and she couldn’t figure out why it hurt when only her head should have The rooht appeared beneath a closed door

"You been following Mario," a brusquehim, too Only Jimmy’s paid for his… mistake He said it was your idea to trail Mario So what the hell for?"

"You’re wrong," Ferdinand said, his voice just as dark "My cousin’s damned paranoid"

"You know Mario’s already pissed off at you"

"Because his thug didn’t kill h he still had the upper hand "He shouldn’t have murdered Candy"

"Candy shouldn’t have stolen froot in his ith Missy Greiston"

Hera loser How did I know Mario wanted a piece of the action?"

"You wanted her because Tony orking for Mario and knew his business You wanted to et the goods on Mario through Missy The straw that broke the ca sche bucks He doesn’t like to lose Not to a woured you had so after hiswith a dull thud and a crunching noise, and a loud grunt of pain sounded Cursing followed, mixed with moans, and then the words spoken were suddenly silenced No one said anything further for what see in her ears was the only thing she heard as she strained to hear what else was happening in the other roo," another man said, his voice quieter, htening than the harsh words Because with the silence, she couldn’t tell whether thefor her

"Was Ferdinand alone?" the sinister-sounding man finally asked, his words spoken in the direction of the bedroo that way, suddenly aware Ferdinandroo a whiskey at the bar, he was the only one who made a sound If anyone else was in the place, she would have checked to see as happening"

"Hell, he was naked I thought you would have already checked to see if he had a woman stashed back there before I arrived Jirabbed a woot her tied up and gagged in the bedrooet worse Alicia knew they’d look for anyone else in the place, and she figured she didn’t stand a chance if they found her

She swung her legs over the bed, felt dizzy and sick at the same time, and forced her vision to clear Then she swept her hands over the : bra, panties, slacks, stockings, shirt, jacket Everything but her shoes She meant to stand, but as soon as her bare feet hit the carpeted floor, she crumpled She couldn’t walk Couldn’t do h her head and her ared to slip underneath the bed, knocking her shoes under there with her

Dust floated upward underneath the bed, and she stifled a sneeze, holding her nose and gritting her teeth

The door opened; a light flipped on Footfalls walked around the roo Heels toward her, the shoes paused at the edge of the bed She froze She sne and the thick odor of smoke The leather shoes walked away, and the footfalls headed back down the hallway "No one else here Kill the bastard"

Ferdinand didn’t object Why didn’t he say anything? Had they knocked him out? Taped his mouth shut?

She shivered with fear If they found her, they’d kill her, too