Chapter 6 Captured By Darkness

• Rain pounded down in icy knives as Russo's men dragged Isabella out of the smoldering ruins of the dockside brawl. She shrieked into the screaming storm. Lightning flared across her white face, shocking and now frozen in terror, as Russo stepped out of the darkness, cloak billowing behind him in the gale.
• Russo's gaze fell to her and remained. His lips crept back in a slow, hungry smile.
• "Moretti believes he can keep you?" he drawled, eyes sparkling with cold amusement. "I will demonstrate how mistaken he is."
• Russo signaled curtly. His men thrust Isabelle into a waiting SUV. She struggled, nails scraping over leather seats, but they had her easily in hand.
• Down the pier, Luca Moretti burst from behind a fire-scorched SUV, eyes ablaze with fury enough to raze cities. His suit was destroyed, soaked in rain, and dripping blood. He stumbled forward, gun held high, boots splashing puddles of crimson water as he roared:
• "ISABELLA!"
• But his howl was overwhelmed by thunder. Russo's thugs forced Isabella into a black SUV. Its doors slammed and locked as Luca fired, muzzle flares illuminating blackness. Bullets hit metal, shattering glass, but the engine revved forward. Tires squealed on wet dock, spinning the SUV around and fishtailing off into darkness.
• The car sped away, taillights disappearing into the rain as shots kept ringing in the distance.
• He drove for hours, it seemed, on twisting, deserted streets until they reached an unfinished skyscraper on the city's perimeter—its concrete structure a giant's skeletal remains against the stormy heavens.
• Luca zoomed the rain-soaked roads in his armored car, eyes cold killer, voice hoarse as he commanded
• Catch her!" he instructed his men, his rage simmering just beneath the surface. "Turn the city over if you have to bring her back!"
• Refusing to give up, Luca ran after the car, rage brewing in his blood. His yell warping with rage as the SUV disappeared into blackness. "No !" he shouted, his eyes vacant as lightning rent the sky asunder. Rain poured off his face, mixed with sweat and blood.
• The pier next to him was naught but smoldering ash. His men returned, battered but not broken, faces as grizzled as their boss knelt on damp rain-greased pavement.
• Lightning flashed across Luca's face, his eyes deep-sunk, jaw set so it would break. He brought his fist down on the pavement, the pain nothing compared to the tempest raging within him.
• And stood, a monolithic shard of nature, his low voice lethal as he issued orders:
• "Take her. Do as you need to. Kill whoever you need to. I'll reduce this city to ashes if she isn't presented to me."
• His soldiers hurtling, engines roaring, radios shrieking in the distance, sirens shrieked as Luca Moretti, soaked and enraged, swore vengeance that would besmirch the streets with blood.
• But the city was dark and enormous, and Russo's path had turned cold.
• Russo dragged Isabella into the building. Water dripped through holes in the unfinished roof, puddles spreading across the cracked concrete floor. It smelled of mildew and stagnant dust, shadows flickering with every burst of lightning.
• He pushed her up against a half-built wall, pinning her with his body.
• "God, you're even more gorgeous close-up," he growled, warm breath against her ear. His hand rubbed her jaw roughly, pushing her face into his. "I'll break you in every way Moretti never could."
• Isabella whimpered. She turned her head away, but Russo's hand closed around her throat, tight enough to hold her back but not to cut off breath, until she gasped with fear.
• His other hand gripped the wet neckline of her rain-soaked dress. With a rending tug, he tore at the material, stitches splitting, the noise echoing like shots in the emptiness of the building. The bite of cold air licked at her exposed skin. Tears brimmed in her eyes, mixing with the rain on her cheeks.
• Russo leaned in, lips against her ear.
• "Beg," he breathed, voice low and raspy with hunger. "Beg me to stop."
• Lightning flashed, lighting up deformed shadows on the walls. Isabella cried, every fiber trying to get away, but there was nowhere to go.
• And when Russo's fingers roved, bruising his grip, Isabella's frozen scream is lost in thunder and the words echoing in the darkness:
• "No one is coming for you."