Cruel Surrender by Terri Anne Browning

Ciana

I triedto prevent myself from trembling as Ryan stood at the bottom of the steps, making sure to keep my gaze locked on him and not look around for any sign of the sniper who could end my cousin’s life at any moment. Every person inside these walls had been brainwashed for decades by Sheena to hate Ryan Vitucci, so they probably were begging for a chance to be the one to kill him.

I couldn’t let that happen.

Ryan looked terrible. The dark circles under his eyes were worse than my own. In just a few days, he’d noticeably lost weight, his face looking gaunt and gray. I wanted to hug him, tell him how sorry I was, and beg him to forgive me.

Beside me, Bain rubbed his hand over my belly, and I nearly rolled my eyes at the way he was staking his claim. He couldn’t wait two minutes before throwing it in Ryan’s face that he basically owned me now.

“How are my brothers?” I asked as soon as I trusted my voice not to crack.

“Vito is fine. He was released from the hospital the same day. Bennie…”

My heart stopped, and I took a single step away from Bain, unable to be so close to him if I was about to find out he’d actually killed my brother. But he grabbed me before I could get far, and I remembered his threat that he would have Ryan shot if I made so much as a move in his direction. “No, please,” I half sobbed, not sure if I was begging more for Bennie to be alive or for Bain not to kill Ryan.

“He lost a lot of blood,” Ryan rushed to assure me. “He had to have surgery, and it was touch and go for the first twenty-four hours, but he finally came around yesterday. He should make a full recovery.”

My relief was so intense, I sagged against Bain. “Thank God.”

“I told you I didn’t kill him,” Bain muttered, sounding almost annoyed that we were even talking about this. “The idiot shouldn’t have gotten in my way. I wouldn’t have had to shoot him if he had just let me have you.”

“Shut up!” I yelled, slapping my hands against his chest. He might not have killed Bennie, but he very easily could have. “Just shut up.”

Bain caught my hands, pulling them behind my back as he grinned down at me. “We’ve already had this conversation, mo chroí. Sheathe those claws before your beloved cousin thinks you don’t want to be here.”

The gleam in his eyes reminded me of the present danger to Ryan, and I instantly went still, fear making my muscles tighten.

“Has he hurt you?” Ryan demanded.

I closed my eyes for a brief moment at the look that filled Bain’s hazel eyes. “I would never harm her,” he growled in offense.

“Bullshit,” I muttered under my breath before forcing my expression to go neutral and turning to face Ryan. “He hasn’t physically hurt me in any shape or form.” I sucked in a steadying breath, knowing that what was about to happen next would cost me Ryan forever. “Ryan, I’ve decided to stay. After what happened to Nova…” Just saying her name made tears fill my eyes. “I keep seeing her, Ry. Lying on that table… I can hear Sheena cackling like a hyena as she did those horrible, horrible things. I can’t sleep because of it.”

Beside me, Bain touched his hand to the small of my back, rubbing soothingly before wrapping his arms around me and pressing his lips to my temple. “It’s okay, mo chroí. You’re safe now, I swear it.”

Needing the comfort, I clung to him, wishing that everything was so much different from the reality of the entire situation.

“You want to stay here?” Ryan demanded incredulously. “Ciana, he’s just as bad as Sheena. He—”

Sensing Bain’s growing tension, I quickly cut my cousin off. “Ryan, please. I want to be here. It’s better for everyone.”

“Who is it better for?” he yelled, finally releasing his frustration. He took a step forward, but two guards grabbed his arms, stopping him before he could get to the first step.

“For me. And for the babies.”

“My babies.” Bain butted in, staking his claim yet again. “Ciana and I will raise our children here. Where they will be safe.”

Ryan struggled against the guards’ hold. “How the fuck do you think any of them will be safe here?” he threw at Bain. “Sheena won’t allow anyone I care about to have a moment of peace. She won’t rest until she’s driven me just as crazy as she is.”

“I doubt she will bother you or my Ciana ever again.” Bain tucked me closer before giving a nod to Brody to bring the hatbox forward. I shuddered at the sight of it, knowing exactly what was inside. The smell as Brody passed us was so disgusting I nearly gagged, the level of decomp only having escalated since Sheena’s death.

“This is my gift to you, Vitucci,” Bain said with what sounded like regret in his voice. “One I hope will give you some of the peace our great-grandmother stole from you. Consider it an olive branch, if you will.”

An olive branch? I nearly looked up at Bain, curious if he was speaking the truth or not. Did that mean…he wanted us all to get along? Would he really put aside the past animosity? Fuck, could I possibly have my family…andhim?

“I don’t want shit from you,” Ryan snarled. “Let Ciana go. Allow her to come with me, and there won’t be a war.”

“Ryan, please,” I begged, not completely trusting the supposed “olive branch.” I needed more time to digest it, test the theory, make sure that my family wasn’t at risk by accepting an offer of peace if it was just a ruse to get them to drop their guard. “Take the gift and go home.”

“Not without you.”

“You have to.” My voice broke, and I quickly cleared my throat before he realized something was off. He was the one person who knew me better than anyone. It wouldn’t take much for him to realize I was scared. “I’m where I want to be. I-I love Bain. He’s the father of my babies, and we’re going to get married. I know my parents won’t understand, but I hoped you would. Even though Nova…is gone.” My tears spilled down my cheeks, blinding me. “You still love her more than anything or anyone. Well, that’s how I feel about Bain.”

The words rang of truth, because I still loved him. Despite everything, I loved him. So what did that say about me?

That I was a masochist.

A fool.

Ryan flinched, then frowned in confusion. “None of this makes sense, Ciana. For fuck’s sake, how did you even meet him?”

Oh God. Here it was. The moment I had to come clean and confess everything. The nausea that had plagued me all morning doubled, and I had to swallow several times to keep from puking all over the front steps. “It’s a long story. But we met while I was on vacation. We fell in love, but there was a huge misunderstanding, and I came home convinced I would never see him again. Then I found out I was pregnant…” I shrugged, as if the rest was history. “I’m sorry I didn’t tell you. If I could go back and do it all over again, I would have told you everything. But I can’t. Now, all either of us can do is move forward.”

“You knew who he was?” I knew the instant it all clicked for him, and the look of betrayal in his brown eyes nearly brought me to my knees. “Ciana, if you knew who he was, then you knew who he was related to. I’ve told you how much Sheena hates me and our family. You knew what my mother did to me, but the old woman still blamed me for what happened. How could you trust anyone from that family? Fuck, how could you put not only yourself in danger, but Nova?”

I couldn’t keep from trembling any longer.

“If you had told me they had gotten so close to you, I could have protected you both better. I never would have let Nova out of my sight!”

“I-I’m sorry,” I sobbed.

“You might as well have handed Nova over to Sheena yourself.”

Something detonated inside me, causing excruciating pain to shoot through my entire body. “Stop,” I pleaded. No longer strong enough to hold myself up, I sagged against Bain. “Ryan, I’m sorry. I know I messed up. I can never tell you how sorry I am. I didn’t know how to—”

“You helped them take her from me,” he seethed, and I flinched at the pure venom in his voice. The hate he couldn’t mask that was directed at me. And he was justified. “You have no right to cry for her when you’re just as responsible for her death as they are.”

“Enough!” Bain bellowed when I started sobbing uncontrollably. His arms were like gentle vises around me, rocking me against him…lovingly? “You will not speak to her like that. She knows she made a mistake. Do not torment her more.”

I cried so hard, I started to strangle on the tears and snot. Ryan was right. I was just as responsible. I could have saved Nova if only I’d told him everything. Instead, I’d cost my precious cousin her life.

“Come with me now, and I’ll forgive you.”

I couldn’t trust my own ears, but hope blossomed in my chest, causing my sobs to pause as I turned my head to look at him. “Wh-what did you say?”

Ryan’s jaw was rock hard, his hands balled into fists. “If you come with me now, I will forgive you. We don’t even have to tell anyone about your relationship with Bain. You know Zia would lose her mind if she found out you hooked up with him.”

His offer to forgive me was more than I’d ever hoped to have, but I couldn’t do what he wanted. If I let him talk me into going home with him, then Bain would signal the sniper…

“I-I can’t go with you, Ryan. I belong h-here.”

“Ciana, if you don’t come with me, I’ll never forgive you. Your deceit has cost me the one thing in the world I can’t live without. If you had been loyal to me, to Nova, she would still be here. That’s on you. All you had to do was speak up, damn it!”

My tears started flowing again, but I swallowed my sobs this time. I had to be strong. If I wasn’t, I would be responsible for yet another person I loved dying. “I know. And that makes what I have to do now even more important. You are the person in the world I love most, Ryan.”

Bain made a noise that sounded like a wounded bear that everyone in the vicinity must have heard, but I kept my gaze locked on Ryan, praying Bain didn’t get so pissed off that he ordered Ryan be taken out. “You’re my best friend, my twin by choice. I won’t have your death on my conscience too.”

Unable to hold on any longer without losing it completely, I jerked away from Bain and sprinted into the house. Needing to be alone, I raced up to my room and locked the door before collapsing on the bed. “G-goodbye, Ryan,” I sobbed into my pillow.