by Ella Jade
“You didn’t let anything happen to me. I’m the one who did something stupid. I left myself open to this situation but you found me.” I kissed his cheek. “I don’t know how you did it but I’ve never been happier to see you.”
“Luca, sweetheart.” He took my face between his hands. “I didn’t find you. I knew where you were the whole time. This house belongs to my family. We call it a safe house.”
“What?” The blood drained from my face.
“It’s a place we go when we need to hide out.”
“I can figure out what it is.” I tried to maneuver out of his hold but he wouldn’t let go. “Why am I here?”
“Because you wouldn’t stay at the main house, so I had you brought here.”
“You kidnapped me?” I pushed on his chest so he would release my face. “What the hell is wrong with you?”
“What the hell’s wrong with me?” He pointed to himself. “Maybe you should ask yourself what’s wrong with you? What were you thinking leaving without telling anyone? You were shot at.”
“And you wanted me to stay there. You couldn’t guarantee my safety.”
“You were a lot safer there than out on your own. Look how easy it was for us to find you and pick you up. How long do you think it was going to take our enemies to find you? Do you know the danger you put yourself in? The position you could have put my family in if they would have found you first?”
“I didn’t ask to be in the middle of this.”
“I’m sorry this happened but being with me comes with certain risks. You are smack in the middle of all of this.”
“What if I don’t want this life?” It broke my heart to say it but what choice did I have? “I don’t want your life.”
“I understand.” His expression was hard, dark. Where is my Santino?
“You’ll let me go?” I wanted him to say no. I wanted him to fight.
“When this is over, you can walk out of here alone. I won’t come after you. I won’t try to make you stay.”
You won’t fight for me? For us?
“That’s not good enough. I can’t stay here. I have a job, a life. What about my mother? They took my phone. I have to let her know where I am.”
“You can’t.”
“She’ll call the police if I go missing. That will be worse for your family.”
“Everything is taken care of.”
“What does that mean?”
“Vince knows where you are. Your job is secure. When this is over you can go back to your life. The one without me.”
Twist that knife a little more.
“My mother?”
“I texted her from your phone. She’s thrilled that I’ve surprised you with a getaway. She really likes me, you know.”
“How could you do this to me?”
“How could I do this to you?” He slammed his fist against the wall. “I fucking asked you to trust me. Instead, you put your life and my entire family’s lives at risk when you fled. We shouldn’t be wasting resources on you.”
“You’re unbelievable.”
“No, I’m realistic. Don’t you think these guards would be better suited at the main house? We’re splitting our focus between here and there. We’re protecting two places when we could all be safe in one location.”
“That’s not my fault. You should have left me alone. I was almost home.” I pushed passed him and headed down the stairs. “If these resources are such a waste, let me leave.”
He followed me downstairs. “Then what? If I let you walk out of here what will your plan be? We already have eyes on your mother. She’s safe.”
When I reached for the door handle, he placed his hand over mine. “Don’t make this harder than it has to be.”
I glanced down at the foyer table, noting a set of keys. Looking out the window, I saw Santino’s black SUV. Art usually had the keys but maybe Santino had a set too. Only one way to find out.
He turned me, taking my face between his hands again. “Stay with me. Let me protect you.”
It would be so easy to get lost in him. I wanted to stay with him but not as his hostage. I wanted this relationship on my terms. Why didn’t he understand what had happened tonight wasn’t normal? People weren’t supposed to get shot at in their homes. They shouldn’t have guards or guns. I wanted him but I also wanted a normal life. Normal wasn’t going to be possible with a Marchelli and that broke my heart.
“Santino,” one of the men who grabbed me from my car came into the room. “Dominick is on the phone. He wants me to put you on.”
“I’ll be right back.” He released me from his hold. “I won’t let anything happen to you.”
“I want to believe that.” A tear slid down my cheek. “I don’t think you can guarantee it.”
“As long as we’re together, everything will be fine. As long as you’re here, I know I can protect you.”
When he left to answer the phone, I went over my options. There weren’t many. If I stayed here, I let Santino take control of the situation. He was good at that but at what cost did it come for me? What about my life? My family? My career? Would he think he could hold me hostage anytime something went wrong in his screwed-up world? How could he think this was acceptable? Fooling my mother into believing he had me on some romantic getaway. I was sure she ate that right up. Damn him!
My head pounded with tension and my eyes burned from lack of sleep. I had been up for hours. Exhaustion had set in a while ago. I’d been shot at, abducted, and betrayed by the man I...
You know what? It was time for me to take control. How dare he! I grabbed the keys from the foyer table and calmly walked out the front door. What were they going to do? Shoot me? I glanced over my shoulder as I quickly picked up my pace. Santino’s SUV was only a few feet from me. All I had to do was get in and drive away. I’d figure out where I was headed once I was away from here. My heart pounded as I made my way across the driveway.
Once I clicked the key fob, the doors beeped and unlocked. I had the right keys! Now, all I had to do was leave. I hesitated. Was this what I really wanted? To run away from Santino? I could tell myself it wouldn’t be forever. None of this was my fault. Could he really blame me for leaving like this? He was the one who had wronged me. He had his guards pick me up and rush me away. I didn’t ask for him to protect me. I certainly didn’t ask to be shot at and possibly thrown into the middle of a mob war.
What am I doing? Make a freakin’ decision. Stay or go? When I reached for the door handle, someone caught me by the arm. I turned around and shoved them. No way were they man-handling me again.
“Whoa!” Santino let go of me. “What are you doing?”
“Leaving.”
“You really want to steal my car?”
“You stole me.”
Three large guards descended on us but Santino held up his hand. “I have this.”
They retreated but didn’t go inside. Of course, they wouldn’t. They had to make sure I didn’t shoot him.
“Give me the keys.” He held out his palm. “Don’t make this difficult.”
“You’ve already done that.”
“I’ve done nothing but fall for you. I’m so confused half the time because I don’t know how to embrace what’s happening between us. All I know is I never want it to end but you want to walk away!” He shouted. “I thought what we had was going somewhere but I guess I was wrong.”
“Don’t put this on me. You’re not being fair. I’m sorry if I didn’t react the correct way when I was shot at in your house. When I was supposed to obey your brothers orders and relocate in the middle of the night. Oh, and let’s not forget when you had me fucking kidnapped!” When I threw the keys at him, they fell to the ground. “I didn’t sign up for any of this. I already told you, I don’t want this life.”
“I pegged you for a lot of things.” He looked at me with his hopeful, sincere eyes and I thought we could come to some sort of compromise. “Smart, sassy, and bold. A bit of a danger mag
net. A woman who isn’t afraid to go after what she wants.” He bent down and picked up the keys, shoving them in his pocket. “What I never thought was that you’d end up being a spoiled, little bitch.”
“Fuck you!” I raised my hand and slapped him as hard and with as much force as I could. His guards stepped forward but he shot them a death glare and they backed off immediately. So much for that compromise.
“I’m going to chalk this whole argument up to the fact that we’re both running on empty. We’re tired and stressed.” He rubbed his jaw where I had hit him. My own hand still stung from the impact.
I backed up when he came toward me, his eyes were wild now and not as honest as a few minutes ago. I moved back until the car stopped me from going any further.
“Don’t worry, I’m not going to hurt you but I promise you, the next time you raise your hand to me, I won’t be so forgiving.”
He headed back toward the house but turned for one final thought. “You hesitated.”
“What?” I whispered, as my heart raced and my stomach heaved.
“When I was on the phone with Dominick, I watched you from the window. You could have ran but you didn’t. You wouldn’t have gotten very far but you didn’t know that. If you really wanted to leave, you wouldn’t have hesitated. Maybe you should ask yourself why.”
Chapter Thirteen
I’m being realistic...
Santino
Luca hadn’t come out of her room since she locked herself in after we had that fight in the driveway this morning. The way we treated one another didn’t sit well with me. How could we go from everything being perfect to such a disaster in a matter of hours?
I carried a dinner tray upstairs and knocked on her door but she didn’t respond.
“Luca, I brought you dinner.” I leaned against her door, waiting for a sound. “I didn’t think you’d want to eat with me, so I’ll leave this here.”
I waited a few minutes before placing the tray on the floor. “I know you’re angry with me. I get why but I’m not the enemy here. I’m trying the best I can to make sure we all come out of this in one piece.”
Still nothing.
“Luca?”
“I want my phone back,” she finally spoke through the door. “You had no right to take it from me.”
“I can’t do that right now.”
“You’re being ridiculous.”
“I’m being realistic.” I wanted more than anything to give her what she wanted. Her phone. Her freedom. But that wasn’t possible. Not tonight.
“Go away.”
“I’ll be in the room across the hall if you need me.”
“I won’t.”
My phone rang as I headed to my room. It was Dominick. Maybe he had some news.
“Hello,” I answered.
“Hey, I have Gianni with me,” he said. “Put us on speaker.”
I went into the bedroom I would be sleeping in and shut the door before putting them on speaker. “How’s it going?”
“We’re all good,” Dominick said. “You?”
“We heard there was an altercation in the driveway.” I could picture Gianni’s smug face. “How’s your jaw?” He laughed. “I’m told Luca’s got a mean right hook.”
Dominick snickered.
“Funny.” I sat on the bed, wishing the guards didn’t tell my brothers everything. “It’s all good.”
“Did you have make-up sex?” Gianni asked.
“She locked herself in her bedroom and won’t come out. She wants her phone back.”
“Absolutely not.” I heard the irritation in Dominick’s voice.
“I know.” I shook my head. “Are we any closer to resolving this?”
“We might have a lead,” Dominick informed me.
“What is it?” I was eager to get this taken care of.
“We ID’d the shooter,” Dominick said.
“Who was he?” I had to refer to him in the past tense because he didn’t make it off the property alive last night. Gianni made sure of that.
“His name was Conner Halls,” Gianni told me.
"Did we know him?”
“No,” Dominick responded. “But we made a connection to someone we do know.”
“Who?” I asked.
“The ex-senator Bruno.”
“Angelique’s father?”
“Yup,” Gianni said. “That bastard can’t leave us alone.”
“What’s the connection?”
“Halls worked odd jobs for Bruno. Landscaping, pool maintenance. Things like that,” Dominick continued. “He did some time in prison. Bruno hired a lawyer for him and got him out on an appeal.”
“Why would Bruno send a shooter to our house? He had to know we’d figure it out.” This seemed a little too easy. “Is it a coincidence? Could someone else have hired him?”
“That’s what Gianni and I think too. We’re looking into it, so we’ll need you to sit tight for a day or so. The rest of us are still staying at the main house. Dad is on his way home from Italy. Mom and Gia are staying there for now. I think they’re safer there.”
“You’re probably right.” I thought for a moment. “We have history with Bruno.”
“I’m having a difficult time believing he’d send someone to kill one of us where his daughter and granddaughters live,” Gianni said. “But trust me, if we can prove it was him, I’ll eliminate him myself.”
“Let’s not get ahead of ourselves,” Dominick warned. “We made a connection but linking Bruno to hiring an assassin is going to be a little more difficult.”
“He was hardly an assassin and if he didn’t point his fucking gun at me, I wouldn’t have taken him out so fast. I would have tortured the answers out of him.” Gianni cursed in Italian.
“Well, you did what you had to do,” Dominick assured him. “It’s better you’re alive.”
I didn’t envy Gianni. If his wife’s father was coming at us, he’d have no choice but to retaliate. Angelique had proven her loyalty to my family once before when she betrayed her father and gave us leverage against him but how much could we expect from her if we had to take him out?
“I’ll be in touch,” Dominick said. “You focus on Luca. Keep her there.”
“She’s not going anywhere.” I hid the keys. “She might get violent but I’ll handle her.”
“Channel that anger into hot sex,” Gianni said. “You’ll love it.”
“Goodbye.” I ended the call.
Bruno? What are you up to? I grabbed my laptop and started a search. I wasn’t sure what I was looking for but I couldn’t sit here and do nothing, especially if he was coming after my family.
Most of the articles were of him resigning amid a scandal. A scandal my family had exposed. Not only had we taken away his job and reputation but Angelique chose Gianni over him. I’d say the odds of him retaliating were pretty good but we couldn’t go into attack mode if we weren’t one hundred percent sure.
I set the computer to the side and closed my eyes. It had been a long twenty-four hours. Last night at this time, my life was moving in a direction that I could get used to. Luca was with me and we were happy. We had a future to look forward to. Now, I wasn’t sure what we were to one another. She might never forgive me for this. She’d probably never trust me either. As much as I wanted to be with her, keeping her safe had to be my number one priority. If it meant we couldn’t be together then I’d have to accept that risk. I would hate it but I would never persuade her to be with me if she couldn’t understand what being with me would entail. There would always be times like this. She couldn’t be the wild card. I wouldn’t allow her to be the reason she put my family in danger and I would never be the reason she ended up dead.
As I drifted off, dark thoughts swirled inside my head. I was grateful that Gianni had taken the shot that killed the intruder but deep down I wished it could have been me. No one had the right to come on to our property and shoot at us. We had women and children there. Vincenzo and Sal were com
pletely innocent in this life. To think some scum, possibly Bruno, would try and take us down.
As I slept, I dreamt. For the first time, I allowed my subconscious to take me back to the night I saved Salvatore’s life. The night I took a life.
It was dark by the lake. My brothers and I were looking for Sal. I got to him first. When I approached him, I zoned in on Franco, holding a gun to him. Sal was defenseless. A victim of my father’s business. I did what I had to do. No regrets.
“You seem like a good guy, Sal.” Franco stepped toward him. “Your blood will be on Dante’s hands. Nothing personal, it’s busin—”
Before he could finish that statement, I drew my gun, aimed, and fired.
Franco fell into the lake, sinking just as fast as I had shot him. When Salvatore turned to see who had assisted him, shock dominated his expression. He never expected it to be me. I never expected to take a life that night but Franco had left me no choice. It was either him or my brother.
I would never forget the look in my brother’s eyes. It was a mixture of gratitude and sorrow. I didn’t feel sorry for the life I had taken but I was thankful for the one I had saved that night.
“Santino! No!” A helpless voice screamed out to me.
I jolted from my slumber, startled and confused.
“No! Don’t shoot!” The voice was louder this time.
What the fuck! It was Luca screaming for me. I jumped out of bed and grabbed my gun, and ran across the hall. Bursting into her dark room, I gazed around.
“Santino.” She took a breath, sat up, and turned on the lamp by the bed. “I had that horrible nightmare again. The one where Bobby shot you. It was more graphic this time and felt so real.”
“I’m sorry.” I tucked my gun in the waistband in the back of my pants. “I know how frightened you were last time.” I sat on the edge of the bed, wondering if she realized how afraid I was that something would happen to her because of me. “I’m right here.”
“How do you live this way?”