His heart was empty.
Without her, he had nothing.
And who was he to judge?
If anything, he wasn’t a saint.
The hot tears burned his bloodshot eyes.
While that was so, she still loved him.
He loved her.
Yet, deep down, were they both too frightened to trust that very love?
Unable to withstand the mental torture any longer, he dropped the phone onto the sofa before jumping up. Frowning, deep in concentration, he paced relentlessly before it. As it had for the past hour or so, the horrible dread filled him again, and now that very feeling had worsened.
“Something’s wrong,” he muttered aloud to the darkness. “I don’t what, but it is.”
Suddenly, angsty, he dropped back down onto the sofa.
He grabbed the smartphone before dialing.
On the first ring, Joe, the elderly desk manager at Jameson’s Incorporations picked up. As usual, the man spoke in a scraggly tone. “Hello, Joe here.”
“Joe, it’s me. I want you to go upstairs and check on Bella. Search the perimeter closely on all the private floors.”
“Sir, Ms. Spencer isn’t here.”
“What?” he asked in quiet shock and froze on the spot. “She was supposed to be there hours ago. Around 10 pm or a little later, a taxi didn’t drop her off?”
“No, sir. I’ve been here since 5:30 pm. Like I have for the past days, I’ve checked on the CEO apartment. Ms. Spencer isn’t there. I’m 100% certain of it.” The desk manager paused for a second. “Is something wrong, Titan?”
“I don’t know yet.” The phone suddenly trembled in his large hand. “Check all of the security cameras and the immediate area. Call me back as soon as you can, alright?”
“I’ll get on it, now, sir.” Then, the man’s voice turned overly excited. “Wait, wait! There was a call from Mr. Vitali.”
A terrible fear lanced him.
“What?” he whispered, pained. “My father called?”
“Yes, I thought it was odd, too, especially since it was so late---”
“Thank you, Joe,” he muttered quick, cutting the conversation off. “You’ve been a great help.”
With those words, he ended the call.
Quickly, he punched her number in.
The call went straight to voicemail.
Hi, this is Bella. I can’t come to the phone right now.
If you’d just leave your name and number…
He gripped the phone harder.
If anything, she lived on her smartphone.
How many times during the day had he teased her about that fact?
So, there was no way in hell that she had a full mailbox, he realized, bolting from the study. But, just as he neared the stairwell, the doorbell pealed.
He went still in sudden shock. “What the hell?”
No one came or visited this late.
Hell, who actually visited at all?
They were all recluses in these mountains.
It’d become their private world.
They never, ever, ever, used the doorbell.
Tensing, he grabbed the first hard object he came to, a slender statue of Aphrodite that was made of pure stone. Gripping the gripping the statue firmly, he approached the door. Each step sounded like a silent death knell, for some reason or another. Once he reached the foyer, he was overwhelmed with the earlier fear.
Rather than turning the lights on, he kept them off.
Carefully and cautiously, he peered through the peep hole.
The tension radiated through him faster.
No one was there.
But, something was definitely up.
Clenching the statue tightly, he grasped the doorknob.
With a quiet ease, he twisted it.
The door made nary a sound as he opened it to a small crack.
Stiffening further, he peeked through the small open area.
Still…nothing…
Suddenly, he heard a soft painful whimper. “Help me…h—help…”
It was coming from somewhere.
Stilling, he pushed the door open wider.
As his gaze landed on a crumpled figure, the shock paralyzed him.
His one distraught word came out. “No.”
On the ground, not too far away from the front entrance, she lay in a bloodied heap. A dark blanket was tossed over her loosely, with no care to her comfort. At the sight of her, the pain ripped through him, and he released a painful cry. “Bella!”
Dropping the statue quickly, he bolted from the house.
Once he hit the ground, he was running.
He reached her fast.
All the breath left his shocked system.
She was broken and beaten.
His face crumpled with tears. “Dear God, no, no, no, no….”
He dropped to his knees onto the ground.
“Why her…why her…why her…”
His hands trembled badly as he grappled her.
Being extremely careful and gentle, he cradled her limp, bloodied body against him. Holding her close, weeping uncontrollaby, he rocked back and forth. Over and over, in the darkness, the wild and anguished cries left him.
The hot tears gushed down his cheeks.
They wouldn’t stop.
“What have they done to you, baby?” he whispered shakily and touched her badly bruised face. As he stared into it, his thoughts were crazed, and the hurt too volatile to consider. “What have they done?”
He seized a painful breath.
If he was going to help her, he had to calm down.
Still using extreme care, he lifted her up before hurrying towards the house. After reaching the steps, he took them two at a time. With his foot, he kicked the front door closed. Quickly, after securing the lock, he raced to the living room, and then carefully laid her on the sofa.
As he did, she clutched his shirt weakly. “C---carlo, i-it was him…he…he…”
“Shhhh…it’s okay…it’s okay.”
A tear slipped down her cheek. “I---I’m sorry…I—I…”
“Shhhh….don’t try to talk.”
“F—forgive me…f---for-g-g-g…”
The hard tears sobs made his whole body shake.
“I love, baby. I’m sorry for hurting you. Please forgive me” he whispered, distraught, going down on both knees beside the sofa. Then, no longer able to control his sobs, he pressed his cheek against her bruised one. “Baby, I’m so sorry…I’m so sorry for not protecting you…”
Now, unconscious, she failed to hear his words.
Somehow, he managed to call 911.
After he did, he had no choice but to play the waiting game.
His smartphone shrilled on the coffee table.
Tensing, immediately on guard, he stared at it for a second.
On the fifth ring, he picked it up.
Gripping the phone hard, he stayed silent.
Now, a boiling anger overrode his other emotions.
Better than anyone, he knew who was on the other end.
“I’m going to fuck you over,” he whispered with barely restrained violence. As he stared across the room, he saw nothing but pure red. “Do you understand that, Vitali?”
“Found my parting gift, huh? My hopes were that you’d like it.” Vitali gave a nasty chuckle. Then, his voice lowered to a sneer. “How dare you touch her, you little perverted motherfucker! Is this what you’ve been after all this time?”
“Bella is a human being, not a possession!”
“Guess we both see how priceless she is now. While my punishment against her wasn’t as harsh of those against your mother, I still made that bitch pay.”
“Men like you---you’re cowards. Only a coward takes a hand against a woman.”
“If they understood their place, I wouldn’t have to resort to such measures!”
“Obviously, someone pissed on you as a child,” he taunted, throwing out his own brand of psyc
hological cruelty. “Who beat the shit out of you? Whose responsible for this fucked up value system that you have? Like everybody else, I bet you have a story---”
“Shut the fuck up! Rather than worrying about me, worry about that whore of yours. You can have her; your stench is on her already.”
“Speaking of stench—you reek. Finally, I’m going to deliver my own brand of hell to you. You’re going to pay for what you did to my mother. You’re going to pay for what you’ve done to Bella. For every mark that put on her, you abusive bastard.” His voice was icy cold, so carefully controlled that he hardly breathed. “I’m going to place them on you ten-fold.”
“You threatening me, boy?” Vitali asked on an incredulous note. “That’s the wrong thing to do. Haven’t I given you enough ass whippings in the past for you to know that?”
“It’s not a threat, but a promise.” His angry tone held complete finality. “After I’m finished with you, you’ll understand the true meaning of fucked. From the insides and outs, I’m going to rip you apart at the seams.”
“So, your animosity for me never ended?” Vitali remarked with sudden realization, and he sounded a bit disturbed, surprisingly. “All of it—acting that you wanted us to be close…saying that you wanted to learn the game. It was all a con from the beginning, wasn’t it son?”
“I’m not your son. Never have been…never will be.”
“Know what?” Vitali snapped unkindly. “You’re right---you’re not my son. I was a fool for even contemplating that you were. As always, you’re nothing but Lola’s little punk-ass sissy bitch.” He released a bitter curse. “Wanna learn how to be a real man? Take your good sense and use it by taking pointers from me. Case in point, the way I handled that slut of yours. I barely left her breathing.”
“You come anywhere near my family again, I’ll kill you.”
“You don’t the guts or the balls, muthafucka.”
“Try me,” he challenged coldly. “Leave that fortress of yours and come out in the open. No Akumu. No goons. Just you and me.”
“That hour will come, trust me on that. On that day, when we’re eye to eye, we’ll finally accept that we are not father and son in any sense,” Vitali promised, and his voice was edged like steel. “At the moment, however, there are other things that I have to contend with like Lucinda Ricci. While you don’t believe it, the things that happen to me and with me are important---”
“Fuck you.” His eyes snapped to no certain point in the distance. “Nothing that’s happening to you applies to me. On that note, I don’t give a damn about you or anything else.”
“Watch your filthy mouth,” Vitali minced his words. “Or you just might get a taste of what Bella did.”
“Finally, you’ve made a fatal mistake, one that I’ve been anticipated. The very instance you put your hands on her, you did,” he vowed strongly. “So, let me give you some sound advice.”
“You giving me advice?” Vitali chortled with vicious glee. “That’s laughable--”
“Run. Hide. I’m coming for you, Vitali, from every side and angle. Soon enough, we’ll meet in the real. On my life, I guarantee that you won’t be the last man standing. Hell will find you waiting.”
With those words, he ended the call.
The dead dial tone was enough said.
***
She was safe in the hospital.
The emergency team had worked fast and stabilized her.
Glossy-eyed, numbed, he stared down at her unconscious figure.
Then, no longer able to withstand it, he turned away, only to find a concerned Cassius standing behind him. Without hesitation, he accepted his friend’s tight embrace. After pulling back, he took the bedside chair, and then glanced around the area hollow-eyed, and completely devoid of any emotion. “I almost lost her, Cass.”
Cassius’s gaze remained concerned. “But, you didn’t, man.”
He jumped up from the chair. “Mama,” he muttered, suddenly frantic, and looked around the room wild “He’ll go after her next.”
“Hey, hey, hey. Relax, bro. Your mother is fine. Carmine and I made sure of it. They’ve long left town, and no one besides us knows of their whereabouts. They’re both safe,” Cassius soothed, placing a firm hand on his arm. “What I’m concerned about is you, bro. I know it’s hard. But, you’ve got to get a grip.”
“Get a grip?” he asked in a stiffened tone, and his gaze swung back to the bed. “How in the fuck am I supposed to get a grip when she’s fighting for her life?”
“Bella needs you right now. At the moment, you can fulfill that need by being strong for her.”
“What if I can’t be strong!” he shouted painfully, hauling in a tortured breath. His words were distraught and pained. “The woman that I love…the most precious thing that I’ve ever had…she’s slipping away from me.” The angry tears shot to his eyes. “And she’s suffering because of me, damn it. If I hadn’t gotten angry and sent her away---”
“This is not your fault. Don’t think that for a minute.” The anger played on Cassius’s features as well. “We both know who’s to blame.”
“Vitali.” His whole body went cold. “That son-of-a-bitch is going to pay, tonight.” Half-crazed, he looked around the hospital room. Finally, he spied his keys on the small table and hurried to it. Then, turning, he faced his friend with a wild look. “Keep your eye on Bella. I have to take care of something.”
“Where the hell are you going?” Cassius asked carefully.
“To see Vitali.” Deep inside, down to the core, he was stone-cold dead. “If he thinks he’s going to lay his hands on Bella like that and get away with it, he’s an even bigger fool than I thought.”
“Whoa, whoa, whoa…slow down.” Cassius raised a steady hand in the air. “I know that you’re upset, and rightfully so. But, you have to take a rational approach to this.”
“Fuck rationality.”
“Listen, now. Come on, bro. Think.” Cassius tapped both temples before dropping his hands. “You’ll walk into a death trap by going to the compound. You said it yourself just last week how he’s beefed up security.”
“I’m taking my own team in. He’s going to pay, Cassius.” He surveyed his best friend long and hard. “Don’t try to stand in my way.”
“I’m going with your fool ass, then, if that’s the case.”
“No. I need you to stay here with Bella. While she does have guards posted right outside her door, I’ll feel better if you’re here with her. More than that,” he said in a firm tone. “This is my fight. A confrontation like this has been brewing between Vitali and me for the longest. It’s time to finish it.”
“You’re right,” Cassius agreed, flicking a subtle glance along his taut features. “But, at least let me help you assemble a team.” A dangerous light played in his dark eyes. “Ricci---she owes me a favor. I’m more than certain that she won’t deny my request to use some of her men.”
“Hell, no,” he quipped tightly. “Involving Ricci is a bad idea.”
“Ricci wants that bastard to pay as much as we do.” Cassius’s jaw set in a tight line. It was a reaction when he strove to make a strong point. “She’d be the perfect diversion, not to mention a tremendous amount of help. Wielding her hand right now will undoubtedly send Vitali a strong message.”
A puzzled frown crinkled his forehead. “There something you want to tell me?”
Cassius’s expression was deadpan. “What?”
“This thing you’ve got going with our little mafia princess.”
“No.” Cassius’ features tightened. “You asked me to head this situation with Lucinda Ricci, and I’m doing things my fucking way. So, don’t ask any questions. Either you trust me with this situation or you don’t.”
“What kind of statement is that?” he said crossly. “Of course, I do. I trust you with my life.”
“Prove it. Let me help you with this.”
“Alright,” he nodded, eyebrows pierced. “Ricci’s in.” His gaze
hardened further. “If that bastard wants a war, I’ve just declared it.”
***
The compound was well lit at such a late hour.
1:00 am to be exact.
For miles and miles, the skies were lit.
The mood of the hour was dark and foreboding, however.
Concentrating deeply, totally zoned and focused, he traveled along closely with Ricci’s brigade. The Bugatti was sandwiched between two black heavily armored military-styled vehicles. In total, including him, five vehicles made up the convoy.
The imposing gates fell into view.
Upon their untimely arrival, Vitali’s men started firing.
They, too, began returning shots.
A whizzing rocket-type bullet shot from the first vehicle.
On impact, an explosion came and blasted the gate wide open, and along with that, the guard house caught fire. The wild shouts came along with rounds of shots from Vitali’s men. Then, like scattering cockroaches, they scurried to the woods.
Driving fast and furious, keeping their formation, they drove through the rubble.
Features hardened and tightened, he shifted into high gear and broke from the line. With ease, he zoomed past at 150 mph before tearing down the drive, and the rest of the convoy followed in close pursuit.
Releasing a wild scream, he accelerated.
200 mph…
273 mph…
300 mph…
A breath-harrowing second or so later, the Bugatti rotated in a full 360° circle before coming to a stop alongside the mansion. The vehicle barely had time to stop before he dove out.
Simultaneously, Ricci and Vitali’s men launched a vicious assault against the other. It was just the very diversion that was needed and required.
Quickly, he sprinted towards the back entrance.
Out of nowhere, a goon barreled into him.
A hard grunt left him as he hit the ground.
But, he was more than prepared to fight.
They rolled, rolled, and scuffled on the ground.
Finally, besting the goon, he landed a final blow.
The goon shuddered before going unconscious.
After releasing a groan, he came off the ground.
He reached the back entrance.
Rise of the Titan Page 60