Woman after my own heart. “My thoughts exactly.”
“You aren’t mad at me?”
I shook my head. “No, goddess. I’m more annoyed at myself because I didn’t think this through. It’s kind of crazy too that every single plan we’ve come up with over the last few days has been nullified.” It was everything. The plan to get the diamonds, the plan to hunt, the plan to leave.
“I know. It’s because they want us in this game of theirs. Tag’s plan. I get it though. The whole thing about blood for blood. My father took away everything from him, and he wants revenge. It’s as simple as that. I just don’t want to run anymore, and this time if I ran, I’d be looking over my shoulder. We could never really be happy.”
“I know.” That was true. We’d always be looking and waiting for someone to find us. It would be no way to live.
“I can’t leave my father either. I can see it now. They’d find out we left and kill him straight away. I know he’s done so much wrong, but he’s my father. Luc, he’s my father, and he’s dying. For my own peace of mind, I can’t leave him.”
“I understand.” I kissed her knuckles again and thought of what we’d spoken about in relation to her moving in with me. “I’m still holding you to moving to Chicago.”
“I know you are.” She smiled. “I forgot to ask you why we couldn’t just move to LA. I like my house by the beach. We first kissed on that beach.”
“I wanted to do more than kiss you on that beach.”
“Yes, I remember very well.”
I pulled her into my lap and admired her smooth golden legs. “You want me to go to LA, I’ll go. I hate it there, but I can love it for you.”
She ran her hands over my jaw and leaned down to kiss my nose. “I never hated Chicago. You love Chicago, and I think of it as home. We like Italy too. I think I see me here.”
“Yeah?”
She nodded and smiled. “Look at us. I think we’re planning the future.”
“I like that. I want it with you, but you must promise me one thing.”
“What’s that?” She searched my eyes.
“Dancing. You have to find yourself. You have to promise me you’ll find a way to do what you love most. You might not be able to go to Julliard, but you mentioned teaching, and I’m certain you can still dance if you want to. Just find a way.”
She nodded, and it warmed my heart.
However, a buzzing sound made my heart shy away again. It was her phone on the nightstand. A text had just come through.
She looked to it and froze but moved off my lap to look at it.
I watched her pick it up, tap in her password, then her hands started shaking and she screamed, dropping the phone.
I jumped up instantly and picked it up.
On the screen was a picture of Victor with Gigi. Gigi’s face was black and blue, and around her neck was the sign Player 1. Victor had a big smile on his face, like he was taking some fucking selfie.
Chapter 9
Luc
“I’ll live. I’m just waiting for some meds, and then I’m on my way,” Maurice told me. He coughed, and it made a static sound on the phone.
He’d taken a bullet to the chest. It grazed the side of his chest, but I knew he couldn’t be okay. Not okay enough to be on his way. I would have preferred for him to stay in the hospital.
“You need to stay.”
“Luc, this is one time I’m not listening to you. Fucking idiots used knock-out gas to get in the house. They took my girl and killed all the men who’d been standing guard, but it seems like they wanted to keep me alive.”
I sneered hearing that. Victor was one damn son of a bitch.
“It’s all part of this fucking game.”
“Oh yeah, I don’t doubt that one bit. That bastard left me behind to tell you what happened. I saw the gas and instantly knew what was going down. Gigi was in her room reading her cards and casting some protection spell over the place. I’ll tell her it didn’t work when I see her.”
I’d known Maurice long enough and well enough to know that when he joked about something like that, it meant he was deeply hurting.
“We’ll get her back,” I promised. I knew over the last few weeks from our conversations that he’d taken a shine to Amelia’s friend. Gigi, the good witch who could charm anyone. They’d better not hurt her.
My brain was numb because I knew that if Victor had her, anything could happen to her. We’d tried calling the number the text came from, but to no avail. We’d also tried tracking it with our contact from the CIA, but nothing. The number wasn’t registered to anyone, and there was no trace on its location even though the phone was supposedly switched on.
The first thing I did was call Maurice when we got the picture of Gigi, but I couldn’t reach him. I’d panicked, but hours later, he’d called back and explained what happened.
“I’ll get her back.” Maurice broke into my thoughts. “I can move, and that’s all I need to do. I got my flight booked already.”
“Maurice, you took a hit to your chest. It’s crazy. You should at least stay the night.”
“I was here last night. It’s enough. The bullet grazed just near my arm, so it’s no biggie. I’ve been stitched up, and like I said, I can move. See you soon, bro.” He hung up.
I’d been standing in the hallway. Everyone else was in the living room.
I went back in to find that Amelia was still crying. She was sitting next to Raphael, and Millicent brought in a tray of cookies.
Claudius and Dad stood by the window looking out.
“What did he say?” Amelia asked.
“They were ambushed with knock-out gas, and Gigi got taken. They shot Maurice and killed everyone else.”
“Luc, this is getting ridiculous.” Claudius chimed in. “We have to find them somehow. We need to find out who the hell is helping them and get to the bottom of this.”
“Yes, and I’m coming,” Amelia offered.
“No, you aren’t,” I said before she could continue on that tirade.
“She’s my friend. This happened to her because of me. It’s Gigi, Luc. You know what Victor is capable of. Jesus Christ.” She started to cry again, and Raphael placed his arm around her, pulling her close to him.
He looked beside himself with worry and hadn’t said much. Of course, what could he say?
This… all of this wasn’t fucking happening because of Amelia. It was happening because of him.
I walked up to her and took her hand.
“Amelia, I promise you I’ll get her back.” I didn’t know if it was wise for me to make such a promise, but I’d die trying. That was more of a possibility.
A phone rang. No buzzing this time. It took me a second to realize it was my phone.
I pulled it out, and there was the unrecognized number we’d been waiting for.
“Victor,” I roared into the phone, not bothering to wait to confirm who it was.
“Oh, Luc, what if I’d been someone else? Like your hairdresser or dentist, or florist or pharmacist. I would have gotten a most terrible fright with you yelling at me like that.”
Amelia stood up. “Give her back, you son of a bitch!” she screamed.
Raphael stood too and took hold of her arm.
“Tell her she’s right. I am a son of a bitch. My mother was absolutely a bitch. She was a librarian at a boarding school for orphans. I lived there, and it was terrible. She hated me because I was the spawn of some loser, like it was my fault I was born. Ha, ha, ha. She shaved my head and used to cut me every time I was bad. She made me sleep in ice water if I didn’t get my times tables right, and damn, would she ever whip me with her cat of nine of tales if I didn’t say please or thank you. Do you know what she did, Luc? She killed my so-called father and fed him to me. My first taste of human flesh. I think that kind of messed me up, you know. She was the first person I killed. Didn’t eat her though. Not her disgusting flesh. Didn’t want the taste of her in my mouth.”
&nb
sp; It made me sick. It made me physically sick. I couldn’t even be sympathetic to whatever the fuck kind of messed up childhood he must have had.
Victor was Victor, and I didn’t care. What I cared about was what he’d done, and what he was currently doing.
“Victor, give Gigi back. Give her back to us. She isn’t part of this.”
“Are you kidding? Of course, she is. She’s the best friend. In this game, I have your girl’s bestie. Last time it was yours. She’s starring in that role in this movie.”
Amelia started shaking. I was pretty certain she could hear what he was saying.
“What do you want? What the fuck do you want?” I cried.
“Oh, Lucian, this isn’t that kind of call. I don’t want ransom just yet. We have to get to the arena first and play this game out. Forgive me. I should have said I wouldn’t be saying ‘Give me Amelia and the diamonds in exchange for Gigi.’ This call was just to fuck you up even more. You can’t find me, and only God knows what I might be doing to the beautiful witch. Maybe the same thing I did to Lydia. She has very pretty toes. Matches her hair. She’s my kind of woman too.”
I made the mistake of covering my mouth.
When Amelia saw that, she looked worse. I couldn’t help it though. It was a natural reaction because of all the horrific images that coursed through my mind.
“Victor, please leave her alone.” I was begging. I was begging a fucking psychotic animal, and all he did was laugh at me.
“Oh, behold the great Lucian Morientz, capo to the Rossi family, underboss, boss of them all, begging. Ha, ha, ha, ha.”
Amelia burst into tears.
“Victor—”
“Lucian, if I were you, I’d worry about the next player in this game. In the meantime, I’ll give Miss Gigi the star treatment.”
A second later, a tortured cry of desperation and anguish sounded. It was so loud it hurt my ears.
It was Gigi screaming. It was her screaming from what sounded like the depths of her soul. We all heard it.
Amelia crumpled to the ground in floods of tears. Then the line went dead.
Amelia
Numbness…
Numbness gripped me.
It gripped me, and I couldn’t …
Couldn’t think, couldn’t focus, couldn’t breathe.
What was the point of me? I was a cop. I’d left my best friend in the care of a mobster while I fled to Chicago to more mobsters for protection.
Okay…
All of that was wrong, and for all my time in the organized crime unit, I didn’t use the knowledge I’d gained.
Fuck, for all the time I’d been a mobster’s daughter, I didn’t use the knowledge I’d gained from that either.
Your enemies come at you through your weaknesses.
What were weaknesses? Loved ones.
The answer was simple. My loved ones were my weakness, and like any other well thought-out plan, this was the same thing.
What a brilliant plan too. Earlier, when I’d told Luc I understood Tag’s quest for revenge, I never really thought about what I was saying. I was talking as a person who hadn’t really been hurt yet.
Cole died because of me. That hurt me to the depths of my soul. Sinclaire nearly died too because of me.
Gigi though…
God, was she dead? That scream sounded like she died. That scream sounded like she was being tortured to death, and I couldn’t imagine the pain she must have gone through. Been going through.
Luc took me to my room, where I lay down on the bed, processing what was happening and what was going on.
I would have gladly gone to them in exchange for Gigi. Gladly and effortlessly. But Victor probably knew that.
Right now, as hard as anyone had tried, no one knew where he was, and we were just supposed to wait.
Luc had been sitting in the little chair over by the window watching me. He didn’t say anything; he just watched over me. When Dad came in, I rolled onto my side and cried even more. I was barely able to ask them both to leave. To leave me alone.
I knew Luc felt terrible. Dad did too, but right now, I didn’t want to be around any mobsters.
I didn’t want to be around anyone like that who could hurt me, and my friends.
Gigi…
I remembered the day when I’d met her. Back at college.
I was so scared to take the leap of going somewhere I’d never planned to go. I was basically alone in the world, and it had felt like she was this angel who was sent to watch over me. She’d helped me adjust to the shock of being alone and at college. A place where so many changes happened in your life.
She was there for me, and we were such great friends that we’d continued living together. Our stupid rule was, we’d move out when we found the right guys to take care of us.
Neither of us had until now.
Me… at one point, I thought I’d move on with my ex, but being with Luc had taught me that I didn’t know what the hell love was until I met him.
But this… this way of life was going to kill me. The poison would start in my soul and kill me slowly once it consumed me.
That’s what tonight felt like. Like toxic poison, killing me slowly, and the longer I waited, the worse it got, the more it worked its way into me.
The door opened, and I lifted my head. I didn’t want to see anyone. Not unless they had something good to tell me.
The person I saw though was the exception. Millicent. She wasn’t a part of this whole fiasco.
I sat up and looked to her. As always, whenever I was sad, she brought me a tray of her signature cookies. Cookies and milk.
It didn’t matter how old I got, she did that for me, just like she was doing it now.
“Miss Amelia…” She attempted a smile, but it weltered. She moved to my side, set the tray on the nightstand, and sat on the bed next to me.
“Millicent, I can’t bear it. I can’t bear it.”
“I know, sweet girl. I know. You have endured so much.”
“I don’t know if it’s right to say that I endured it. I feel so week and weary, and I can’t believe what’s happening.”
She reached out and touched my hand. “I know. I don’t know what to say. All I can say is, maybe we can hope. Maybe we can hope that she’s still okay and we’ll save her.” She nodded and looked so sad.
Concern and sympathy flickered in her eyes, and she picked up the plate of cookies. She held it out to me with that soft smile again.
“You have to eat. Keep up your strength. It looks like it might be one of those long nights again. Luc and his brother are gone out looking. They took The Four. I don’t really know much, but it looked like they were ready for war.”
“Where’s Dad?”
“In his room.” She held my gaze. “Luc got some guys to stay with us. Eat and drink, Miss Amelia, please. Don’t let me have to worry about you starving.”
I took a cookie and nibbled on it. I wasn’t hungry, but I thought I’d eat it for her.
Since I was thirsty, I took the milk and downed it. The soothing coolness of it was refreshing. I finished the cookie and was about to reach for another cookie when the plate moved.
The plate…
It shifted in Millicent’s hands. Shifting from side to side, then it became a blur.
What the hell?
I blinked several times trying to focus, but my head…
It felt so light… like feathers floating in the wind on a gentle breeze.
My mouth and throat now felt dry and like I couldn’t move my lips.
“Millicent, what is…”
Millicent started crying. “I’m so sorry, Amelia, I’m so sorry.”
Even though I was looking at her and she was talking, I didn’t know what she was saying sorry for.
It was foolish… oh so foolish. Trust.
It was foolish, because really, in the end, the only person you can trust is yourself.
When the door opened again and Tag walked in smiling,
I started to shake. I willed my body to move, but I couldn’t feel my legs.
Tag…
Millicent…
Tag…
Millicent… the milk… the cookies.
“You look so much like your mother.” Tag beamed, lowering to cup my face. “Eloise… it’s like I’m looking at you all over again.”
I glanced at Millicent feeling the tears run down my cheeks. “Millicent? It was you. You did this.”
Those were the last words that slipped through my mouth before the darkness took me and my eyes rolled back in my head.
Chapter 10
Luc
I’d resulted to my lowest.
I didn’t care who I had to kill anymore to get information.
The situation had just become next level bad, and I couldn’t sit around waiting.
No way.
No fucking way.
So, what did I do? Or rather, we…
While my other guys were searching the streets, Claudius, myself, Saul, and The Four headed to the home of the Fontaines. They were the highest up on the order of crime families who wanted to end the Rossis.
The plan was to try them first, then the next in line. The Salvatores. We were going to our enemies, jumping straight into enemy territory on dangerous grounds that could get us killed on sight.
For who they were, they didn’t have much protection at the door, but then again, maybe they were relying on who they were to keep people out.
We shot the lock off the front door and kicked it wide open.
The butler ran away, and another guy came up to me, foolish enough to try and stop me, but I sent a headbutt straight to his forehead, knocking him to the ground.
When we barged into the sitting room, Antonio, the capo for the Fontaines, looked like he was about to shit himself. He was a guy as tough as me, but I could and would beat him to a fucking bloody pulp if I had to.
Mafia Love (The Accidental Mafia Queen Book 3) Page 8