Oh.
My.
God.
The man in the picture—Nick Conrad—is the man who attempted to attack Giulio by the electrical circuit breaker box, the same man who’s sketch is plastered across the city—and who Giulio killed when he broke into the house. He’s far younger in the image, but there is no mistaking it’s him—scar and all.
It couldn’t have been this man’s distorted voice on the line. Somebody else must have his phone because this man is dead.
Giulio doesn’t stiffen behind me, but the slower rubs on my shoulders are a stark indication that the same thing is going through his mind. Now is not the time to prolong the thought. We need to act normal.
Sergeant Flynn scratches his jaw as his eyes narrow down on the photograph. “We have the sketch on file and we’ll have to identify him with Al tech, but this seems like the same man who attacked you. Isn’t that so, Mr. Giannotti?”
“Yes, I’m certain that’s the man. Please do your best to find him.”
We both know there won’t be any finding him. This man, Nick Conrad, is dead…because of us.
“Of course, Mr. Giannotti. And to confirm, you haven’t seen or heard from this man since the attack, correct?”
Incorrect, we have.
“That’s right, I haven’t.”
“Neither have I,” I lie.
“Ok.” Sergeant Flynn turns back to his team. “We’ll have some officers escort Valencia to the location. Lin, ensure a top of the line hidden tracker is placed on Mrs. Giannotti prior to action. Joan and Brigs, search Conrad’s house. Detail anything that relates to the case in the slightest. Valencia, how do you feel about this?”
“I can do it, I just don’t have that type of money lying around.”
“We need to move fast. The location is already a ten-minute drive from here. In this instance, I can see what we can do about the money. Given it’s—”
“I have the money.” Giulio’s voice comes out as barely a whisper. His distraught face twists the moment he drops back into his seat. “I have safe money. All cash. I will cover it.”
“Where exactly is this money, Mr. Giannotti?”
“Work.” He recoils, pushing a desperate hand through his black hair and pulls at the tips. I wish the opposite would have come out of this mouth, but in this moment of truth, everything is on the line. Every single thing. “I don’t like this. I don’t like this at all.”
We’re speeding to Notti Designs. As we cut through city street, my gaze averts from the car window to the time to the hidden tracker in the hair tie on my wrist, and then to the anxious Giulio sitting beside me in the backseat.
24 minutes.
My heart pounds to the rhythm of the countdown. It has me unable to feel my legs as Giulio and I sprint through his company building. We’re vigorously punching security codes, switching off alarms, unlocking doors, and flicking on lights as we make our way to his private bathroom at lightning speed. Giulio stands on top of the vanity and reaches up towards the wood ceiling, presses on it, and a section of the plank wood lowers down.
“Here.” Giulio hands me a single black duffel bag and jumps down.
“How much is in here?”
“A quarter of a million exactly, but we should recount it. There’s another three other bags up there. Remember I did this last year? It’s safe money in case anything happens with us or the company.”
The memory comes back to me and I nod without any further questions. Giulio sorts out the money, working at a vigorous speed to count it twice over. I simply watch him, noting how his chiseled jaw remains clenched, activating the muscles in his cheeks, all while he divides his hard earned money for some lunatic who has taken our twins.
This isn’t fair.
My love for him is burning bright. It has been ever since I shot that man dead tonight and saved Giulio. I need him in my life and recognize that sometimes we need to endure pain to continue living. I’m so in love with him. We can battle anything because he is my everything. My soulmate. My reason to simply be.
Giulio earns this money from being the successful businessman he is. I only hope this all goes to plan and the distorted voice on the other line stays true to their word.
We’re running out of time but we’ll still make it.
In the time frame of a few hours, everybody’s life has been placed in my hands. This could all go horribly wrong or…right. Yes, it will be alright.
I’m mesmerized by Giulio’s every feature. A flawed man stands in front of me…I love him even more for it. Bryce is right about those thorns. I’ve accepted the thorns and why they need to be there because I have them too. I know Giulio accepts mine too.
His tired eyes meet mine in the mirror. “Darling, why are you looking at me like that?”
“How am I looking at you?”
“Like this is the last time.”
I swallow thickly and soundlessly take the hefty duffel from him. Because it could be.
We rush outside to Sergeant Flynn who leads me to a car that isn’t a police vehicle and hands me the keys. Giulio stays by my lowered window, his forearms resting by the rim as his head pokes through.
The duffel sinks into the passenger seat.
17 minutes.
A male detective rushes beside Giulio. “You must ride with us, Mr. Giannotti. We will be following at a distance. The less conspicuous we can make this, the better. Valencia, we will stand down for twenty minutes. If the operation is successful, we will meet back here or at the hospital if needed. However, if we suspect the operation is a bust we will storm the premises. Okay?”
“Perfect. Thank you.”
“We have just under seventeen minutes. Let’s go, Mr. Giannotti.”
The look in Giulio’s eyes is terrifying. This whole situation is, but we have to meet this deadline and stay strong for our twins. Whoever is doing this want us to crumble; instead we must rise.
“May I talk with her for a brief moment? Just one minute?”
“Make it fast. Then come to the closest car.” The officer leaves.
“I don’t know what they’re going to do,” I admit openly. “I don’t know if the money is enough. Even if it is, we are still missing a child.”
“Why are they doing this to us? Why are they fucking doing this?”
“I don’t know.” I don’t want to see the pain in his face. It is too much. I need to preserve the tears. “But the one thing I know for sure is that I’m not afraid because there is no plan B.”
“You’re all I have. If they take you now, I’ll have nothing. Absolutely nothing. I’ll be a lost man. I…I can’t lose you. I can’t fucking lose you too.”
“You’re all I have too.” Letting go of our intertwined hands, I pull him into a warm hug through the window. Our hearts beat wildly together. “But this has to be done. I’m yours, Giulio. You are not going to lose me.”
There is no way out of this.
I have thought about the possibility that this could be a deadly mission, but the thought of reuniting with my children gives me all the hope and determination to continue fighting.
The male detective returns to us and announces our time is up. Giulio buys us another desperate minute and the detective steps back with a sigh.
“Lencia, please. We have to find another way to do this. We have to.”
“What other choice do we have?”
“I just…I want to apologize again. I’m sorry for everything I’ve ever done. Every single thing. I really am. I’m sorry I lost you—”
“I forgive you, Giulio. And I hope you can forgive me too. I know how much you were hurting and I reacted upon my own fears to shut you out. I know you were scared to give us a second try. I was too. Now we know it’s the only way to live. We’re okay now. I lied too, we both did when we said it was over between us.”
“You don’t know how much that means to me. Amore…” We pull away and his thumb outlines my lips. “Please don’t leave me alone. I’m so scare
d of losing you. It…it cannot happen…” Raw urgency laces his voice. “Not when we just fixed it all, Lencia.”
We share a tender smile. An uncertain one.
Giulio is my life.
My rock.
“I love you, Giulio. I’m not going anywhere.”
“I love you. I love you so much.” And then we kiss and it’s a bittersweet passionate type of perfect. It’s so different from any other time. So unique because our circumstances are deteriorating. Up until this moment in our life, we have been fighting separate battles on the same team, now within this moment, we melt into one another.
We are one.
United.
Just like we should have always been.
I savor every last part of him. Just as quick as it started, the kiss ends, but it’s all for the right reasons. I need to get our children back.
15 minutes.
“I will never stop loving you, Lencia. I will never leave you.” He promises with a forehead kiss. “Please promise me the same—”
“You’re with me. Forever.”
Giulio gives me one last glance.
It’s a look that says it all…
Come back to me.
The car’s GPS states the address provided in the ransom call is approximately ten minutes away. I need to get there in time.
I need to save my family.
My feet bolt across the muddied front garden of the unfamiliar house. Flowerpots are overturned and half of the wood panels on the exterior walls are missing, as if in the midst of a renovation. Windows have bullet holes and the entire atmosphere of the abandoned premises is cold and eerie.
The force of my knock has the front door creak open. Inside, complete darkness faces me.
“Hello?”
Nothing.
In the bleak distance, there’s a streak of warm yellow light. It entices me to continue. The floorboards squeak under my loafers, stringing the silence within each step. It’s there where I stop by what I assume is the basement door. There’s a flashlight carefully placed against it and its flickers match my heartbeat.
I take a chance and hold the flashlight with my free hand. The duffel bag becomes heavier by the second. Well, there is a quarter of a million in here!
My thoughts of a basement is confirmed by the steep staircase beyond the door.
“Hello?” My question transforms into a petrified scream as a hand grips onto my right forearm.
“Continue walking,” a deep male voice I don’t recognize commands.
He urges me down the stairs with an abrupt nudge. It has me clutching the handrail to stabilize myself, but the flashlight tumbles down the stairs, its crash landing has the light vanish.
The door shuts to pitch black. I feel the man’s hushed breaths behind me “Walk.”
“I can’t see the steps.”
“I said walk!”
“I need a second to—”
“I SAID WALK!” The cool tip of a gun nuzzles into the back of my neck. “One at a time. That’s it. Your children did a better job.”
“Are they down here?”
“GO!” He pushes me aggressively and my head is the first thing to smack against the staircase. Jesus. My hands involuntarily respond by clutching it with a groan as I continue to fall until I eventually come to a stop. I need a moment to recollect myself on the concrete floor and search for the duffel bag I lost during the fall.
The staircase squeaks from behind me and a gun cocks in the distance. It could be that man’s…or somebody else is down here. I can’t see a damn thing and that concerns me more than the cunning chuckle echoing in the basement.
He’s nearing.
“Who’s going to save you now?”
“Myself.” I grit and hold the duffel to my chest. “You deserve to burn in hell!”
“Now that isn’t very nice.”
My backward steps lead me to an icy wall. Perfect. A dead end.
Just then a light flashes in my direction and I squint at the brightness. All I can make out is the man’s hands covered with black leather gloves. Just like the man who broke into Giulio’s house. The man is adjacent to me when he veers the light to my right, pointing his gun towards two small figures in the corner of the room.
Oscar and Slonne.
My heart burst and all I want to do is hold them.
My babies.
They’re lying next to each other with shut eyes and a blanket supporting their heads.
This man must have given them something.
“Go to them!”
I rush to my twins before the command, only making it in time to witness their rising and falling chests before being slammed against the wall. The duffel is ripped from my grip and a gasp escapes me at my aching back after catching the heavy blow and slamming against the brick wall.
“Bad move,” the man snarls coldly. “Did you really think I would allow that?”
“Who are you? What do you want?” I push away the tears that threaten to fall. I will not cry. Not here. I need to continue being strong. I need to do this for my family. “I have the money, isn’t that what you want? What did my family ever do to you?”
Foreign hands blindly grip my wrists and slam them above my head to urge my stillness. I wish I could see who this repulsive person is as the bridge of his nose brushes my cheekbone.
“Did you come alone?”
This man’s voice is different. It does not belong to the man pressed against me.
Somebody else is in here…
I can’t see him either, yet I recognize his voice as the one from the ransom call. It remains distorted with something most likely covering his vocal cords.
“That’s what the doctor ordered.”
“Now is not the time to act smart,” the guy pressed against me growls.
“I have the money here with me! Please, just give me my children back!”
Footsteps fade away but the man restraining me remains. I can’t tell if anybody else is in the room with us now. Or if a weapon is pointed my way. All I know is that I need to get out of here with Oscar and Slonne as soon as I can before the twenty minutes SPD gave to raid it.
It feels as though years pass being pinned against the wall with this disgrace of a man. He prevents me from moving. During the wait, I hear Oscar’s murmurs before calling out for his Mommy and Daddy and that’s when I break. Tears run down my cheek, accompanied by the acid rising up my throat when the man covers my mouth and slams my head against the wall as I attempt to bite against the leather.
Shifted movements come from behind me and Oscar’s voice fades until complete silence. The fact that they are so close and I am helpless makes this so much worse.
Footsteps return and the distorted man’s voice returns. “We have a problem.”
The man beside me drops his hand from my mouth. “Go on.”
“We’re twenty-thousand short.”
“That is impossible!” I hiss. “We counted it ourselves!”
Silence…
And then… “We?”
Oh. My. Dear. God.
My heart drops to my stomach at my deadly mistake. No. No. No. I did not just say that! I did not just give it away! No!
“So you told somebody? Hmmm?”
“No. No, I—”
“You DEFIED us!” the man who has me pinned yells, forcing my back to him. “We had a fair deal, but you couldn’t keep it. Do you know what happens when people defy us?” He grips my throat and again the gun digs deeply into the nape of my neck. My breath staggers; it becomes hard to breathe against the constant pressure. “ANSWER ME. I SAID DO YOU FUCKING KNOW WHAT HAPPENS WHEN PEOPLE DEFY US?”
He’s going to kill me.
Panicked, I attempt to free myself from his hold but it only tightens. “No. It was only me. I promise. I counted it and it’s the amount you asked for. I didn’t mean—”
“I don’t believe you.”
“I promise. Please! Count it again. I assure you I counted it righ
t!”
The man grips my short hair and turns my head so that my left cheek presses against the wall, scraping it in the process.
“Sorry, beautiful. That’s not how we do business.”
The metallic weapon is replaced with something wet covering my nose and mouth. It’s drenched in a sweet yet toxic odor on some type of cloth. I thrash around. HELP! Another pair of arms restrain me as the man presses the fabric deeper. Powerless, I feel myself slipping and am forced to breathe in the chemical.
My family…
The men force me to the ground as my eyes begin to feel heavy and my body weakens…I’m numb. I’m nearly paralyzed and in my last bid of strength, I reach towards one of the hands that press me down but can’t get them off.
I’ve failed.
My eyes slam shut.
No…
This is no time to die and yet, it’s darkness that greets me on the other side.
Darkness blankets my vision. There’s a coldness running through my entire body prompting sharp chills. What’s happening? All I know is that my body is being moved, lifted. I’m wrapped and bound in something that blocks me from the outside world. I can hear a motor running, roaring in the depths of my soul.
“Quick, we have to do this fast. They’ll catch up.”
“Come on. Let’s move. On the count of three.”
I’m lowered and my head drags along something hard. It aches at the additional pressure. Where am I? I was in the basement. They drugged me. I blacked out. These people, whoever they are, are going to kill me.
Right now.
The pressure subsides as I feel myself being lifted. Trying to thrash doesn’t do anything. I’m flung—I feel momentarily weightless—and I attempt to scream but my mouth is tight. There’s a splash at impact and I’m drifting lower.
A freezing liquid seeps into what is wrapped around me. It overtakes me as I sink. Deeper and deeper.
Water.
I’m in water.
It blankets my body but I’m able to kick away whatever binds me. The twins. Giulio. I’m not going to make it. I’m not. My lungs are aching as I rip the tape off my mouth. My…God.
Merciful Vows: A Bittersweet Second Chance Romantic Suspense (The Giannotti World Book 1) Page 36