Giuseppe had given me plenty of other men to aid in my hunt, but they came and went when they needed rest. I slept between raids for a few hours at a time or not at all. It didn’t matter. I could rest when I had her back. When I’d bound her to me eternally and she was sleeping in my arms too.
Nothing mattered until that moment. And once I got my hands on her again, I’d never be letting go. She. Was. Mine.
I rode my motorcycle down a road lined with tall pines, the houses growing fewer and further between as I went. This property was one of the largest on the list. The house the family usually resided in during the summer months. I didn’t expect any of the main family to be here now, but I imagined there would be plenty of armed guards on hand to protect it.
We were past the point where they knew we were coming.
By the third property we’d hit, the Romeros had been waiting for us. It was infuriating but predictable too. As soon as they’d realised that we were searching their buildings, they’d upped security in them. I just hoped it didn’t mean that they’d moved Sloan somewhere outside of this list too. But it would be hard to hide a hostage from people if they were staying in a hotel, so I liked to think they’d be forced to keep her somewhere they knew. Somewhere secure.
A convoy of four cars filled with armed men followed me down the road. I got the feeling this would be one of the hardest houses to break into yet. But it was also one of the best suited to holding a captive. A large property, set away from other buildings, with modern locks and a storage basement.
Coco yapped excitedly in my saddle bag as I drew up at the side of the road just in front of the iron gates we were searching for.
The cars parked up behind me too and I dismounted, hanging my helmet from the handlebars and striding towards the gathered Calabresis who vacated the vehicles.
“They’ll be waiting for us in there,” I said roughly, like they might not already know that. “But it doesn’t matter. There is no price too high for claiming back what has been stolen from us. Our lives are worthless if we let the Romeros rule over them.”
“Too right,” Blario agreed loudly.
“Il sole sorgerà domani,” Christoph added fiercely. The sun will rise again.
“You four, lay covering fire at the main gate. The rest of us will circle the property and get in from the rear,” I ordered and the men fell into their roles instantly.
I unholstered my semi-automatic pistol and strode towards the house with twelve men at my back, flipping Coco’s saddle bag open as I went.
The little dog leapt out with a vicious yap before falling into step at my heels.
We circled the property and I left the men to force entry through the hedges as I carried on around to the far side of the lawn.
The huge brick house was all lit up in the dark, like a Christmas tree beckoning Santa closer. But I wouldn’t be leaving any presents for my rivals, only dead bodies and bullet holes.
If Sloan was here, I’d find her. She might be in my arms this very night.
I crept towards the house under cover of night, the shadows hiding me and my men as we drew ever closer.
The silence was oppressive, the anticipation making my skin prickle with adrenaline.
I held my gun ready, my gaze locked on the back door as I approached it with intent.
Gunfire started at the front of the house and cries went up inside as the Calabresis all ran towards the commotion.
I raced forward as they were distracted, a growl of fury leaving my lips as I ran straight for the door.
One solid kick was all it took to send it crashing from its hinges and I leapt inside, firing at random in case any Romero scum were waiting close by.
Coco sped past me fearlessly, barking incessantly as he charged into battle.
Movement caught my eye to my right and I fired on a man who leapt up behind the couch. He fell back with a cry and I headed further into the huge open plan space as more gunfire came from the stairs.
I dove behind a heavy chest for cover and the man cried out as Coco made it to him, sinking his sharp little teeth into his ankle.
I took the distraction and fired a shot straight into his chest before he could hurt my loyal companion.
Coco shot upstairs to search for his mistress and I ran through the house, taking out more men and hiding behind cabinets and kitchen counters, bookshelves and even a hat stand in my bid for cover.
My rage made me fast, my fury made me fearless and in under a minute the room fell silent as our enemies were overwhelmed.
My breaths came heavily as I charged up the stairs, hunting through room after room in hopes of finding the girl who held my destiny in her grasp.
A high pitched squeal came from a room at the end of the hall and I stilled as I heard a dog yelp in pain again.
“Coco!” I bellowed, racing down the hall, not giving a shit that anyone there would hear me coming.
I fired a shot at the door as I reached it and it flew open before me as I dove inside.
I rolled as I hit the floor, taking aim at the man who held Coco by the scruff of his neck.
I fired the same moment he did and he fell to the floor, dropping the dog as pain tore through my cheek.
“Fuck!” I bellowed, clutching my face as agony flared and I was momentarily blinded by it.
I rolled to my hands and knees as Coco rushed over and started licking my arm.
I cursed, pushing myself upright and looking across the room at a mirror that hung on the wall. The bullet had grazed me, a bloody line which blazed like hellfire painted along the line of my cheekbone. But it didn’t matter. It couldn’t slow me down, so I didn’t spare it any more of my attention.
I headed back out into the hall with Coco at my heels as we made quick work of searching all of the rooms in the building.
My heart sank as we went. I called Sloan’s name as I searched, but in my heart I knew she wasn’t here.
When I finally made it back downstairs to the bullet strewn living room, I found the remainder of my men waiting for me.
“There’s no sign of her, Nicoli,” Marco said in a low voice as if I hadn’t fucking worked that out already.
“Go back to the cars,” I growled. “We’ll hit the next house in the morning.”
They trailed out without another word and I sighed heavily as I tipped my head back to the ceiling in despair. With every property we searched, the list grew shorter. And the longer it took for me to find her, the more I started to worry about what they were doing to her in the meantime. I felt hopeless in the face of this failure.
I couldn’t accept the idea that I wouldn’t find her but with each passing day, hour, minute, I grew more fearful of what torture she endured.
Each photograph those monsters had sent of her had been more worrying than the last. She looked terrified, ill-treated, in despair. Each time I saw a new image of her it just compounded this feeling of failure in my heart. I was supposed to protect her. I was supposed to have found her already. I was the one she should have been able to rely on.
Just as I was about to leave the house, the sound of the phone ringing caught my ear.
I hesitated, meaning to ignore it but a creeping sensation along my spine made me feel sure that that call was meant for me.
I waded through the overturned furniture and stepped over a bloody body before I found the phone.
“Hello?”
“Tut, tut, tut, Nicoli. Are you trashing another one of my family’s properties?” Rocco Romero’s voice taunted me from the other end of the line.
I fell still, my grip tightening on the phone until I was in danger of crushing the damn thing.
“Release my fiancé,” I demanded, my voice cold and hard.
He laughed. Fucking laughed at me. My rage built to a new high, my blood boiling and visions filling my mind of a thousand different ways that I might kill this asshole and watch him bleed.
“This is a friendly warning,” he said in a cruel tone. “Sto
p your search and the destruction of our things.”
“Or what?” I growled.
“Or your beautiful bride will be punished for every move you make. You may be breaking some things of mine but I assure you, I can break her in a hundred different ways so that the pieces will never fit back together right. I won’t even kill her, I’ll just ruin her so thoroughly that when you’re finally reunited with her, your bride will be nothing more than a walking, talking horror show. Every time I hurt her, I’ll show her a picture of your face and tell her who’s responsible. She’ll hate and fear you more than she will me.”
“You’re sick,” I snarled.
“I am,” he agreed like that was something to be proud of. “And I suggest you don’t do anything to make me prove just how sick I am.”
I opened my mouth to respond, but I heard a voice on the other end of the line that made me pause. She wasn’t holding the phone but she must have been in the room with him.
“What are you doing with that?” Sloan gasped.
Rocco laughed like a fucking psychopath and there was a sound suspiciously like a whip being cracked.
“Your fiancé wants me to punish you, bella,” he purred and I yelled my rage to the sky, though it made no difference to what was taking place on the other end of that line.
“No,” Sloan breathed. “Wait! Don’t…don’t!”
“Your choice, Nicoli,” Rocco growled into the receiver.
My lips parted to make some response but the line went dead.
“No!” I bellowed, launching the phone across the room so that it slammed into the fireplace and shattered into a hundred pieces.
That piece of shit Romero had me by the balls and he knew it. The one thing I couldn’t risk was her. She was my right, my destiny, my one true chance to become a Calabresi and live up to the fate I’d worked so hard for.
I couldn’t risk her for anything. But if I stopped my search, then what? He might still be torturing her anyway. Each day she spent away from me could be filled with a thousand horrors. How was I supposed to make this impossible choice?
The answer came to me amongst the bloodlust and the rage. I had to see Giuseppe. He was her father and the head of our family. He was the only one who could make this call. Whatever he chose would determine my fate. And Sloan’s.
“Was that Nicoli?” I demanded of Rocco. He had a tight hold of my arm, his teeth bared as he practically snarled at me. He’d pulled his belt free, whipping it against the wall like a crazed man and for a moment I’d really thought he was going to hit me.
“Yeah. Your hot-headed fiancé needs to be sent a message,” he growled. “He’s spilling Romero blood to find you.”
A breath got trapped in my lungs. His grip on me tightened as I turned away from him and mulled over those words in my mind. Nicoli was hunting for me. He was ruthless, a weapon forged by my father. If anyone could find me, he could.
Rocco growled low in his throat, shaking me to get my attention. “You better act real scared in the next five seconds, because if you don’t I’ll give you a good reason to. Your fiancé needs to fear for your life.”
“As if I don’t already,” I said hollowly.
He dropped the belt and his eyes flashed murderously. Fear raced through me as his hand locked around my throat and he shoved me against the wall.
“No, principessa, I’m starting to think you’ve forgotten who’s holding you prisoner.”
I gasped as his grip tightened, bringing my hand up to claw at his skin. My eyes locked with his and that tangible energy rolled between us. I could feel the connection that had been formed between us the day he’d tried to kill me in that car pulsing in my chest.
The animal that lived in him peered from his eyes, its hunger clear. Despite myself, I shrank from him as he held me in place and gritted his teeth like he was about to break me. It didn’t hurt as much as it should have and I realised too late he was just trying to get a reaction out of me.
He brought up his phone to take a photo, snapping the picture fast. He released me in an instant, but rage scorched my insides and begged for his pain in payment for what he’d done.
I snatched his shirt in my hand, refusing to let him turn his back on me. How dare he do that to me.
He glanced over his shoulder and I threw my fist into his face, throwing my full weight into the punch as Royce had taught me. My knuckles crunched and I groaned the same moment that he jerked back.
Satisfaction filled me as blood wet his lip and he tasted it with his tongue. A dark and twisted part of me wanted to lick it too, but I forced her down into the recesses of my mind.
“If you need an outlet for that frustration, bella, I’ll gladly let you satisfy it in my bed.”
My upper lip peeled back despite the warmth that spread deep into my bones in response to his words. “I thought you didn’t have sex with Calabresis,” I said dryly.
“That’s true,” he said, stepping into my personal space until the air was charged with a storm. “I don’t want to have sex with a Calabresi, but I’m starting to think I’d like to fuck one.”
“What’s the difference?” I tsked.
His eyes glittered and I somehow felt even smaller beneath him as he pinched my chin between his calloused finger and thumb. “Nicoli didn’t show you?”
I pursed my lips, glancing over at the window in a refusal to answer.
“Merda,” he swore, his heated breath washing over my neck as he leaned down to speak in my ear. “It wasn’t him who had you.”
My jaw tightened, my lips sealed. It was a secret he had no right to, but somehow, though I’d never confirmed or denied anything about it, he’d drawn it right from my soul.
“I bet you miss what freedom tastes like,” he whispered and I stilled, having expected him to say something crass. I turned my head to face him and he didn’t move, meaning our mouths were less than a centimetre apart. I thought of the kiss he’d planted on me at the hardware store and a flame curled around my heart.
“Death is the truest freedom in the world,” I whispered my mother’s final words to me. They’d remained unspoken for years, clutched in my heart in cotton wool. But now I gave them to a Romero and I didn’t know why.
“No, bella,” he said, softer than I’d ever heard him say anything. “I believe you can find freedom anywhere, you just have to bleed enough for it to be granted.”
He released me, walking away and for the longest moment of my life, I simply wanted to bleed.
***
My eyes were drawn to Rocco as he ate ravioli opposite me across the dining table. He was totally absorbed in his meal like I’d placed a slice of heaven itself on his plate. He ate with slow, deliberate movements, chewed, swallowed, smiled. Not a full smile, just enough to tell me how much he was enjoying his meal. A quiet satisfaction filled me at seeing him appreciate my food.
When he was done, he leaned back in his chair and tipped his head to look out of the window to his right. I continued to watch him, my food untouched, a fork clutched in my hand. He fascinated me and I’d finally figured out why. Rocco Romero was freedom embodied. His wildness had never been tamed by anyone. He owned the world because he didn’t bow to its rules. Even his father didn’t bend him to his will the way mine did. Rocco was only here instead of anywhere else in the world because he loved his family. He either chose to do as they asked or he didn’t.
But there was something missing in him which I couldn’t place my finger on. An agitation crawling under his skin, an unfilled space he was pawing at, contemplating. The way his gaze was always drawn to the sky as if he expected to find his answer there. Rocco was definitely searching for something and some strange, alien part of me wanted to find it for him.
“More wine?” Frankie asked as he returned from the kitchen. “I would offer you the finest of the Romero stock but someone smashed the whole lot.” He dropped down beside me with a smirk and I couldn’t fight the smile that pulled at my mouth in return. He filled my glas
s then did the same for Rocco and Enzo – even though Enzo had fallen asleep in his chair with his hand on his belly.
“If you keep feeding us this well, they’ll start calling us the fratelli grassi.” Fat brothers.
Rocco smirked, reaching his arms above his head and interlocking his fingers as he stretched. I couldn’t imagine him looking anything other than sculpted from stone, especially when his shirt rode up and my gaze dipped to the tempting trail of hair that led beneath his waistband. Lord have mercy on my hormones.
The front door opened and Enzo woke up with a snore, whipping his hunting knife out of his belt. “Whasat?”
“Shit,” Rocco hissed then rose to his feet.
Frankie didn’t seem to know what to do with himself, settling for perching on the table and facing the door.
Footsteps thumped into the room and I turned to look at whoever had arrived. Martello stood there in a fine suit with a dark-haired woman at his side. She was beautiful, but her eyes were as sharp as razors as they fell on me. A step behind her was a skinny guy with a scar across his nose. Something in his gaze made me more afraid of him than I was of any of the other Romeros around me at that moment. Like he was missing a vital piece of humanity.
“How cosy this is,” Martello said with a sneer.
“We were just eating,” Enzo said lazily.
“I see that,” Martello replied sharply, his eyes drilling into my head.
The woman drifted further into the room, dipping her head to kiss Frankie on each cheek. She moved around, greeting all the boys in the same way, surveying them like she was waiting to be impressed.
“It’s so good to see you boys,” she said lightly, gesturing for Rocco to pull out a chair for her.
He did so, but his shoulders were rigid like it caused him some discomfort to do it. She dropped into it, eyeing me across the table with hatred seeping from the pores of her flawless skin.
Beautiful Carnage: A Dark Mafia Bully Romance (The Boys of Sinners Bay Book 1) Page 15