by Anthology
But she hadn’t shown concern when she’d murdered the only woman he’d loved. Or when she’d raped him, after she’d gotten her soldiers to tie him to her bed, so she could inject something into his cock to make it hard enough to ride. He couldn’t get it out of his mind, had nightmares about it, where he woke up in cold sweats, screaming for her to stop. But she would never stop…unless he killed her.
Letting out a cry of rage, he lunged at her, knocking Irene to the floor. His hands went to her throat, wanting to squeeze the life out of her, to see the light behind her green eyes die. He used to love the color, but now he hated it, because he hated her.
I fucking hate her!
One of the soldiers knocked him off Irene, landing Vinnie on his back. Then a dart hit his chest. He yanked it out and went for Irene again, who was scrambling to her feet, trying to get away from him. Grabbing one of her legs, he yanked her back and climbed onto her, Irene screaming in response. Another dart hit him, this time in the back. He reached behind and yanked it out, his mind starting to go hazy. He fell off Irene, once more landing on his back. He tried to move, but his body refused to obey. A slap struck his face, but he hardly felt it, the tranquilizer dulling down the pain.
Irene slapped him again. “You bastardo! I love you and you try to kill me?”
He stared up at her, willing his mouth to work, but nothing came out, the tranquilizer silencing him.
She pushed to her feet and snatched one of the soldiers’ guns out of his holster. She dropped back down and placed the barrel to Vinnie’s forehead. “I could kill you for what you just did!”
Vinnie wanted to tell her to do it, but again couldn’t move his lips, the tranquilizer also stealing his free will—like Irene wanted to.
Screwing up her face, she removed the gun from his head. “Why do you always have to fight me? I love you so much, love you with every star in the sky, every drop of water in the ocean. I would kill for you, have killed for you. And if you just gave me half the chance, I know you would love me too.”
Vinnie continued to stare at her, wishing he could tell her he hated her more than anyone.
She ran a hand down his face, Vinnie’s mind growing hazier by the second. “I will make you love me, because we’re meant to be together. You’re mine, not that Viper’s or that dead gypsy’s. And until you realize that, I’ll be patient, knowing one of these days you’ll say those words I desperately want to hear: Ti amo, I love you.” She leaned down and kissed his lips.
He screamed in his head, desperately wanting her to stop, needing her to stop!
She finally did. “Take him to the car,” she said, pushing to her feet.
The soldiers grabbed Vinnie, but he couldn’t feel their touch, unconsciousness overcoming him before they’d left the room.
Dominic
Dominic’s driver headed around the back of H20. The sky was still dark, sunrise not for another couple of hours. Dominic yawned, the meeting having gone into the early hours of the morning. The Donatelli wouldn’t allow it to finish until they’d ironed out all of their differences. Surprisingly, their new Don came across as a good man, Carmine Donatelli not resembling his predecessors. But then again, he could just be a more convincing liar than the rest of his family, especially since Dominic had never come across an honest Donatelli. He just hoped his oldest brother knew what he was doing with that evil fucking family, because the bastards would stab them in the back if they had half the chance. But at least, they’d come to a compromise: not to kill each other, for the moment.
As the car rounded the corner, the driver planted his foot on the brake, shunting Dominic forward against his seatbelt. “Men down!” his driver shouted.
Dominic’s gaze snapped to the windscreen. A black SUV was parked a few feet from H20’s back door, with two guards lying next to it, both looking dead. A massive motherfucker appeared through the exit, holding—
“Vinnie!” Dominic yelled.
The man looked at Dominic, then at the SUV, giving the impression he would make a play for it. Dominic rammed his boot down on the driver’s foot, hitting the accelerator hard. The car shot forward, slamming into the back of the SUV. Dominic shunted forward again, the seatbelt hurting like a bastard, but instead of letting it slow him down, he unbuckled it and pulled out his gun.
A barrage of gunfire hit his door, but didn’t penetrate it, his car bulletproof. He snapped at his driver to ram the SUV again, but it sped off. The man who’d been holding Vinnie picked him up again. With the help of another motherfucker, they retreated into the building with Dominic’s twin, the door slamming shut behind them.
Dominic jumped out of his car and went for the door, yelling for his bodyguards in the backseat to follow. He turned the handle, finding it locked. Lifting his gun, he shot at it a couple of times, then kicked the door open. Gunfire came his way. He jerked to the side, flattening his back against the wall. His two bodyguards moved to the other side of the door, both holding their guns at the ready.
Dominic peered around the corner, seeing two soldiers disappear with Vinnie through the door at the other end of the hallway, someone slamming it shut behind them.
“Out front, Gio!” he barked at the younger bodyguard, then shot inside, yelling at Gio’s brother to follow him. They raced down the hallway, Dominic jumping over the dead guard by the band room. He skidded to a halt in front of the door that led to the main part of the club.
Gunfire started up on the other side, but it wasn’t directed at him. Someone else was battling against Vinnie’s abductors, most likely Gio, his bodyguard damn fast.
Dominic opened the door a fraction and peered through the slit, trying to locate Vinnie.
“Do you see anything, boss?” Gio’s brother asked behind him.
“Overturned tables and…” His gaze went to one by the bar. The man who’d been holding Vinnie was firing at someone near the club’s entrance. Next to him was Irene Landi, the psycho bitch clutching onto his unconscious brother.
Rage ripped through Dominic, pure, unadulterated fucking rage. He directed his gun through the slit, intending on shooting the bitch in the head. A bullet hit the doorframe next to him, making him yell out and whip the gun back.
“Don’t do anything stupid that could get your brother killed, Dominic!” Irene shouted.
“You won’t kill him.”
“But a stray bullet from yours or one of your men’s guns might, so hold your fire.”
“Just let him go.”
“I will never let him go. He’s my marito.”
“He’s not your husband, you psychotic puttana!”
“The only whore here is you, Dominic, so drop your weapon and I’ll let you live.”
“Go fuck yourself!” He edged his gun through the crack again and fired off a shot. Her soldier knocked her down, stopping the bullet from hitting her head.
A volley of gunshots came from somewhere else in the nightclub, thudding into the door shielding Dominic. He jumped up and went for the stage door, wanting to take out the sniper, wherever the fucker was hiding.
His bodyguard pushed in front of him, entering first. “They’re exiting the building,” Alanzo said, peering through the stage curtains.
He slipped through them, Dominic following him. They jumped off the stage and quickly cleared the dance floor, heading for the building’s entrance. Alanzo stopped in the doorway and lifted his gun, shooting at someone outside. Return gunfire came their way, making his bodyguard jump to the side.
Dominic moved to the other side of the door and peered around the corner, spotting Irene’s men about to shove Vinnie into the backseat of the SUV he’d rammed. He fired off a shot, hitting the closest soldier in the back. The man dropped Vinnie’s legs and collapsed onto him.
The other soldier fired at Dominic, then yanked his injured colleague over Vinnie, pulling him into the SUV. Irene reached past him, trying to grab Vinnie. Blocking her, the soldier fired at Dominic again, then kicked Vinnie to the sidewalk and slam
med the door shut. Screaming for Vinnie, Irene jumped out the other door. The soldier followed her, forcing Irene back into the SUV. A second later, the SUV sped off with them, leaving Vinnie behind.
Dominic bolted through H20’s doorway, running to his brother. Dropping down next to him, he checked Vinnie’s pulse, exhaling when he found one. After doing a quick check for bullet wounds, not finding any, he glanced back at his bodyguard. “Call the car around,” he said, praying his other bodyguard wasn’t dead, since their enemies had escaped the building.
As he waited, he yanked his jacket off and slipped it onto Vinnie, covering his brother’s bare torso. Seconds later, his car appeared around the corner, coming to a stop next to them. Gio jumped out of the front passenger seat.
“Why the fuck were you out back?” Dominic snapped at his bodyguard, wondering why he looked unharmed.
Gio grimaced. “There was a fucking sniper firing at me. I couldn’t get around the corner.”
“Then who the hell was firing at the Landi inside?”
“No idea.”
Vinnie glanced back at his other bodyguard. “Go check.” His gaze returned to Gio. “Help me get Vinnie into the car.”
They picked up Vinnie and slid his unconscious brother onto the backseat. The other bodyguard returned a few moments later, carrying a bleeding D in his arms.
“Where’s she been hit?” Dominic barked, surprised to see her.
“Her arm, but it’s a clean shot, gone right through.”
“Then why’s she unconscious?”
“Looks like she’s taken a blow to the back of the head. Her hair’s matted with blood.”
“Get her in the car.”
As Alanzo slid her in next to Vinnie, Dominic jumped into the front passenger seat, wondering what she’d been doing at the club so early in the morning.
Looking furious, Ricardo pushed up from his chair. He was Dominic’s oldest brother as well as the Don of their family, a harsh motherfucker with a giant chip on his shoulder.
Ricardo walked around his desk, his violet eyes locking onto Dominic’s blue ones. “Until Irene’s eliminated, Vinnie will remain in the compound for his own safety.”
“I want Vinnie to stay here too,” Dominic said. “The problem is, once he wakes up he’ll leave. You know he can’t be in the same house as Mamma after what she did.” Vinnie had discovered that their mother had paid one of their brothers to seduce his first love, so she could bribe the woman into leaving him. It had devastated Vinnie, causing him to move out of the compound.
“He doesn’t have a choice now, and if he tries to take off we’ll lock the thick-headed imbecille in a cell.”
Dominic’s eyes widened. “You can’t do that to Vinnie!”
“It’s either that or risk Irene kidnapping him again. Not only that, he’s become too reckless. You have to admit he’s out of control, Dominic. Consider this an intervention.”
Dominic started pacing the room, which was in the office wing of their huge mansion—a classical-styled structure their family had built after World War Two. “How about getting him to a safe house instead?” he replied, trying to think of something that wouldn’t cause Vinnie to lose his shit.
“Irene’s men will track him down. You forget they’re real soldiers, nothing like our soldati.”
“They didn’t do such a shit hot job back at the club. They left without him.”
“Only because D slowed them down enough for you to stop them.”
“Did you pay her to watch Vinnie?”
Ricardo shook his head. “She’s obviously still hung up on him.”
Dominic exhaled. “I just wish Vinnie felt the same way about her.”
“He doesn’t need a woman, he needs a fucking psychiatrist. And back to those Landi bastardi. Sooner or later, they’ll succeed in snatching Vinnie if he’s not safely behind our walls.”
“There has to be another solution.”
“There isn’t! And will you stand still for one fucking second, you’re driving me insane,” Ricardo snapped, his expression strained.
Dominic came to a stop, although it took all of his willpower, because everything inside of him was screaming to veto imprisoning his twin, especially with Vinnie’s sanity teetering on the edge. He didn’t want to risk pushing Vinnie over it, but he knew Irene wouldn’t stop coming after him. The psycho bitch was relentless. Without a doubt Ricardo had been right, because securing Vinnie at the compound was the only safe and logical solution.
Ricardo started massaging his temples, looking like he was trying to calm himself down, his temper fraying badly. He had IED—Intermittent Explosive Disorder, which meant he was easy to anger, no, not just easy, much, much, more so. He would lose his temper at the drop of a hat, yelling and hollering at people, even getting violent. Though, it was getting worse of late, making Dominic wonder whether Ricardo had stopped taking his medication.
Ricardo dropped his hands and resumed talking. “If you do your job and find Irene fast, Vinnie won’t need to stay here for long.”
Dominic scowled, finding his brother’s words a slap to his ego. He was damn good at his job, which was flushing out people who didn’t want to be found. But the Landi were always one step ahead, the bastards obviously using a spy to outplay him.
“I think there’s someone in our employ that’s working for the Landi,” he said. “They must be tipping them off. We need to flush the rat out.”
Ricardo grimaced. “I’ll get Luciano onto it.”
“Bene, because I really don’t want to lock Vinnie up. Putting him in a cell will only cause him to go even more nuts.”
“It’s not a matter of choice, and we’ll give him the nicer, furnished cell. We’ll even bring in his stuff, anything to make him feel more comfortable.”
“It’s still a cell.”
“What do you suggest we do, then?” Ricardo snapped, looking frustrated. “Because we’re running out of options here, Dominic.”
“Put him in the studio. Station guards around it.”
“It’s still imprisoning him and he’ll probably attack them in an attempt to get away. If he’s in a cell, there’s only one door, not a ton of windows he can climb out of, like in the studio.”
Dominic pushed his messy brown hair back, not liking the situation one bit…but he couldn’t allow Vinnie to live at the club anymore, not after what Irene had done. Also, his twin was wreaking havoc. One of their half-brothers had managed to bribe the band into not quitting, while the soldiers were working overtime, trying to combat the media attention Vinnie’s striptease had created.
Ricardo placed his hands on Dominic’s shoulders. “I know this is hard on you, but if you want him to start getting better, he needs to be in a safe place, where he can’t get his hands on booze or drugs. While he sobers up in the cell, you’ll continue searching for Irene. Once you find her, don’t wait—kill her, then bring her body back for Vinnie to see. Hopefully, her death will give him closure.”
Dominic nodded, knowing Ricardo was right. They had no choice. Vinnie had to be transported to one of the cells.
“I’ll make it happen,” Ricardo said, appearing relieved with Dominic’s acceptance. He pulled out his cell and called his head soldier. After ordering Vinnie’s transfer, he hung up, returning his attention to Dominic. “Go help them. You know what Vinnie would like in the cell.”
Dominic nodded and headed out of Ricardo’s office, not sure Vinnie liked anything anymore, other than booze. He entered the lounge, aiming for the back door. Two Vipers were sitting on the couch, watching TV. The female assassins looked up as he passed by, the Korean one asking if everything was all right, his bad mood probably radiating off him. He shook his head, finding nothing right about this whole fucked up situation.
He exited the main house and crossed the courtyard, entering his and Vinnie’s studio a moment later. He came to a stop in the small lounge, where three soldiers were waiting by the couch. He started snapping out instructions, telling them
which items to take to the cell, then returned to the main house, aiming for the doctor’s clinic. He stopped in the lounge as two soldiers emerged with his unconscious twin. D was following them, asking where they were taking Vinnie. She’d woken up on the ride back to the compound while one of Dominic’s bodyguards had been bandaging her arm. Gio, a trained medic, had also bandaged her head.
Ignoring D, the soldiers continued on their way, heading for the stairs that led to the cells.
D continued to follow them, yelling, “What the hell are you doing?”
Dominic ran after her, grabbing her uninjured arm. “Go back to the clinic,” he said, pulling her away from the stairs. “You shouldn’t be out of bed.”
She jerked her arm free, her expression furious. “No! Why the hell are they taking Vinnie to a cell?”
“To stop him from leaving the compound.”
“You can’t imprison your own twin!”
“I don’t have a choice.”
“Yes, you do!”
“No, I don’t!” he yelled back, his emotions getting the better of him. “This is killing me, fucking killing me! He’s my twin, the person I love the most in the world, and I’m going to lose him no matter what I do. But I have to protect him from the Landi—from Irene, because she fucked him up bad. What she did is destroying him. Dio! Seeing him like this is destroying me.” Unable to handle it anymore, he spun around and took off for his studio, everything becoming too much.
D ran after him. “Stop, Dom,” she said, grabbing his arm.
He yanked free and continued out of the house.
She ran in front of him, placing a hand on his chest. “Stop!”
He went still, but couldn’t look her in the eyes, ashamed he’d lost his shit in front of her—ashamed of fucking everything.
“Oh, sweetheart, I’m sorry.” She reached up and pulled his head to her good shoulder. “I didn’t mean to upset you. This isn’t your fault. You’re doing your best for Vinnie.”