by Mae Doyle
Turning around, he keeps walking, forcing me to put weight on my ankle to keep up with him. Every step sends waves of pain through my body and I bit down hard on my lower lip to keep from crying out. I can feel sweat breaking out on my brow as I try to stay conscious.
It’s not going to be easy. Every time I put weight on my ankle, black washes over my vision, and I have to shake my head to clear it.
“Hurry the fuck up, Lucia,” Strano yells over his shoulder at me.
I gasp, trying to keep up with him, but suddenly my legs give way under me and I feel myself falling. He doesn’t let go of my arm, and there’s a sickening wet crack and shooting pain from my shoulder as it dislocates.
“Fucking whore,” he mutters. He bends over me and picks me up, pulling me tightly to his chest. For a moment, I could convince myself that I’m safe, but that’s stupid.
I’m more fucked than ever.
“Please,” I whisper. My ankle and my shoulder hurt so badly that I can barely form the word, but I have to try.
I have to make him let me go.
All he does in response is laugh, and the sound chills me. I feel it settling in my bones and I know for sure that I’m fucked.
Chapter 20
Enzo
“Anything?” We’re back at Pops’ house while we figure out who the fuck Lucia pissed off so badly, and even though Ma has loaded the table to groaning with food, I can’t take a fucking bite. Ricky’s on the phone, nodding hard, and he ignores my question.
When he finally hangs up, we all turn to look at him. We’re all here, all ready to save my girl.
Pops’ niece. I have to remind myself that she’s as important to him as she is to me. I’ll do anything to save her, and he’ll be right there with me. Whoever did this, whoever wants so badly to hurt her, has no idea the absolute hell that they’re about to experience.
“Okay, she worked a case a while back and was assigned security detail for it because it was so bad and there were so many concerns for her safety.” Ricky takes a deep breath and looks down at the notes he wrote while on the phone.
“Who the fuck was it?” Pops sounds frustrated, and I get it. I want to know who it was. I need to know what motherfucker I have to go kill.
Ricky sighs and stabs the paper with his finger. “She put Damaso Strano’s kid away for the rest of his life. Piece of shit is a rapist and a murderer, and it finally caught up with him. Apparently, though, he takes after daddy, and daddy isn’t very pleased with the treatment his son has gotten.”
I sigh and run my hand through my hair. None of us have anything to do with rapists. Murder, yeah, we’ve all killed someone before, but rape? That’s not something that the Torentis do. Never have, never will.
“Who knows where he lives?” Pops asks, looking around the table.
“On it,” Roque says, his thumbs flying across the screen of his phone. “Okay. Found him. He has a huge mansion outside of the city about thirty minutes from here.”
Pops nods. “Great. We need to gear up and get out there as quickly as possible, especially if we think that they’re going to kill her. We have no reason to think that they want to keep her alive, unless they’re going to torture and rape her, and I’m not sitting around while that happens.”
He slams his hands on the table and stands up.
“Do we need backup?” Arlo sounds a little worried, and we all pause. He was with me when we found our two guys murdered in my driveway, and so he knows that this may be a bit more than we’re used to dealing with.
Nobody gets the drop on us. Not until this morning, anyway, and it doesn’t fucking feel good to have it happen.
Pops sighs. “I have some favors that I can call in. You guys gear up. Bring all of the firepower that you have, because I think that we’re going to need it. Say goodbye to the wives and let them know that you’ll do your best. You got bulletproof vests? Now is the time to wear them.”
“Be back here as soon as possible,” I add, standing up next to Pops. Yes, he’s the don, but this is my girl that we’re talking about. I need to have her back in my arms and in my bed as soon as possible, and I want to get this show on the road so that we can make it happen.
We break and I drive out to my house as fast as possible. The two guys are already gone, our cleanup crew has taken care of them, but Frank is still in the front yard where I left him. I want to stop and bury him, but now’s not the time.
I can’t handle burying two things that I love, and if we don’t get our asses in gear, then that’s exactly what we’ll be doing.
◆◆◆
Pops wasn’t joking when he said that he’d call in some backup that owed him a favor. When I pull back up to his house, there isn’t any room for parking in the driveway or on the road, so I angle into the ditch and hop out, jogging up to the house as quickly as possible.
More cars pull in behind me, all doing the same thing. It’s a fucking flood of support, and I would be a bit overwhelmed by how many people are coming out to help if it weren’t such a big fucking deal.
There’s no room in the living room for everyone to meet, so we all gather in the backyard. One thing about the Torenti family – we all chose houses far away from neighbors. Pops has the place regularly checked for bugs and has his own security system set up, so we’re not worried about being overhead.
Trespassers will be shot and will disappear. Everyone knows that.
“We all here?” As soon as everyone’s gathered around Pops, he begins to speak. “You all know that this is Lucia, my niece, that we’re going to go save. She’s family, even though she hasn’t been a part of our get-togethers, and we’re going to do everything we can to bring her back in one piece. She’s the only one in the Strano house who needs to survive, you got it? Everyone else is dead.”
“Kill them all?” Someone from the back asks, and we all turn to look at him. I’ve never seen the guy before in my life, but he doesn’t sound scared. He sounds excited.
Pops nods and holds up a photo of Lucia. It’s from a write-up in the paper and my heart squeezes when I look at her. “Kill everyone but her.”
In the picture, Lucia is smiling at the camera, but she looks nervous. Without thinking, I grab the paper from Pops and quickly scan the write-up. It’s from the Strano case, and even though she looks happy that she won, she still looks a little nervous.
I can’t help but wonder if she’s been afraid this entire time, if part of her has always known that someone was going to come for her after the case. Pops is staring at me and I hand the paper back to him.
“I need her back,” I tell him, my voice low, but I’m sure that everyone standing around us can hear me. “I need her, Pops.”
He nods and squeezes my shoulder before turning to the driveway. “Everyone, let’s go. Stay sharp, keep a good lookout for anything that looks suspicious. It shouldn’t take them too long to think that we’re onto them, and while we’d love the element of surprise like we had with the Romanos, we can’t assume that we’ll have it.”
◆◆◆
By the time we pull up to the Strano mansion, my heart isn’t pounding in my chest any longer. I feel strangely calm, like no matter what happens, it’s all going to be okay. Roque, Arlo, Pops, and I all rode together, figuring that Lucia will want to be near the three of us when it’s all said and done.
Pops has the doctor on standby at my house. No matter what happens, we’re prepared.
“You all good?” Pops looks around at the three of us, and we nod. “We’re going to get her back and kill everyone who tries to stop us. I know that normally we don’t kill women…” he pauses, and we all understand the implication.
Normally we don’t kill women, but this isn’t normal. This is us trying to get Lucia back, and we’re willing to make whatever sacrifices that have to be made to make it happen.
If a woman stands in our way then she’s going to get what’s coming to her. Hopefully, they’re all smart and have bailed out of here.
<
br /> Our huge group splits into teams and circles around the house. Ricky managed to get us all a layout of the house from when it was built and texted it to us, so at least we aren’t all going in blind. We may not know where everything is, but at least we’ll have an idea of how the house is laid out.
I take the lead for my group. Pops, Arlo, and Roque have all split up from me so that we’re covering all of our bases. The last thing that we want is for Lucia to see a strange face and assume that someone else has come to kidnap her.
My heart squeezes and thuds in my chest as I try a door. We’re in the back garden, and from the layout Ricky sent, this should be a door into the servant’s kitchen. The handle turns slowly, and I open the door as carefully as possible to keep anyone from knowing that we’re coming.
It’s empty, and I breathe a sigh of relief as my team follows me in. There are three of us, two guys that I don’t know, but they have my back, and I have to trust them, no matter how hard that seems right now.
We pause at the door into the main part of the house, listening. I can’t hear a thing, so I signal for them to follow me to the right.
There’s one room in the back of the house that isn’t labeled. It has just one door in, and the walls on the layout show that they’ve been heavily fortified. Chance are good that Strano has a kill room set up in his house and he’s taking Lucia there.
Or he’s taken her there.
I push that thought from my mind and lead my team down the hall. We don’t run into anyone until we pass the living room, and then we hear a shout.
Without thinking, I turn into it, my pistol held in front of me. The man standing there reaches across his body for his holster, but before he can close his fingers on his gun, I fire.
He crumples to the floor and blood pools out from the holes in his head. A quick scan around the room and I’m convinced that nobody else is in there.
“Now we have to hustle,” I tell my guys. As soon as someone comes across that body, we’re all fucked.”
We move quickly down the hall, turning right and left as the layout directs, until I hear voices. My hand flies up to stop my team and we all hover near a corner.
“What the fuck do you mean that we have visitors? I thought that you told me they wouldn’t be able to trace her here for a long fucking time!” The man speaking is pissed, and my blood chills in my veins. It has to be Damaso Strano, or someone close to him, and now we know that they’re aware that we’re here.
“Fuck,” I mutter under my breath.
Someone responds to him, but I can’t make out what they say. A moment later, footsteps recede down the hall away from us.
But someone’s coming towards us. I ready myself, my pistol in front of me, and one of the guys with me steps to my right to cover me. The third guy on our team turns around, watching our flank, just in case someone tries to get the drop on us.
We’re untouchable.
I don’t want to take this guy in the main hall in case Strano is still there, so we wait until he turns the corner, then I grab his collar and shove him up against the wall, pinning him there with my bulk. He’s a scrawny guy, and couldn’t get away from me if he tried, but he just stands there, shaking, his eyes bugging out of his head.
“Where the fuck is she?” I ask, pressing the muzzle of my pistol into his temple. His eyes widen and his jaw drops open, but the only sound that comes out is an unintelligible keening.
“Shut the fuck up,” I tell him, smacking him across the face, then pressing my gun back into position. “Tell me where the fuck they have Lucia.”
“Please don’t kill me.” His tongue darts out and slides across his lower lip like a fucking lizard and I roll my eyes. “I…I didn’t want to be involved, please.”
“This fucking guy,” I mutter, and pull the trigger.
He slumps to the floor as soon as I step back.
“Let’s fucking go,” I say to my team, and slowly turn the corner. Whoever this shitstain had been talking to, whether it was Strano or someone else, is gone, and we work our way down the hall.
The room where we think that Lucia is being held is at the end of the hall on the right. I can see it from here, even though it’s about twenty yards away. It’s bolted shut with huge rods that span from wall to wall across the door, slipping through metal loops on their way to keep the door in place.
Nobody could possibly get out once they were put in there, and I have a very good feeling that that’s exactly where Lucia is.
“You guys cover me,” I tell my team, then start to pull on the metal bars. They’re fucking heavy and slide slowly across the door until they free it. Without realizing what I’m doing, I start to pray that the door won’t be locked, and I let out a sigh of relief when the handle turns easily in my hand.
So fucking close.
“We good?” I ask, and when both of my guys nod, I push the door open. It’s heavy and I have to lean against it to make it swing open. As soon as I do, someone shouts.
“Who the fuck is there?”
Strano. His voice is deep and booming, the voice of someone who’s totally used to everyone dropping whatever they’re doing to follow his command. Without thinking, I drop to my knees and slide into the room, my gun up and pointing in the direction of his voice.
Holy fuck.
He’s in here, and so is Lucia, and she looks like absolute shit. He has her chained to the wall, her arms stretched above her head, her feet barely touching the floor so that she can’t really push herself up. Not that she could anyway, her ankle is swollen to the size of a grapefruit. I notice that she’s trying to keep her weight off of one arm, and then I realize with horror that the shoulder is popped out of the joint.
“You motherfucker,” I say, and I shoot at Strano. He’s surprisingly fast for such a massive guy, and he throws himself to the side, grabbing a table and flipping it while he drops down behind it.
I know that I should be careful, but I can’t help the rage that’s pouring through my body right now. Lucia is mine, and this motherfucker wants to kill her. Screaming, I run at the table, emptying my gun through the wood, trying to hit him. He’s back there somewhere, and I’m doing my best to take him out.
My gun clicks as I reach the table, and I swear, dropping the empty clip. I don’t have time to reload, because I know that Strano is going to try to shoot me back as soon as he can get his hand on his gun.
My backup is in the door, but I don’t trust them to move fast enough to help me out. I have to take care of Strano before he can hurt Lucia. He pauses, obviously thinking that the pause in my shooting is a good sign for him, and I lunge at him, hitting him full in the chest.
His gun goes off over our heads as he falls back to the ground, and I find that I’m straddling his chest. He aims his gun at me, a twisted smile on his face, but I draw my hand back and hit him as hard as I can in the face with the grip of my gun.
His nose smashes under the impact and he shoots, but it goes wild, barely clipping the top of my shoulder. Again I bring my gun down on his face, this time enjoying the crack of his cheekbone under the impact.
I can’t shoot the asshole, but I’m not letting him walk out of here. He’s mine to kill, and I don’t want anyone else doing it.
Before I can hit him for a third time, he reaches up and wraps his hand around my throat. I gasp and drop my gun, clawing at his hand.
He’s huge and strong and forces himself to sit up as he squeezes tighter. Strano’s face is a mess. His one eye is swollen, almost popping out of his skull, and his nose has been mostly obliterated.
“You little shit,” he growls, bringing his gun up my head. In my panic, I almost forget the one other thing that I have strapped to my waist. I can’t reload my gun, but I can still stop him. My fingers fumble at the snap holding my knife in place.
“You have any last words before I rape and kill your little whore?” He leans forward and I can smell a pungent odor of his sweat, blood, and cologne on him. I want to co
me back with a witty retort, but just then, I manage to open the snap on my knife and pull it out.
He doesn’t see it coming as I plunge it deep into his neck. The blade is sharp as hell, and I thrust forward, putting all of my weight into it, sending the blade slicing through his neck.
He panics and drops his gun from my head, releasing my throat at the same time. Immediately, he wraps his hands around his own neck, squeezing and trying to keep the blood from pouring from the cut.
He doesn’t stand a fucking chance, and we both know it. His eyes search mine and I twist the knife, watching the flare of pain in his gaze as the knife cuts through him.
He opens his mouth to speak, but there’s no sound that comes out. Instead, blood bubbles out, a bright foamy liquid that pours down his chin and drips onto his chest. I want to watch the life drain from this asshole, but now that the threat is gone, I need to make sure that Lucia is okay.
I cross the room to her as quickly as possible and reach up to cut her wrists from the wall. She slumps into my arms and I scoop her up, pulling her close so that I can hold her tight if I need to run.
There’s no way that I’m going to put her down now. I have no intention of every letting her out of my sight again.
“Enzo?” She whispers, stirring against my chest as I walk across the room. “Am I okay?”
“You will be, honey,” I promise her. Right now, though I have to focus on getting her out of here in one piece. I have to trust that the two guys with me are going to be able to keep me covered and won’t let anyone get in a shot, because there’s no way that I’m going to put Lucia down.
I’ll shield her body with mine, if I have to. I promised Pops and I promised myself that I would get her out of here safe and sound, and that’s what I’m going to do.
My shoulder aches, reminding me that I’m not immortal, but she’s worth the risk.
She’s worth everything.
I just need to make her believe me.
Chapter 21