The Mafia And His Angel Series (Tainted Hearts)

by Lylah James

  We met with Phoenix in the hall. He glanced at the closed door, his eyes murderous. “Is he alive?”

  “He is. Don’t kill him yet,” I ordered. Just in case he was lying. When Ayla was found, then his death would be signed.

  I took a step forward but stopped. “How is Maddie?”

  Phoenix let out a pained groan, his face twisting. “Sam took the bullets out. She…is okay.”

  Taking a deep breath, he stared at the wall, his eyes filled with so much pain. “But…but the baby didn’t make it.”

  Even though I knew the baby wouldn’t make it, hearing the words was still a blow to my chest. I looked down, wishing this wasn’t real. I wanted to tear Artur apart piece by piece.

  “Was it yours?” I asked quietly. They thought it wasn’t obvious. But it was. For years, even after whatever happened between them, they still cared. Maybe still loved each other.

  Phoenix clenched his fists, and I looked up again. Closing his eyes tightly, he shook his head. “No,” he choked. “No…Maddie…she never…” He paused, taking a deep breath. “Maddie never cheated. She would never do that. The baby was Artur’s.”

  With a heavy heart, I nodded at Phoenix. “We found Ayla’s whereabouts.”

  He looked at the door. “I can’t leave Maddie.”

  “I was never going to ask you to leave Maddie. The rest of us will go.”

  He sent me a grateful look, and I walked away. Making my way upstairs, I stopped in the living room when I saw Nina walking into the estate.

  She rushed over to us. “Nikolay called.”

  “What are you doing here?” I asked, wiping my hands with the towel Viktor handed me.

  “He told me Artur is the traitor. That little shit,” she growled, her eyes sparking fire.

  “He told us where Ayla is,” Viktor muttered.

  Nina’s eyes widened. “He did? Where is she?”

  “Artur’s house,” Viktor replied. There was no emotion in his voice. No light. No anger. Nothing. I felt the same way.

  “I’m coming,” she announced.

  “Seriously? Like this?” Viktor retorted, pointing at Nina’s outfit.

  She looked down at herself. “Those heels are killer heels. They might come in handy. Who knows?”

  “You will be a liability,” Nikolay argued. “We don’t have time to save your ass.”

  Nina cocked her head to the side. “Really?”

  It happened fast. But the next thing we knew, Viktor was on the floor with Nina’s legs wrapped around his neck.

  “What the fuck was that? I didn’t say anything,” Viktor snapped.

  “Still think I’m a liability?” she spat, her voice holding venom.

  She got up and looked at me. “Another body to protect Ayla,” she added, raising an eyebrow at me. She knew I couldn’t refuse that. “I think you will need a woman with you when you find her.”

  Viktor stood up and glared at Nina’s back. “Bitch,” he mouthed.

  Staring at Nina, I saw her resolve and finally nodded. She was right. The more bodies to protect Ayla, the better. And Nina was far from a liability. She was more of an asset. A killer who could easily take anyone.

  I walked out, followed by Nikolay, Viktor, and Nina. A few of my men were already waiting next to the cars. I got in without a word while Viktor took the driver’s seat.

  The drive to Artur’s house was tense.

  When the car came to a stop, I quickly stepped out. This time, Nikolay and Viktor took the lead, while Nina and I stayed in the rear.

  Nikolay crashed the door open, and we were inside in mere seconds.

  As soon as we stepped inside, guns were blazing and bullets were flying.

  The fucker! He was ready, and he wasn’t alone.

  His men surrounded the house, and I quickly ducked, avoiding a bullet which could have pierced my head. I growled in frustration and shot at the man in front of me, my bullet going right through his heart.

  I didn’t have time for fucking child’s play.

  Turning around, I fired at any men who came into my path. Bullets in their legs, some in the neck, and a few in the head.

  Through it all, Alberto was nowhere to be found. A coward. Of course, he was nowhere to be found.

  When most of his men were down, I nodded at Viktor and Nikolay. They searched through the house as I continued to gun down the rest of the men, Nina beside me doing the same. She was ruthless in her attacks. Her bullets pierced their bodies with an astonishing ferocity.

  I saw a man standing in front of me, pointing his gun at my chest. I pulled my trigger, but nothing happened.

  A gunshot echoed across the wall. I expected a fiery pain in my chest, but when I saw the man drop dead, I glanced at Nina beside me.

  She rubbed her gun against her leather pants and sent me a wink. “You’re welcome.”

  Viktor ran down the stairs, his expression frantic. “Ayla is not there.”

  Nikolay came to stand by my side. “I searched the first floor. She isn’t there, either.”

  “What?” I bellowed, my body shaking with panic, fear, and lastly rage.

  “Look everywhere! She has to be here!”

  I looked wildly around the living room, moving from the kitchen to the dining room. Then the bedrooms upstairs. I searched every corner of the house.

  When I didn’t find her, I searched again. Frantically. Desperately. I searched again and again. She had to be here.

  My Angel was nowhere to be found. Again.

  I was standing in the middle on the living room, my head pounding, my chest aching. She wasn’t here, but I felt her. It was an unexplainable feeling, but as soon as I had stepped in the house, my heart had accelerated. Almost as if it knew Ayla was here.

  I felt her. My skin prickled with a strange sensation, and I closed my eyes. No, she wasn’t here. We looked everywhere, but she wasn’t here.

  My heart felt heavy in my compressed chest, my lungs hurting as I breathed through the agony of failing yet again.

  Ayla. Ayla. Where are you?

  I heard a scream.

  “Boss!”

  “Alessio!”

  My eyes snapped open, and I stared at a man pointing his gun at me. I didn’t have a chance to raise my gun or even move out of the way. I tried to duck, falling to the ground, and then the gunshot rang through my ears.

  A few seconds later, I felt a searing pain run through my right leg. “Fuck!” I bellowed.

  I heard a shout and then a scream of pain behind me. I looked down at my leg to see it bleeding where the bullet had gone through.

  Still on the floor, I turned around to see Nina pulling out her heel from the man’s chest. “Fuck you! Those were Louboutin heels. Now it’s covered in your dirty blood.”

  She glanced back at us. “You okay, Alessio?”

  “Just a nick,” I muttered back. It was lie. The bullet had gone through my leg and was now lodged inside.

  Nina noticed us staring, and she glanced back at her bloody heel. “What? I told you it comes in handy. I was out of bullets.”

  “So you just throw your heel at a man, hoping it kills him?” Nikolay asked as I stood up, ignoring the burning in my leg.

  “Pretty much,” she replied, taking off her other heel and standing up barefooted.

  “What do we do?” Viktor asked me, his expression forlorn.

  I ignored his question, my eyes roaming around the house one last time. We looked everywhere. Did Artur lie?

  Or maybe Alberto had already taken Ayla away? I had never wanted to hurt someone so bad in all my life as I did right there.

  I let out a harsh, barking laugh. It was empty, void of any emotion. I was going to lose my mind if I didn’t find Ayla soon.

  I limped away, but my feet twisted in the rug, and I almost went down. I quickly straightened myself and glanced down at the fucking rug, wanting to tear it apart with my bare hands.

  But something else caught my eye, and all thought of tearing the rug apar
t was gone.

  The rug was bunched around my feet, and underneath was a wooden door. My eyebrows furrowed in confusion, and I pushed the rug away completely.

  I heard Nina gasp.

  The rug wasn’t there for decoration. It was there to cover something—to hide a fucking door in the floor.

  Viktor swore under his breath, looking at the closed door.

  “There’s no basement. We checked,” Nikolay added, his eyes wide.

  “What the fuck is this door then?” I growled. Without waiting for an answer, I bent down and opened the heavy latch. When it came undone, I pulled the door open, and it hit the floor with a loud bang.

  “Stairs,” Nina muttered. “What the hell? It leads to a basement.”

  I didn’t say anything. I couldn’t even if I tried. My tongue felt heavy, my body numb. She was in there. I knew it. I felt it.

  Nikolay came to stand in front of me and turned his phone on, putting on the torch. I took the first step, my heart racing, pumping wildly.

  We descended the stairs in the dark, only Nikolay’s and Viktor’s phones used as flashlights. As soon as we reached the landing, Nina pressed her hand against the wall, looking for a light switch.

  A few seconds later, the basement was illuminated.

  The basement was incomplete. No wall or tiles. It looked more like a fucking dungeon.

  My legs trembled as I took a step further inside. Another step. A few more and I stopped.

  A foul smell touched my nostrils, and I shuddered. The smell was horrible. It was almost impossible to breathe. It smelled like days of piss and vomit. Ayla. Was my Angel here? In this place?

  My heart squeezed painfully, and I stepped forward on shaky legs. The further we ventured in, the worse the smell got.

  I heard Nina gag behind me. “I think I’m going to be sick,” she gasped.

  “Fuck, what is this?” Viktor growled.

  I wasn’t dying. I was very much alive, but in that moment, it really felt like I was dying. The thought of Ayla being in a place like this was almost unbearable.

  When I finally reached the far side of the basement, I stopped dead in my tracks, my stomach twisting painfully.

  “No,” I whimpered, my eyes widening at the sight in front of me.

  When I heard them swear behind me, I knew they were seeing what I was seeing.

  She was turned away from us, facing the wall. I didn’t see her face, but I knew it was her. I felt it in my heart.

  She was there. My Ayla. She was right there in front of me. She was lying on the cold hard floor, pushed against the wall. There were chains around her ankles and wrists.

  And she was barely covered, her white dress ripped until nothing covered her body.

  “No. No. No!” I rushed forward, ignoring the burning ache in my leg. Falling down beside her, I was too afraid to even touch her body.

  Ayla looked so fragile. So small. So broken. She’d lost weight, some of her bones practically showing. I reached forward and gently pushed her greasy hair out of her face.

  Her face was covered in dirt, and it appeared slightly bruised.

  “Ayla?” I whispered brokenly, softly touching her cheek. So cold. She was so cold, freezing.

  My heart stuttered, and I frantically looked behind me. Their faces were masks of horror. “She’s cold. She’s so cold,” I repeated.

  I looked back at Ayla, my mind and heart going crazy. Agony coursed through my body. It hurt. Everything hurt. It wasn’t my leg, but it was my heart that hurt the most.

  My Ayla. My sweet Angel.

  She laid frozen, so still. Too still.

  I felt my heart break. When I lost her, I thought I was in pain. But now…now I knew what real pain felt like.

  And my Angel went through worse than that.

  “Angel,” I whispered, leaning next to her ear. “It’s me. Alessio. I’m here now.”

  A small guttural cry escaped my lips when she didn’t answer. I was desperate to see her beautiful green eyes. To hear her sweet voice.

  I needed her.

  And I knew, she needed me just as much, if not more.

  I couldn’t protect her. I’d failed her, and the thought felt like a bullet through my heart. I had been careless, and she had to pay the price.

  My eyes pricked with unshed tears, and I slowly leaned forward. As gently as I could, I wrapped my arms underneath Ayla.

  I gathered my Angel in my arms and pulled close to my chest. Her hair was matted with vomit and other things I didn’t even want to think about.

  I rocked back and forth, holding her to me, begging her to open her eyes.

  I gently pressed my arms over her body, looking for any other bruises. My vision blurred as everything hit at once. All her pain and suffering. Her face was turned toward my chest, and I placed a kiss on her nose. “Angel,” I whimpered.

  My eyes followed my hands.

  Oh fuck no. Fuck no! No!

  My heart stuttered painfully. I forced myself to breathe. I shook as my eyes took in what I was seeing.

  My stomach cramped, and I held Ayla tighter to my chest.

  This couldn’t be happening. Not my Angel.

  My eyes stayed fixated on her body—her stomach.

  “No,” I whimpered, shaking my head wildly.

  My eyes went to her face again. She was still unconscious.

  My Angel. My beautiful Angel.

  My eyes moved to her stomach again. Her round, rigid protruding stomach.

  This time I let out an enraged roar that echoed through the stone walls.

  Prologue

  Ayla

  I had him…and then I lost him. I lost everything.

  My wings were ready to fly, but the Devil clipped them, feather by feather, until I had nothing left.

  Then my savior came, waging a bloodbath to find me. He loves me. He wants his Angel to be free.

  But how could I fly again when my wings were broken?

  ***

  Alessio

  I had her…and then I lost her. I lost my Angel, the reason for every breath I took.

  If he thought he could break her and just disappear, he was wrong. I was going to find him and break him, like he broke her.

  This war wasn’t over.

  I made a vow to my Angel.

  I promised to let her fly…I promised to save her soul.

  And my vows are never broken.

  This was a battle for my Angel.

  Chapter 1

  Viktor

  He broke.

  I watched Alessio break right in front of my eyes.

  I have known him for years—since we were babies—and very few times had I seen him at his weakest moment.

  Since his mother’s death, I had never seen him shed any tears. Of course not. He was the boss of four families. The Pakhan of the most ruthless Bratva. He was cruel and heartless.

  Alessio Ivanshov didn’t cry.

  But right now, he was breaking.

  He didn’t care that his men were watching. All his focus was on Ayla.

  I watched him cry. As he rocked Ayla back and forth, his arms tight around her, I watched my boss, the man whom I have known to be ruthless, cry for his woman.

  I stood frozen, just a few feet away from them. My eyes shifted to Ayla, and my chest tightened. It was a small change of emotion, but it was painful. Painful because I had never felt this way before.

  Nikolay moved to stand beside me, and I quickly shook my head, trying to clear my mind.

  “This is messed up,” he muttered, a look of horror masking his face.

  As I nodded, I saw Nina rushing past me. She knelt in front of Alessio and Ayla. Nina was still and I counted the seconds in my head.

  One. Two. Three. Four. Five.

  She turned around, her expression cold, but her eyes spoke volumes. She gave a slight shake of her head.

  I understood what she meant. It was bad. Very bad.

  Nina turned back around, and I saw her quickly removing her
jacket.

  “Alessio, we need to go,” she said, placing the jacket over Ayla’s almost bare body.

  He didn’t move. Alessio was so lost, he didn’t even hear us.

  “My jacket is too short. It barely covers her.”

  Nikolay moved forward, removing his jacket. I closed my eyes and took a deep breath. We were wasting time.

  Fuck! We didn’t have time to waste. For all we knew, we were about to be ambushed as we stepped out.

  I waited for Nina to wrap Nikolay’s jacket around Ayla’s body as much as she could with Alessio in the way.

  When she was done, I nodded at her to move away. Taking her place in front of Alessio, I looked down at Ayla. Her face was pressed in Alessio’s neck, and it was hidden by her greasy, matted hair.

  I leaned forward, ignoring the sound of Alessio choking back his cries. I even ignored the way my stomach cramped at the sight of Ayla like this. Moving her hair to the side, so that her bruised face and neck were visible, I placed my finger on the side of her neck, right over the pulse.

  It was faint. Slow, but at a steady rate. It was good. At least for now.

  My eyes shifted to her chest, watching the slow rise and fall. It was too slow, almost as if she was fighting to take each breath.

  My gaze followed a path down her body to the shackles around her. I touched the heavy chain and pulled at the small latch on her left ankle. It gave way. The shackles weren’t locked around her wrists and ankles. One after another, I pulled them off until she was no longer chained.

  Sighing, I looked up at Alessio. “We have to go.”

  When he didn’t respond, I touched his shoulder. “Alessio, we need to get out of here. Now!”

  No response. What was going on in his fucking mind right now? Was he too far gone?

  Shaking my head, I pushed the thought away.

  My hand tightened on his shoulder. There was only one way to snap him out of his daze.

  “We need to get Ayla out. She is not safe here,” I muttered quietly.

  His head snapped up, his eyes meeting mine. My heart might have stopped for a second. The look in his eyes was heartbreaking.

  I remembered the day of his mother’s funeral. Or even the moment we found him after his mother’s death. He didn’t cry. No, he stood there emotionless, watching everything happening around him.