Nikola smirks. “Not here you don’t. You play by my rules or you leave. And since you already violated those rules, I believe it’s time for you to go.” He pulls out a pistol from his pocket, points it at Perv, and pulls the trigger.
I scream as blood splatters against the wall behind him, and Perv crumbles to the ground in a heap.
Nikola looks at me with a raised eyebrow. “Save your voice, Aria. Screaming isn’t going to help you this time. Nothing can, including your white knight, Vincenzo Marcone. I’ve already made sure of that.” Nikola leans toward me, his mouth twisting into a grimace, his words stabbing at my shattered heart. A sinister laugh tumbles from his lips. “You thought you could escape your fate, thought you could get away with what you did. But I promised I’d make you pay.” He drags a finger down the side of my face, tracing the outline of my trembling lips. “You owe me a very big debt, Aria, one I am finally going to collect.”
Chapter Twenty-Five
Vincenzo
“Ant!” I scream, my throat clogged with dust and smoke and grit. I drag myself out of the rubble encasing me and stagger over to my brother who’s lying face-down on the club floor about twenty feet away from me.
He’d been the one standing closest to the bomb.
With a thundering pulse, I fall to my knees next to him and press my ear against his chest, struggling to hear something…anything. I lean forward to listen closer, bringing my hand to the floor. “Fuck!” I yelp, grabbing my hand and holding it up.
A sharp nail sticks out of my palm. I pull it out and fling it away from us, my eyes dropping to the area around Ant’s crumbled and blood-stained body.
Nails.
They’re scattered everywhere. I peer at Ant, my throat tight. He looks like a voodoo doll, stuck and pricked, punished in the worst possible way. They packed nails into the bomb, those sadists. I pull out every one I can find, pressing my fingers to his throat. A sob rises in my chest but I choke it back, pulling him up and hoisting him over my shoulder as the flames from the explosion rage throughout the club.
“Come on, Ant,” I mutter as I pull him toward the nearest exit. “Don’t you fucking die on me!”
Tommy, Cristian, Diego, and Alek rush toward us once they dig themselves out of the sea of glass, metal, and wood. The unlucky few patrons who didn’t make it out of the club in time are doing the same before the place is engulfed in a raging inferno.
I lie Ant on the ground outside and lean forward again, desperately trying to detect a heartbeat, however faint it might be. A heartbeat means there’s hope. It means there’s a chance.
And that’s all I have to cling to right now.
Sirens wail in the distance, getting louder as they approach the leveled club. Crowds of people huddle together around us, crying, clinging to each other, their clothes soiled with soot. Smoke pours out of the exit door as the security guys carry out anyone who was left inside.
Ant’s dark blond hair is matted to the sides of his face, his skin scary pale.
Fuck! Why can’t I get a heartbeat?
I refuse to answer my own question.
Tears sting my eyes as I start pounding on my brother’s chest with my hands, holding his mouth open so I can breathe oxygen into it. The seconds are long, agonizing, and with each one that passes, I lose more and more faith that I can save him.
That I can save any of us.
I was too late.
My head falls to his chest as my chest quakes, sobs exploding from my chest.
No, no, no!
Please God, no.
A sudden, dry hacking sound rumbles against my ear and I recoil, grabbing the sides of Ant’s jacket as his eyes slowly open a crack. The loud coughing fit that erupts from Ant’s chest is thick and labored and my mouth drops open.
“Ant?” I murmur.
He turns his head slowly to look at me. “What the hell happened?” he mutters, wincing as he shifts on the hard concrete.
“Your place…” I say. “It was hit.”
“Fuck,” he says. “Did everyone get out? Is anyone hurt?”
I look around. No body bags. That’s a good sign.
“We got lucky, Ant,” I whisper.
“I don’t feel so lucky,” he grumbles.
“You’re alive, aren’t you, asshole?” Diego says, kneeling on the other side of Ant. “I mean, no thanks to Vince here.”
“Thanks,” I say in a tight voice, taking a few deep breaths to calm my racing pulse.
People swarm us from all directions — firefighters, polizia, emergency medical workers. The authorities pull my brothers aside for a statement, and two of the med techs slide Ant onto a makeshift gurney, checking his vitals as he moans about the loss of his club.
“Is he gonna be okay?” I ask, raking a hand through my hair as Ant’s head lolls from side to side.
The techs finish their examination of my brother and give a quick nod. “His vitals are good, but he’s got a lot of lacerations from whatever shot out of that bomb. And we’ll need to check him for a concussion since he was thrown pretty hard and his head took a massive crack against the floor.”
Cristian and I run alongside the techs as they prep the ambulance for him. Before he’s about to be loaded into the back, Ant grabs my wrist and looks at the techs. “Give me a minute with my brother,” he rasps. When they back away, he shifts toward me. “You have to take care of him, Vince,” he says in a rough, gravelly voice that sounds like he’s smoked one pack of cigarettes too many in his life. “Don’t let that prick get away with this shit. Find him and make him pay.”
“I can’t leave you,” I say, my throat growing tighter and tighter as the imaginary noose pulls and sucks the air out of me. “I’ll call Paolo and give him the address. He and Alek can handle it.” But even as I speak the words, I know it has to be me.
I won’t pawn off my work on anyone else. I’ve already put so much in jeopardy. I can’t risk any more fuck-ups.
It’s my job to lead, goddammit! To crush the threats, not to delegate the work.
But at the same time, how can I turn away from my family, the people I vowed to secure and protect?
The annoying fucker of a voice in the depths of my mind reminds me that I’ve already shit the bed on that one.
It’s time for redemption.
I look at Cristian, and he lifts an eyebrow. “What the fuck are you waiting for, Vince? You want me to sign a permission slip or something? I’m with Ant. Get the hell out of here and find that nutcase bastard.” He leans forward, pointing a finger at my chest. “And when you do, I want you to tie him up and use a skin grafter to slice off the top layer of skin on his dick and balls before you cut them both off.”
I smirk and clap him on the back. “That’s exactly what I was thinking.”
The techs reappear and load Ant into the ambulance, and Cristian climbs in after him. I turn around to find Tommy, Diego, and Alek standing around me, all of their vengeful gazes glimmering with hatred.
“Tell me it’s time,” Tommy growls as Ant’s ambulance pulls away, the siren loud and blaring.
“It’s time,” I say. “Cristian will stay with Ant. And that leaves you guys free to help me find that motherfucker and tear his ass apart.”
“Tearing is no fun,” Tommy says, a malicious smile lifting his lips. “Slicing is much more enjoyable, second only to flambéing.”
“Says the chef,” Alek quips, looking between us. “I assume you have your tools,” he says to Tommy.
“Always.” Tommy runs toward his car with the rest of us in tow. “We’ll take my car. I’ve got plenty of fun shit for us to use on those assholes. Speaking of assholes, I’ve got a new, spiked turkey baster that’ll make them fucking bawl for mercy.”
“Why would you need a spiked turkey baster?” Diego asks as we pile into Tommy’s car.
He shrugs. “Because I like to kill two birds with one stone?”
“Remind me to never lay a finger on your turkey gravy again,” Alek grou
ses as he folds up his large body in the front seat.
“Imagine you were a fly on the wall in my kitchen,” Tommy says with a grin. “You’d find out all of my secrets, not just the ones relating to turkeys.”
I roll my eyes and dial Paolo’s number. He answers on the first ring. “Where are you?”
“We’re headed to the Port of Palermo. That’s where they took her. It’s an old abandoned warehouse right next to the boats docked at the pier.” I let out a sigh. “But Nikola, he blew up Ant’s club. It was a planned hit to distract us from coming after Aria. He knew we’d all be there.”
“Is everyone okay?” Paolo asks in an alarmed voice.
“Yeah, but Ant was closest to the blast. It wasn’t a high-explosive bomb. They didn’t want to incinerate the whole block, thank fuck, but it did enough damage that the club is destroyed. And Ant is on his way to the hospital to get checked out. Cristian is with him. I’ve got the rest of the guys with me. Listen, Paolo, stay away from this shit, okay? We’ve got it.”
“She’s my family. I can’t just let you—”
“Yes, you can. I can’t have any more blood on my hands, and you’re too old to keep track of.” I force a chuckle. “You were starting to show your age with the Salazar shootout. Lay low this time, yeah?”
Paolo lets out a huff. “I wanna know exactly what’s happening,” he grunts. “Call me the second you have her.”
“I will.” I click to end the call and lean my head back against the seat.
A tense twenty minutes passes before we arrive at the port. Most of the buildings are dark. Empty. One is lit up, the one closest to the boats where dark men in darker suits and sunglasses guard a fleet of luxury foreign cars.
“Shit,” Diego breathes as Alek takes a sharp turn away from the front of the warehouse. He swings his car around the back and pulls it into the next warehouse over where we can see only a few guys securing a heavy door.
“What the hell is going on here?” Tommy asks, peering out the window.
“They’re holding an auction,” Alek grumbles. “That’s why the boats are here. They’re gonna load the girls onto them as soon as they get their buyers.” He nods his head toward the cars. “And some of them are staying local, from the looks of it. Sick bastards.”
Blood rushes between my ears, making my temples throb like my head has just taken a hit from a baseball bat. Aria is inside of that warehouse.
And I’m willing to bet Nikola is with her.
“We need to find her.” I shove open the car door, ready to pounce on the guys at the back entrance, but Alek yanks me backward.
“You can’t go in there hot,” he murmurs. “Here, we’re protected by the shadows. But once you show your face, you become a target. You know that. They won’t think twice about slicing off your goddamn head if you make a misstep. So calm the fuck down!”
Calm.
It’s my usual MO.
Or, at least it was before Aria came crashing into my life.
But everything about her ignites the fire deep within me.
She makes it rage, incinerating everything in its path.
And that’s how I’m going in there.
Not just hot.
Fucking blazing like an inferno that will level them all into ash.
I shrug out of his grip. “I love you, bro, but take your hands off of me. I know you’d do the same thing for Gianna, and nobody would be able to talk you off the edge.”
He purses his lips, then nods. “True. Okay, let’s fuck their shit up.”
Tommy pops his trunk and pulls out a roll of impressive-looking knives and an assortment of tools that resemble torture devices.
“You use all of those for cooking?” I ask.
He winks at me. “I have a lot of culinary expertise. I’m always experimenting, you know that.”
“”I’m just glad you’re on our side, sicko,” Diego says, sticking a gun in his waistband.
Once we’re all loaded up with weapons and silencers, we creep across the uneven concrete toward the back door, the only light guiding our path coming from the distant pier. Out of the corner of my eye, I see a shadow moving toward us as we head toward the door, an arm slowly stretching in our direction. The tiny hairs on the back of my neck prickle as I swing over to my right, grabbing the guy around the neck and shoving him against the cement wall of the nearby building.
“Vince!” A voice rasps, the guy’s hands clawing at my own wrapped tight around his neck. “Jesus Christ, it’s me, Dante!”
I loosen my grip, peering at the face in the dark. Tommy shines his phone light at the guy and I roll my eyes.
“Dante!” I whisper-shout. “What the hell are you doing here? You’re lucky I didn’t just plug you right now!”
“My father told me you were coming here to find Aria. I know you told him to stay back, but he didn’t want to let you guys go in there alone. So I told him I’d back you up.”
I let go of Dante and he winces, holding his neck. “Damn, man. You coulda punctured my fucking carotid with your fingers.”
“That’s the idea,” I grunt. “Don’t ever sneak up on me again.”
Dante chuckles. “Noted.”
I clap him on the shoulder. “But thanks for showing up.”
He nods, twisting his head left and right. “Of course, man. She’s my family, too.”
“Okay,” Alek says. “So, Diego and Tommy—”
But I’m off before he can even finish his thought. I’m done with planning, finished with overthinking things to death. For the past few weeks, my entire life has gone off the rails, and all plans have gone to complete shit. This time, I’m not thinking.
I’m just attacking.
I fire off a few shots, hitting each of the shocked guards. A couple of them go over the sides, plunging to the concrete. One lays sprawled across the step. I kick him aside and pull open the door, my heart thumping wildly against my chest.
I hear footsteps stomping behind me and I turn slightly to see the exasperated looks on the guys’ faces. “Real subtle,” Diego mutters.
I nod. “Let’s take these bastards out. Dante, come with me. Diego and Tommy, stay with Alek.”
We inch into the warehouse, a chill slithering through my bones as we slide along the damp concrete walls, the dank smell assaulting my nostrils. There’s another door in front of us, and no way of knowing what’s on the other side.
“Stay back,” I whisper, pulling the handle. It creaks open, and a long corridor stretches out in front of us. I grab Dante and pull him behind me as I walk along one side of the wall, the others across from us.
“Hey, what the hell are you guys doing here? You pay up front!” An angry thug appears right in my face from out of nowhere, and I elbow him away from me before putting two bullets into his skull. He crashes to the floor like a pile of bricks.
I look at my brothers whose mouths are agape. I shrug. “Good thing for the silencers.”
The corridor branches off, and Dante and I duck to the left. Thin slivers of light shine from under the doors and I take a deep breath as I slowly twist the first knob. The last thing I want to do is alert anyone that we’re here.
At least, before I want them to know it.
A half-naked girl lies motionless under a beefy guy who’s thrusting his hips against her. From the doorway, I can see the vacant look in her eyes and the tears streaked on her cheeks. My vision clouds, flooded with red as I yank his head back and shoot him once in the temple, flinging him away from the girl. Her eyes shift over to me before they flutter closed.
A sharp pain shoots down my right arm, and I feel like a panic attack is close.
Dante grabs my arm. “We need to split up. There’s no time to kill every one of these motherfuckers when there’s only one we really care about.”
“She’d save every one if she could,” I mumble, fisting my hair and pushing past him to kick open the next door.
He grabs my arm. “Then, let’s find her and do it t
ogether.”
I nod. We take off down the hall, searching room after room, but she’s nowhere to be found. A loud noise reverberates between my ears. “What the hell is that?”
“It’s a boat horn,” Dante says, scrubbing the front of his stubbled face.
“That’s not good!” Fuck this! They could be anywhere! Hell, they might be on that goddamn boat! I tear down the hallway, pulling off my silencer and emptying a clip into the air. Screeches ring out as doors are thrown open and men stagger out with their pants off or around their ankles. “Nikola!” I bellow. “I’m here, you asshole! You wanna kill me? You’re gonna have to look me in the eye first!”
“What the hell are you doing?” Dante groans. “I thought you were the sane one!”
I pop in another clip and stomp down the hallway, shooting at the men who run past me. Bullets explode into the air as the screams get louder and more shrill.
But still, Nikola doesn’t make his presence known.
Alek, Diego, and Tommy race around a corner toward us. “This place is just a fuck fest for locals who want cheap pussy. There’s no auction!”
Bang! Crack! Pop!
We spin aside, taking cover as a hail of bullets sprays the air around us. Three men in suits crouch low to the ground as they fire off more.
“She has to be here!” I shout. “Cover me!” I dive to the ground, charging for the ankles of the man closest to me and knocking him over. The other two jerk backward as my brothers plug them with bullets, their bodies crashing against the wall behind them before planting into the concrete. I grab the guard I knocked over, sticking my gun against his forehead.
“Where is Nikola?” I hiss.
“Jebi se,” he growls, spitting at me.
I pull his head off the ground and slam it into the concrete a few times until I’m pretty sure his brain is sufficiently rattled. “I don’t speak your language, dick. English!” I shout into his face.
He grunts and grouses as I pound his head harder into the ground. “You’ll never make it in time, fucker!” he says in a heavily accented voice. “He’s going to disappear again!”
Fallen: A Dark Italian Mafia Romance (Men of Mayhem Book 4) Page 21