Alexei and Demitri are standing by the cars while Franco and I check the shipment of CA-415s and incendiary grenades that just came in.
As Franco opens another crate, my phone begins to ring. I pull it out of my pocket, and seeing Leo’s name, worry instantly floods me.
“What’s wrong?” I snap into the phone.
“Mrs. Cotroni ran away. She went to the restroom, broke the window, and took a taxi. I couldn’t get to her in time,” he says, sounding out of breath.
“Why the fuck would my wife run away?” I shout, instantly losing my temper.
“There was no sign she was upset. We were in the store. She went to try on a dress then gave it to your aunt to pay for while she went to the restroom. She showed no distress whatsoever,” Leo explains, sounding puzzled by what happened.
“How long has it been?”
“Five minutes.”
“Get my aunt safely home. I’ll find Elena,” I order. Ending the call, I walk to Alexei. “Elena’s gone. Leo says she escaped from a restroom and ran away.”
“What the fuck?” Alexei instantly straightens up. “Why would she run?”
“I have no fucking idea. She was happy.” I bring Elena’s number up on my phone and press dial. It just rings before going to voicemail.
I keep doing it until Demitri takes hold of my arm. My eyes snap to his, and then he shakes his head slowly. “She’s not going to answer.”
I don’t like the look on his face, and it makes ice pour through my veins. “No.” I shake my head, my legs losing all feeling. I lean back against the car to keep myself standing as the realization sinks in. “Dio.” I breathe, placing my hands on my legs as my stomach lurches. “No.”
“You think they got to Elena?” Alexei asks Demitri.
“Yes.”
I keep shaking my head, unable to accept it.
“Makes sense,” Alexei says, “Bait to get Lucian to come to them. That’s what I would do if it was too hard to just kill the target. Using a loved one as bait makes the job cleaner.”
My heart clenches into a tight fist, and needing air, I push away from the car and begin to stalk, sucking in deep breaths.
Elena.
Amore mio.
God, please, not this.
Not my Elena.
My phone begins to ring, and seeing Elena’s name, relief rushes through my veins, making me feel lightheaded. “Amore mio,” I answer, wiping the sweat from my forehead with my forearm.
“Not quite,” a woman replies. “Listen carefully, Mr. Cotroni. You come alone. I see your guards, she dies. You try anything funny, she dies. You come alone.”
My eyes drift closed as the worst feeling I’ve ever felt shudders through my body.
Unbearable pain.
Excruciating loss.
Unadulterated rage takes over every part of me. “Where?” I squeeze the word out through a tight throat.
“Valentino’s villa. You have fifteen minutes.”
Somehow my mind still seems to work as I demand, “I want proof of life.”
The call ends, and a moment later, a message comes through. I open it and stare at the photo of my wife where she’s sitting on a chair.
I drink in the sight of her, and then I see the blood running down her arm.
Motherfucker.
I recognize Tino’s office.
Alexei places his hand on my shoulder, and in a daze, I turn my head to him.
“You need to stay focused,” he says.
“I have to go alone,” I mutter, unable to form a half-assed plan.
Elena.
Flashes of her begin to fill my mind.
Her smile.
Her eyes.
The musical sound of her laughter.
Her moans.
Her warmth.
“You’re not fucking going alone,” Alexei barks, and then he slaps my face. “Snap out of it. We need to go.”
Shaking my head, I try to focus as we walk to the car, then only do I think to say, “Franco, bring all the men and load that crate of grenades. Leave the rest. We’re going to Tino’s place.”
We pile into the car, and Alexei instantly begins to form a plan. “We attack full force.”
“I won’t risk Elena’s life,” I disagree.
Alexei gives me a look filled with warning. “Now more than ever, you have to trust me.”
Christ.
If not him, then who?
I take a deep breath to try and calm down enough to focus. “I’m listening.”
“If you go in alone, you’re both dead. It’s as simple as that. We attack with everything we have, and it will force Umbria to use Elena as a hostage. That way, you don’t die, and we stand a chance of getting Elena out of there.”
Alexei is right.
Fuck.
I nod. “Okay. We attack.” I turn my attention to Franco. “Call all the guards from the house. Have them bring a rocket launcher. Leave only Leo with my aunt.”
“Yes, Sir.”
I feel agitated, fear dancing around the edges of the darkness closing in on me.
Then it hits again.
Umbria has my wife, the love of my fucking life.
My heart.
My soul.
God, if Elena dies. If anything happens to her. I will tear the fucking world apart.
My heart clenches, my muscles tightening, my hands thirsting for revenge.
I’ll fucking create hell on earth to get her back.
I reach behind my back and pull my Glock out, and then I look down at the Cotroni name engraved on the sides.
‘You give no second chances. There’s no place for mercy in our world. Show no weakness and fear. Never hesitate or second guess yourself. Be sure. Be cruel. You have to make them fear you. That’s where our power lies.’
My father’s words echo through me.
Today I’ll either join my father, or I’ll show the whole goddamn planet to never fuck with me again. To never touch what’s mine.
My eyes lift to Alexei’s.
“If I’m going down, it will be fighting.”
“I’ll be right by your side, brother,” he says, with no fear in his eyes.
I pull the extra ammo and guns we always keep in the G Wagon from the hidden compartment and begin to push clips into my pockets.
No fear.
No mercy.
I’m coming, amore mio.
ELENA
My mother slams the gun against my father’s head again. “I’ve waited so long for this moment,” she sneers. “The mighty Valentino Lucas has fallen.”
My eyes dart around the room, searching for a weapon or a way to get out.
You have to do something, Elena. Before Lucian gets here.
My gaze falls on the letter opener on my father’s desk, and as soon as I move, a shot rings through the air. A bullet slams into the wall behind me, tearing a shriek out of me as I bounce back with fright.
“Don’t move,” my mother yells. “I just need you alive, not in one piece,” she threatens.
Shaking like a leaf, I sit frozen.
She glances between my father and me, her features tight with her thirst for revenge. “I’m surprised she’s still alive. I didn’t think you’d let her live.”
My father remains quiet, his eyes not showing any emotions.
“You see,” she goes on as she leans back against the oak desk, “Valentino wanted a son. He had no use for a daughter. It took me seventeen hours to give birth to you, and then he beat me to within an inch of my life because I pushed a girl out.”
Her words hurt, each one ripping at my heart. For a moment, I begin to feel compassion for her.
“I was left for dead on the side of a road,” my mother gestures to the guard next to me, “where Zeus found me. He took care of me and then taught me everything I needed to know, so I could take my revenge.”
God.
Horrified, my eyes fall on my father.
I can’t believe I come from such cruelty.
Conscious that Lucian can be here at any moment, I ask, “Why did you kill Mr. Cotroni? Why are you going after Lucian?”
My mother lets out a bitter chuckle. “I was engaged to Luca. I was in love and happy, and then he met Dorothy, and I was handed down to Valentino. Discarded like trash.”
She pushes away from the desk, her hate-filled eyes landing hard on my father. “If Luca had kept his promise to me, I wouldn’t have been repeatedly raped by this monster.” She hits my father again until blood flows freely from his nose and mouth.
“Lucian is innocent,” I argue, just wanting to save his life. I don’t care what she does to my father.
Another bitter chuckle escapes her. “What little innocence there is in this world is destroyed by men like the Cotronis and your father.”
“Why did you wait twenty-one years?” I cry. “You just left me with them, knowing what they were capable of!”
“You’re nothing but a reminder of the torment I suffered.” Her face turns to stone. “I only had one goal, and that was to create an army from nothing to take them down. The Mafia falls today.”
I stare at the two monsters who created me in hate, and it strips my soul bare.
Would this have been my future if I had been forced to marry Dante?
Part of me understands my mother’s pain, and I try to reason with her. “Lucian saved me from suffering the same fate as you. I love him.”
“There’s no such thing as love,” she spits out.
“Did you kill Cabello?” my father suddenly asks.
My mother laughs. “He was the easiest to get to. I drowned him in a tub of acid.”
He levels her with an enraged look, and it earns him another blow to the head. Then my mother holds her hand out to Zeus, and he moves to place a knife in her hand.
Without giving it another thought, I jump up and run out of the room, moving as fast as I can.
“Get her!” my mother screams.
My heart explodes into a rampant beat as I dart down the stairs. Knowing my mother’s men are outside, I turn into the living room, but then Zeus’ fingers claw at my shoulder, and I’m yanked back against his body. Instantly the cold steel of a gun presses against my head.
My eyes dart around wildly, looking for a weapon I can use, while I struggle against his hold, and then there’s a loud explosion at the front of the property.
“Gamo!” Zeus mutters in Greek as he drags me out of the living room.
Gunfire erupts with more explosions vibrating the air.
Lucian.
Roars of pain come from upstairs, and I try to elbow and head-butt Zeus like I did with Dante, but nothing I do helps. I’m thrown into the study, landing on my hands and knees. When I lift my head, I’m sickened by what I see.
My mother’s stabbing my father in his groin area. He begins to convulse with shock, and it makes hysterical laughter bust from my mother.
“They’re coming,” Zeus shouts at her.
“Let them,” she screams, looking completely insane.
Zeus leaves the study, and then it’s just my mother and me. I scramble to my feet and knowing it’s either me or her, I run for her. Plowing into her body, we tumble to the floor. My breath explodes from me, strands of my hair sticking to my face as I try to reach for the gun.
She pushes hard against me with her whole body, flipping us over so she’s on top. I grab hold of her arms, the knife in her right hand and the gun in her left, my eyes darting between the two.
Our strained breaths mix with the gunfire outside. My heart thunders harder than it ever has.
Fight Elena.
For Lucian.
For yourself.
I let out a snarl, and using every drop of strength I have, I let go of her right arm, and pushing myself up, I grab hold of the gun and try to pry it out of her grip.
Her right arm comes down, and she plunges the knife into me. Then there’s a deafening bang as she pulls the trigger.
