Total pages in book: 81
Estimated words: 78873 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 394(@200wpm)___ 315(@250wpm)___ 263(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 78873 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 394(@200wpm)___ 315(@250wpm)___ 263(@300wpm)
“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.