“Shit!” I spat out, trying to recall if the dream was real or not. I couldn't help but think of the possibility of Caruso and his men coming over during the night and kidnapping her while I slept. But that would not have been possible, right? Yuri would have been the first person to break the news to me if anything had happened. Yet, everything felt normal, and the morning seemed peaceful.
“They took her,” I heard a gentle voice say in my head. “They took her, and you couldn't protect her.”
My heart began to pound while the tension within me intensified.
As I moved along the hallway, a few guards greeted me, but I didn't respond. My focus was on finding Isabella. I made my way to the rooftop, my eyes darted from the horizon to the soldiers that stood there, passing around a joint.
“Boss!” said someone in the group. “Good Morning.”
I walked to them and asked if they had seen Isabella.
“No. We didn't see Isabella,” they answered, and my mind began to run wild. What if they followed the balcony and carried her away? But only an insider would lead Caruso's men to my mansion. And what if, maybe. Just maybe, Caruso's men have already infiltrated my soldiers?
I ran back to my room and checked around the rails on the balcony for any sign, palm or thumb print, scratch, a loose thread from a fabric, yet I found none. Every door I opened all around the mansion was void of her. I hurried downstairs, cutting through my soldiers. The atmosphere felt heavy, my chest heaved, and I felt the heat of the sun on the top of my head. And that was when I met with Yuri, standing behind the benches in the pool area.
My rage increased; I was certain that this was a bigger nightmare than the one I’d had earlier. Whatever the case may be, I was in the mood to shed blood to get the truth of where she was.
Yuri greeted me, and I looked at his stoic face.
“Where's Isabella?”
He looked to the left and back at me. “She went to confront Marco.” I was tempted to throw a slap across Yuri's cheek. The idea of my one and only trusted guard taking sides with a foolish decision didn't resonate with me.
“How could you, Yuri? You're meant to protect her, not to let her run to her doom.”
“I apologize. It's just how things are with family. You can never come between a daughter and her father. That's a relationship that sticks. Besides, there are debts that one has to settle without the intervention of anyone. And in Isabella's case, I thought it was personal.”
“This is crazy,” I said while I walked out, trying to figure out what the hell they were thinking. I’d promised to keep her safe, and she decided to go straight into the enemy's camp. It was almost like she was testing my ability, provoking my strength to see how far I would go for her. Well, I wasn't going to let her go to Marco without protection.
“Did she go alone?”
“No. She went with quite a number of our soldiers.”
“Okay, good. Gather the rest of them,” I said to Yuri. “We're going to bring her back home.”
“But, boss-”
“It's not in your place to speak after you let my wife go into the enemy's camp. You were meant to be her protector. Things like this make me think the worst. So before you persuade me or try to talk some sense, this is an order. Gather the troops. Let's go save my wife and kill those bloody Italians properly.”
**********
We drove for a while and stopped at a distance. A few Italians walked around the main entrance wearing white vests with a rifle hung across their body.
There was a small garage beside, and no trace of Caruso's cars. Quite a number of them drank beer, raising their bottles in the air, slapping some ladies on their butt, and smoking their cigarettes.
“Do we have a clear shot?” I asked one of the soldiers, and he said, “Affirmative, Sir.”
One by one, the guards who stood at the entrance fell at the shot of the sniper. Then we rushed and stood at the edges of the door. In stealth.
“Hey!” One of the Italians shouted, and this was going to break our formation. I turned and immediately, without thinking, gave the unarmed guy a headshot.
Those around the premises stood on alert, and then I knew we were sighted. The ladies screamed loudly, and the Italians fell back.
“I take left, you take right.” I signaled to Yuri, and he nodded in agreement.
Luckily, the door opened, and the man who opened it was my first shot. I watched the bullet crack through his skull, and the blood covered my face. He fell flat, the house went silent, and that was when we stormed in.
I thought I'd see Isabella the moment I walked in, but she was nowhere around. The pressure boiled in me, and the rage I had for being in Caruso's safe house gave me the audacity to kill ruthlessly and bring the heat. A few armed Italians ran up the stairs, and I shot them all with precise aim. Those who gathered around the dining room fired back, but all to no avail. We outmatched them ten to one. Some of them tried toescape through the window. Unluckily for them, we had a solid formation, and I promised to kill every Italian in the safe house.
