Once she’s in the car, I turn to look at her from my seat. “Are you okay?”
“Y-yes, sweetheart, I’m just a bit frazzled. I’m not sure how long we have until my guard goes looking for me.”
“You’re sure you want to do this?” I ask.
“Absolutely. I know Ignazio is not the man I thought he was all these years, and I know we’re in danger the longer we stay here.”
I nod, then turn back in my seat.
“Keep an eye out for anyone that could be following us,” Massi says to his brothers.
When we get to the airport, we jump out of the car and hurry toward the plane with our bags.
“Jeff?” I call out when we board the cabin, but neither he nor Monique are anywhere to be found.
We venture deeper into the cabin when someone clears their throat from behind us.
“You didn’t think you guys were going to get away with taking my wife, did you?”
We all spin on our heels and are met with Ignazio, who’s standing there with a gun against Rosa’s head while one of his men has a gun against Andreas’s head, and two others have guns pointed at us.
Gio, Gui, and Massi drop their bags and pull their weapons on the men.
“Oh, don’t even think about it. I’ve directed my men to shoot if there’s even the slightest hint one of your guns is about to go off,” Ignazio says.
“Mom … Dad …” Massi says.
“Oh, don’t be upset with your parents, Massimo. I know your dad has been keeping you updated on how close I was to finding you. When I found out he was feeding you information, I tookaway his phone and made sure he’d be here for the dramatic conclusion to this game you stupidly decided to play.”
“You mean the stupid fuckingsickgame you started by stealing a woman from her life and feeding her a bunch of lies for the past several years?”
“She was mine first,” he grinds out.
“That didn’t give you the right to take her from me!” I yell, my heart threatening to burst from my chest at his delusions.
Ignazio snaps his gaze to mine, and his lip curls up into a dirty smirk. “Like I said, little girl, she wasminefirst.”
“Ignazio,please, stop this,” my mom pleads. I grab her hand and pull her behind me.
“Look,” Massi says, “we clearly both expect to leave with the same thing, so how do you expect us to get out of this?”
“Well, I can already tell you whatyou’regoing to do.”
“And what’s that?” His grip tightens on his gun.
“You and your little brothers are going to drop your guns and hand over my wife.”
“She’s not your wife,” I grind out.
Ignazio laughs and tightens his hold on Rosa who lets out a whimper. “Oh, but she is, and if you don’t hand her over this instant, I’m going to kill your husband’s dear ole mother.”
He drags his gaze back to Massi. “Now, I know you’re upset with your parents for keeping Vittoria a secret, but surely not enough to watch them get shot in the head.”
“Ignazio,” Andreas says, but the man standing behind him, hits him on top of his head with his gun, forcing a yelp out of his mouth.
Massi clenches his teeth, then finally says, “Fine. But if you want Vittoria back, then we trade at the same time.”
“Massi,”I hiss out, but even though I hate that he just chose his parents over my mom, I can’t say I wouldn’t do the same.Regardless, there’s an anger coursing through my body at his decision.
