Chapter 2
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LORENZO (31YRS)
“Hey, Bella.” Climbing onto the bed, I stretch out, facing her and drag a slow finger along her cheek before tucking a stray strand of hair behind her ear. “Speak to me, please. It’s been three days.”
Blue eyes, once sparkling and vibrant with laughter, now vacant and hugged by profound black rings, stare back at me. Looking but not seeing me for who I was. My heart clenches, chest tight, begging for her to let me in, to tell me what happened to take away a smile that bloomed sunshine, always.
“Please, cara, tell me.” I palm her cheek, waiting. Instead, her eyes shift, staring at the white voile curtains, blowing in the light breeze through her open bedroom window. “Let me in,” I plead. Still, nothing. Sighing, I sit up and pull the hand-stitched quilt, she’d made herself, over her legs and stand. At the door, I watch her rigid form, hoping she would move, twitch, do something to tell me she’s alive, not a mannequin of her former bubbly self. That she knows I’m here for her and I’ll do anything to make her pain go away. Stepping out, I leave the door open a little, more for her reassurance as much as allowing me to hear her if she moved around.
I stare at her bodyguard, Sasha, two hours later. Drilling him for a full hour, yielded nothing. Surprisingly, she hadn’t shared anything with him either.
“Fuck.” I rake a hand through my hair and turn as abrupt thunder booms across the sky. I glance out the small and only window in the room, glaring at the rapid dark clouds filling the blue sky. A distinct impression of my churning insides. I have the urge to kill, and I know I’ll get my wish, just not now.
“I swear, boss,” Sasha’s trembling voice drags my gaze back to his somber features. He knew he fucked up, having let his guard down. “The last thing I remember was drinking the tea she gave me—”
“You let her drug you?” I growl.
His eyes snap wide open as if recognition dawns for the first time since he sat down at the table. “Two days before that, she wanted to go out without me. Said her friends were tired of having a bodyguard following them. I refused,” he mumbles.
Leaning my palms flat down on the tabletop, I glare at him. “Did she mention any of these clubs by name or these so-called fucking friends?”
He shakes his head. “I’m sorry, I should’ve been more careful.”
“You’re damn fucking right you should’ve,” I grit out. The desperation to put a bullet between his eyes, reins strong but I curb the need with a rigid swallow. Sasha’s good at his job. Usually. Bella just outsmarted him. Not something he saw coming, neither did I. “Maybe I should I teach you a lesson.” My statement earns me a blank look, surprising me. At least he intends taking his reprimand like a man. “Remo,” I call out while maintaining eye contact with Sasha.
“Yeah?”
I look up as my brother arrives at my side. “I want every fucking club in town raided. Show her photo around, someone must’ve seen her.” My jaw clenches, frustration peaking with each ticking second. He nods. “Bribe someone or burn the fucking building down, I don’t care. Just get me something, anything that I can use,” I seethe.
“What about him?” Remo gestures to Sasha. “Can I have a go?” My brother’s brand of torture can be called deranged. He’s like a vicious guard dog. Once unleashed, only blood and gore will appease his appetite. I’m reserving him for the bastards that harmed Bella.
“You’ll have your turn.”
“What the fuck, you just going to let him walk away?” Remo’s agitation jumps a notch and his fists clench.
“Fine. A finger or two then?” I mutter, not missing Sasha’s deep inhale. I turn to him. “What? You think you don’t deserve to be punished?” He shook his head, scaling my irritation a notch. “You’re right, you don’t deserve punishment.” The blast of my gun echoes through the basement walls, the stench of gun smoke and fresh blood filling the air. “Death is better,” I snarl as Sasha’s glassy eyes, transfixed with horror stare back at me. Yet, I feel nothing. No relief, no remorse, no annoyance that I had to get rid of a good bodyguard.
“Get this shit cleaned up!” I bark at one of my men before I head upstairs with Remo at my rear.
