He shakes his head and grits out, “But I won’t stop until I get it.”
“So why is he back now?”
“If I had to guess, he heard she was going to be married to Julian, came searching for her, and discovered there was another player too. I think he still holds onto the hope she’ll join the Mafia life with him.” He levels me with a glare. “As much of a despicable, selfish pig he is, I do think he loved her—probably still loves her if he’s come out of hiding. Clearly, something you two might just have in common?”
“Don’t even think about lumping me in the category as that son of a bitch,” I snap, getting right in his face, gripping his shirt and shoving him against the door he just punched.
“There’s her wolf,” he whispers through gritted teeth, grabbing me the same way, bringing us nose to nose. “You nodded your understanding before, but if you wanna take this motherfucker down for her, Raf, I need every single fiber of hatred you can muster.” He pushes his forehead against mine. “You want him to bleed red, you’re gonna have to go dark. Do you fucking understand?”
“It’s not even a question. I would fucking die for her,” I say through gritted teeth, slow and assuredly, not dropping my hold on his shirt.
“What in the actual fuck is going on here?” says Marco, stepping in and forcing us apart, looking wildly from me to him.
“It’s all good, brother,” AJ says, keeping his stare fixed on mine. “We’re just getting on the same page.”
“Thank fuck for that because we think we know where she might be, but it’s a lot of ground to cover and most likely heavily guarded ’cause it’s where he’s running his operations from. My guess is he wants us to find him, so he’s planned for our arrival. If we all want to make it out alive, we’re going to need a solid fucking plan.”
“You’re not setting foot in there,” I tell him. “You’ve only just recovered from a damn gunshot wound, Marco.”
“Like fuck I’m not,” he says. “She’s not only blood but Vault’s client and the reason I’m damn well alive. There’s nothing stopping me from making sure she gets out safe, unscathed, and alive.”
“Sophia is going to kill you herself.”
“You just focus on getting your wife back and leave me to handle my future wife, yeah?”
I clench my fists and nod, the pressure almost cracking the phone I have in my hand.
I remember the unread message and open it.
The play symbol of a video file leers at me. I hover my thumb over it, quickly tapping, hoping it’s not my worst nightmares confirmed.
My beautiful wife comes into view. My stomach roils and my legs buckle beneath me, Marco steadying me.
She’s stripped to her underwear, and there’s a tray of what appears to be cocaine on the side table behind her. I can tell in the way she’s placating him and behaving timidly, she’s doing her best to temper his drug-addled mood while he manhandles her. Red clouds my vision at the sight of him gripping her hair roughly while she cups his face tenderly. She stares into the camera he’s holding above them. Her green eyes shine but are completely devoid of their usual sparkle. “I belong to you,” she enunciates. Is she just saying what he wants to hear, or does she really mean it? I pray the words are meant for me, sick at the doubt gnawing at me that I’ve fallen into the same trap and let love make a fool out of me again.
“Fuuuuccccckkkkkk,” I holler, pegging the phone at the mirror, watching as it cracks and splinters.
Just like my heart and soul.
“We’ve charted all the info, and it looks like they’ve got her in a warehouse in Brooklyn where they move weight in and out,” says Marco. “AJ is talking to his contacts down there. Like I said before, I think they’re expecting us. Want the fight. I’ve got five more guys suiting up to come with us. I told Seb he’s not coming; he flat out refused to listen, so I know there’s no point trying to tell you to stay behind.” Grabbing me by the shoulders, he looks me dead in the eye. “I’m going to be honest, Raf, things could go sideways.”
“Then I’ll tell you what I told AJ,” I say, my resolve firmly in place. “I would die for her.” Then I add in a choked whisper. “I fucking love her and I never told her.”
“You’re not going to fucking die,” he says, “and neither is she. But we all need to stick to the fucking plan, and unless I say we need to deviate, we follow it to the letter.”
I take a deep breath. “So what’s the plan?”
Group chat:Keeping Up With The Family (KUWTF) Members: Chiara (Group Admin) Sophia, Evie, Stella, Marco, Luca, Sebastian, Raf, AJ
Luca:
Can someone please tell me WTAF is going on.
Luca:
I leave town for six weeks and the place blows up.
Luca:
