by L A Cotton
He disappeared into the bedroom to retrieve his weapons, and I watched with strange fascination as he added them to his person. The deadly looking knife strapped to his ankle, a pistol holstered to his chest, and brass knuckles stuffed inside his jacket.
He was an armed soldier and it wasn’t supposed to be such a turn on, but I couldn’t help the heat pooling in my stomach at the sight of him.
“Promise me that no matter what happens you won’t leave this room unless Maurice says it is safe for you to do so.”
“I-I promise.” I gulped over the lump in my throat.
Another sharp nod and Enzo slipped out of my apartment leaving the room cold…
And my heart empty.
“Anything?” I asked for the hundredth time. Maurice shook his head. “It has only been thirty minutes.”
Really?
It felt longer.
It felt like forever.
I hugged myself tighter, staring at the clock of the wall, willing it to move.
It was going to be a long night.
The vibration of my cell phone startled me from my reverie, and relief spread through me as I grabbed it off the coffee table hoping to see Enzo’s name.
But it wasn’t Enzo at all.
I know this is probably not a good time… but I’m kind of in a bind and I don’t have anyone else to call…
“Nora?” Maurice asked and I held up my finger, calling Luca’s number.
“Luca, what is it? What’s wrong?”
“I… uh…” he sounded a little breathless. “So funny story, I decided to take a shower after drinking my body weight in tequila and I tripped—”
“Oh my God, are you okay?”
“I’ll live but my face took the brunt and I have a pretty gruesome cut on my forehead… and I’m not very good with blood…” he trailed off.
“Luca?” I shrieked. “Okay, hold on… I’ll—”
“Don’t even think about it,” Maurice shot up.
Crap. Yeah. Enzo would lose it if he knew I’d stepped foot out of the apartment, even if it was only to go across the hall.
“I’m going to send you help, okay? Maurice, he’ll—”
“Need you,” he breathed, and I didn’t like how out of it he sounded.
“Maurice, go to Luca’s, now!”
“Miss Ab—Nora, I had strict orders to stay—”
“I know, which is why I’m asking you to go and check on him.” I gave him a pointed look. “If you don’t, I will.” Maurice hesitated and I let out an exasperated breath. “He’s hurt, Maurice. Please just go over there and check on him. I’ll lock the door behind you, I swear.”
“Fine.” He got up and moved to the door. “I’m going to radio downstairs and tell security you’re here alone.”
“Maurice, I’m not alone, you’ll be right across the hall.”
“Just stay put.” From the furrow of his brows, I knew he wasn’t happy about leaving me. But I couldn’t just ignore Luca’s plea for help. He slipped out of the door and I went and locked it.
What I really wanted was to check in with Enzo and make sure he was okay, but I didn’t want to appear clingy.
To distract myself, I made myself a mug of hot cocoa with marshmallows. Despite the way I’d left things with Luca, I really did hope he was okay. I knew he probably felt like I’d led him on, and I guess I had. But I hadn’t done it out of malicious intent. Luca was a good guy. He was easy to be around and he made me smile. But he didn’t make my heart beat hard the way Enzo did.
A smile played on my lips just thinking about how overprotective and growly Enzo had been today. Some girls would have hated his alpha routine, but I loved it.
By the time I’d finished my hot cocoa I was growing increasingly worried about Luca. Maurice had been gone almost fifteen minutes.
I snatched up my cell phone and called Maurice, but it rang out.
God. What if it was worse than I thought? What if Luca needed medical attention?
I decided to call Luca. It rang out but then right before I hung up, he answered. “Nora?”
“Hey, are you okay?”
“I’m a little embarrassed, but yeah, Maurice fixed me up.”
“He’s still there?”
“No, he left a couple minutes ago. He isn’t back with you?”
“No.” Fear slithered up my spine as I went to the peephole and pressed my face to it. “I can’t see him.”
“Well, he can’t have gone far. He was just right here.”
“I’m going to call him again. I’ll call you back in a second.”
I dialed Maurice’s number, but he didn’t pick up. My heart raced as I mentally went through possibilities. He wouldn’t have just up and left me. Not when Enzo had given me strict orders to stay put…
Maybe there was an imminent threat and he’d gone downstairs to deal with it.
Quickly, I called Luca back.
“Anything?” he asked.
“No, but I don’t think it’s safe here.”
“For real? What—”
“I can’t explain everything right now. I need to call Enzo.”
“He’s gone?”
“He had to… he went to deal with something.”
“What have you gotten yourself into, Nora?” He trailed off.
“Please, don’t. I didn’t call to argue with you. I just want to find out where Maurice is.”
“Let me help.”
Chewing my bottom lip, I weighed up my options. Enzo was at least a twenty-minute ride away across town. Even if he picked up, he couldn’t get here straight away. Calling the police wasn’t an option, and Nicco was at the hospital with his dad.
“Fine,” I said, making a snap decision.
“I’ll come to you,” he said.
“No, I’ll come to you. Then we can figure out what to do.” Maurice would probably appear by then, with an explanation for his sudden disappearance.
Changing into some lounge pants and a MU hoodie, I grabbed my keys and cell and made my way across to Luca’s apartment.
The door was already open, so I pushed it open and called out, “Luca?” My heart raced in my chest as I slipped inside. “Lu—”
“Hey.” He appeared, looking a little flushed.
“Are you okay?”
“I’m fine now. Well, apart from this.” He motioned to his forehead. There was a small dressing above his brow.
“You’re lucky,” I said around a tentative smile. But Luca didn’t return it, the air cooling around us.
“Did you call Enzo?” he asked, thinly.
“Not yet. But I should call him.” I pulled out my cell phone, but something rang out in the apartment.
“Fuck,” Luca muttered under his breath.
“Is something wrong?” I glanced around, drawn to the sound. There was something familiar about it. Something I couldn’t quite—
“Is that Maurice’s cell phone?” I asked, my blood turning to ice as I crossed Luca’s apartment. “What the hell? Maurice!” I yelled.
He was crumpled up on the floor of Luca’s bedroom floor, blood pouring from a thick gash in his head.
“What did you do?” I spun to face Luca, but he grabbed me from behind, yanking me backward. “What the hell—”
“I’m sorry, Nora.” He jabbed me with something sharp. “I’m so fucking sorry.” His voice was drowned out by the darkness consuming me.
“No,” I screamed, but the words got stuck in my throat.
No!
Chapter 27
Enzo
Something was wrong. Maurice wasn’t answering and I couldn’t get hold of Nora.
I’d texted and called to reassure her I was okay, but that it was taking longer than planned at the VCTI because somebody had called the police, and they’d sent a rookie.
A rookie who wasn’t on our payroll. So me and Matteo had to lie low while they did their thing.
Luckily for us, the center manager was a personal friend of Arianne’s
and Nicco’s and had the foresight to leave out any mention of the package left for me. It was a bloodstained knife that I knew was coated in Gino’s blood.
“Anything?” Matteo asked me as I checked my cell again.
“Nothing.”
“Nora is probably sleeping,” he said.
“Yeah.” But it didn’t explain why Maurice wasn’t returning my calls.
Impatient, I called Alexi instead. But it only rang out.
“What the fuck is happening over there?”
“Try La Stella security.” Matteo pulled out his cell and started dialing. “Fuck, it’s ringing out.”
“I gotta—”
“Yeah, go. I’ll handle things here. Just be careful yeah?”
But that was like telling a fighter to take it easy in the ring. Trepidation coursed through me. If Nora was—
No, everything was fine.
It had to be.
The nervous energy zipping through me didn’t abate though, as I floored my GTO back toward University Hill.
The second my car rolled to a stop outside the building, I knew what I hadn’t wanted to believe.
I pulled out my cell and called Nicco.
“Enzo, what is it?” Sleep thickened his words.
“I’m sorry to call you, cous, but I need you, Nic. I need you at La Stella.”
“Shit, yeah, okay. Talk me through what’s happened.”
Shouldering the door, I slipped inside. I should have passed at least two security guards by now. “Security is gone. I can’t reach Maurice or Nora.”
“Fuck,” he breathed. “Okay, me and Luis are on our way with backup.”
Icy cold fear trickled in my veins as I reached Nora’s floor. It was silent save for the gentle hum of the strip lighting overhead. I crept close to Nora’s apartment, silently praying that she was still inside, sleeping.
I gently tapped my knuckles against the door, waiting. “Come on, Gattina. Where the fuck are you?” I murmured to myself. Scrolling to her name, I hit call, hoping to hear it ring.
Nothing.
Fuck.
I dialed Maurice again. At first, it just rang out. But then I heard it, the faint familiar music of his ringtone. Moving closer to Luca’s apartment, anger like I’d never known it swelled inside me.
They were at Bianco’s?
What the fuck were they doing over there?
I knocked loudly, my body trembling with fury. If Luca had touched her, touched my Nora, I wouldn’t be held responsible for my actions.
But no one answered.
“Yo, asshole, open up,” I yelled, uncaring if I woke up the whole building. All kinds of scenarios ran through my head, but I needed to try and stay cool. “Luca!” I banged again. “Fuck this.”
I pulled out my knife and wedged in into the door jamb, leveraging the door open enough to crash through the damn thing.
The apartment was empty. But I knew I’d heard Maurice’s ringtone. Quickly, I dialed his number again and sure enough the noise rang out. I followed it through the apartment to a closed door.
I didn’t want to open it, didn’t want this nightmare to be real. Reaching for the handle, I slowly pushed it open. Maurice was laying there with a halo of dark-red blood surrounding his head.
“Fuck,” I growled, dropping to my knees to check for his pulse.
He was unconscious, but I detected a faint pulse. Maurice needed medical attention and he needed it now, so I knew I had no choice but to call it in.
“Fuck!” I stood up and dragged a hand down my face, trying to figure out what the fuck to do. Luca was gone… Nora too. But I think I’d known the second I couldn’t get a hold of her that something bad had happened.
The VCTI wasn’t just another break-in, it was a diversion…
But Luca?
It didn’t make any sense.
I sent an SOS message to Nicco and Matteo. They would both understand what it meant. If I didn’t want another soldier to die right in front of me, I had to call nine-one-one. We’d have to worry about the consequences later.
I called it in, keeping the details as vague as possible. I needed to try to piece together what had happened here.
I needed to find Nora.
Fuck. Nora…
Pain ripped through me, and I staggered back against the wall. If she was hurt again… or worse…
I knew this could happen. I fucking knew and I still left her.
What the fuck was I thinking?
If anything happened to her…
I would never forgive myself.
Nicco and Matteo arrived just as the EMTs were wheeling Maurice out of Luca’s apartment.
“Fuck,” Matteo breathed, his expression clouded with concern. “Is he going to be okay?”
“He’s lost a lot of blood,” I said, grimly.
“Mr. Marchetti,” Philippi Dante, one of our friends from the local PD approached us. “Do I need to be worried?” he asked quietly.
“We’ll handle it.”
“I already told them what I know,” I said, shooting Dante a warning look.
“I think we’ve got everything for now. But I won’t be able to bury it for long.” He glanced around the room before leaning in. “You’re going to have to give me something.”
“Dante,” Nicco said, “walk with me.”
The two of them followed the EMTs out of the apartment deep in discussion, and I knew my cousin was probably trying to avoid a scene.
“What do we know?” Matteo asked the second they were gone.
“The security footage was cut about three hours ago. Right after I left.”
“So what the hell was that at the VCTI?”
“A decoy.”
“Fuck.” He scrubbed his jaw. “And we think Luca took her? But he was vetted, man. I double checked his file myself.”
“You did?” I jerked back. I knew he’d asked Maurice, but I didn’t know he’d pulled Luca’s file.
“Figured we should know who was hanging around your woman.”
The words made my chest tighten.
“We’ll get her back, Enzo,” he said, laying a hand on my shoulder. “And our guys?”
“No sign of them.”
“No way Bianco did this without help,” Matteo said the words I’d been pondering ever since stepping foot into his apartment and finding Maurice bleeding out.
“I should have stayed away,” I gritted out, fists clenched painfully at my sides. “I should have fucking stayed away from her.”
“Come on, cous, don’t do this. You couldn’t have known Luca was involved. None of us could.”
Before I could stop myself, my fist shot out and collided with the wall. Pain ripped through my knuckles, zipping up my wrist but I welcomed it. I’d welcome a whole lot more than that if it meant getting Nora back in one piece.
I’m sorry, Gattina. I’m so fucking sorry.
“Better?”
“No,” I grunted. “But I will be when we find this motherfucker and end him.”
“I think we’ve got to assume he isn’t working alone. He had to get Nora and our guys out of here somehow.” His brows crinkled but then his eyes widened. “We checked La Stella’s security feed, but we didn’t check La Luna.”
“Shit, you’re right.” La Luna was Roberto’s second building in University Hill, the one across the street with line of sight to its sister building.
Matteo pulled out his cell. “Tristan, yeah, sorry to call so late… We need a favor. Can you call security over at La Luna and tell them we’re gonna need to take a look at their security feeds for the last two hours.” He gave me a sharp nod. “Appreciate it, man. And yeah, we will.”
“He’s going to hook us up.”
“What’s that?” Nicco came back inside, alone this time.
“Tristan is going to call the security guys over at La Luna and have them pull the security footage of the last two hours. Whoever helped Luca had to have a vehicle which means we should be able to see someth
ing.”
He nodded, his eyes narrowing at me. “You good?”
“What do you think?”
“We’ll get her back.”
“We have to.” Because anything else wasn’t an option.
“We will. Nora isn’t the target—”
“No, she’s the fucking bait.” I stormed out of there, needing air.
Crashing through the main doors, I pulled out a smoke, and waited for my cousins to join me, knowing they would be right behind me.
Sure enough, a minute later, they spilled out onto the quiet sidewalk.
“Should we call my dad?” Matteo asked. After my father, Uncle Michele stepped up as Antonio’s second. So with Uncle Toni out of action in the hospital, all decisions were supposed to go through Uncle Michele. But time was against us.
“You can update him, but we do this with or without him. I’m not waiting.” The words vibrated deep in the pit of my stomach. “That fucker has Nora, he has my woman.”
And I intended on her getting her back, consequences be damned.
We walked the short distance to La Luna in thick silence. One of Roberto’s guys met us at the door.
“Mr. Capizola called ahead. Please, follow me.”
“Have you pulled the footage?”
“We have, and you’ll want to see this.” He guided us to the security office.
Another guy looked up from the screen. “A black van left the underground parking lot about forty-five minutes ago. Drove right on out. Looked to be in a rush too.”
“Fuck.” My fist slammed against the table, making the computers screens rattle and shake.
“Relax.” Nicco pulled me back, moving around me to get a closer look. He pulled out his phone and scrolled through his contacts. “Tommy, sorry for the late-night call. I need you to run some plates for us. I suspect they’re fake or cloned but see what you can find.” He started reeling off the license plates. When he was done, he hung up. “Where do you lose them?”
“Right here.” The guy pointed to one of the grids on the screen. “The police department might be able to track him on their cameras though.”
“Thanks, we appreciate it.” Nicco went to walk away but I stalled closer to the monitor.
“Wait. When did we see the van arrive?”
