“Juarez?” Gavino rumbles once he’s close enough to hear.
“That’s me. Seems we have some talking to do,” he announces with a chuckle.
Sure, he’s chuckling, but he’s not laughing. His eyes are endless pits, black holes. Evil consumes him and I watch, waiting to see what kind of bullshit he’s going to spin. Because he will spin bullshit. I think that I’m going to enjoy ending him just as much as I will enjoy ending Miguel.
“She is safe, untouched, unscathed,” he begins when Gavino doesn’t respond to him.
Crossing my arms over my chest, I have to hold on to my biceps to keep from reaching for my gun and ending the fucker here and now.
I have to try to keep my own fucking self from killing him in public and going down for it. Though, I have to admit that if I was going to go down, this would be fucking worth it.
“She should have never been taken. It’s an insult to my famiglia, and it started a war that I don’t think you’re quite equipped to handle and deal with,” Gavino says, keeping his voice low and his tone even—showing zero emotion, like a true boss.
Juarez jerks back slightly, his eyes widening before he clears his throat. His lips curve up into a grin and I can tell that he really thinks he’s getting away with something, but he’s not. He doesn’t realize that we know what he’s been doing, that he’s been skimming off of Gavino’s money.
“It wasn’t meant as an insult,” Juarez lies. “Just a way to get your attention.”
“It was the wrong kind of attention to ask for,” Gavino snaps, without missing a beat.
They stare at one another for a moment until Juarez dips his chin in a sign of submission. It’s fake. It’s all show and this fuck will not submit until he’s dead. That will be his only submission. His death.
“I want your territory. I want your men.”
“And you think that stealing one of my men’s wives will give you that?” Gavino asks, arching a brow.
Juarez shrugs a shoulder, his eyes searching Gavino’s, then they flick to meet mine. A smile curves up on his lips as he watches me for a moment.
“She’s beautiful, your woman. My two men are fighting over who will fuck her to death, then cut her open to see what the baby looks like at only a few weeks old.”
Arlo growls next to me. I don’t make a move. I’m completely frozen in my spot. He wanted a reaction from me, but he’s not going to get it. He’s watching and waiting, he’s hoping that I’ll completely lose my shit, but I don’t.
Instead, I stand firm and still. My eyes narrow as my only response to his words. He chuckles, then shifts back to Gavino. All Juarez has done is assured everyone standing around him that he and his son need to die.
“What is your endgame, what do you want?” Gavino asks. “Because my entire territory for one woman isn’t going to happen.”
I know that Gavino is acting as though Rosana is worthless for a reason. He cannot show how important she is to any of us. If he does, if any of us do, then Juarez will know that weakness and he will continue to use it against us.
“Money and power, those are the only things that mean anything to me,” Juarez snorts.
Gavino leans forward slightly, causing Juarez’s back to straighten. He doesn’t speak right away, but he watches us. He’s trying to look tough, but I can tell that his bravado is starting to fade with each passing second.
“I’ll have your money, then I’ll take your power. The women will just be for fun,” Juarez snorts.
Gavino’s lips curve up into a slow grin. He leans forward, his gaze snapping to Juarez’s, then he is the one to slowly smile. “No, you won’t. But it was cute watching you try.”
Gavino flicks his gaze behind Juarez and chuckles. “Your son is an idiot. Then again, the apple doesn’t fall far from the tree. Why you would bring him here, bring Rosana here, I have no clue. You went through all that planning just to fail—epically.”
Seemingly out of nowhere, we’re surrounded by our own men. Juarez is dragged away, and I look to Gavino, my eyes wide with confusion.
“I got a text while that fuck was talking. Rosana has been taken to safety and the two men who were watching her have been taken to the warehouse, same place Juarez is headed.”
“How?” I ask.
Gavino chuckles. “Because I prepare better than that, idiot. While he was making plans to come here, I sent men out immediately, remember?” he asks. Nodding my head, I wait for him to finish. Though I think I know what he’s going to say. “They watched them pull up in a white van. These guys are idiots. Let’s get the girl and get these three fuckers taken care of.”
He turns and walks away. I watch him for a moment, still in awe that he handled it the way that he did. I shouldn’t be, though. There is a reason Gavino has been building an empire. There is a reason he’s been able to keep his place as the boss of that empire without question. He’s just the fucking man.
ROSANA
Watching these two assholes argue back and forth about which one is going to rape me first causes my stomach to clench. These guys are disgusting and I am sick to my stomach that I allowed Miguel anywhere near me. I seriously kind of hate myself for it right now. I know that he was playing me, but still, I let him touch me—naked.
I notice movement out of the corner of the back window, the only window anywhere at the back of the van. My heart stops immediately. It’s not just someone walking their dog, it’s a man in a full suit.
Pressing my lips together, I send a silent prayer that this is someone here to help me and not harm me. I could use a little more helping and not so much harming in my life right about now.
Before I realize what’s happening, both of the front doors to the van open, and the men are pulled out in a single whoosh. I blink, my lips parting in awe as they’re hauled toward an SUV and thrown in the back seat.
Then the back doors open. I suck in a breath, holding it to see who is going to be on the other side of it.
I recognize him immediately. I almost cry with relief when Valerius looks back at me. I can’t move. He holds out his hand for me to take, but I can’t move an inch. I stay right where I am, a fresh wave of tears filling my eyes and falling down my cheeks as I watch him standing there, saving me.
“Salvatore will be headed to the house soon, after he deals with these assholes. Let me take you home so you can wait for him there,” Valerius murmurs.
Licking my lips, I taste the salty tears as I nod. “Okay,” I breathe.
Only then do I suck in a breath and shift to my knees. On my knees only, I walk. When I’m close enough to grab, Valerius wraps his hands around my waist and gently pulls me out of the van, letting me stand to my feet. He rips my binding away from my wrists and my ankles, then looks at me straight in the eyes.
“You’re okay to walk?” he asks.
Nodding my head, I lick my lips. “I am,” I whisper. “I’m okay now.”
He doesn’t say anything right away, but he does take his phone out and I watch him type some things. I assume a text to Gavino or someone. I don’t ask and he doesn’t tell. We walk silently toward the condo.
When we arrive, I’m surprised to see that it’s pretty empty. I don’t know why, but I expected to see a dozen men milling around. Valerius must sense my confusion. He grins over at me, his gaze watching mine for a moment, then he clears his throat.
“Take a seat. The men are all gone dealing with this situation. It’s just us here for a while. I contacted a doctor to see to you,” he explains.
“A doctor?” I ask.
“Have you seen one at all?”
Shaking my head, I lick my lips and feel so guilty because I haven’t seen a doctor. I haven’t seen a doctor. I don’t know when you’re supposed to, but I’ve already started this parenting thing out really, really fucking wrong. Seeing a doctor should have been the first thing on my list of shit to do, not get married
“What is wrong with me?” I ask on a whisper.
Valerius
watches me for a moment, he doesn’t say anything, but he looks like a deer caught in headlights. I don’t blame him, mainly because I’m completely and totally freaking out right now.
I shouldn’t be, but I am.
There is no coming back from this freak-out. I am completely and totally gone and off my hinges.
I start ranting. I start raving. Then, because me panicking isn’t enough, I start crying—again. By the time the doctor has arrived, I’m practically in a full-blown panic attack. The doctor probably thinks I’m a bit looney, but I don’t care, because I feel like the worst person on the planet right now.
Chapter Twenty
SALVATORE
The three men are not just lined up but they are also strung up. The fucks. Watching them, I realize now that they are not the smartest in the bunch. Where are the rest of their men? No way would any Made Man go out in public after kidnapping and stealing money, alone.
“Where are the rest of your men?” I ask.
I’m out of turn, I know that I am, but I can’t help myself. I need to know what the fuck is going on, because I know without a doubt that there is something.
This feels really off.
It feels really easy and as I really look at them, I’m thinking that they aren’t the ones in charge of the Libertad. There is just no way.
“We don’t need them,” Miguel snaps.
Shifting my gaze to Gavino, he clenches his jaw and takes a step back. He turns to me, jerking his chin before he walks toward the small office that is the back of the warehouse building. Arlo follows behind me and closes the door so that we’re all together.
Once we’re in the small office, Arlo clears his throat, but it’s Gavino who speaks first. “I’m not sure if they’re really Libertad or if they are just trying to get a leg up in the underworld, but there is no fucking way that guy is a boss of any kind.”
“I agree, I don’t think he’s anyone, which makes me wonder why he would pretend to be a Libertad and why he would try to steal my money and think that he could take over anything, let alone the Zanetti empire,” Arlo murmurs, lifting his hand to his chin and rubbing there.
I shake my head, unsure that this is reality. How in the fuck did these guys get ahold of the security of my condo, and Gavino’s money if they aren’t really who they are claiming to be?
Granted, those are only computer things, it’s not like it took any kind of real labor or brains. They bribed someone for the code and app for the security and they probably did the same for digitally stealing Gavin’s cash.
“We’re missing something,” Gavino says.
“Something big,” Arlo chimes in.
“Something fucking bigger than we realize,” Gavino murmurs.
“They won’t tell us,” I add in.
There is a moment of silence. Gavino and Arlo are no doubt thinking about all of the people that this could be. Meanwhile, I’m trying to figure out why in the fuck Rosana was even singled out or targeted.
She wasn’t even really part of the famiglia. She stayed away from famiglia events. I hadn’t even seen her since handling her custody case with Pippa. I would think that it could be the aunt, that is, if I didn’t know she’d already been taken care of years ago.
“No, they probably won’t. But we’re going to enjoy torturing as much information as we can out of them,” Gavino says with a chuckle.
I snort, then walk over to the door and open it. “Let the torturing begin,” I announce.
“Yes, let it,” Arlo says.
Together, we make our way back to the three men. They’re surrounded by the famiglia, but nobody is talking. It’s a complete stare down. I smile at the sight, ready to end these fucks. These fake fucks, because there is no way they’re Libertad. They just cannot be.
“So, who do you answer to?” Gavino asks as he reaches for something on a table.
There is a small table with different types of devices laid on it and I know exactly what they are because I’ve used them before, on the man that killed my sister. I used them with a fucking smile on my face, every single one of them and happily.
Glancing down, I see the scissors, knives, a piece of chain, a bat, a crowbar, and a mallet. I know exactly what I want. I don’t care the order it happens in, but I am going to shove the bat up Miguel’s ass. His little comments at the café will be paid for—in full.
“Nobody,” Juarez sneers.
Gavino makes a tsking sound. “I don’t believe you, because I know that the Libertad’s are not this messy. You’re misrepresenting them and I think that they would like to know that you’re running around pretending to be them.”
That gets Juarez’s attention. His eyes widen and he shakes his head once. “Oh, so what is your real name, Juarez?” Gavino asks. “Because Juarez is the real name of the president of their organization, but you are not him. I had my man do some more digging this morning, and we found his picture. You’re about twenty years his junior.”
I suck in a breath, wondering just who the fuck these people are and still wondering why, why in the hell did they target Rosana of all people. It’s not like she’s the only person loosely connected to the famiglia out there in the city. It’s not like she held any kind of special position, she’s not a principessa.
Gavino reaches for the crowbar and picks it up, tossing it from hand to hand as he closes the distance between him and the three men. His focus is on Juarez and nobody else. If he doesn’t talk, then the others won’t.
Gavino doesn’t even give him an opportunity to speak again. He doesn’t ask any more questions. Instead, he reaches backward and I watch as the crowbar flies through the air and cracks against Juarez’s knee.
Juarez’s howling fills the room and not a single man feels sorry for him. Not a single man even winces. We just watch and wait. My gaze flicks over to Miguel, who looks completely horrified, and I chuckle.
When Miguel hears my laugh, he shifts his gaze over to meet mine. His eyes are wide and he looks at me pleadingly, like I, of all people, am going to come to his rescue. I smirk in his direction, running my tongue along his bottom lip as I silently challenge him to beg me.
He does.
“Please,” he whimpers. “Please help me. I’m the father of Rosana’s baby. Please help me,” he cries, and tears fill his eyes.
The fact that he even mentioned Rosana and especially the baby sends rage throughout my entire body, but I control myself. I suppress that anger because this isn’t personal, not right now, it will be, but this is about finding out as much information as possible.
I will find out, too, because this fuck is just that—some fuck and he will never lay eyes on my wife again.
“Tell me what I want to know. Who are you guys really, and why the fuck did you target Rosana?”
There is a moment of silence, Miguel watches me, and the man next to him sucks in a breath. Flicking my gaze over to him, I frown. He looks familiar, but I don’t know him, I can’t place him. That is, until he whimpers and cries and tells me exactly who he is.
“I was Rosana’s boss,” he bawls.
“And how do you play into all of this?”
He doesn’t look anywhere else, probably too scared to see if Juarez and Miguel will give him a shut the fuck up look. He clears his throat and wiggles in his place. I don’t make a single move, I just watch him wondering when the fuck he’s going to calm down and tell me what I want to know.
Once he realizes that I’m not playing his shit, he clears his throat. “Shut the fuck up,” Miguel growls.
He doesn’t.
“I don’t know who is in charge. All I know is that we do schemes. Anything for a quick buck under the table. We were hired, I don’t know who hired us. But we were hired to fuck with Rosana. It’s why I sought her out to work for me. It’s why I hired her. She was the endgame. Fucking her life over, then killing her. Once we found out who she was, the mafia aspect, that’s when we came up with our own plan.”
“So none of this ha
d to do with the famiglia?” Gavino roars.
“No, we’re just petty thieves, white-collar scamming for a quick buck,” the guy shouts.
I don’t even know his name, and I don’t care. After tonight he doesn’t exist. All I know is that he’s the only one giving us any information at all. He’ll be the first to die. It will be swift, but he will not survive, even if he tells us everything.
ROSANA
The doctor leaves once I’m calm and after he’s examined me. The baby seems fine. He could find a heartbeat but still wants me to come to the office for a proper ultrasound exam. He also advises me to get some over-the-counter prenatal vitamins. Nodding my head, I thank him for coming and let out a relieved sigh.
“You’re okay now?” Valerius asks. He’s sitting at the table by the kitchen, a bottle of sparkling water in his hand, his gaze focused on me.
“I think so,” I whisper. “Where is Salvatore?”
He shrugs a shoulder. “Busy.”
“I think I need my sister,” I admit
Admitting that I need anyone isn’t really something that I tend to do, however, I think that after today, I need her. Valerius shakes his head once. “No can do, bella.”
“Why?” I demand.
He grins as if he thinks that I’m cute, and chuckles. “Sorry, bella. It’s Gavino’s rules. He wants everyone tucked in safe and sound until further notice.”
“Will you stay up with me? Talk for a while?” I ask.
He dips his chin, then brings his bottle to his lips and sucks down a drink. There is a long pause before he stands and makes his way toward the living room. I watch as he sinks down in the chair across from me, then crosses his leg and rests his ankle on his knee.
“Talk, bella.”
“Have you ever felt like a complete and total fraud?” I ask.
Becoming her Salvation (Zanetti Famiglia Book 7) Page 14
