Forcing myself to calm down, I can finally hear voices speaking in another language when the blood stops pounding in my ears. The voices get louder, and closer. I think they’re speaking Chinese.
The blindfold is ripped off of me, taking a few strands of hair with it, and I hold back a whimper of pain. Everything hurts.
“She’s awake,” a man says with an Asian accent.
Staying silent, I look around and notice that I’m being held in what I think is a warehouse or an abandoned building.
The floor is cement and covered in oil and dirt stains. Dirty windows are punched out and half-covered up in black fabric that blows in the warm breeze while others are completely boarded up. There’s also a faint smell of chemicals in the air that makes me think this used to be a factory of some kind.
Four men stand before me, looking down at me like they want to eat me alive.
“I see why he’s taken such an interest in you,” one says, looking me up and down with eyes so dark, they feel like death caressing my skin.
Another one, bigger and scarier with a scar running down his jaw and cold eyes that send a chill of fear through me, grips the front of my dress and rips it down, tearing the thin fabric with ease.
“Such pretty skin,” he says, his voice as eerie as his appearance. Raising his hand, I see a dagger in it, and he runs the edge of the tip across my collarbone and down the center of my chest. My shoulders move, trying to get out of his reach, but my efforts are futile. I’m tied to this chair and can’t move.
“We don’t touch her,” another says. “She needs to be alive for the deal to take place.”
A deal? What deal?
“Time for proof of life,” he says, holding up his phone, and the one with the scar steps behind me. He yanks my head back by my hair, and I bite back the pain and stare straight ahead, refusing to give these men anything. “Smile for your dear Alec.”
Chapter 30
Alec
Leo and I are on our way to our meeting with the Triads, and instead of shutting down my emotions like I need to do, all I can think about is Tessa.
I need her light. I need her to take the sins that stain my hands and heart and replace it with her purity before I become nothing but those sins. Before there’s nothing left in me that’s redeemable or worthy of her.
I told myself to give her a little more time, but after tonight, I fully intend on going to her and telling her her time alone is over. She’s fucking mine.
“Alec, we’re almost there, get your head on straight.”
“It is,” I snap.
“I can see you haven’t even been listening to me for the past five minutes.”
“Because you’ve been repeating yourself for the hundredth time.”
I feel Leo’s eyes on me, but I ignore him. “After this, you can do whatever you want. But we have a lot on the line here.”
“I know. It’s my city they keep coming for.”
“Exactly. So focus.”
A few minutes later, our car pulls up to the agreed upon location. Leo and I take our guns out to double check that they’re loaded and pat our concealed knives in the hidden padded lined pockets in our pants. We’re going into this knowing we may have to fight our way out.
We’re meeting at one of our shipping warehouses at the Red Hook Terminal, and we’ve had it set up with men in place since yesterday. They’re running surveillance from a few of our shipping containers that have been transformed into safe houses if ever needed.
Both Leo and I hesitated slightly when Lin Chen agreed to meet us on our territory, which is why we’ve had men in place in case they thought they could surprise us or set us up somehow if we thought we had the upper hand and got cocky because it’s our territory.
“Let’s go,” Leo commands, stepping out of the car. We walk side-by-side into the warehouse with four of our men flanking us to the sides and behind. We agreed ahead of time that each of us would only have two family members and four guards.
The large bay door is open, and I take note of where the five men we have hiding in the shadows around the large space are, that again, have been here since yesterday. We don’t take chances when our enemies could be watching us at any time.
Leo and I sit in the chairs at the table that face the open door, staying silent as we wait. Ten minutes later, a car pulls up, and in walks Lin Chen and his brother Sun, with four men of their own.
I don’t like the looks on their faces. Almost like they don’t have a care in world.
They think they’re going to win this negotiation? They clearly don’t know who they’re dealing with.
This is either going to end in a deal where they stay to their territory in Chinatown, or end with them at the bottom of the Hudson.
Either way, I win.
I always win.
Approaching us, the Chen brothers look around the large space, definitely not seeing our men in hiding, and then settle on Leo and me with their little grins I want to fucking punch off their faces.
“Good evening,” Lin says, pulling the chair out and sitting across from Leo – a battle of bosses.
Leo just nods, and I stare down Sun as he takes the seat across from me.
“You know why we’re here,” Leo starts. “You’ve been running sex dens and gambling rings in my brother’s city. Every time he shuts you down, you just pop right back up. What makes you think you’re allowed to do that without his permission?” We learned this week that the places they’ve been holding their underground games were also where they operated their prostitution business and whore houses.
“I didn’t realize we needed your permission,” Lin says with a smirk, his eyes darting to mine. Fucking liar. “But even if we did, we would’ve been told no.” He shrugs.
“Yes, you would have,” Leo informs him. We agreed that he would do the talking so long as Lin, their head of the family, was doing the talking for them. “Alec runs the underground. He runs the entirety of Atlantic City. He has every casino and club in his pocket. You have nowhere to hide anymore. You have no claim in New Jersey. We do. And you’re being told, nicely I might add, to go back to your territory and stay there.”
“What if I were to say we have leverage that might make you reconsider?”
Ah, so that’s why they agreed to meet us here. They think they have the upper hand. But that’s utter bullshit. They have nothing we’d ever want.
“Such as?”
“You can keep your foothold of the city. We just want our own little corner for our businesses. I think that’s reasonable.”
“What leverage do you think you have?” Leo asks with a little more edge. We both know his request isn’t reasonable. It’s disrespectful.
Sun reaches for the inside pocket of his suit jacket and our guards take a step forward, but he only pulls out his phone.
“We were at The Broker’s party a few weeks ago,” he says as he unlocks his phone, and my jaw ticks as my chest tightens. “I saw you with a woman,” he directs at me. “And while I normally would have thought nothing of you taking an interest in a sexy little dancer like her, you seemed to pay her an extra amount of attention that looked like you knew her. Like you cared about her.”
“Who are you talking about?” I ask, tilting my head to the side, keeping my features stone cold. The blood in my veins turns to ice as my mind goes through a thousand different scenarios he could possibly lay out for me. But nothing prepares me for what I see when he slides the phone towards me.
Tessa.
She’s tied to a chair with her head yanked back by the dirty hands of a man whose face is cut off in the image. She’s wearing some tight little black dress that’s ripped at the neckline to expose her lacey black bra and her eye makeup is smudged like she was blindfolded. But her eyes themselves are hard and cold. Distant. Strong.
My woman is strong. She would never cower in the face of danger.
They’re the eyes she gave me when I shot Enzo. She was strong then, too.
An eerie sense of calm and clarity comes over me. “I don’t know why you thought she’d mean anything to me, but I don’t know who that is,” I say with practiced control.
I’ve never needed to restrain myself so fucking badly as I do now. Tessa’s life depends on it. I have to pretend like she’s nothing. Then I’ll put a bullet between his eyes and cut the hands off of everyone who dared touch her. I’ll kill his entire fucking family and burn his small little empire to the ground.
No one fucks with me or what’s mine.
“Are you sure?” he taunts. “Because if she means nothing to you, then I can give the word to my men that they can have a little fun with her. Out of respect, I told them she was off-limits, but I guess that doesn’t matter now.”
With one last look at Tessa on the small screen, I slide his phone back to him and keep my eyes guarded and on his. He can’t beat me.
Leo’s hand drums on the table, his signal for me to hold my tongue. “We don’t involve innocent women in our business,” he informs Lin and Sun.
“Well, we do. And we have yours. Now, are you ready to discuss the terms of a new agreement so you can have her back?”
I’m not negotiating with this piece of shit and Leo knows that. It takes everything in me to keep my face neutral and not show the fury I’m feeling on the inside.
Drumming his fingers on the table for a few beats, Leo looks between the men sitting in front of us, and then flashes them a predatory grin that’s all teeth.
I know what he’s about to do, and while every cell in my body is telling me to strangle these fuckers, I know I can’t go against Leo. I trust my brother.
He’s been drumming his fingers on the table in what anyone would think is a nervous habit, or something he does while thinking, but Leo is too controlled for that, and he doesn’t do anything without reason.
“Oh, there’s a new agreement. But there’ll be no discussion.” Their confused looks disappear when Leo makes a fist and knocks on the table once.
Shots ring out from the shadows, and the two bodyguards fall to the cement in dull thuds while Lin and Sun slump back in their chairs. Blood flows down from the bullet holes in their heads, but I’m tempted to take my gun out and put a few more rounds in them.
The soldiers we had hiding in the shadows emerge with their rifles at their sides, and my chair scrapes the cement as I push away from the table. Taking the phone from Sun’s hand, I open the message again with Tessa’s picture, and my hand grips the phone so hard I feel it on the verge of cracking under the pressure.
“Alec. Focus,” Leo commands, gripping my shoulder. “She needs you.”
Looking at him, I see both the brother who’d do anything for me and the boss who doesn’t let anyone manipulate us.
“We’ll have Stefano trace where the number is located and we’ll go get her. Give it a little bit, then text the guy who sent it and tell him the deal has been made and to have her ready for transport.”
Stefano may be one of Leo’s captains, but he’s also the family’s best hacker and tracker who I know will find Tessa in no time. After all, he found out it was me who was responsible for her brother’s death after six years and with us not leaving a single trace.
Giving him a curt nod, I wait while Leo calls Stefano and I pull out my phone, dialing Tito. I pace the area in front of me while the dead bodies are dragged over to the metal drums in the corner and dumped inside. Lye is poured inside with them, and the smell burns my nose from here, which I use to keep control over the anger threatening to break me.
“Boss,” Tito answers.
“WHAT THE FUCK HAPPENED?!” I yell, my voice echoing around the empty space, his voice my tipping point. “You had one fucking job. You already know what happened to the last man who failed.”
“She slipped out the other side of the theater after the show, and by the time I found out where she went on the security footage, it was too late. They took her.”
“How?” I growl, shoving my hand in my hair.
“Two girls from the show took her dancing at Royals, and about a half hour later, the external cameras caught them walking her half-unconscious out the back door. They handed her over to two men who shoved her in the trunk of their car and handed the girls an envelope of cash. They must have been paid to drug her.”
They’re fucking done.
I don’t hurt women, but I’ll do any and everything to destroy them so they live a miserable existence and think about what they did every second of what’s left of their lives.
“I’ll deal with you later. Just go meet Vinny in the basement.” Hanging up, I want to fucking hurt someone. I want to kill. I want to maim. I want to feel and see the life drain from the men who took my woman.
“She’s in an abandoned building outside of AC,” Leo tells me. “Let’s go.”
Heading towards the car, I turn to the men sealing the barrels. “When you finish here, follow behind us where you’ll have more cleanup to do.”
“Got it.” They nod.
The drums will be sunk to the bottom of the Hudson off the port’s docks, never to be seen or found. It’s why we wanted to meet at this location.
Once in the car, Alfie peels off and heads straight for Manhattan. The top of Leo’s building has a helicopter pad where our chopper will be waiting. It’s over two hours by car, even when breaking every law, but only about forty-five if we fly.
“What’s up, Alec?” Vinny says when I call.
“Get to the basement. We’re on our way back. The Triads took Tessa and she’s being held in an abandoned building on the outskirts of town.”
“What the fuck? Where was Tito? He hasn’t called me with anything.”
“I’ll take care of him later,” I assure him. “But he’s meeting you in the basement now. We’re almost at Leo’s and then we’ll be there within the hour.”
“I’ll have Dante gather the men and everything will be ready for her extraction when you get here.”
You could call Dante our head of security, but he’s better known as The Executioner to those in our world. If you see him, it’ll be the last time. He’s walking death, and he’s trained some of our best soldiers in his liking. I know he’ll have them ready for this job.
“Thanks.” Hanging up, I pinch the bridge of my nose and close my eyes, trying to get the image of Tessa tied to a chair out of my head.
She was never supposed to be touched by my world. I was supposed to keep her safe.
This is my fault.
When we’re close to Leo’s building, I text the number back from Sun’s phone, having waited so we could have more time to prepare ourselves to get her out, praying they don’t fucking touch her.
Taking the private elevator in Leo’s building from the garage that brings us straight up to the roof, the whooshing air blowing from the chopper’s blades has me bending forward as I run towards its open door. The pilot we have on call is ex-military, and when Leo, Alfie, and I are all strapped in, he takes off into the night, knowing how to fly with ease under any and every situation.
Staring out at the black ocean, my mind goes over every way I know how to torture a man. That was a part of our training growing up. My father was a ruthless man who knew the depths any man was willing to go to in order to keep his secrets and the ones he loves safe, and he taught us how to exploit those depths and use them to our advantage.
There’s always someone trying to knock you off the top of the pyramid, coming from every direction, and we have to be prepared.
Leo, Luca, and I all have the worst of our father inside of us, brewing just below the surface of our controlled exteriors. We were taught that, too.
Our father always said that a man only had two true weaknesses in life – lack of control, and the love of a woman. My brothers and I made pacts when we were teenagers to never let a woman become our weakness. We could have as many as we wanted so long as it didn’t go past one night. But that lifestyle gets old. When you can have an
y woman you want, and the chase is gone, the satisfaction fades over time. Especially when you hit thirty.
Then I saw Tessa, and all of that changed.
She became my chase.
She was something I couldn’t have but also couldn’t not have. Every time I saw her, the pull got stronger. Then I got to be with her, and every time I was, that pull solidified into something I can’t even explain.
She’s the best gift I’ve ever been given, and I’ll be damned if I let anyone take her from me.
Chapter 31
Tessa
I’m so tired.
My arms are starting to tingle and lose feeling from being tied behind my back, and my legs are tight from being bound to each of the chair legs.
I’m trying to ignore the fact that my legs are spread and my short dress does little to cover me. I know the men keep looking between my thighs thinking they’ll catch a peek, but too bad for them, I have on a pair of black lace panties that covers me.
No one’s touched me since they took my picture for Alec, and I’m thankful for that. I don’t know if I could endure the unwanted touch of another.
They’re using me as leverage to get something they want from Alec, but I know they won’t get it. He’s coming for me. I can feel it.
For all that’s happened these past two weeks, I know he’d never let anyone hurt me. That fact was made known when he killed Enzo.
Alec always makes sure I’m safe. Even when his methods are over-the-top and impede on my basic freedoms, he does it so I’m safe.
Tears prick the backs of my eyes but I blink them away, refusing to think about how crazy he must be going right now knowing that I’m here. I know he still cares.
I stood my ground and didn’t go to him. I could have so easily broken down and gone to him when I knew he was home, telling him I missed him. I know he wouldn’t have turned me away. But every time I crawled out of bed to do that and ease the pain I was in, I’d remember why I was in it in the first place, and lie back down.
But right now, I don’t even care about any of that. I don’t care that he ordered the hit on James. I don’t care that he changed my life by taking away the only family I had left. I just want him here. I want to see his dark eyes and let myself get lost in their depths. They bring me comfort and relief.
Casino King: A Dark Mafia Romance (Carfano Crime Family Book 1) Page 22
