He was in the middle of getting a lap dance from what looked like a cheap hooker.
Fucking bastard was married and had four kids. Men like that made me sick to my stomach. The hooker ran out when she saw us, and Antonio reached for his gun, but I shot the damn thing out of his hands before he could get a grip on it.
Claudius grabbed him around his neck and hoisted him up in the air. Dante reached for his shotgun and aimed it at him, and Gio took out a long reach knife.
Saul just smiled at him, revealing his silver teeth.
I walked up to Antonio and stared him down hard.
“Victor. You know who I mean. Where. Is. He.” I roared.
“I don’t know.” Antonio literally looked like he was going to combust with fear.
“Gio, cut something off,” I ordered.
Gio moved to him with his knife, but Antonio cried out, and his red puffy face turned brighter.
“Wait, please,” he begged.
I loomed in closer and sneered at him. “Do we look like we’re here to play with you, Antonio?”
“No. No.”
I pulled out my gun now and pressed it to his chin. “Don’t fuck with me. I will blow your brains out now if you don’t tell me what you know.”
“Word… word on the street is, the Anotenellis and Barattas are helping them.”
Fuck, my blood ran cold hearing that. Those families were literal assassins. I didn’t know how a guy like Tag could have any connection with them, but right now, that wasn’t for me to work out.
“Where are they hiding out?”
“I don’t know, Luc. I actually don’t know. But… I suggest you keep her close, as in right next to you, if you don’t want them to find her.”
Her.
He knew about Amelia, so that meant they all did.
Damn it, the phone rang again.
I reached for it instantly and answered fast when I saw the unknown number.
“Victor!” I bellowed like a raging animal ready to charge and kill.
“You did it again,” Victor taunted.
“Stop fucking with me.”
“Don’t worry, sunshine, I will. The players are all here now, in the next game you get to still try and find out where we are.” He laughed a maddening, sickening laugh that reminded me of the Joker in Batman.
The players…
What does he mean? The players.
“Who are the players, Victor?”
“Come on now, Luc. I thought you would have guessed. Henry was your best friend; you came for him. On this occasion, as planned, I thought I’d act out of the goodness of my heart and get Amelia. She doesn’t need to worry her pretty little head over where we are. Oh no, no, no.”
My eyes bulged and I couldn’t blink. I released a sharp breath as shards of cold fear washed over me, like knives piercing through my body. I shook my head in disbelief.
My nightmare.
My worst nightmare actually happened. Tremors took my hands and sweat made the phone slippery in my hands even though I was gripping on to it.
“You have Amelia!” I could barely speak and just managed to whirl around to face Claudius, who released Antonio instantly.
“Yes, that’s what I’m saying. I got your girl. Again. This time was so much easier. You all scampered away guns blazing, leaving the rat in the house. Don’t you know you should do your best to get rid of vermin? God, Luc, makes me wonder what your kitchen looks like. I don’t think I would eat from you.”
“Don’t hurt her. Don’t you hurt her.”
“Luc, you know how this goes. I always hurt them. Come on, I’m Victor Pertrinkov. I don’t want people to think I’ve gone soft. Oh no, no.”
“I swear to God, Victor, if you hurt her—”
“You’ll what, Luc? What can you do? Couldn’t save Henry, couldn’t save Lydia, and you couldn’t save their kids. Have you ever saved anyone?”
Bastard. Once again, he knew how to get to me.
“Just give her back, give them both back. There must be some humanity left in you. I’ll give you anything, anything.” Begging again.
“Tell you what, if you could be a dear and grab those diamonds, that would be awesome. It would save me from getting it. I already got paid a billion dollars for this job, and I’m a man of my word. I get hired to do a job, and I do it well. It’s good for business. People leave good reviews. I want five stars in all categories.” He laughed again.
“I’ll get the diamonds.” Claudius looked at me when I said that.
“Good, little boss, you get the diamonds, and I’ll tell you when to get to the arena.”
I closed my eyes as my heart shied away from the craziness. I couldn’t believe what was happening. I just couldn’t believe it.
He took Amelia…
He had my girl.
Amelia
Something burned my nose.
Something that smelled really bad. Like sulfur and shit.
My nose burned and stung from the inside, and my head felt like it would fall off.
Where am I?
I lifted my head. Big mistake.
Ugh. Why was it hurting?
I went to reach up to touch my forehead, but my hands… they were bound behind my back.
Tied up with what felt like thick ropes. I was able to run my fingers over the twines.
The room, or wherever it was, was dark. I couldn’t see anything. There was a light that flickered in the corner. Looked like a candle.
It grew bigger and wider in appearance.
Then there were footsteps.
The outline of a man appeared before me, and as he came closer and held the candle right in front of his face, my heart jumped into my throat.
Victor.
He got me. He caught me.
God. This was it.
As I remembered everything and Millicent’s betrayal, bile rose into my throat. It rose into my throat, and I couldn’t stop myself from vomiting.
“Shit, couldn’t you have warned me you were going to do that?” Victor winced. “This suit is expensive.”
When I threw up again, I realized it couldn’t have been from the realization of what had happened. I was sick.
I was actually sick…
Whatever Millicent had given me had made me sick.
Did she poison me?
“Vomit is so gross.” Victor frowned and stepped back, so he wasn’t near me. At least that was one good thing. Anytime spent where he wasn’t touching me was a good thing. “God, and nasty. Burt, send someone in to clean that up, will ya,” he called over his shoulder.
“What did you give me? What did you people give me?” If it was poison, I could die. Just like that. Mission accomplished.
“It’s an anesthetic, similar to what’s used in hospitals prior to surgery. Major surgery. I should give you a list of the side effects. The only real thing you can do though, I guess, is the throw it all up.”
“Where’s Gigi?”
“Lights.” He held up the candle like some kind of freak, and bright white light snapped on from above, filling the room.
Instantly, my gaze landed on Gigi. She was directly opposite me but about six feet away. Duct tape was covering her mouth, and she was bound just like me, but she was alive. Alive but what appeared to be sleeping or knocked out.
I didn’t know. What I knew was, I could see the slight rise and fall of her chest.
There were bruises all over her face.
Tears ran down my cheeks. Tears of sadness because I couldn’t believe that my poor friend was caught up in this mess, but also tears of relief. I thought the next time I’d see her would be…
Well, I thought she was dead.
“Don’t look so relieved. I have much in store for you, Amelia Rossi,” Victor taunted.
I returned my gaze to him, looking over the madman that stood over me.
“Why? Why are you doing this?” I didn’t care what he was getting paid. This was pure evil. He was pure evil.
>
“I get a kick out of it. Anything like this is me. Come on, how many times do you think I get to have this kind of fun, Amelia? It’s a hoot and a half. Plus, what can I say? I love my job. Oh, also, maybe there is this.” He snapped open his shirt to reveal his chest. I winced at the sight of the angry-looking burn scars that covered it. “Those scars make it personal for me. Women cringe at the sight of it. The way you’re cringing now. Doesn’t help much in the bedroom.”
I couldn’t imagine what woman in their right mind would be with him, but then maybe they didn’t have a choice. Again, bile rose in my throat when I thought of what he’d done to Henry’s wife. And all he’d done to Henry and his kids, the whole family. Plus, there were more people. I didn’t know Henry and his family or the other people this man had hurt, but that didn’t matter. None of that mattered. This was the man who’d done so much evil. So many people had lost their lives and had their lives ruined because of him.
He cleared his throat and continued talking. “Your boyfriend did this to me. Took me a long while to heal, but like Rasputin, the mad Russian monk, I came back from the dead. I trust he must have told you what happened between us. That little explosion could have killed me if I’d been deeper inside the building. However, it was good for people to think I was dead. It was more dramatic this way, plus it gave me time to get to a hundred percent. Probably better. I lost a lot of clients though while I was down. I blame Lucian for that.”
“You’re crazy.”
“Newsflash, people kind of know that, as do I, my love.” His eyes went wide with excitement.
My mind ran on Dad and Millicent. What did they do to him? Where was she? Where was Tag?
“My father. What did you do to him?”
“Absolutely nothing. It’s not his time yet. This is the main event. He’s probably at home tucked in bed watching shit and reading the Bible. Poor asshole, as if reading the Bible can help him. Can it help anybody? Hardly, even when you do what the good book says, you’re still at a loss. He seems to take comfort in it. I wish I could burn it right in front of him. I’d have fun doing that. I’d torture him then too.”
He walked around swinging his head from side to side like he relished the thought. I took the opportunity to look around the room. Anything that could give us some escape would be good. Of course, providing I could get out of these bonds. The room we were in looked like an old-style interrogation room. Like something from The Green Mile. Large space, bars ahead of us with a door. It made me think we could be at the old, abandoned prison. I couldn’t remember the name of it, and there was a good chance we weren’t there. I stopped looking around when Victor turned back to face me with a devilish smile. It was a smile a predator would give its prey. He looked at me like he wanted me to answer. What the hell kind of answer should I give him?
Anything I said would most likely infuriate him. I couldn’t call him an evil, psychotic madman.
“Poor sap,” he taunted, seeming to love the sound of his voice. “There’s a chance he doesn’t even know what happened to you. Millicent was such a good sport. Giving us all the information we needed, feeding us with data. Good woman. She wore a wire and everything, allowing transmit live and in living color to get straight to us. That’s what you call a good sport. A real team player. She deserves an award or something. Best spy.”
“How did you get to her?” I wanted to know. I had to know. I wanted to know everything.
“That wasn’t me. So, your guess is as good as mine. She was already playing the game when I got on board. That wire of hers worked wonders though. Technology these days is off the hook. That little device allowed us to hear even the slightest whisper from thirty five feet away. Good right? We heard things even before she heard. That’s how we knew about the key and the safe. Also how we knew when to get rid of the wire. You have to agree that nothing is sweeter than the betrayal of a friend. A trusted family friend who was more like family to you. We well and truly put her to good use.”
God, I couldn’t believe it. Of course it all made sense now. They played this game so well. They didn’t need to bug the house when they had Millicent wearing a wire. She did indeed catch the tail end of the conversation I had with Dad in the garden. However, by then it was too late. Chances were she never heard any of what I’d said but they did.
They’d already heard me say that I was going to put the key in the safe. They may have even heard the whole conversation prior to that too depending on where Millicent was in the house.
That laugh sounded from him again, making me sick.
“You people will pay for this,” I cried. It was stupid to say that, like I could really make them pay. I couldn’t do anything. I was helpless. So much for being a cop. Look where it got me.
“Your beloved won’t be able to save you.” He laughed. “He thinks he can just get the diamonds and hand them over, then I’ll let you both go. As if I’ve ever been a bargaining man. He’ll come along riding on his white horse, and either I’ll shoot him in the head and take the diamonds, or one of my lackeys will get him.”
“Bastard!” I screamed from the depths of my soul.
“Once again, you are right. I was a bastard child. You seem to know me quite well. The thing is, Amelia, you are my prize. No money on earth can make up for the delicious flesh of a beautiful woman. And I get two for the price of one.”
Oh God… God.
I had to will myself not to cry. What worked and stopped me from crying was watching Millicent come through the barred doors with a mop and a bottle of disinfectant.
My blood actually boiled.
She walked in, not looking at me, and started cleaning the area around me where I’d thrown up.
Victor laughed and laughed and laughed. Then he did the most disgusting thing by pushing her and shoving her to her knees. She cried out in pain, and it was then she looked at me.
“Cleean, cleean away like you’re trying to wash away your sins.” He made a show of spinning around and dancing. Arms out to either side while his legs did something close to what looked like a cross between the Irish gig and a Russian gopak. It was quite a spectacle.
However, while he did that, Millicent gave me a pointed look, flicked over her hand to reveal a little key, and wedged it in the crack in the floor board.
She squeezed her eyes shut and moved back before Victor could see what she’d done.
My heart started racing, beating a thousand beats per minute.
She was helping me.
“Cleannnn!!!” Victor cried.
Millicent cleaned, and I realized things weren’t exactly as they seemed.
Chapter 11
Luc
There were no words to describe the feeling that washed over me when I went back to Raphael and saw the cleanup crew outside his house.
Inside and outside.
We’d left eight guys here, and only one had lived to tell the tale. The guy who lived was in a coma, and there was a chance he wouldn’t make it.
I’d seen this before, several times, and I hated death. I hated it in every sense. Especially death like this. Mindless, useless killing to leave devastation.
While Claudius and the guys stayed with the crew, I went to find Raphael.
He was in his office sitting by the window.
In his leather chair, he faced the window, and I couldn’t see his expression. From the slump in his shoulders I knew the weight he must have carried.
Amelia was gone, more people had died, and surprise, surprise, the rat in the house had enabled this mess.
Who was the rat? Well, I had a wild hunch now.
It grieved me to think it. It grieved me deeply to think it because if I was right—and I strongly suspected I was—I’d handed my girl over to the traitor.
Millicent.
She was the only person who should have been here and wasn’t, and Victor didn’t mention taking her. He hadn’t said anything about taking her at all.
It still didn’t add up, but
there were pieces of this nightmare that were starting to fit. Some of the things the other knew could only have been delivered to them by someone who was close with us. They knew specific things. Too specific to guess.
Claudius was right. The butler or the housekeeper.
Raphael turned when he sensed my presence. He looked at me with the desolation I felt.
I closed the door and walked over to him, leaning against the window ledge, so I could face him.
Tears streamed down his cheeks, and he held a picture of Amelia in his hands. It was of her dancing.
“They took my child, Luc. I…” He rubbed his hands over his face, smearing the tears.
“I know.” I hadn’t spoken since we left the Fontaines. My voice came out in a rasp, and my throat was dry. I didn’t know how I was even able to talk or give off this calm appearance I seemed to portray.
Truthfully, inside I was dying. I was dying, and I didn’t know what to do.
Amelia, my Amelia.
What would that fucking Victor do to her? What would he do to her to get back at me?
This was the very thing I’d vowed against just the other day.
I should have taken her and fled the country. It would have been better than this. Running and looking over our shoulders for the rest of our lives if that’s what it took would have been better than this.
They took Gigi, and I didn’t even know if she was alive. Chances were, she wasn’t.
So, my first duty should have ben to protect Amelia at all cost.
It was funny how this had all started.
Money and power, that was what this was about. Money and power.
Falling in love wasn’t part of the plan, neither was finding out I was just a pawn in Raphael’s game.
A person to be used. And I didn’t even want the damn business anymore. I didn’t want it, and it was almost laughable… I didn’t want this life either.
At first, I’d told Amelia I’d change for her, but she wanted me to change for me.
I wanted that too, now more than ever. Life was more than this. Life was more than greed and wanting more money, more everything.
Mafia Love (The Accidental Mafia Queen Book 3) Page 9
