“I will get her back, even if it kills me.” Time to shake things up a bit. “Pa… come here.” Dad came closer. “Gigi, this is my father. He’s going to get you some place safe. Amelia’s father will go with you too—”
Just as I thought, dear old Raphael cut in. “I’m going with you. I told you. You can’t send me back.” He squared his shoulders and gave me daggers.
“Like fuck. Of course, I’m sending you back.”
“Luc, I will kill you here.”
“Raphael,” Pa snapped and moved closer. “You’re going to slow them down. Look at you, you can’t even breathe properly. Listen for a fucking change.”
“No. I’m going,” the stubborn old fool said. “You can’t tell me what to do.”
I pulled out the ring he’d given me earlier and shoved it on my hand, then waved it in front of his face.
“I think you’ll find that I can. I’m in charge here, and I’m pulling rank. Don’t cross me, or I will kill you.” I bared my teeth and stared him down.
Max stepped in, literally stepped in front of Raphael and me.
“Hey, we don’t have time for this shit,” He held up his hands and whirled around to face Raphael. “With every due respect, Mr. Rossi, I think Luc’s right.”
“I can’t just leave.” Raphael frowned.
“Okay, how about you stay here with some of your guys and watch surveillance. I think we should split up anyway. This is how we’d lead a team on a raid. Can we do that?”
I had to give the guy credit for his attempt.
I nodded, agreeing. “You four,” I pointed to the four guys in the back. “Stay with the boss.” I called Raphael boss out of habit.
They nodded, agreeing.
“Keep watch, and by God, Raphael, if you see Amelia come this way, you take her and go. You hear me? Take her out of here and go. Don’t be some hero and go after Tag. Leave that part to us.”
“Sure,” Raphael finally agreed. “Boss.”
It threw me off kilter to hear him call me that. It didn’t have the effect I thought it would. The effect I’d dreamed of so long ago. Because I’d changed so much.
I gave him a curt nod.
“Okay, let’s do this.” I walked on ahead and looked back at Raphael. He continued to watch me. That look was still in his eyes. I knew how badly he must have wanted to join us, but this had gone long past sympathy or empathy.
Those things were weaknesses on a battlefield. They would be weaknesses in Victor’s arena.
Chapter 16
Amelia
Punch.
Kick… upper cut. Kick, punch. Kick.
I got him. The tallest guy. I sent a kick straight to his sternum and pushed up his neck. Something snapped, and he fell backwards.
One down, and another just came to take his place.
I’d been waiting for the right moment to use the bombs. I needed an opening, so I could get to the door first, but the guys were in the way. Now more.
There were six of them now, and I got the impression that they were playing with me. Toying with me and loving the fact that it was me against them.
Sure, I could give as good as I got, but there was a limit. I had a limit, and I’d gone past it. I was getting tired, and they were too strong for me.
Out of my league. Above me, as Luc would have said.
He would have been right.
Two of them rushed at me, giving me a small opening to get to the door. I leapt into the air as they were about to grab me and sent a flying kick to the closest guy. It took him out.
Now. Now was my chance. I ran to the door, twisted back on myself, and threw the bombs. Both of them.
Biker guy ducked for cover behind the chair. The others weren’t so lucky. The minute the bottles hit the floor, they exploded. Shards of glass sparked from it, piercing in their skin, but it was the chemical reaction that packed the punch. The liquid hit the floor, then blew up.
It shocked me, and again, I thanked my lucky stars for Gigi. I didn’t know she knew how to do stuff like that. God.
I turned to run, feeling hopeful that I just might make it, but damn it, not paces away from me stood ten more guys. They all came at me, and we started fighting. Again.
I fought with all the energy in my being, but there were too many of them.
“Give up, girlie. Great show and good fight,” biker guy taunted. He coughed as he came out of the room.
One of the guys landed a fist in my jaw, and I staggered backwards seeing stars floating before me.
I thought I was going to collapse from the impact. My stomach felt queasy again, and it was all I could do not to keel over and vomit.
I moved away, still trying to break away from them, but two of them grabbed me before I could even pull in a breath.
They ushered me to biker guy, who’d been watching me fight off his goons. The smile on his face grew wider and turned into a laugh.
A very haughty, satisfied laugh that sent shivers down my spine. I kicked out at him, using the guys holding me up for balance.
Biker guy, however, was quicker than I expected, and sharper than he looked. He bared those disgusting teeth to me as he grabbed my leg and stabbed my thigh with something sharp.
I screamed. The thing pierced through my skin and felt like a needle. It was a needle, a syringe with a big needle on the end, and shit…
No…
My leg… I couldn’t feel it.
When he dropped my leg, it dangled with no life, and I couldn’t move it.
“What did you do to me!” I screamed.
“Just a little something to calm you down. A general anesthetic, if you will. This paralyses you, so we can torture you with ease.” He laughed. “Come on, boys.”
I tried to break free of their hold on me to no avail. Even if I did manage to free myself, where would I run? My leg…
Not feeling it was the strangest sensation ever.
It was awful, just awful.
What was worse was being taken back to where I’d run from. The cell. But we didn’t go inside. They walked me past it and into another room. It looked like a waiting area. Tag sat on a sofa and stood as we came in. Victor came through the door on the opposite side of the room and started hollering with such deep laughter there was no doubt he was crazy. Completely and utterly crazy.
“Amelia,” Tag hissed. “I am not amused by your little stunt.”
“I didn’t do it to a amuse you, so fuck you.”
The guy holding me the tightest tightened his grip even more.
“Really?”
“Fucking asshole, let me go. Let me go!”
I didn’t care that I might have sounded just as crazy as Victor. This was the end, and I didn’t care.
“Victor, go get the other one,” Tag said.
“No!” I wailed.
He ignored me and continued speaking to Victor. “Kill her ass. She’s served her purpose. Was going to use her a little more, but I’m accelerating things. No need to keep pets when you don’t have room. Here, there is no room for insolence. She couldn’t have gotten far.”
“Leave her out of this. She has nothing to do with you.”
Tag just looked at me. “I don’t care. She’s linked to you, and you are linked to Raphael. Plus, she knows where we are. That’s bad. Real bad. Now… the question on my mind is this: How’d you escape so easily?”
“Fuck you,” I screamed.
“That’s not an answer.”
I pushed back against the guys holding me and kicked out with my good leg like some wild, feral creature.
Like before, my leg was grabbed, and Tag plunged another needle in.
This time, the paralysis came quickly. Before I could get over the numbness, he stabbed me in my right arm.
I cried out from the pain.
Tag laughed, and the men set me down on the ground.
“You know, I just thought of something.” He put his forefinger to his temple.
“Raphael thinks you
’re alive. He has the diamonds, and he’ll be here by eight with them. As long as he thinks you’re alive, that’s all that matters. You don’t have to be alive anymore.”
I started shaking when he pulled out his gun. I would never beg for my life. That was the last thing that would sink me to the abysmal black hole my life had become.
I had happy moments though. Happy moments with Luc.
I actually fell in love. It didn’t matter who he was or what he was. He loved me.
I hoped he knew that I’d always loved him. He’d saved me right from day one. But the biggest thing he’d saved was my heart. I’d found myself because of him. And now I would die.
I love you, Luc…
I watched Tag raise his gun. Adjust it in line with my head and pull the trigger back. He released it, and I waited to welcome the bullet straight into my head.
Will it hurt, or will I die instantly?
I’d never know because someone shoved me out of the way…
Someone shoved me hard, and I rolled over onto my side. A scream of terrifying anguish echoed through the room. I flopped over to see Millicent grabbing her chest and screaming. Wailing in agony.
The bullet…
It hit her… it hit her in her chest. It hit her.
She took it for me.
Saved me.
“Nooooo!” I screamed.
Blood spurted from her lips.
I tried to move. It was so hard with just one arm, but I moved to her, pulling and sliding until I got to her. Tag started to laugh.
“Millicent. No…”
“Amelia, I’m sorry.” Her voice was just above a whisper. Soft and searching. Barely there. Blood covered the whole front of her pink cardigan.
“Stay with me,” I begged.
“It’s my fault. All my fault. I didn’t mean to. I didn’t mean to. They were going to kill my husband. I love you, sweet girl.”
I watched the light and the life leave her eyes. It literally was like someone had switched something off. Something deep inside her.
I screamed and tried to wake her, but nothing. “No, oh God. No. Please.”
Millicent…
She’d been so dear to me. Always. In my mind I could see her with me as a child. She’d always been there. From as far back as I could remember. With her milk and cookies taking care of me.
She’d been there when I’d brought home my first leotard, there to pick me up when I felt down. She’d cleaned up all the things I broke in the house as I practiced my moves, and covered for me because my parents didn’t like me prancing around the place for that very reason. She’d been the only person I’d told about the first guy I crushed on, and my first kiss. My parents would have gone apeshit at me, and things like that had best been reserved for Millicent.
She’d been there when the letter came from Julliard, accepting me. It had been the two of us who were the first to know and celebrate.
She’d been like a mother to me.
Now she was gone.
“Pity, pity. I really wanted her to see me kill her husband. It’s no fun now that she’s dead. You people are so fickle. I can almost guess your price. Haven’t you heard about guarding your secrets with your life? Or rather your weaknesses. With her, all I did was threaten to kill her husband. That was her price, and look where it got her. Never did like her though. Always, she stuck her nose where it didn’t belong. Damn nosy bitch.”
“You bastard! Why did you drag her into this mess?” I could barely see him through my tears.
“Dear old Millicent here was the one who gave the game away. She was the rat, the person who started this whole show. She notified me of your father’s knowledge of my affair with your mother, and from that, I realized what happened years ago. Your father set me up. He’s to blame for why you don’t have a mother and, of course, your current predicament.”
“You take no blame, none whatsoever. You had an affair with your best friend’s wife. That is the cause of all of this. Youuuuuuu!” I bellowed.
His face flushed red, and he rushed to me with the gun and pressed it to my head.
“Don’t you speak to me like that.” He snarled, nostrils flaring and eyes blazing.
“Kill me. Go ahead. I don’t care. Just know this. It was your fault. All of it. All of this. You, the disloyal friend who broke a family apart. Things could have been different. My mother would be here if not for you.”
I swore he was about to pull the trigger again, but he stopped when one of his lackeys burst into the room.
“Boss, Dino said he saw one of Raphael’s men on the second floor.” The guy blurted in a hurried babble.
Tag straightened up in fury and growled. “What!”
I looked at the guy. He was scraggly looking with a scar on his chin. If one of Dad’s men was here, then that meant Luc was here.
My heart squeezed at the prospect. I didn’t think he would have been able to find me. I didn’t know how he had.
“That’s fine. Go after them,” Tag ordered. “I don’t know how your people found us, but they’ll pay. Let’s change things up and take this to the roof. I’ll bet you’ll look just like an angel hanging from it.”
Oh God…
Chapter 17
Luc
“Luc, stop.” Claudius grabbed my arm and pulled me close to him. He pointed up to the floor above us.
We were in the atrium that ran across to the other side of the building. According to the map, it would take us up to the section we wanted to get to
the fifth floor.
I looked up and saw three figures coming at us fast.
Fuck. I thought this might happen because the guys would have gone after Amelia and Gigi, and they were still looking for Gigi. It made sense that they’d come this way.
“Time to change things up, boys,” I called out.
Sinclaire flashed me a dark look and readied his gun.
“I’ll grab a spot high up. It’ll be useful.” Max pulled out his rifle.
I liked his way of thinking.
“I’ll watch your back,” Sinclaire added. I doubted he would have wanted to stay without Max.
They left us and moved up the set of stairs leading to the left. It went up to a tower.
“Let’s move, boys. Let’s draw them this way,” I ordered, and my men followed me into the hall to the right. I wasn’t sure what this place could have been. Maybe a break room of sorts judging by the space it had. However, it reminded me of my high school auditorium.
I hated it, and I hated this place too.
High school was always a reminder of how poor we’d been back in LA, and how miserable life was. Hopelessness and, to some extent, helplessness.
Just like now.
“Where to, boss?” Maurice asked.
“Spread out. They saw us come in here.”
“You heard the man.” Dante smiled, pulling out his favorite guns. Two Berettas with the Japanese symbol for earth engraved on the handle.
“Dante, you take the lead,” Claudius ordered. Dante gave him an odd look.
“And you?” he asked.
“Just do it.” Dante cocked his head to the left, and Gio, Jude, and Alex followed. They went behind a wall that curved down to another corridor.
“Let’s do this.” Claudius slapped a hand on my back. “Boss.”
“Yes, let’s. Maurice and Saul, take the corner. Let’s eliminate as much of them as we can.” I ordered.
Footsteps sounded now, echoing on the concrete.
We moved. Claudius followed me, but we weren’t going to take cover.
He knew what I meant to do without me having to say it.
“Luc, if I die—”
“Don’t you fucking dare,” I cut him off. “I need you. If I die, I need—”
“Lucian, don’t you fucking dare. If you die, I will kill you myself.”
Three goons ran through the door. Claudius and I ended them before they could get fully in. That warned the rest of the guys comin
g, and bullets sprayed in when they rushed in, coming at us from all directions. Just like at the facility, men came in, rushing in by the droves.
Like a plague.
Ten came. The bullets from The Four took them down, but they were replaced by more guys. Five got to us, and we started fighting.
A bullet from above took down the guy I was kicking.
That came from Max. He sent another bullet from his rifle straight to the head of the guy who was about to shoot Claudius.
More guys came. Fuck, there were so many of them.
Too many. Far too many.
The Four came out fighting and shooting, as did Maurice and Saul. It literally was like war.
Someone grabbed me, and I whirled around to face them. It was Claudius.
“Go!” he yelled. “Go find Amelia. We got this. You need to go.”
I didn’t want to leave him, but he was right. I should go. I realized this could be the last time I saw him. Our lighthearted jokes earlier aside.
I took the ring Raphael gave me off and handed it to him.
He looked at it, then back to me.
“The business is yours, just like I said.” I told him.
“I’ll clean it up,” Claudius promised with a nod.
That surprised the shit out of me, but I didn’t have time to be shocked.
I turned and rushed away, not looking back.
Best not to. Better to face what was ahead of me than look back.
I got to another set of stairs that led to the top, to where I needed to be. To Amelia. God, I hoped she was okay.
I ran up the stairs and turned. That was when I got hit with a sink.
The fucking thing came from nowhere and hit me so hard it knocked me back, sending me back down the steps I’d come.
Shit, my back… it felt broken. Cracked. I didn’t know what the fuck.
The fall winded me, and the pain that rushed through my back nearly made me black out.
I blinked several times and took some deep breaths.
A bullet landed straight in my shoulder, making me scream.
“Fuck.”
“Got ya,” cooed Victor’s voice in that sing-song fashion that irritated me to the core. Then the fucking bastard practically jumped from the ledge he was on and flew down toward me. He carried a sword. Some katana-looking thing that was so sharp it glinted with a sparkle. The lighting from the windows was poor, but I could see that if that thing got me, it would be the end of me.
Mafia Love (The Accidental Mafia Queen Book 3) Page 14
