“Fucking Lucky Lucianos.”
“Got any more weapons?” I asked, holding up my gun. “This is all I got on me, and I’m not wasting time picking up more.”
Graham’s face contorted into pure evil when he said, “We’ve got a whole goddam arsenal downstairs. I can start a fucking war with North Korea and win. Now let’s fucking go.”
They had our women. His children. If they hurt one fucking hair on their heads, no one would be left standing, guaranteed. We may have been the underdogs, but we were Savages. And you don’t fuck with The Savages.
We sprinted down the stairs, into the near-empty club. The only people left were employees, shutting shit down for the night. Ignoring the curious looks, we darted out the back door, and to the nearby parking garage. Waiting for us were three black SUVs and about ten men I didn’t recognize, along with Carter.
“This the fuckin’ cavalry? You’re trusting these kids with our girls?” I asked Graham, throwing a thumb in their direction. They looked about twenty, tops, save for one other man who I assumed was their leader. Where the fuck did they come from?
“That’s not what your ma said last night when I shagged her,” one of them said, proving my point. Shagged her. Fuck, Graham was not going to be satisfied until he migrated the whole fucking Ireland to the US.
“Shut the fuck up, Stiles,” the one in charge snapped.
“This is Sinclair, my cousin from Ireland.” Graham nodded at the only one who looked old enough to wipe his own ass. He was inked to the max and looked like a badass, especially in comparison to the rest of them. “And all of these men…are Savages. The rest doesn’t matter.”
The Backstreet Boys went back to loading their weapons and packing their shit into the vehicles. Graham wasn’t kidding when he said he’d brought ammo. I was never involved enough to realize how much weaponry the guy had. From Molotov Cocktails to Glocks, Remingtons, and Colts, they had every single type of firearm they could get their hands on. Everything was neatly arranged across long black sheets.
“How do you know where they are? Do we know for sure the Lucky Lucianos have them?” I knew it was wishful thinking, but I was in denial. I needed Jade to be okay.
“I got home late to find my front door wide the fuck open and a note that read, ‘You took something of ours. Now we have something of yours.’ It had to be them. They’re retaliating because we stole the shipping containers.”
Graham’s jaw clenched so hard that I thought his teeth would shatter right then. I knew he was blaming himself for not protecting Dahlia and the babies. Just like I was blaming myself for not getting Jade home safely myself. Fuck, if I hadn’t been such a drunk bastard, she would’ve been at my place right now. In my bed, where she belonged. And I’d be inside her, where I fucking belonged.
“It doesn’t make any sense. What does Jade have to do with any of this?” I did the fighting. I didn’t typically get involved in the business. Besides that, almost no one knew about Jade and me.
Everyone was finished loading up and jumped into the SUVs. I went with Graham, and Carter and Sinclair drove the others. Graham looked over at me quizzically, as if trying to decide whether or not to tell me something.
“Spit it the fuck out, G. Don’t keep shit from me right now.” I had no patience for this. We didn’t have time for this.
Graham sped away, leading the others. His hands clenching and unclenching the steering wheel.
“When I tell you this, you are not going to lose your goddamn mind and go in there with guns blazing. You will not lose your cool. And you will not put my girls or yours in danger by doing so. Understand? Jade is not the only one on the line here.”
“I’m only going to lose my shit if you don’t fucking tell me what’s going on!” I spat at him, feeling more out of control than I had before. Not even the biggest fights with the worst competitors had me this worked up. In the ring, I was calm and collected. But when it came to Jade? I was feeling borderline psychotic.
“I had Carter do some digging tonight. Lucky’s too careful to do this shit himself. He had his right-hand man take care of it.”
“And?” I growled impatiently. I was going to knock his fucking head off his shoulders.
Graham huffed out an exasperated breath, like he was already regretting telling me.
“Turns out that man is Stefano Ricci. Name sound familiar at all?” He glanced over at me out of the corner of his eye, gauging my reaction.
“No. Should it?”
“Apparently, at some point, he was with Jade. Carter found out where he lived. Broke into his place and found pictures. A lot of them. Some of them together, some of Jade, seemingly unaware that he was photographing her, ones of her sleeping…nude photos.”
Motherfucker! Jade never mentioned him. Not fucking once. I rolled my neck and shoulders, breathing deeply. I needed out of this fucking car. I needed to hurt. Maim. Kill.
“There’s more…” Graham hesitated. He never hesitated. Whatever it was, it had to be bad.
“Carter found a girl in his bed, an escort, he thinks. She had a black wig on and looked a hell of a lot like Jade. She wasn’t breathing. Strangled from the looks of it. Sick fuck.”
I let out a growl and punched the dashboard, and the helpless feeling threatened to swallow me whole.
“Anyway,” Graham finished, his jaw so tense I thought he was going to shoot lava from his eyes. “That’s how we found where they took them. Stefano is a sloppy sonofabitch. He left clues everywhere around his house, including the address where they hide the stolen goods from the ship containers. I’m ninety-nine percent sure they’re there.”
“I’m going to kill this bastard, and he is going to die a slow, painful death.”
He didn’t say another word, just continued weaving in and out of traffic. Finally, we pulled up to a seedy ass abandoned warehouse in the Bronx. I threw my door open and had to stop myself from rushing the door to the building. Graham was right. My reckless behavior would only hurt Jade, Dahl, and the kids. We needed a plan.
Everyone else piled out of their vehicles and gathered around, waiting for instructions.
“How the feck do we know they’re here?” Sinclair asked. This place looked totally deserted, which I guess was the perfect location to hide people.
Graham nodded in Carter’s direction, and Carter shrugged.
“I’m good at finding people.”
Stefano was officially unhinged. I always knew he was crazy, but I never saw this coming. I refused to remove my dress, so he took the liberty of doing it for me. With his knife. He took care of my bra and panties, too. He used my tattered dress to tie my hands behind my back, and I was left shaking and shivering on the cold, hard ground.
Stefano tugged at the knees of his pants, then crouched down to a squatting position next to me. “You’ve been a very bad girl, Jade.” He scolded me like a child while dragging his knife down my cheek, pressing just hard enough to draw blood.
“Please, Stef…” I whispered, using my old nickname for him in hopes of getting through to him.
“Don’t fucking play cute with me. Tell me.” He slid the knife down between my breasts. I squeezed my eyes shut. “Did you let him touch you here?”
I didn’t dare answer. If I denied it, he might get mad at me for lying. If I admitted it, well, I just knew that wouldn’t be pretty either. The tears fell fast and freely, my sobs getting harder and harder to keep muted. This was really happening. Cole and Graham weren’t coming for us. They probably didn’t even realize we were gone yet.
Stefano slid his knife lower, but I clenched my thighs together, trapping his hand between them.
“Did you let him touch you here, too? Did you let him into your body, Jade?” He tried to force my legs apart, but I still held them together tightly.
“Open your fucking legs. Apparently, you’ll let anyone in that pussy, and now it’s my turn.” He pushed me down onto my back, and I fell onto my tied hands, helpless. The floor was cold and dirty, but what hi
t me harder was the notion that I was never going to get out of here. Even worse, I had no way to guarantee Dahl and the babies would get out of here safely either.
“Christ, nothing compares to the real thing,” he whispered, staring down at my naked body.
“Wh-what do you mean?” I had no idea what he was talking about, but I wanted to keep him talking instead of doing. Every second counted.
“I found a replacement. One who looked just like you, save for her brown hair. I couldn’t have you yet, so I had to make do.” He shrugged, like the words coming out of his mouth were completely normal. “I fucked her just today. It’s a shame she didn’t make it.” He shook his head. “But now,” he unzipped his fly, “now you and I are going to get reacquainted.”
He looked down to take himself out of his pants, and I did the only thing I could. I swung my foot out and kicked right between his legs. He grabbed himself and doubled over, so I kicked again, this time getting him in the face. His nose started gushing once again. I used my legs to scoot away and put as much distance between us as I could, but once he regained his composure, he stalked toward me with a murderous look in his eyes. I rolled onto my stomach in an effort to push up onto my knees and get to my feet, but before I could even try, one hundred and eighty pounds of psycho landed on my back, knocking the wind out of me. My arms were numb, my face throbbing from smacking against the hard floor.
“If you wanted it rough, all you had to do was say so, Bambina,” he growled into my ear. I screamed and he threw a hand around my mouth while trying to free himself from his pants once more. I bit his hand and tried to buck him off of me, but he wasn’t budging.
Just as I was about to give up hope, I heard heavy boots against the concrete, running in our direction. I tried to angle my head to see who it was, but my hair was in my eyes. My heart started pounding even faster in anticipation. Please be Cole. Please be Cole, I chanted in my head like a prayer.
“Jade! Baby, are you okay?!” Cole. I felt such overwhelming relief in that moment that I completely broke down crying, harder than before. I couldn’t even form words.
“I swear to fucking God, I will put a bullet in your head in about two seconds if you don’t get the fuck away from my girl.”
Stefano’s response was a malicious laugh. He still had me pinned with his body, not making any attempt to get off of me.
“What makes you think I won’t put a bullet in her little pretty head first?” Stefano taunted.
“Because I’ll kill your whole motherfucking family and then fly my ass to Italy to burn down the rest of the country just to make sure I didn’t miss a long-lost relative of yours!” Cole roared.
Bang!
The shot rang through my head. I had no idea where it came from or who, if anyone, was hit. My hair was still matted in my face, and I still couldn’t move.
Stefano let out a string of cuss words before rolling off of me, onto the ground next to me. I stared at him in shock, not able to even process what just happened. I felt my hands being freed, and a shirt being put over my head, then I was scooped up into strong, familiar arms. Home. I was home.
“Fuck, baby, are you hurt? Was I too late? Tell me he didn’t…” Cole’s voice was strangled. I looked up into those savage, yet somehow sweet golden eyes of his, and shook my head. He let out a sigh of relief and smashed his lips to my forehead.
“Thank fuck. You did so good, baby. Such a strong girl.” The sound of his voice, his scent, his warm, bare chest, and his reassuring words filled me with comfort.
“Where are Dahl and the girls?” We had to help them.
“Shh, Butterfly. Graham’s got ’em. Everything’s okay now. Everyone’s safe.”
Moaning in the corner had me whipping my head around. Cole didn’t look startled, as if he had kept one eye on him the whole time. He managed to keep the gun trained on Stefano with one hand while still holding me. Stefano sat doubled over, clutching his shoulder in pain.
“Listen to me, Jade,” he said, sliding me down his body until my feet hit the floor. He didn’t look at me, all of his attention now focused on Stefano who was climbing to his feet. “I need you to go out back and find Graham and his men. I need to take care of something.”
My head was already shaking before he was finished with his sentence. For one, there was no way I wanted to walk out of here alone. And I knew that Stefano probably deserved it, but I didn’t want anyone to die. Or maybe I just didn’t want Cole to kill him.
“No, please, don’t do this. Don’t make me leave you,” I begged. I sounded weak, even to my own ears, but I was all out of fucks to give.
“Jade. Go.” His jaw was clenched, his tone final and unforgiving. This wasn’t Cole. This was Slaughterhouse Savage. I knew not to argue, but I wasn’t scared of him. I knew my beast would always protect me. I reached up on my tippy toes and pressed my lips to his scruffy neck. I had the overwhelming urge to tell him I loved him, and the thought shocked me more than anything that went down that night, and that said a lot, considering I’d been fucked by a bottle and kidnapped by my ex in the very same night.
At the sight of me kissing Cole, Stefano somehow found the strength to run toward us with a roar. Cole pushed me behind his back, and that was enough to send me bolting in the opposite direction, my bare feet slapping against the hard floor, Cole’s shirt the only thing on my body. Once I turned down the hall, I heard yet another shot. I skidded to a stop and went to run back in, but I was yanked backwards by my hair, and something hard pressed against my temple.
“Careful, Bambina. Wouldn’t want my finger to slip and pull the trigger. Your boyfriends over there wouldn’t be too happy about that, would they?”
I didn’t answer, just gritted my teeth and tried to stay perfectly still. I was getting real sick of being threatened. I didn’t even know who the fuck this guy was, hadn’t even gotten a look at him, but I had a sneaky suspicion that he was the head honcho.
He led me back into the room, one hand over my mouth, and the other still holding a gun to my head. Cole was standing over Stefano with his foot on his chest and had a gun pointed at his head. If I never saw another gun in my life, it would be too soon. Mystery Man jammed his weapon further into my skull, causing me to cry out, earning Cole’s attention.
“Let. Her. Fucking. Go.” Cole didn’t look afraid, but I could see his pulse jumping wildly in his neck.
“You first, friend. Why shouldn’t I kill her right here and now? You and your men killed mine. Every single one of them, save for that sorry bastard on the ground.”
“Everyone knows you don’t go after women and children, Lucky. That’s punk shit.”
Lucky. As in the Lucky Luciano. Awesome. I felt him shrug behind me. “I do what I need to do to get the results I want. No one is off-limits, including this pretty little thing.”
I could tell Cole was trying hard to keep his temper under control by the way he inhaled through his nose and squeezed his eyes shut tight before responding. “Let her go right now, and you and I can settle this. Just let her leave.”
“Sorry. No can do. Release him first, and I’ll think about letting her live.”
“Now, now, gentlemen. There’s no reason we can’t come to some sort of agreement, now, is there?” Graham’s voice echoed throughout the building, but I couldn’t see him.
“You steal my containers, you kill my men, and you think you’re in any position to negotiate?!” His harsh laughter in my ear made me jump.
“I have a proposition for you that I think you’ll be very interested in.” Graham’s voice sounded aloof, almost bored even. This motherfucker was made of ice. He moved into my line of sight, successfully shielding Cole from his view.
“I’m listening.”
“Let the girl go, and we’ll discuss. This is the men’s business. Women have no place in such dealings.”
I raised an eyebrow at him, but realized that it was his way of getting me out of there, and now was not the time to start burning my bra.
Not that I even had one to burn at the moment.
Lucky’s gun moved from my head to Graham’s, and he released me.
“So help me God, if you even so much as sneeze in my direction, I won’t hesitate to blow your fucking head off. But I won’t stop there. I’ll kill your little wife, too. Now, start talking.”
Graham jerked his head, motioning for me to get the fuck out of Dodge. This time, I didn’t hesitate. I flew out of there like a bat out of hell with Cole’s white V-neck swishing around my thighs. I busted out the back door, straight into another pair of arms.
Not again.
“You Cole’s bird? Easy now, luv. I got you.” He had an Irish accent, even thicker than Carter’s, and I was thanking my lucky stars that it wasn’t an Italian one. I looked up into the scariest pair of ice blue eyes I had ever seen. He was tall, pale, hair the color of obsidian. His features were harsh, but beautiful. He seemed elegant, regal almost, but also cold and lethal. This man was a walking contradiction.
“Who the fuck are you?” I snapped, ready for the night to be over already.
He took a step back and released my shoulders.
“Name’s Sinclair. You can call me Sin. You kiss your mother with that mouth?”
“Hell no.”
His lip twitched in response.
There was a group of young men behind him, and holy fuck, I was pretty sure there were strict rules to being a part of their little club. Rule number one: Must be drop-dead gorgeous. Rule number two: Must be above six feet tall. Rule number three: Must be a badass.
Finally, I saw a face I recognized when Carter made his way to me. I hadn’t spent much time with Carter, but I had always liked him, even when he booted my ass out of Hot N’ Heavy all those years ago. I had a major lady boner for him right from the start. He and Cole both. But then I got involved with Stefano.
I didn’t know Carter very well, anymore, but something about him endeared me to him. Sometimes, I just wanted to hug him, but I didn’t think he’d appreciate it. He was an observer. When he spoke, everyone listened, because he didn’t bother unless it was something worthy of saying. He was tall, tan, and muscular, but leaner than Cole. While he was a man of few words, he still managed to appear cocky as hell without engaging in pissing contests, like most men. I had a feeling his machismo was all a front, though.
Savage Savior (Savage People Book 3) Page 26
