by Penelope Sky
Buttons and Grace
Penelope Sky
This is a work of fiction. All the characters and events portrayed in this novel are fictitious or used fictitiously. All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means, including information storage and retrieval systems, without written permission from the publisher or author, except in the case of a reviewer, who may quote brief passages in a review.
Hartwick Publishing
Buttons and Grace
Copyright © 2017 by Penelope Sky
All Rights Reserved
Chapter 1
Cane
I sat on the couch beside Adelina with my arm draped over her shoulders. We were both watching TV, but I knew neither one of us was really thinking about the content on the screen. I risked my neck to save her life, and when I told her what she meant to me, she didn’t feel the same way back.
It fucking hurt.
I had been certain she felt the same way, thought I felt it in every kiss she gave me. She had just returned from a gruesome captivity, and she didn’t refrain from touching me. She wanted me all over her, my lips sealed to her mouth.
But that didn’t mean anything.
Now here we were—in painful silence.
My phone rang, and Pearl’s name was on the screen. I hadn’t spoken to her since the raid, so I assumed it was important. I took the call and pressed the phone to my ear. “Hey, I—”
“Crow has been captured.” She spoke a million miles an hour. “Tristan took him from the house, and now they’re heading east. Get him, Cane. Now!”
My reflexes were quick, and I was on my feet instantly. I darted for the pistol sitting on the counter and shoved it into the back of my jeans. I grabbed the bulletproof vest still sitting out. “I’m moving.”
“Hurry!”
I hung up and strapped on the vest as I headed out the door. My pulse was thudding in my ears, and I could barely hear my surroundings. The sounds from the TV disappeared and Adelina said something, but I couldn’t make it out. I grabbed the machine gun from the closet and bolted out the front door.
“Cane!” Adelina ran after me. “What’s going on?”
“Stay inside.” I didn’t turn back to her as I ran to the car. “I have to go. I can’t talk.” I cranked the engine and sped off, heading toward Cane’s house on the other side of the fields. I made a call to Bran on the way, telling him to gather up everyone he could and head to my tracker point. When that was done, I pulled up Crow’s location on the center screen.
It was still working.
Thank fucking god.
I hit the gas harder and sped nearly a hundred miles an hour down the empty roads. It was almost midnight, so no one was on the streets, thankfully. Now I knew Tristan was alive, and this time, I wouldn’t let him slip away. He would regret taking my brother when I beat him to death with the end of my shotgun.
I followed the tracker and tried to gain on them, but they were driving furiously just the way I was. They were heading east, which told me they intended to stay in Italy. There was no chance they were taking Crow on a plane unless they had a private one. But even then, that seemed unlikely.
Bran spoke over my phone system in the car. “We’re ten minutes behind you. What’s the plan?”
“Haul ass. Tristan is alive, and he has Crow. They must be returning to their base, and they have no idea we’re tracking—” The dot with Crow’s position suddenly disappeared. The map was completely blank. The vicinity where he had been was now empty.
“Cane?” Bran said. “You cut out.”
I refreshed the page and pulled the map back up on the screen.
His coordinate was gone. “Fuck…”
“What?”
I slammed my hand so hard against the steering wheel I nearly broke the bones. “They found the fucking tracker. Jesus Christ.” Tristan must have run a scanner across his body the second they were on the road. They obviously found the transmitter and cut it out.
Pearl must have just seen the same thing.
“Shit,” Bran said. “What do we do?”
I didn’t have an answer. I never panicked in stressful situations, even if they were a matter of life and death. But this was my brother, and losing him scared me far more than losing my own life. The whole reason he was captured was because of me. I should be the one tied up in the back of that car—not him.
I couldn’t handle the guilt.
I couldn’t face Pearl.
I couldn’t face myself.
“Cane?” Bran repeated.
I kept driving even though I no longer had a destination. “They were headed east. If they were planning on flying out, they would have headed to Florence. They must be going to Rome or somewhere in that vicinity.”
“What’s the description? What kind of cars are we looking for?”
“I…I don’t know.” I had no idea what happened at the estate. Pearl made it sound like they snatched Crow and left. There wasn’t a single witness to help me.
“Cane, I need something more than that.”
“I know,” I hissed. “I don’t have anything, Bran. I just know we need to find Crow as soon as possible—” My phone started to beep as someone called me on the other line. It was an unknown number, and due to the situation I was in, I thought it would be stupid to ignore it. “Hold on, Bran.” I hit the button and switched over. “Cane.” My tone immediately changed, turning defensive in preparation for whatever would happen next.
“Hope you’re enjoying my whore as much as I did.”
The voice was unmistakable, and it didn’t take me longer than a nanosecond to figure out who it was.
“And I’m enjoying your brother. Not in the same way, of course.” He added a sarcastic chuckle, enjoying his revenge thoroughly. I hadn’t said a word, but he knew I was panicking in my silence. “Now that the tracker is gone, you’ll have a very difficult time finding us. If I were you, I’d save the gas money.”
Fuck. Fuck. Fuck.
I wasn’t letting my brother die. I wasn’t letting him suffer when this was all my fault. I wasn’t letting Pearl become a widow and single mother. Not gonna happen.
“So, let me save you some time. Give me what I want, and I’ll hand him over.”
I knew he was going to ask for Adelina. I didn’t want to give her up, even if she didn’t love me. She was an innocent woman who deserved to be free. But Crow was my brother, my blood. I was a dick to him, but that didn’t change how much he meant to me. I loved him from the bottom of my heart. It made me sick to my stomach, but I’d have to hand over Adelina to get him back. He was family. I wouldn’t turn my back on him and Pearl like that. Adelina would understand.
“Give me Pearl.”
My hand gripped the steering wheel tighter, and I swerved slightly as I drove down the street. It was dark in the countryside, and I could see the lights from Florence up ahead. Pearl was the last person I expected him to ask for.
“I’ll give you twenty-four hours to think it over. But you better give me the answer I want to hear—or he dies.”
“Why do you want her?” I demanded. “I’m the one who killed your men. I’m the one who stole your woman. Let me take his place, and you can get the revenge that you deserve. Beat me, torture me, and kill me.”
He chuckled. “As tempting as that sounds, my idea is much better. I know how you Barsettis work. It’ll hurt you much more knowing all the horrible things I’m doing to him than anything I could physically do to you.”
Fuck.
“But I want Pearl so I can hurt both of you. Ever since I laid eyes on her, I’ve thought of all the things I want to do to her. That flawless skin, those bright eyes… I can’t wait to
snuff the life out of her just the way I did to Adelina.”
I squeezed the steering wheel so tightly my knuckles turned white.
“Give her to me, and Crow walks free. I’m a merciful man. I’ll allow you to save your brother—for a price.”
Chapter 2
Crow
I was in a warehouse in Rome. Even with my tracker ripped out of my arm, it was a foolish place to put me. Cane would have been hot on my trail when the connection was severed, so he must have confirmed I was staying in Italy. My brother was an idiot, but when it came to the important stuff, he was observant.
Ironically, I was just thirty minutes away from Bones’s old base. Tristan probably chose it because it was so close to home. Cane would never expect me to be sitting in his backyard. Once the tracker was gone, I knew this would become a more difficult situation. It would be much harder for me to escape. Even harder to be rescued.
But Cane was smart, and so were the men working for us. Cane wouldn’t sleep until he found me.
But Button…she was sobbing at this very minute.
She was more scared than she’d ever been in her life.
If she lost me, she would lose part of herself.
I couldn’t think about it too much because it would break my heart. I had to get out of here for her. I had to get out of here for the little Barsetti growing inside her. I wouldn’t deny my child the security of having a powerful man around to protect them. If I had a son, I would teach him how to love by the way I loved his mother. If I had a daughter, I would teach her what to expect from a man who wanted to be her suitor—if he was brave enough to shake my hand.
But in the event I didn’t make it out of there alive, I knew Button would be okay.
That woman was strong.
She would be devastated, but she would carry on without me. She would have my fortune and my brother to protect her. She would still raise my son to be a man, and my daughter to be stronger than I ever was.
She could do it.
But I didn’t want to make her.
I had to get out of here.
I was in a small warehouse by myself. The concrete was damp from a leak in one of the pipes. That told me I was inside an older compound, something that would be located on the outskirts. A few chains hung from the ceiling, telling me this place was initially used for heavy shipments. That meant we were near a road so large trucks could easily access the area. I probably wouldn’t get the opportunity to speak to Cane, but if I did, I needed to give him as much information as possible.
My right eye was swollen shut, and the right side of my jaw was broken. Tristan had stabbed me through the forearm, careful to miss an artery but his blade penetrated enough for me to bleed all over the floor and make me weak. A lot of my ribs were broken. The pulse in my temple wouldn’t stop pounding. He gave me a good beating, seeking revenge for all the men I killed.
I didn’t make a single noise the entire time.
I’d known what was coming. I’d known how to handle it. I wouldn’t give him the satisfaction of causing me true pain. The only thing that could really hurt me was my wife. And she was far away and protected by my best men.
Tristan had nothing against me.
The door opened, and a shadow appeared as Tristan’s silhouette emerged. His boots thudded against the hard concrete as he approached me with guards on either side of the door watching him in silence. Each had a gun on his hip.
My hands were tied behind my back. My ankles were locked together in chains. There was no way I could get out of this by myself, not unless I found a decent tool to get me free. I watched Tristan walk toward me and finally saw his face come into view.
His lip was curled in a permanent sneer, his long nose was hooked like a claw. His bushy eyebrows needed to be maintained, and his eyes were the color of oil spots from a broken-down car. I pitied Adelina for having to fuck a man so ugly.
Tristan stopped in front of me, his arms hanging by his sides. He had a gun, but he didn’t draw it. “You look like shit, Crow.”
I spit a stream of blood off to the side. He’d punched me in the mouth a few times. “Still look better than you.”
His eyes narrowed in assault. “You’re either very brave or very stupid.”
“They’re the same thing, if you ask me.” I wouldn’t be intimidated by this man or any man. To show fear was a death sentence. Pleading and begging wouldn’t save my life. It would only cost me my dignity just before my life ended.
Tristan grabbed a chair from the side and placed it in front of me. He took a seat, like a long conversation was about to happen. “Have you enjoyed your stay with us?”
“It’s not a five-star resort, but it’s good enough.”
The more playful I was, the more it irritated him. He knew he would never be as brave as me if he were in the same situation. He tried to exert his power over me, but he could never be successful when I wouldn’t allow it. “I spoke to your brother.”
“How’s he doing?” I projected an aura of calm indifference, but that was all just an act. I had to figure out a way to get back to my wife—my pregnant wife.
“He’s been better,” he said. “Didn’t say much.”
“Probably because he’s busy screwing your former prisoner.”
Tristan’s eyes narrowed again, and this time, it looked like he might hit me. Maybe he would lose his temper and just shoot me. But if he did, he would have no leverage to get Adelina back. That must be what this is about. He was pissed she was taken, and he was using me as a hostage to get her back. I had no idea if Cane would make the switch or not. On the one hand, I was his brother, and he would do anything to save me. On the other, she was the woman he loved. If I were given the choice, it would be hard to make the decision. “The only way you’re getting out of here is by a trade.”
My suspicions were correct.
“Tell me where your wife is, and I’ll let you go.”
I did my best to hide my reaction, but I could barely control it. He’d asked about Pearl earlier, but I thought that was because he planned to kidnap both of us. But it appeared that he was still after her. “I don’t see how she’s relevant. She had nothing to do with Adelina’s kidnapping.”
“You’re right. She had nothing to do with that. But ever since I laid eyes on those gorgeous tits and long legs, I’ve wanted to fuck her just the way you do, Crow.”
All the blood drained from my heart as it was pumped to my extremities. My muscles got a shot of adrenaline, and they automatically twitched in preparation for battle. If I weren’t restrained right now, I’d kill Tristan with my bare hands. I’d claw his eyes out before I ripped apart the rest of him, tearing off his limbs and fingers.
Remaining stoic in that moment was the hardest thing I’d ever had to do. I couldn’t rise to his anger. I had to keep playing it cool because getting me angry was exactly what he wanted. Defending my wife’s honor wasn’t the priority right now. All Button wanted was for me to come back to her. She couldn’t care less about Tristan’s sinister intentions.
“You’re going to tell me where she is. Once I have her, I’ll let you go. Seems like a fair punishment for the way you both screwed me over. You get your freedom, and you can imagine what your wife is doing every hour of the day while she’s chained to my bed.” His eyes bored into mine, full of vengeful hostility.
I didn’t blink. “I’m not going to lie and say I don’t know where she is. I know exactly where she is. But there’s nothing you can do to make me hand her over. You can cut off every single limb piece by piece until there’s nothing left or I bleed out and die. You can torture me in whatever way gets you off. I still won’t say a damn word. If you don’t believe me, call my bluff. Break out the saws and drills and kill me slowly.” I was the one who remained tied up and beaten, but I never lost my confidence or authority. Tristan was at my mercy because he was trying to break in to an unbreakable vault. There was no amount of money or weapons that could get him any closer to his goa
l. I’d gladly die before I let a man go near the woman I loved.
Tristan studied my gaze like the very words I spoke were written across my face. He didn’t smile or frown, soaking up my message like a sponge. He rose from his chair and pushed it aside. “I told Cane that’s the only trade I’m willing to make. So, in either case, one of you is going to crack. I’m just not sure who it’s going to be.”
Cane knew exactly what I would want in this situation. Even if he handed over Pearl, got me out of there, and then we teamed up to steal her back, I wouldn’t want that. I didn’t want a man to even touch my wife’s hand, no matter how temporary it was. Even if Pearl agreed to it, I still didn’t want it.
I’d rather die.
Cane knew that. I had no doubt he would make the right decision—even if that meant he would never see me again.
Chapter 3
Pearl
The world was spinning.
I couldn’t stand on my own two feet.
No matter how many breaths I took, I wasn’t getting enough air.
My heart was beating so fast I thought I’d have a heart attack.
So many tears.
The sobs. They made my chest hurt.
He told me he loved me before he disappeared. His tracker had shut off. I was completely in the dark in another country. My husband was captured, probably suffering every single moment as it passed.
I waited to wake up from this nightmare, but it never ended.
I called Cane over and over but could never get through to him. I hoped that meant he was in the middle of getting Crow back. I hoped he was putting a bullet in between Tristan’s eyes at that very moment. I hoped he was doing everything he possibly could to save my husband—the love of my life.
Lars sat beside me on the patio. The night had passed, and it was a beautiful and sunny day in Greece. But to me, I was in the middle of the biggest storm in history. The ship was sinking, and I didn’t think we’d survive.
Lars wrapped his hand around mine and held it on the cushion, doing the only thing he could to comfort me. I’d hugged Lars once or twice over the years, but we’d never touched this way. And I knew why.
