by Shannyn Leah
“What’s the plan?” Izzy asked. “Why haven’t the police arrested Anton if they have evidence?”
“They weren’t ready,” Eliza said. “But if he’s here, then he’s here to clean up loose ends.”
“What does that mean?” Izzy asked.
Corbin touched her shoulder. “He wants me dead. And I’m sure now you’re on his list, too.”
“Me? Why me?”
A knock on the door made everyone jump until Eliza told them she was expecting someone. Maybe it was Gunner. How would Gunner fit into this whole mess? He obviously had no idea that Corbin and herself were on Anton’s hit list and how on earth had she made the list?
Eliza unlocked the door and Melissa came sweeping inside, her usual prim and pampered self, looking like a runway model even at this early hour.
“Casey?” The whisper drifted from Corbin at the sight of Melissa.
“That’s Melissa,” Izzy offered, only noticing their shared look after the fact. They knew each other and apparently not the real each other.
Melissa’s face whitened, as if that were possible on her already porcelain skin. “Corbin...”
Uh-oh.
“You two can discuss this later,” Eliza said, guiding Melissa into the tense circle, on the opposite side of Izzy. Corbin on one side and Melissa, A.K.A, Casey on the other. Step right up, folks, Caliendo soap opera right here.
Izzy couldn’t help but grin. Oh snap. No wonder Melissa had been in such a mood the last year, after discovering Corbin would eventually come home and he knew her as someone else.
Izzy’s curiosity ran rampant in her head, but so was her desire to understand what this secret meeting was all about and why Anton wanted her head on a platter. “Hey, hello, back to me. We don’t have a lot of time, remember? Why would Anton want me dead?”
“Because that day you followed me into the woods was when I met with Anton.”
Corbin’s words nearly knocked Izzy off her feet. She forgot about the Melissa/Casey ordeal, even briefly forgot about Gunner, because her brother had just confirmed what she’d always believed. She’d followed him and he’d met a man.
“We were halfway to the meeting point when I saw you, but by that time it was too late to turn around. I hid you before I met with Anton’s brother, Tito. I told you to stay put until I’d finished, but you didn’t listen and when Tito killed another man, you saw it and Anton was there, too.”
She’d seen it?
She couldn’t remember. She couldn’t remember!
“I’m sorry I dragged you into that, Izzy.”
“What happened next?” She didn’t recognize the anger in her tone.
“I took you to Dad, my dad, and he dealt with you.”
Dealt with her? What did that mean?
Then it hit her. Visions of the room. The torture room. No. No!
Izzy stepped back, her eyes moving over to her parents. “You knew? Both of you knew and you told me I was wrong.”
“To protect you,” Carl said.
“Excuse me, is there a reason I have to listen to this?” Melissa asked.
“Shut it, Casey,” Izzy snapped.
“Who are you really?” Corbin asked Melissa.
“She’s the mayor’s daughter,” Izzy answered. “And while she was blinding you with her tricks and deceit, she was also trying to score with your brother.”
Deflecting. Izzy could hear Gunner’s words hammering in her ears, telling her to face her fears instead of turning the tables onto something else, or in this case, someone else.
While she battled running away or tackling the truth at her fingertips, she watched her family as if they were a soap opera on television. This meeting had just taken a turn for the love of drama.
Corbin sent Marc a deadly stare, which he didn’t miss, shaking his head and stepping back. “Corbin, nothing has ever happened between me and Melissa.”
Violet nudged Marc’s side. “Except that one kiss.”
Marc glared at her.
“You don’t want to start your relationship with your brother based on lies,” Violet said.
Marc looked back at Corbin, who looked ready to kill. A vein on his forehead pulsed and his fists balled at his sides.
“I didn’t initiate the kiss. Melissa did, and she will tell you so herself.” Marc’s forehead wrinkled, his eyebrows drew together and he said, “Wait a minute. Do you like Melissa? Is there something going on between you and her?”
He broke into a smirk and Violet elbowed him harder, hissing, “Marc.”
“Are you not finding this difficult to believe?” he asked defensively, suddenly sounding like Izzy and not the professional man he prided himself to be. “Corbin is ready to punch my face in, literally, over Melissa.”
“Marc!” Emma hissed. “What is the matter with you? That is so mean.”
Izzy wanted to add, “But everyone is thinking it.” However, her words, for once, wouldn’t form.
“I’m more concerned about why Corbin is calling her Casey,” Anya said.
“That’s none of your business.” Melissa’s cold tone cooled the humor in the room. She looked at Eliza. “I don’t appreciate being ambushed. In fact, I won’t stand for it. Your family drama is your own, so unless you have something of use to say to me, I will be leaving.”
Eliza gracefully moved away from the desk. “I will let your tone slide since you didn’t hand my son’s existence over to your father.”
Melissa’s face faltered, ever so slightly and only for a quick moment. “I also won’t stand for accusations.” Melissa turned, but Corbin blocked her path, towering over her like a giant.
Giant and mouse.
Slicing pain shot through Izzy’s head. This was too much. The whole evening was too much and they still hadn’t revealed their plan...if they had a plan.
Izzy looked back up, focusing her eyes and ears enough to hear Corbin say, “What did your dad want with me?”
“I don’t know. You were just another file,” Melissa answered.
Eliza stepped between them. “He wanted to hand you over to Anton to make his mark in the online gambling market. Now, we all need to forget the past and focus on the now, because we are targets waiting to meet our death. Unless we work together, we will end up with Robert.”
“Momma, that’s morbid,” Emma said.
“Why do we trust Melissa?” Anya asked. “Why are we bringing her into all of this?”
“Because when this is finished, Melissa and Corbin are leaving.”
“What?” The word echoed out of every single person’s mouth so loudly the room shook.
“Melissa needs protection and Corbin can provide it.” Her mother said it so matter-of-factly, she convinced even Izzy.
Melissa and Corbin, however, not so much. They flew into a round of objections immediately deflated by a roaring Carl.
“We have wasted so many valuable minutes on nonsense that every last one of you spoiled brats are going to shut your mouths and listen to me.”
One point for Carl.
Spoiled brats, zero.
“This is a life and death situation. We’ve protected you children as much as we could, tried to avoid the outbreak which is about to occur, but to no avail. Anton is here to eliminate the ones who can stand up against us.”
Izzy thought about asking what the hell they were still doing in the same building as the man willing to kill them, but decided against it, allowing her father to continue. Confidence suited him.
“The detectives have Rosemary, Sophia and Parker in protective custody, and we need to leave now. We will meet up with them where we will stay until Anton and his men are in custody.”
“You’re going to leave Anton here?” Izzy asked.
“Once we’ve escaped the building, they will send in the authorities,” Carl said.
“I have to warn Gunner,” Izzy said, moving toward the door. “He can come with us.”
Melissa was at Izzy’s heels. “And I don’t see w
hy I’m here. Anton doesn’t have me on his radar, so I’m going home.”
Corbin stepped in front of them blocking the exit.
“No one leaves this room through that exit,” he said.
Izzy tapped his chest. “Thanks, genius, but how do you suppose we get out?”
She heard the scraping sound of the door to Robert’s secret office opening.
Oh, darn it.
Worst. Plan. Ever.
Chapter Thirty-Four
WHEN GUNNER RECEIVED an urgent text from Anton, he rushed next door only to find blackness filling the suite. As he reached for a light, the familiar cologne burned his nostrils and he knew shit was about to hit the ceiling. The note he found next, telling him to get in the limo parked out front, confirmed his assumption.
He hoped Izzy and Marc were safe and this night meeting would only be his punishment for disrespecting Anton earlier.
Outside, he scanned the area and noticed two large men standing in front of the two black cars flanking the limo. The driver of the limo awaited their arrival and Gunner didn’t even have to guess who sat inside.
As he approached, two bodyguards cornered him as if reading his thoughts of running.
He climbed inside and had barely sat down when both his brother-in-laws moved from across the seat to each side of him.
“As I live and breathe,” Lorenzo said. “Shit. You are alive, Matteo.”
Nero patted his shoulder. “And in better shape than when you left. Hell, you’re more built than those two dopes out front.” He referred to the bodyguards. He squeezed Gunner’s shoulder. “Damn.”
Gunner glared at him and removed his hand. Then he stared across the limo at the man who’d caved.
“Anton,” he said.
“I warned you about seeing Izzy, but you refused to listen.”
“Is this really about me cheating on your already re-married niece?” He grunted. “I doubt it. Let’s cut the shit and tell me what’s going on.”
The car started moving.
“Did you honestly think I came here to help these Caliendos?”
Gunner shrugged. “You’ve always been your own man. Not bowing down to Tito’s ways.”
“Robert had dirt on us and I wanted it back. Once I got wind the boy wasn’t dead, I needed to find his and Robert’s files. Thanks to Marc’s lack of his family history, I found the files and, thanks to you, Izzy has led us straight to Corbin Caliendo.”
“Corbin?”
“I will finish that boy like he deserved twenty years ago and since fate has landed both Carl and Eliza here too, the root of all my problems, I might as well make it a triple homicide.” He let out a bitter laugh. “Had they stayed out of it, Corbin would have followed in Robert’s footsteps. Surviving the first murder was only the beginning. His betrayal is the end.”
The limo took a turn from the smooth road onto bumps of gravel. Gunner’s mind backtracked the turns to get to this point and, if he was right, they’d just pulled back onto Caliendo property. More specifically, the bush where he’d spent the night in the cabin with Izzy.
What were they doing back here?
“I want one at each exit,” Anton randomly said into his ear piece. “If you found more, than take my men. They aren’t leaving.”
“This is low, Anton. Even for you. Why even drag me here?” Gunner demanded, needing time to build a plan. He had no bloody plan. He was up shit creek without a paddle.
“Because you’re smart. I had limited time to find what I needed. You made it half the work for me.”
“And now you plan to kill me?”
“You’ve left me no choice. Don’t think I don’t regret this.” He looked straight into his eyes. “You’re the intelligent son I never had. Those two knuckleheads don’t know their arse from their face.”
Gunner snorted.
Anton’s nephews didn’t appreciate the insult. One slapped the back of Gunner’s head while the other twisted his arm. They’d both pay for that later. In time. Bloody monkeys.
“But you’ve gone and fallen for Izzy.”
He had. He wouldn’t deny it.
“I have no forsaken reason why. Are you a glutton for punishment? Her voice sends sickening chills, cringes, into every last part of me.”
“She’s more damn real and honest then you’ll ever be.”
A fist landed on his jaw.
Shit.
He was going to have fun kicking the crap out of these men. Their betrayal was a long time coming.
“Stop touching him,” Anton snarled. “Unless you want to drag his lifeless body through the tunnels.”
“I’ll do it,” Lorenzo snarled back.
Monkeys.
“I would have given you your freedom to go and do whatever you wanted had you not gotten involved. Now you’ve forced my hand because I know you. Once you’re invested, like you are with Izzy, you will protect her and any harm to her or her family will only result in your revenge with me. Now, once they’re all dead, you’ll be next. A giant massacre in their resort. Once they’re gone, who do you think this enterprise gets left to? Me. I will swoop in and takeover exactly where Robert left off.”
The vehicle came to an abrupt stop and Anton nodded at his nephews who jumped out of the vehicle, yanking Gunner out with them. He quickly glanced around the perimeter, finding both cars that had left with them were no longer in sight. Likely at the fixed locations Anton had been discussing in his earpiece. This was his only chance.
Outside the car, he waited for the second brother to get half way out then reacted in a plan that hopefully ended with his escape and a fair warning for Izzy.
Grabbing the door, he slammed it into Lorenzo’s body, taking in the groan and hard hit to the head. Nero immediately went after him. Gunner ducked the first swing, hearing car doors opening and shutting around them. More muscle coming after him. He would guess only two, the driver and passenger. They’d all be surprised because he was no longer the wimp he’d been the day he’d gotten arrested. His closed fist collided with Nero’s side, eliciting a groan. He uppercut the man’s chin, sending Nero backwards, stunned and grabbing his face.
Gunner took advantage, swinging one last punch to the side of his head before kicking his stomach, which sent the fool to the ground.
The other two men charged. Gunner ducked and moved, blocking their punches and kicks.
“Stop wasting our time!” Anton hollered. “Finish him so he’s not a problem inside.”
Adrenaline pumped through Gunner’s veins. His past with this family, their involvement in ordering his death and forcing him into hiding strummed anger into his soul. Every punch sprang from the anger and, soon, four men lay around him in a puddle of blood, groaning.
Anton tried to climb back in the car, but Gunner pinned his body against the metal with one arm across his chest, the other gripping his jaw. “You think you can threaten the woman I love? An innocent?”
Anton’s sneer got him a blow to the gut and he curled over in pain, but Gunner lifted him back up.
“And no one is dying today. I’m making a call.” Gunner pulled his cell phone out of his pocket. “You want to play dirty, I’ll play dirty. Your empire will be the one to suffer.” He swiped his phone. “This could have gone down differently had you not let the boys manipulate you. You’ve never had the balls to stand up and fight for anything. That’s why Tito took everything right from under you.”
Gunner hit the number, dialing straight to the detective who thought he was dead.
“After everything I’ve done for you, boy.”
“You did it for yourself. I’m no fool, Anton. You knew I was smart, that I had insurance set aside for the day your family decided to betray me. But you were smart, too, and the second I told the detectives I had enough to convict every last one of you, your insiders ran and told you. Your scheme to get me out was for yourself, but now it’s too late.”
“That’s what you think, boy. But guess what? Tito didn’t just die. He
died at my hand and you will die at my hand, too.”
“Goodbye, Anton.”
Gunner slugged him unconscious and ran down the tunnel just as the detective’s voice came through the phone.
Chapter Thirty-Five
IZZY COULDN’T BELIEVE what her family was suggesting. As they filed into Robert’s hidden office, everyone talking a mile a minute, her dad opened a doorway which apparently led through underground tunnels and through the bush where authorities were waiting to take them into hiding with her nieces and nephew. She couldn’t wrap the bizarreness of this plan around her mind. But most of all she wouldn’t leave Gunner.
“Enough!” she screamed, silencing eleven adults. “Gunner has nothing to do with why you’re insinuating Anton’s here.”
Carl stepped toward her. “It’s not an insinuation, Izzy. He’s here to end us. First to take the files your grandfather had against him and then he’ll kill us.”
“Fine, but Gunner has nothing to do with this.”
“She’s too close,” Violet said, and Izzy could have screamed again. Of course she was too close. They were dismissing her pleas to save the man she loved, leaving him here to be charged and jailed with Anton in something he had no part of.
“Stop it,” she snarled at her sister, then turned to her parents. They were either with her or against her, but she wasn’t leaving until she knew Gunner was safe. “I know him. I love him.”
“After a week?” Violet countered.
“If anyone should understand love in a week, it should be you. You were serious about Ryder in not much more than a week.”
“But we had a past, Izzy. There’s a difference.”
Izzy shook her head. “I’m not letting you hand him over to the authorities like a criminal.”
“He is a criminal,” Marc said softly.
“He was set up!” She took a deep breath to calm herself down. Shouting at them wouldn’t get her anywhere. She had to reason with them like they reasoned with each other. “I know I’m the wild one, the impulsive child and maybe not even as smart as all of you, but I know Gunner.” She turned to Carl. “Dad? Please let me go get him. Don’t make me walk away from the only person in this whole world who took time to get to know me and who likes me for all my crazy quirks. I can’t leave him. I won’t.”
