Finally, that afternoon, I had to go to the office to prepare for the meet with the Armani. I called her again, but it went right to voicemail. I would try one last time before we left for the restaurant. If she did not answer, as much as I hated to do it, I would give her the space that she wanted and leave her alone.
When I arrived at the office, I found Marco sitting in the strip club. I walked up behind him. “Is it done?”
He looked up at me. “It's done. I dropped him off at a hotel and called the Agnellis. I waited until someone arrived for him. But they’re staying another night. He’s not in any type of shape to travel. Good on you, by the way.”
“Thanks. He deserved every hit.”
He nodded. “His family was pretty happy to have him back. They said he went off the deep end about a year ago. He was harassing Vienna. Setting her up to kill you. Did you know that?”
“I had my suspicions, plus some recent information shed some light on that.”
He shrugged. “I guess he convinced her to come after you.”
I walked away from him. No one would be able to see the emotion on my face in the dark light of the club. About how I really felt. Betrayed and lost. And now she chose to run away? Why?
But I knew the answer.
She had finally seen the truth.
I couldn't blame her for not being able to handle it. I thought if anybody could, she was strong enough to. She should've understood that I killed her father to help her. To keep her safe.
My father emerged from downstairs. He didn't look happy.
“Luka, we need to talk.”
I pushed all of my emotions about Vienna away and I followed him outside. He left the security at the door.
“Pops, what's going on?”
“You tell me. I just received a call that Vienna was seen at Armani’s bar. You know about that?”
Armani and Vienna, what did they have to do with one another? Suddenly, it hit me, and my heart fell into the pit of my stomach. Fucking Roberto. That kid at the church was right. They were working together.
She wasn't answering her phone. She hadn’t come home. It wasn't that she was done with me, it was that she couldn't come back.
He had her.
Oh my God. After everything I had done to get her back, to make her mine, they had fucking taken her? Like she was still theirs. Hell no.
“What do you know?” I yelled at him, enraged.
Pops squinted at me. “Tell me first. How long has she been in Baltimore?”
“A few months, maybe, I’m not even sure.” I didn’t know enough of the truth to answer honestly, and it made me crazy. “The Agnellis sent her to set me up. To find out the truth about her father. She knows all of that now. And she still chose not to kill me.”
“Why the hell would she kill you? Has she even seen you?”
I saw the realization dawn on his face. It might've taken the old man a minute, but he knew what was going on.
“You're sleeping with her, aren’t you? God, Luka! We don't have any kind of time for this shit. Armani is playing both sides, and we've got the Agnellis on the move. And you want to get into bed with an old flame?”
“The Agnellis were only on the move because of her. But Marco and I took care of Roberto. Unless he got away, she asked me not to kill him Pops. So I didn’t. But that kid at the church, he said Armani is running guns under the Agnelli’s, taking his business when he was only supposed to be here to watch me. To watch us. He’s been ratting, and now he has her!”
My father pulled a 9mm out of the back of his pants and cocked it. The loud click of the gun filled the silence between us. “You love this girl?”
I nodded. “I have since the moment I laid eyes on her.”
“You are a rebellious little son of a bitch, do you know that? I specifically remember telling you to leave that girl alone.”
“I know. But I couldn't.”
“Fine. If she means that much to you, then she is part of the family now. Let's go blow up some of these bastards. It's been a while since I've gotten blood on my hands, and I don't like to get boring in my old age.”
He signaled to the security, and they came out of the building. The town car pulled up, and the driver got out to open the door for both of us. My father got in first, and I slid in after him.
“It's just us?”
“There’s security in the SUV behind us. Marco will follow that unmarked car. As far as the rest of the family goes? Yes. It's just us. For now. If things go south, the family will respond. You know they will.”
“I do. But Pops, I don’t want you to get hurt over this. That's not how this has to go down. It’s my fight with them. Let me deal with Armani. I can handle him on my own.”
“No. This is family. No one is allowed to touch our family. You understand?”
No one could command a response like my father could. I didn't respect anyone more than him. “Yeah Pops, I understand.”
He put his gun in his lap and he looked out the window. I knew we would ride in silence the rest of the way there. Both contemplating what we could gain, and what we could lose from this fight.
I couldn’t lose Vienna.
But I couldn’t lose my father either.
I knew I was going to have to kill a lot of men. And that was fine with me.
Blood on my hands wasn't new.
26
Vienna
I sat in the dark with my knees hugged against my chest. I had been there almost the entire day. I had never left the pub. I was such an idiot for walking in there. I should have just stayed with Luka.
Armani had taken me upstairs and put me in a private apartment. If you could even call it that. The place was the size of Luka’s bedroom. It was a small studio with a bed, kitchenette, and attached bathroom. He had some thug watching over me the entire time. When I had asked to go to the bathroom earlier, I checked to see if there was a window I could escape out of. Unfortunately, there wasn’t. I was trapped, with no way to warn Luka about what was about to happen.
They offered me food, but I barely ate anything. My stomach was tied up in knots, and there was no way I would have been able to keep anything down. All that I wanted to do was go home. I wanted to hear Luka's voice telling me that he would take care of everything again.
For the second time in my life, he was going to have to kill for me, and I hated that. It wasn't fair to ask him to do that, to break little pieces of his soul by killing people to free me. But I knew he would have to. Armani wasn't letting me go that easy.
I couldn’t believe Roberto had put out a hit on me. Somebody to kidnap me, and finish the job if I couldn’t. It was like he knew the whole time I wouldn’t go through with it. And he was that desperate to end Luka? How had he lost his way so much?
The door to the apartment swung open, and the thug moved to the side, allowing Ian and two other cronies to enter. Ian was dressed in a dark green suit with a silver tie, and there was something charming about him even though I knew I wanted to hit him. I shot him a nasty glare.
“It's time to go, Vienna. We have a meeting with your boyfriend.”
“And what are you going to do with me there?”
“Use you as a bargaining chip, of course. They know I’m ratting on them to the Agnelli’s. So now we make sure they don’t do anything about it. They close up shop, move on. Let me run guns and their restaurants and strip clubs. Make all the money.”
“You think that if you give me to them, they’ll let this all go? You’re insane. Luka will kill you for this.”
He shrugged. “I don't doubt he’ll try. I just know he won’t succeed. Too many of the Agnelli’s stand with me. Oh, by the way, someone is here to see you.”
“Who?”
“Vienna,” Roberto said as he walked into the room. He had a limp, obviously from the altercation with Luka.
“What the hell are you doing here?” I said with venom dripping from my voice. I thought Luka had disposed of him. But it was
my call to make sure he lived. I was so stupid! If I had let him kill Roberto, then I wouldn’t be here.
“Making a claim. You belong with us, Vienna. And Armani says he’ll take care of our problem for us.”
“Our problem? You are the problem! Luka was trying to protect us. He didn’t go after my father for any other reason than to keep us safe!” As soon as I said it, I knew I believed it. He just wanted to protect me, always looking out for me.
Luka loved me.
Large knots formed in my stomach. They wanted war, the whole time that was their end game. And with me, they could have it. I was the catalyst, no matter what I did. Had I killed Luka, war, had we fallen in love and they killed me, war, they take all their business, war. There was no way around it.
I wasn’t going down without a fight.
I pushed myself up off the carpet and walked across the room. I forced my hands out in front of me like I was being handcuffed. “I assume you want to restrain me?”
Armani raised an eyebrow, while my uncle just ignored me. “Doubt it. Your uncle tells me you’re pregnant. You won't try anything. Not unless you want Luka to get shot in the head and then your baby will be fatherless.”
“Isn’t that the plan?” I said to Roberto.
“It’s for your own good, you know. It’ll give you the closure you need.”
“No, and it won’t give you the semblance of closure that you’re desperately clinging to. I know it won’t. Luka is a good man. But in the end, you’ll never see that side of him. Because you choose not to.”
I thought to myself that when Luka killed both of these men, they would still think he was evil. He would just prove it to them. That was on them. Not me.
This was their fault.
“Why do you want him dead?” I said, turning to Armani. I needed to hear them say it.
He smiled and it made my skin crawl. “Because I want blood and money. My needs are very simple.”
“You want war.” I spat at them.
“War is inevitable.” Roberto said before hobbling out of the door.
27
Luka
Adrenaline coursed through my body. My legs were bouncing by the time we arrived at the restaurant. My father put his hand on my knee. “Luka, be patient. We have to let him show his hand and be sure she's okay before we make any moves.”
I nodded, but my knee continued to bounce. The driver came around and opened the door for me and I slid off of the leather seat. My trusty knife was strapped to my leg as usual, but I also hid a 9mm in my pants. While I hated to actually use a gun, I would use it if I needed to. It wasn’t as personal as I liked, not close enough to the kill. If I was going to end a person’s life, I needed to be intimately involved.
We arrived at the restaurant first, which didn't surprise me. They closed down especially for meeting. We sat at a long table in the middle of the dimly lit room, waiting for the Irish to arrive. Marco was in the unmarked car parked across the street. It was just my father and I and two men of our security team inside. They stood behind each of us, protecting our backs. We waited anxiously for at most fifteen minutes before Armani walked in, alone.
“Luka, good to see you again.” He extended a hand to me and I shook it. Clearly we were going to pretend that he didn't have Vienna. Pops and I decided to just play along.
He wrapped his arms around my father. “What can I do for the both of you?” He asked as he stepped back.
Pops sat down while the rest of us stood. His body language made it very clear that he was in charge of this meeting, no matter what Armani had to say.
“Sit.” My father extended a hand to the seat next to his. Armani sat down looking smug. I just wanted to pummel him. Wipe that fake fucking smile off of his face.
“What has brought us here?” Armani asked us.
My father put his hands in steeple. “You tell me.”
“What does that mean?” He questioned.
“Tell me about Roberto. Tell me about how you’ve been watching out family. Watching me.” I said to him barely maintaining restraint. I just wanted to kill him but then we may never get Vienna back.
He looked surprised. “What are you talking about?”
“You’ve been watching us and reporting back to the Agnellis, and now you’re trying to run guns, taking business from your own men.”
“My men? I’ve been selling here for a decade.”
“We know that’s a lie.” I watched him wince. He knew he was caught. But that was dangerous too, a wild animal backed into a corner had the tendency to act out. “You’re trying to start a war, we know it.”
He shook his head. “It’s not just me.”
My body tensed. I could easily fly over this table and have my hands on his throat in a second. It would only take a few seconds for me to crush his windpipe. But even though he was putting on this facade of being alone during this meeting, I knew it wasn't true. He had to have more men on us, or worse, he would kill Vienna. I wasn’t willing to take that risk.
Movement near the door caught my eye. I turned to see a man in a suit walk in. He looked different—cleaned up, but broken. I had broken him. I had made him that way.
Because he deserved it. He tried to hurt her.
“I thought I handled you.” I said to Roberto as he stood near the door.
“You clearly thought wrong.”
“We have her, Luka, you know we do. But I'm not an idiot. I know you already knew that. Gossip in this town runs pretty quickly.”
Fucking Roberto.
“You’re supposed to be in Jersey.”
“I am, my family thinks I am as well. But I had to finish what I started. I had to end this once and for all.”
“I will fucking kill you,” I said, pulling the gun from my pants. The chair dropped to the floor and I stood, releasing the safety. “Give her back to me.”
Armani stood from the table, looking afraid. Somehow, he hadn’t planned for this. My father just sat at the head of the table, looking calm.
Pops spoke up. “Roberto, stop all of this. My son did what I asked of him, and you have no issue with him. Your pain is from my choice, from me allowing him to kill Maria’s husband. And you,” he said, turning toward Armani. “You’ve gotten yourself into more than you can handle. And we’ll kill you for it.”
“I won’t stop. Not until you’re all dead. You took her from me. She turned her back on us because of you!” Roberto looked insane. He pulled his own gun and another man came up behind him, protecting his six. We were outnumbered. I wondered where Luis was, if he was watching maybe he would back us up.
Armani spoke. “We needed a change. This city needs a change. We want a new family in power. We want all of you gone.”
Roberto fired a shot in my father’s direction, narrowly missing him on purpose. “You can’t get out of this. You caused it. You let her die.”
Jesus, they were serious. They really wanted a war.
Roberto looked over his shoulder. “Now go get the girl.”
One of the thugs walked out of the restaurant and came back only a minute later with Vienna clutching her by the upper arm.
She looked terrified. They had gagged her, a piece of white fabric wrapped around her head and mouth. She spotted me and her eyes grew wide. She didn’t want me to get hurt. But she didn’t need to worry. The thug pushed her in front of him and Roberto grabbed her, pushing his gun to her temple. “No one moves. Armani, get the hell out of here. No one can know we were working together.”
“No!” I yelled. I made Luis a promise, I would end Armani. And I was going to make good on it.
I pointed my gun at him, and pulled the trigger, it only took a second and he was gone. Blood spatter colored the walls. And I turned my gun on Roberto as I watched the dark substance pool around Armani’s body.
Vienna screamed against the restraint. I just killed a man in front of her. If she had any question remaining in her mind about how she felt about my work, now she knew.
I was a killer.
Pops stood from the table. “Roberto, this is a fool’s mistake. What do you think you’re doing? Killing my son? The girl? None of that makes sense. You’re here for revenge, but against the wrong man. Go after her father’s friend, the real murderer. We’ve already looked in it, and we can get someone on the inside if you need. We can take care of him.”
The only thing that made sense to me was to put a bullet through Roberto’s head just as I had with Armani. They were traitors. How could he hold his own niece hostage like this? Vienna stood next to him, wincing as he tightened his grip on her arm like a vice.
“What about your family? I thought they wanted you back?” I asked him.
“I left them again. Gave them the slip. It was a little harder this time, thanks to your babysitter and the broken rib.”
Babysitter? Marco. Where the hell was Marco? And what about Luis?
Vienna began to tremble, I could tell because the gun swayed ever so slightly next to her head.
“Don’t kill her, Roberto,” I pleaded. It was the first time in my life I ever begged for anything. I couldn’t live if she didn’t. If our baby never had a chance at life.
Pops pulled his gun from the back of his pants; he heard the desperation in my voice. He knew it was time for action. Knowingly, he looked toward me and pointed his gun at Roberto’s head.
“Let the girl go, Roberto,” he said, removing the safety.
Vienna starting yelling against her restraint, and it sounded like a high-pitched scream. It killed me watching her like this. Like she thought she was going to die.
“Don’t kill her,” I said again. “You can get out of this. You can walk away. We’ll never come for you.”
“We all know that isn’t true. I know I have to die for this, but I’m taking you with me.” Quickly, Roberto pulled the gun away from Vienna and pushed her to the side. She fell onto the floor with a thud. He turned the gun on me and took aim. He shot one bullet and I dove to the ground. I looked at Vienna from under the table. She was crawling away, toward the door.
Beauty and the Billionaire Boss: A Bad Boy Romance Page 21
