***ZANE’S POV***
I fight the urge to drag London back into this bathroom and punish her but I know deep in me that she is right. I need to step up with Richard Antonov or he risk taking my family down with him.
Walking into the bedroom, I spot London sleeping at the far side of the bed and I climb in, maintaining my distance, not touching her.
She was giving me the cold shoulder for telling her the truth.
Women.
I just had enough sleep to take me through the first rays of daylight and I was awake, putting on my suit jacket ready to leave.
Mr. Antonov was a fucking clown and I need to settle things with him.
“Zane?” I hear London’s little voice as I reach for the doorknob.
I turn around, facing her barely slept face as she looks at me.
We both had worse nights but I guess she didn’t survive it as much as I might.
“Yes, London? I am heading out do you need something?” I wonder, letting the distance grow between us.
“I hate us being like this,” she chokes out.
Although I want to reach out to her, my legs wouldn’t bulge from the ground, they just remain pinned there with me watching her like a hawk.
“Look, baby, we could talk when I get back,” I blurt out and kick myself for saying something as silly as that.
She frowns and then nods her head.
“Have a nice day,” she clears out.
Silently closing the door behind me, I walk downstairs and into the waiting van.
Reaper and Sinner were waiting for me in it.
We are meeting Richie Antonov at his office, that or he would launch a war that none of us could fight him off.
Walking into the lion’s den is crazy, but I am doing this for my woman. For the Vincenzos.
“You don’t have to do this alone,” Sinner bites out angrily, his eyes locking down on the time being reflected on his wrist.
I have about forty-five minutes to be at the meeting point.
“You know what needs to be done if I don’t walk out of that building in thirty minutes time. Total lockdown and my wife and son should be protected at all cost,” I strike out twisting my body to face him so that he knows I am serious about this.
“I know about that already, but Richie is a man acting on grief, he wouldn’t mind bringing the rest of the clan down,” Reaper warns, driving the car around a bend.
We are close to the club house where the meeting will be taking place
“Zane, think about it for a moment, I could reverse the car and you runaway now,” Reaper states.
“And keep running for the rest of my life? No. This ends now. I want my kids growing up without a single threat placed over their lives,” I blurt out as the car stops.
“Wait for me. Thirty minutes,” I state hitching out of the car and walking towards the double door.
When I had accepted to meet Richard, I felt this hole tinge in my stomach and the closer I get, I know this is a bad idea. I shouldn’t think this is some local tea party with a friend, I am meeting my enemy.
Two steps into the hallway and a sack is brought over my head. Darkness covers me and adrenaline kicks in, fighting to free myself, I receive a blow that causes everything to blur until I pass out.
Water. Water everywhere.
I feel my chest tightens and when I gasp, water penetrates my nostrils and mouth burning my lungs as I gasp for breathe.
“Take him out for air,” a thick Russian accent fills my ears and I shriek.
Gasping for air, my eyes glare wildly at my surroundings.
I had my hands tied behind my back and two men held either side of my arm, digging my head into a barrel filled with water.
In front of me was a short burly man with a goatee that looked grey and unkept.
This is a man who is going wild on the man who killed his sons.
“Zane Vincenzo,” he says in a mock salute, his eyes roaming my body in disgust.
“This was supposed to be a sit down for peace,” I hiss angrily.
Cackles fill the room and I receive a punch on my face, causing my head to flip backward.
“Hold him” he backs out angrily.
They hold me and I fight against them but they hold me firmly.
“Stop moving, motherfucker,” one man says, his drunken breathe closer to my face.
I use my forehead to knock his mouth and groaning, he shifts backward, spitting out blood, a tooth following behind.
“This motherfucker just knocked a tooth out of my mouth,” he cries out stomping towards me.
“Enough. Stay back and hold him, I need to watch him while I hurt him just like he did with my sons,” Richie spits out.
“You wouldn’t dare touch me, Richard. My men know where I am and they would torch down this place before you have a chance to kill me,” I tease out.
That wasn’t necessarily true though, but it wasn’t a lie as well. Don Russell will break down this building before Richie has the time to kill me.
“Dip his head in the water again,” he orders.
Once more, I don’t have enough time to hold my breathe before I am been pushed into the barrel of water.
I fight to keep myself from fighting, but the hard my head was sent downward.
I got punched in the rib and I gasped, which happened to be bad.
Water penetrated my ears, eyes, nostrils and mouth.
My lungs burned harder the longer they kept me in the water.
“Get him out,” Richie orders after the longest wait of my life.
His goons pull me out and I fight my words out, amidst my breathes.
“You are a dead man, Richard,” I warn snarling at him.
“Not when I can snap the life out of you with one order, Zane. So shut the fuck up,” he bites out angrily.