Matthew I was ready for this fucking day to end. First his father’s funeral, and now hours of discussion with the Cavallaro’s and the Scuderi’s about how to hold off the Russians and show them who’s boss. It wasn’t that I needed time to mourn. Luca and I had had no feelings except contempt and hatred for our father for a very long time but I was not a fan of funerals and all they entailed. Especially seeing my stepmother crying with her fake tears had gotten on my nerves. Did she really think anyone believed that she really missed her sadistic husband?
She would probably spit on his carcass while no one was looking. That’s what I wanted to do.
The only good thing about this whole ordeal had been Gianna having to attend the funeral with her family. She had ignored my calls since finding out about our wedding a week earlier, but she couldn’t avoid me forever. I was actually looking forward to our first private meeting. I loved it when she was angry.
After the meeting, I was walking toward my motorcycle when I heard footsteps behind me. I turned around and found Luca running toward me, with the phone propped against his ear and a thunderous expression on his face.
Before I could ask him what had crawled up his ass, he lowered the phone and said. “Caesar called. The Russians are attacking the villa. Romero is trying to get everyone to safety, but there are too many attackers.”
“Where are Gianna and Aria?”
“I don’t fucking know. We’ll have to get a helicopter.”
I followed Luca toward his car. He gave it his all the moment we both sat down. We never should have let Aria and Gianna leave for the Hamptons without us. We thought they would be safer there. We thought our enemies would attack in the town where so many of us and the team had gathered to honor my father. We had been fucking idiots.
Luca hit the steering wheel. “I will hunt down all the fucking Russians if they hurt Aria.”
“I’ll be by your side,” I said. I didn’t care how many Russians I had to chop up to get to Gianna.
Damn.
When we finally landed near our Hamptons mansion, Luca and I didn’t speak. We both knew it was probably too late. “They’re fine,” I told Luca.
We got out of the helicopter and shot freely until we reached the lobby of the mansion. I pulled the knife out of an asshole’s throat and straightened up when one of the Russian bastards shouted from inside.
“We have your wife Vitiello. If you want to see her in one piece, you’d better stop fighting and drop your weapons.
Luca looked in my direction. “Don’t do anything stupid, Matteo.”
“You’re not the only one with something to lose,” I said darkly. “Gianna’s in there, too.” Luca nodded, then slowly moved forward. I followed him a few steps behind. My eyes found Aria first.
One of the Russian subchiefs, an asshole named Vitali, held a knife against her throat. Luca was going to kill the bastard.
“So this is your wife, Vitiello?” asked Vitali, but I barely listened. Gianna was lying on the floor, with a huge bruise on her forehead. I could tell she was trembling, from fear or pain, I wasn’t sure. Her blue eyes met mine. A huge Russian turd towered over her. Bloodlust filled my body. I turned the knives in my hands, trying to decide which part of the Russian’s body I would cut first, probably the hand he had used to strike her.
Gianna would not take her eyes off me, as if she knew I would fix everything. I wasn’t going to let any of those assholes hurt her again now that I was here. And by God, I would make them pay, I would make them regret the day they had laid eyes on Gianna, I would make them regret the day they were fucking born.
“Let her go, Vitali,” growled Luca.
“I don’t think so,” Vitali said in that damned annoying accent of his. “You took something that belongs to us, Vitiello, and now I have something that belongs to you. I want to know where it is.” I wasn’t sure what that Bratva bastard had done because I kept my eyes on Gianna’s captor and the assholes behind him but Luca took a menacing step forward, then stopped.
“Put the guns down or I’ll cut her throat.”
When pigs learn to fly, motherfucker.
There was a thud, then another. My eyes flew to Luca, who had dropped his damn guns on the ground. I couldn’t believe it. He squinted his eyes at me.
Was he serious? From the look on his face, he was. He slowly laid the knives down. Gianna closed her eyes as if she thought it was all over. It was not over, far from it. Not before killing all the fucking assholes in the room and making them regret the day they were born.
“Your wife tastes delicious. I wonder if she tastes that delicious anywhere,” Vitali said as he drew Aria against him as if he were about to kiss her. I could tell Luca was seconds away from attacking.
The Russian asshole behind Gianna patted her butt with his shoe and smiled. His foot would be the second thing I would cut off and I would take as long as it took to kill him.
Vitali licked Aria’s chin. She looked like she was about to get sick. Then he rummaged in the back pocket of his pants and pulled out a switchblade. Where on earth had he found it?
The moment he thrust it into Vitali’s thigh, I fell to my knees, grabbed the gun with my left hand and one of my knives with my right hand. I shot four times in quick succession. Two bullets ripped through the calves of the asshole who had kicked Gianna, the third broke all the bones in his right hand, and the fourth smashed the skull of another bastard. At the same time I threw the knife. It pierced the ‘eye socket of Russian number three.
I rushed toward Gianna, slid my arms under her body and carried her to the side where she was protected by a massive wooden sideboard. I knelt in front of her and shot another Russian, then another. Gianna’s face was pressed against my knee, and I placed my palm on her head, stroking her unruly red hair.
A woman cried out. My eyes darted around until they rested on Luke cradling a motionless Aria in his arms . I froze, my heart pounding against my chest.
“NO!” Gianna cried in a hoarse voice. She tried to sit up but her arms gave out and she fell against me. “Air!”
I hugged her and she looked at me with terror-filled eyes.
“Help Aria! Help her!” she whispered.
She tried to get up again. I helped her up, putting my arm around her waist, but I wouldn’t let her go to her sister. Luca looked like he was on the verge of killing anyone who dared to approach.
There was an expression on his face I had never seen before. Leading a brutal life, Luca and I had the potential to snap. But until now I had not thought that there was anything on this planet that could really bring Luca to the brink.
Gianna began to cry. I touched her cheek. “Shh. Aria will be fine. Luca won’t let her die.”
For everyone’s sake I hoped I was right. Gianna leaned against me, clutching my shirt with her hands. I looked at her.
When Aria finally opened her eyes, Gianna let out a sob and pressed her face against my chest. I cupped her head, then brushed a kiss against it. She did not react. She was probably in shock.
“What about Gianna, Lily and Fabi?” asked Aria in a weak voice.
Gianna raised her head but did not let go of me. “Good.”
Luca took Aria in his arms and after some discussion carried her upstairs to one of the bedrooms. Doc was already on his way.
Gianna tried to stand on her own but faltered and had to grab my arm. Her eyes lost focus for a moment before settling on me again. She said nothing, just stared at me. I lightly brushed my fingertips over the bruise on her forehead. “Is this the only place you are hurt?”
She shrugged, then gasped. “My side hurts and my ribs hurt too.”
“Hey Matteo, what about this asshole?” asked Romero, elbowing the Russian who had kicked Gianna.
“Is he the only survivor?”
“There’s at least one more,” said Romero.
“Good. But that one is mine. I’m going to interrogate him.”
“That’s the guy who hit me in the head,” Gianna said quietly.
“I know.”
She scrutinized my face but I wasn’t sure what she was looking for. Her eyes closed for a moment, but she quickly opened them again.
“You need to lie down,” I said.
She didn’t even try to protest, which was a bad sign. I took her tighter and led her toward the stairs.
“Matteo?” Romero called out.
I cast a glance over my shoulder toward him and the other men.
“I’ll be back in a moment. Get rid of the bodies and take the two Russians alive to the basement.
Romero nodded, “All right.” Then his eyes slid to Caesar’s body on the ground. There was nothing we could do for him.
I had known him for a long time. He had been a good and loyal soldier. The time would come to mourn him, but it was not now.
I helped Gianna up the stairs and practically carried her down the hall to one of the guest rooms. I really wanted to take her to the room where I used to sleep when we were in the mansion, but I did not want to fight , not until Gianna was fit enough to be an equal competitor. She lay down on the bed and closed her eyes with a groan.
I leaned over her. “I want to take a look at your ribs. Don’t punch me.”
Her eyes widened and the hint of a smile curved her lips. I wondered if it was because she had suffered a concussion or if she had finally come to terms with our impending marriage.
I lifted her T-shirt, revealing inch after inch of cream-colored skin, but before my mind could formulate an idea , I found the first bruises. One large one on her waist and two slightly smaller ones above her rib cage. Gently, I pressed on the bruise on her waist, but she pulled back from my touch with a hiss.
“Fuck. It hurts.”
I gritted my teeth. I couldn’t wait to get down to the basement and have a word with the asshole who had hurt her.
I slid my hands higher, lightly tracing her ribs.
She shivered, “What are you doing?”
“I want to see if your ribs are broken,” I told her.
“You want to use your chance to grope me, admit it.”
Her attempt at humor was ruined by her trembling voice, but I decided to play along. He didn’t need to know that I was thinking of a way to prolong his attacker’s suffering.
I smiled. “In less than a year we will be married, then I can grope you whenever and wherever I want.”
Her smile died and she turned away, closing her eyes.
Perhaps she had not yet come to terms with our marriage-I straightened up. “I have to get back downstairs. I’ll send the doctor to you when he’s done with your sister. You should get some rest. Don’t wander around the house.”
She did not open her eyes, gave no indication that she had heard me.
I went outside and closed the door. The doctor was walking toward me, one of his assistants, a young woman whose name I kept forgetting, a few steps behind him. “Where’s Aria?” he asked in his hoarse, heavy-smoking voice.
I pointed to the master bedroom. “When you’re done with Aria, take a look at Gianna. I don’t think she’s badly hurt, but I want to make sure.”
He nodded abruptly, not even slowing down. No one wanted to keep Luca waiting.
“Call me before you go in. I want to be there when you check on Gianna.”
Doc was over sixty, but that didn’t mean I wanted him alone with Gianna, not after almost losing her.
He paused briefly, his pale eyes resting on me. “Is she yours?”
“YES.”
He simply nodded, then continued toward the master bedroom. I turned around and went downstairs.
When I entered the basement, the two Russian survivors were tied to chairs. Tito, one of our best performers, leaned against a wall, his arms crossed. Romero was next to him. Another soldier, Nino, attached an IV to the asshole I was about to rip open. The other Russian was slightly better and did not need a transfusion – for now.
Once Tito got his hands on the poor bastard, that too would change.
Tito straightened up and tilted his head.
“I hope you haven’t started yet,” I said.
“We’ve been waiting for you,” Tito said.
“Looks like Tito has already started his work?” asked Nino enthusiastically. The boy had a sick fascination for torture.
“Good.” I approached Gianna’s attacker.
He looked at me grimly . “What’s your name?” I asked.
“Fuck you,” he said in heavily accented English.
I smiled at Tito, Romero, and Nino. Then I unsheathed the knife and held it out for the Russian bastard to admire.
“Are you sure you don’t want to tell me your name?”
He spat in front of my feet. “Where is that red-haired bitch? Her pussy was calling me.
Nino elbowed Romero with an eager smile. Tito had pulled out his knife and was wiping it on his jeans.
“Harsh words for a dead man,” I said lightly.
“I’m not going to tell you anything.”
“That’s what everyone says.” I leaned in closer. “Let’s see how tough you really are. T twenty minutes is the longest it’s ever taken me to get someone’s name.
I slammed my fist into his side, just above his left kidney. As he gasped, I motioned Tito to begin his work on the other Russian bastard.
Twelve minutes later I had learned that the man in front of me was named Boris and had been working for Bratva in New York for six years; before that he was in St. Petersburg. He was still reluctant to give me anything more than basic information. I paused, staring at his blood-covered face. “Are you sure you don’t have an answer to my question?”
He coughed, blood dripping down his shirt. “Fuck you .”
“I can do this all night, but I can promise you it won’t be pretty.”
Gianna I got tired of waiting for the doctor to come. I was no longer dizzy and almost didn’t wince when I straightened up. And actually, being alone scared me after what happened today. I was sure we were all going to die, and my body still wasn’t convinced otherwise. My pulse was fast and every now and then I would start to sweat. All because the mob had something going on with the Bratva.
I walked out of my room, then hesitated in the hallway.
My eyes ran to the end of the hallway where the master bedroom was located. Probably Luca and Doc were still taking care of Aria. They would have sent me away if I tried to enter, or worse, locked me in the guest room so that I could not wander around the house. I decided instead to go in search of Lily and Fabi.
I pulled my phone out of my pocket and texted my sister.
Where are you? Instead of answering, a door opened and out popped Lily’s dark blond head .
Her face was swollen from crying and her eyes were huge and frightening. When her gaze landed on me, she ran in my direction and threw her arms around my neck.