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I pulled a knife from underneath my pants and I crept into my own apartment on high alert. I could hear two people arguing in the bedroom. One of them was clearly Vienna, and the other had a thick Italian accent that I didn't recognize. They were arguing about her mother, actually, about both of her parents. Who would come here to talk about that? Had my father found out she was here and sent someone to finish her? I had been so careful in the church, no one had heard.
This didn't make any sense. I stood in silence next to the open doorway of my bedroom. I craned my neck to get a quick glance around the corner of the white walls. There was a man, definitely older than me, standing with a gun pointed into the closet. As I heard the conversation continue, I realized that Vienna was hiding in the closet from him.
Fucking bastard. Whoever the hell he was, he would pay for scaring my girl.
I gripped the handle of my knife and I backed up away f
rom the doorway. I would need to charge at him. And bullets were faster than people. I took a deep breath and prepared myself. I held my breath and sprinted into the bedroom, slamming my body into his and tackling him to the ground. He hadn't even heard me coming, as his focus was solely on Vienna.
As I knocked him down to the ground, the gun went off.
Luckily, it shot up toward the ceiling, and I felt the drywall fall down on us. I grabbed his gun hand and slammed it on the ground, forcing him to loosen his grip. It fell away, just out of his reach. I pinned down both of his arms, dropping my knife in the process.
“Who the hell are you?”
He didn't move. He didn't even struggle and try to get away. He knew he was outnumbered. Vienna picked up the gun from the floor and pointed it at him. Her hands were shaking; she would never be able to take the shot.
“Vienna, baby, there's rope in the closet. Get it for me.”
She nodded, sucking her lower lip; she was terrified.
“Now I’m going ask you again, who are you? And what the hell are you doing in my house?”
“Ask her.” He looked directly in Vienna’s direction. She emerged from the closet, holding a thick rope in her hands.
“Where did you put the gun?”
“I left it in there.”
I nodded to her. “Good. Now, let’s tie this bastard up.”
I instructed her to get a chair from the dining room, and she pulled it into the bedroom, where I picked his ass up and slammed it down. I half expected the chair to break underneath his weight and my force, but it held. I quickly tied his hands to the chair behind his back and I waited for someone to speak. Vienna was on the bed with her knees pulled up to her chest, chewing on her nails. She looked as young and terrified as she had when they loaded her into the police car that night. It killed me to see it.
“Is someone going to tell me what the hell is going on here?”
I looked to Vienna. “Vienna, do you know this man?”
She nodded. I saw that her mascara had begun to run, and she was silently crying. “He's my uncle. My mother's brother.”
I looked at him in disbelief. “You're Roberto Agnelli? Maria’s brother?”
He nodded and smiled a toothy grin. I couldn't have that. Not in my house. I wound up and gave him a swift uppercut to the jaw. I enjoyed the crunching sound my fist made when it reached his flesh. It was satisfying. Now he just looked his feet. But it was far better than him being happy about being stuck there.
“So what are you doing here?
If he tried to take her from me, I would have to kill him. I wouldn’t let anyone else have her.
“I know what you did.” He sneered. “And I've told her, too. About her daddy. You were the one who set off the chain of events that caused her mother to be killed. And while I don't really care that her bastard father is dead, I do care that his friend took it out on my sister. He shot her because of you! Vienna was my in on getting some information on you, proving that you started everything. I couldn’t come for you myself, you see; the family thought it would start a war. I needed another way in, to get the information to them, and then let them take you down. All of you.”
I looked at Vienna, shocked. “Is that true? Is that what this was to you? Just fishing for information?” My father and that guy at the church had been right. Fuck. But did it matter? I wasn’t sure. Not since we were having a baby together.
She put her hands up in protest. “It might've started like that, but it's not anymore. I love you, Luka! I always have. But my uncle didn't understand that. He just wanted me to spy on you. But I couldn’t. I fell for you and everything just got messed up. And then there’s the baby…”
I cracked my knuckles and balled my fists. When my flesh made contact with his face again, I gave him a black eye. He fucking deserved it. Trying to turn my girl on me.
“But she wasn’t the only one, was she? Tell me about Armani! How many people did you plant here?”
I looked back at Vienna but she looked confused. Roberto spoke in a gravelly voice. “I didn’t know if she would go through with it. I had to make sure there was back up. And now she’s having your kid, so I was right! How did you know?”
