AllFreeNovel
Share Us
Staring up into the eyes of the man who has caused a lifetime’s worth of pain, tangible fear courses through me.
“Never thought letting you live would come back to bite me so thoroughly in the ass,” Vincenzo Salvatore curses out as a needle digs into my arm. Hissing, I’m immediately dizzy as I’m lifted into someone else’s arms and carried off the property.
Tossed into the trunk of a large vehicle, I don’t have the sense to fight these men off. I barely have control of my limbs. Riding in silence only leaves me time to worry about what they did to Capo and wonder how this drug will affect the baby. I feel so stupid as I stare at the roof of the trunk. I should have woken Domino up this morning to accompany me outside. I shouldn’t have assumed I was safe simply because I was on the Cardarelli property.
I don’t think we drive for long because when the breaks are slammed on, I lurch forward and hit the back of the seat. Groaning as my stomach does somersaults, I know I’m about to vomit. The opportunity comes when the trunk lid is opened, and I see my captors. Bile spews all over their pants and feet as I nearly fall out, only stopped by the harsh slap across my face.
“What the fuck!” Vincenzo shouts, slapping me again.
Pain radiates through my head. “Shouldn’t have drugged me and shoved me in the trunk,” I grumble as the other guy yanks me out by my hair.
Stumbling around, I try to gain my bearings and see where I’m at. Unfortunately, I don’t know how long it will be until Domino realizes I’m missing and something is wrong, so I have to prepare for the possibility that I’m on my own.
Ignoring the two men bickering as they drag me along for the ride, I can feel my stomach revolting again, and I’ve never been so grateful for morning sickness because when I throw up this time, it hits dear old mother right in the chest as she opens the front door. Her screech would make me laugh if it weren’t for the fact I still feel ill. Instead, I only want to lie down with a bottle of water and a cool cloth on my head.
“You spiteful bitch!” Aida’s hand connects with my face this time. My teeth clatter together, and I taste blood, which makes my stomach worse.
“If you guys keep hitting me, and I keep tasting blood, the puke isn’t going to stop.” I’m ignored as I get shoved in the door from behind.
Tripping, I hit the ground on my knees, and I have a sick sense of déjà vu as I see the shadows of the Salvatores around me. I don’t need to look up to know how it played out last time. The memory now lives on replay in my head every day of my life.
“I hope when Domino finds you, he tears you all to pieces,” I hiss between clenched teeth, doing my best not to upchuck again.
Lifted by a death grip in my hair, I’m forced along a hallway, through an open door, and down a flight of stairs into what I assume is a basement. Holding my hands protectively over my belly, I land with a thud on the chilly wood floor.
When no one makes a move to follow me down, I relax marginally, needing a few minutes to catch my breath before I try to find a way out. I have no idea what the drug they could have given me was, so I don’t know the effects, but I do know I won’t stop searching for an escape until I’m free or dead.
* * *
Domino
My eyes pop open,and I’m suddenly wide awake with a sick sense of dread as my hand reaches over to find the other side of the bed cool to the touch. I don’t know why, but I realize something has happened to Nicola, and I fucking slept through it.
Darting from bed, I slip into my jeans from last night and rush to get downstairs, pounding on my brothers’ doors as I go. Demanding they wake up, I hear cursing but ignore them as I rush down the steps two or more at a time. Reflexively, I head to the kitchen and the patio doors, knowing Nicola would have taken Capo out before doing anything else.
Spotting the dog lying motionless on the ground by the settee Nic favors, my fear is brought to reality. Frozen in place, I sense a figure behind me.
“They took her.” I don’t have to voice whotheyare. We all know. Salvatore came for her before I could gut him.
“We’ll get her back.” Pace sounds so sure.
Nicola is the only pure thing in my life, and I’ve let her down in the most monumental way possible. I failed to protect her. Striding towards Capo, her best friend, I’m relieved when I see his chest rising and falling. At least, they didn’t kill the beast. I’m shocked they were able to get close enough to sedate him.
Picking the animal up, I hear Santi shouting on the phone with someone as I enter the house. Placing him on his bed in the kitchen, I nod at Donato, who is immediately on the phone to get a vet out here.
“Why the fuck does that even matter?” Santi draws my attention again as he tosses his phone across the room. Staring at my brother’s shocking loss of control, I raise a brow. “We’ll talk about it later,” he mutters and opens the laptop in his free hand, pulling up the outside surveillance of the house.
I watch in horror as Capo is shot with a dart from a few feet away, and Nicola is jabbed in the arm with a needle as her mouth is covered by Salvatore. Even from the video, I can see her eyes glaze over quickly.
“I’m going to fucking kill him. Any idea where he is?” I ask the room as a whole.
“He has a safe house in Baida in the wife’s maiden name,” Santi growls, rage written in every line of his body. Whoever he spoke to has my brother in a mood I’ve never seen.
“Let’s go.” I don’t want to waste another minute. Nicola’s safety is my only concern.
“Stop,” Santi snaps, and I turn to see his challenging stare.
“What?”
