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Discomfort twisted inside me at the verbal reminder of the kind of man Nic was outside of our home. I tapped lightly on the door and cracked it open, drawing Nic’s attention to me. He ended the call and strolled over to me, stopping in front of me and running a fingertip along my cheek. “I like seeing the color back in your face.”
“I’m feeling much better.”
“I’m sure you are,” he replied, cryptically.
“In fact, I feel so good that I’d like to take Sophia to the park this morning.” It’s a question couched as a statement because I’m annoyed that I have to ask permission for something so mundane.
“I have a meeting and won’t be available until this afternoon,” he answered, his voice full of regret.
“We’re just going across the street and we’ll have two guards with us the entire time.”
“Gianna,” he groaned. “Why is it so impossible to tell you no?”
“Because you love me,” I quipped with a smile.
“I really do,” he murmured against my lips before claiming them in a hard kiss.
The trip to the park was as uneventful as I’d expected. I pushed Sophia on the swing, watched as she went down the slide, and chased after her in the open field. As we were riding the carousel, I started to feel light-headed and was relieved when she told me she needed to use the bathroom. The guards were standing, each one covering an entrance to the open area in front of the ride. Their heads were swiveling as they assessed the area for possible threats, particularly the tunnels under the bridges where, I suppose, someone could easily be hiding in the shadows. There were so many people milling around, it seemed like overkill to me. I jerked my head towards the public restroom across the way to let them know where we were headed, before I helped Sophia off a brightly painted, wooden horse. As soon as her feet hit the ground, she was off, racing ahead of me. I moved as quickly as I could to catch up to her, reaching her just as she was a few feet away from the bathroom door. I placed my hand on her shoulder to slow her down, ready to remind her about not running off like that when I noticed the shadow of two men coming up behind us, quickly. Looking over my shoulder, I expected to see the guards. I was shocked when I found two burly men I’d never seen before, their hands outstretched as they reached past me for Sophia.
“Run!” I screamed at Sophia, stepping into their path. She looked up at me in startled confusion, never having heard me raise my voice to her before. I gave her a little shove. “Get to Daddy’s friends. Now!”
Her wide eyes filled with tears, but she nodded and went running past us. One minute, I was watching Sophia’s little legs moving as fast as they could as she ran to the guards who were running towards us, and the next, I saw nothing but black as something was dropped over my head. Strong arms wrapped around the middle of my body and lifted me off the ground. It felt like I was hefted over somebody’s shoulder and then I was flying through the air, landing hard on my side on a firm, carpeted surface. I heard the roaring of an engine, the squealing of tires, and then I went flying until somebody reached out and pushed me back down. They weren’t the least bit gentle, and I didn’t think for a moment that they’d done it to protect me from harm.
I opened my mouth to scream, but it came out as a startled yelp when I heard a rough voice in my ear. “I told ‘em ta go after the girl. It seemed only fair since DeLuca cost me a daughter, don’ ya think?”
Oh, crap. This was really bad.
“Everyone knows DeLuca is a sucker for his young one, but ya just wouldn’t let me boys get to her, would ya?”
I felt crushing pain in my wrist as my hand was lifted, followed by a sharp tug on the ring on my finger.
“Judging by the size o’ this rock, I’m thinking I still managed to catch meself a mighty fine prize.”
EIGHTEEN
Nic
“Why isn’t the son of a bitch in my hands yet, Enzo?” I asked, deadly calm. It had been well over a week since that little shit Darby took a shot at Brandon, sending Carly on the run. The word on the street was that he was hiding out like the little pussy he is, and I was tired of waiting. I knew his next target would have been one or both of my girls and for that alone, I wanted to string him up and let the boys use him for target practice.
