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“Gio will find me. I know he will,” I whispered to Liv. “Don’t tell mamma until you have to,” I ordered. I had every faith in my brother. He would save me before mamma would even be home from France and I couldn’t bear putting her through this worry for nothing. I just had to survive this until he did.
I closed the trunk silently and peered around the car again. A beefy man had punched Finn in the face so hard, he had toppled over onto the cold, hard floor, spluttering.
“Olivia… Don’t make me kill all your men! I will spare this one if you come out!”
Inhaling deeply, I had to pray this was going to work. That this man would not know that I wasn’t Olivia. I could do a bloody good English accent after learning it from such a young age and being around Liv. I crawled away from the car Liv was hiding in and then stood up. The man’s evil eyes twinkled with victory as a smug smile appeared on his face.
“Leave him alone!” I shouted.
“As you wish, Mrs Buccini.” The man nodded to the two men who were beating the living daylights out of Finn and they retreated, leaving him in a crumpled heap on the floor. One man opened the door to a blacked-out SUV with no licence plates and gestured for me to get in.
I slowly edged towards the car, glancing down at Finn’s bloody face and body as I walked past him. Our eyes connected and he attempted to say something but choked on blood making it completely incoherent. I moved my gaze away quickly as my legs shook with every step. They said they just wanted to talk. Maybe that would be true. Maybe, they just wanted to send Gio a message. But I doubted it very much. No matter what, I wouldn’t let them break me. I was a Buccini. And we don’t break easily.
As I reached the door of the SUV, a black hood was suddenly pulled over my head and I was plunged into darkness. No. No, anything but this. My claustrophobia reared its ugly head and I started to panic, my body struggling against a strong chest as I was forced into the car aggressively.
“Take it off! Please!” I shouted in desperation. But no one listened. I could feel the engine shake to a start and the sudden vibrations and movements beneath me told me that we were driving at an insane speed out of here. My hands were tied behind my back with cable ties and I screamed as the fabric of the black hood pressed against my face. My pulse echoed in my ears. I was going to suffocate. I couldn’t breathe. I fought for air but there was none and dots started to appear in front of my eyes against the pitch-black. No, I was going to pass out. Or die. At this point, I didn’t know which one would be better.
A Twist of Fate
I watched as two of my men ambushed Rico when he turned to stroll down one of the cobbled streets of Venice. I had been tailing him all morning in the hope that he might lead me to this girl without having to interrogate him. So far, all he had done was spend two hours in the gym and met a friend in a coffee shop before now leisurely walking home.
My patience was wearing thin and I couldn’t wait any longer. The back door of my Mercedes Sprinter opened and he was shoved inside onto the seating bench facing me, a gun pressed into his side as my two men lodged themselves either side of him to block his escape routes. His dark eyes scanned all our faces but rested on mine as they narrowed in recognition. I smiled.
“Hello, Rico.”
He gulped audibly, his gaze moving from me to Fabi, who was sitting next to me, and then to the men he was wedged between. “What is this?”
“A friendly chat,” I replied as the engine started and my driver drove us to a more discreet area. “Or it will be as long as you give me the information I need.”
“Who are you?”
“I’ll ask the questions,” I leaned forward, clasping my hands together as Fabi flashed his gun from under his suit jacket for Rico to see. His eyes widened and he started to shake, his leg pounding up and down against the floor of my car nervously.
“Look, I don’t know what you think I’ve done, but this has to be a misunderstanding. I haven’t—”
“You worked at La Casetta,” I stated, not allowing him to deny it by asking it as a question. “You worked with a girl called Flora.”
The look in his eyes told me everything I needed to know. He knew her and he was hiding something. Something big.
“Yes…” he said, his french accent wobbling with his nerves.
“Except that is not her name, is it?”
He gulped again but kept his cool. “No, we all have fake names to protect our identities.”
I smirked, nodding my head. “I know that too. Her real name is Emmeline Strazi. Or so I thought it was. So, imagine my surprise when I find Emmeline and discover she is not the same girl who has been working at La Casetta under the alias of Flora.”
Rico’s eyes shifted with guilt between Fabi and I as Fabi reached into his jacket slowly, giving the impression he was about to pull out his gun. Instead, he pulled out his pack of cigarettes and Rico let out a small exhale of relief.
“So, Rico, my question to you is… who is she?” I set my hard gaze upon him, dropping the unnerving smile and letting him see the beast behind it. His chest started to rise and fall as his breathing became panicked.
“She is just some girl. She wanted to come to the club for one night to experience it without a membership.”
“A friend of yours?” I questioned, feeling like I was finally getting somewhere.
“No. I barely know her,” he shook his head, talking quickly. He might have thought that would make this better for him but it only made it worse.
“Yet you risked your job by letting her pose as a worker in La Casetta. Why?” I demanded, cracking my knuckles as my jaw tensed.
