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“Si. I have proof that Alessio Barbieri was in Venice just yesterday. He was seen leaving the Soleri Hotel.”
“It won’t be enough,” Max shook his head.
“It’s one of Leone’s hotels. It’s a start,” I snapped. For some reason, I was becoming more and more agitated. A dark, unwelcome anxiety was starting to manifest itself in the pit of my stomach, but I had no idea why.
Suddenly, both Max's and my alarm watches started vibrating frantically with red alerts and a couple of my men hurtled into the meeting room. The feeling intensified when I saw their faces; flustered, angry and concerned.
“What is it?” I growled, pushing up from my chair with so much force it fell back behind me.
“Our men are being ambushed. In an underground parking lot in Verona.”
I frowned deeply. Why were my men in an underground parking lot in the first place?
“Leone?”
“We aren’t sure but we are massively outnumbered. There’s more… They are with Olivia and Elenora.”
I froze. My pulse spiked. My eyes widened. My world crashed. No. No, my worst nightmare is becoming reality. With a whirl of sudden movement, everyone was out of their seats, Maximus and Enzo’s heavy footfalls were following behind mine as I stormed outside towards my car. I was fucking shaking. Anger mixed with fear is a deadly combination.
Max was shouting orders behind me, always in control and thinking logically. Telling men to get to the location as fast as possible. Ordering to shoot on sight. I heard the statement, 'Olivia and Elenora’s safety is the main priority' and it travelled straight through me like an electrical shock. I blinked rapidly as I paused by the door of a black SUV and took a moment to inhale a breath. They will be fine. They have to be fine. Yanking open the door, I climbed in as Max took the passenger seat next to my driver and Enzo was in the back with me.
We sped towards the location, not a single word spoken between us. We were all too busy preparing our guns and seething with adrenaline. Pounding heart, racing blood, sweating palms; I was entirely fucked up, ready to murder any fucker who had put two of the most important women in my life in danger. I won’t think twice about pulling the trigger. I won’t stop until every one of them pays.
My phone started ringing and my stomach flipped when I saw Liv’s caller ID. My heart was in my throat as I frantically accepted the call, wondering if this was indeed my wife or the walking dead man that had her.
“Liv?”
“Gio,” she whimpered, her voice close to a whisper and completely consumed with terror. I exhaled with slight alleviation, but I was still on edge. Max turned around in his chair to watch me with concern.
“Liv, where are you? Are you safe?”
She sniffled and it sounded oddly quiet. Completely calm wherever she was. “Please hurry. I’m in the trunk of a car in the doctor’s parking lot.”
Max ordered our driver to step on it and we weaved through the oncoming traffic with dangerous accuracy as I closed my eyes with relief that she was safe. “I’m coming. Just stay there. Don’t move. I’m coming, Bambola.”
“They… they took Elle.”
For the second time in so many minutes my heart dropped and my world shattered. No. My little sorella. All my life I had tried to protect her from this and I still failed. I punched the back of Max’s chair and he jolted forwards, before turning to glare at me.
“They fucking have Elle!” I roared.
Enzo and Max’s features morphed into sharp expressions overcome with the rage, but it was nothing compared to the storm brewing inside of me.
“I’m sorry,” Liv cried into the phone and I tried to calm my temper to focus on her. The fact she was hiding in a dark space, terrified for her life and I was not there was breaking me apart. “It’s my fault. They wanted me.”
“No. It’s not your fault. None of this is your fault. It’s mine,” I growled as the doctor’s building came into sight. We powered down the slope into the underground parking lot, slamming through the barrier without waiting for it to lift. “I’m here, Liv. Kick on the trunk,” I ordered, diving out of the SUV as it skidded to a halt, the noise of the tyres against the cement echoing around us.
I raced through the parked cars, seeing but not paying any attention to the scattering of bodies on the floor until I heard the low thumping from a BMW. I threw open the trunk and there she was. My life. Tears streaming down her face and shaking like a leaf but alive. She jumped up and threw her arms around my neck and her legs around my waist as I held her so tightly against me.
“It’s okay. I’m here, Bambola,” I stroked her hair as she cried into my shoulder. After taking a moment of gratitude that the love of my life was safely in my arms, I scanned the carnage around me. Tyre marks were all over the ground from a fast getaway. Pools of blood splattered like black ink on the cement floor. Cars with open doors, and bodies decorating the ground beside them. A few unknown faces of my enemies but mostly they were all my men. My soldiers. To my right I saw Guido’s lifeless body. Fuck.
“What happened?” I tried to speak as softly and calmly as I could as she moved her face away from my shoulder and looked into my eyes.
“I don’t know. It happened so fast. We were leaving and then the shooting started. Guido, Finn and Elle were with me and then Guido…” she paused, her bottom lip trembling. “Finn told us to try and get back inside the building but we couldn’t. It was too far. They shouted my name, Gio. They came for me.”
The darkness that threatened to sink its sharp claws into my soul re-emerged. This was a planned attack to kill my wife. Or kidnap her. I couldn’t even speak; I was too manic.
“Elle found an open trunk and she told me to get in. She pretended to be me, Gio. She took my place and let them take her instead,” fresh tears unleashed from her eyes as she fell back into my body in despair. Every muscle in my body tensed. Elle sacrificed herself to save Liv?
