This wasn’t supposed to happen.
She shouldn’t have called Vincenzo.
“Babe,” Vincenzo said. “She’s gone. You need to let her go.”
“She needs a doctor.”
“Arika, she’s dead.”
“No. Get an ambulance.”
“Dude, you’re going to have to knock her the fuck out so we can deal with this.”
“Shut up, Daniel.”
“You know what needs to happen. She’s fucking panicking.”
“Babe, look at me.”
“She needs an ambulance. Get her one.”
“I’m so sorry about this.”
Suddenly she was grabbed, a hand covering her mouth. She tried to fight it, but everything went dark.
Chapter Thirteen
“You did what you had to do, Vince. Don’t look so worried.”
Vincenzo ignored Daniel as he stared at the woman in his lap. Arika had been panicking, not thinking about what she was doing. Her friend had died, a gunshot wound to her throat in the crossfire.
Vitale had been on their turf.
Getting the call from Arika, he’d dropped everything he was doing, the meeting he had with Galiza, to come to her aid. Fear for her safety had been his only concern, so much so that he told Galiza he had to go to her. Before he could leave, his boss had asked him what was so important about this woman, and he’d told him straight that he loved her.
There was going to be a conversation between them very soon, but until then, Galiza had said for him to take backup. Vitales had been growing in recent weeks, and it was time they learned their place once again.
“I promised her this life wouldn’t touch her.”
“Then you shouldn’t have made that promise, man. None of us can guarantee shit like that. It’s impossible to do. We can only hope that we keep our families safe.” Daniel looked at him in the rearview mirror. “Boss knows now. At least you don’t have to keep going around sneaking past shit.”
“She can’t go back to the diner.”
“There’s not much of a fucking diner left.”
“Frank will be compensated. So will Rachel’s family,” he said.
When he’d seen the guns, he’d acted on instinct, drawing his weapon and firing as he pushed Arika to the ground. He couldn’t allow anything to happen to her. She was his entire world.
Daniel pulled up outside of his suburban home. He figured it would be best to bring her to a place that she liked. His home was that place.
“Do you want some help?” Daniel asked.
“No.”
Opening the door, he picked her up in his arms, carrying her into his home. Closing the door, he quickly flicked the lock into place and took her upstairs. Resting her on the bed, he saw there was blood on her hands and knees. She’d crawled through broken glass to get to her friend.
She was still out for the count and would be for a while.
Knocking his opponent unconscious in a neck hold had been a skill he practiced as not everyone carried chloroform on their person, and no one knew when they’d need it.
Carrying her through to the bath, he lowered her into the tub. “I never wanted any of this to happen to you, babe.” He removed her uniform and was careful as he filled the tub. He grabbed his first aid kit and started to clean out the glass. Some shards were in her knees, and he didn’t like that she could be in any kind of pain.
Piece by piece, he cleaned her up, scrubbing off the day until she was as good as new, at least in body.
Lifting her up again, he carried her through to the bedroom. He put one of his shirts on her, to help before putting a few bandages to cover the worst of the cuts.
Once that was done, he put her into bed.
Taking a seat on the chair, he stared over at her.
Never in all of his life had he ever been more terrified than thinking about her alone and vulnerable at the Vitale men’s mercy.
He’d been talking with Galiza, making him see sense about who was responsible for the raids, missing shipments, and also the attacks on the clubs.
He understood that his boss didn’t want to think that his own son would betray him. Vincenzo wasn’t lying though. The pictures didn’t lie, and neither had the reporter. He’d been given the information by none other than Galiza’s youngest son, Rafe. As far as Vincenzo was concerned, Rafe had always been a loose cannon. He was a spoiled bastard who thought the world owed him everything and that he was the one who should be leading. It just didn’t work that way. Being the youngest son, he was at the bottom of the fucking food chain.
His jealousy of his father but also of his older brothers knew no bounds. During Vincenzo’s search, he had uncovered Rafe’s attempt to kill his oldest brother, Antonio, as well. There had been three attempts on Antonio’s life, and he’d even lost his girlfriend in the process as well.