“Well? Don’t you have anything to say to me? Didn’t you miss me, too?” His tongue snaked out to lick the side of my face, and I tried, unsuccessfully, to jerk away. Immediately, the tears started to fall. “Shh, don’t cry, baby. I’ve got you now. Everything’s okay.” He licked my tears as they fell, and I couldn’t tell if he was completely fucking crazy and expected me to actually miss him, or if he was just taunting me. My bet was on the former.
Stefano angled my head to look up into his almost black eyes. “I forgive you. I know he wouldn’t let you come back to me. But you don’t have to worry. I have you now.” Fuck! He knew about Cole. Cole, however, had no idea that Stefano even existed. My body started to shake uncontrollably, and I couldn’t hold back the sob building in my throat.
“It’s okay, baby. He won’t hurt you. But I will. I forgive you, but you still need to be punished for leaving me.”
I tried to get my nerves under enough control to get my next question out, taking a deep brea
th and closing my eyes.
“What are you going to do to me?”
An insidious smile transformed his entire face. He truly was the devil.
“I’m going to make sure you’ve learned your lesson, and then I’m going to let you watch me kill your little boyfriend.” No, no, no, no, no. I couldn’t let that happen. I had to warn Cole. I knew Stefano would be armed with at least one firearm, most likely three. I also knew that his cell phone would be inside the interior pocket of his suit. If I could just get my hands on one or both…
Without giving it any more thought, I threw my head back into Stefano’s nose and heard a sickeningly, satisfying crunch. Both hands released me and shot to his face, bending over slightly. His expression was pure shock as he withdrew his hands and studied the blood, followed quickly by rage. I put both hands on his shoulders and kneed him in the balls as hard as I could. Stefano dropped to his knees, and I spied the gun peeking out of the inside of his jacket. He spotted my intent, and we both reached for it at the same time. He got his hands around it first, and before I could even process what was going to happen, his arm shot out and smacked my face with the butt of the gun. My head whipped around with the force of it, and pain exploded through me. Fuck. That backfired.
“You’re gonna pay for that one, you little bitch.” He looked like a maniac. His usually perfect slicked-back hair was a wild mess and he had blood pouring from his nose. The look in his eyes chilled me to the core, and I literally shivered in fear.
“I’m sorry.” I tried weakly, but I could tell I’d pushed too far. Cole had to be coming. He just had to.
“Too late for sorry, Bambina. Now, take off your dress. We’re going to have some fun, you and I.”
BANG! BANG! BANG!
I was passed out on the couch in my office when I heard the incessant banging on the door. I bolted upright, a light sleeper even in my drunken stupor. How long had I been out? I could still see the puddle on the floor from the vodka I drank from Jade’s delicious cunt, so it couldn’t have been that late. A quick glance at my watch told me it was three in the morning. Who in the fuck would need me at this hour? As soon as the thought entered my head, I felt ice running through my veins. My heart stopped. Somehow, I knew, I just knew something was wrong with Jade.
I ate up the distance between the couch and the door in two big steps, and threw the door open to see Graham with his fist up, about to pound on the door again.
“Where the fuck is Jade?” he asked. My heart was pounding and the need to get to her was stronger than anything I’d ever felt in my life.
“I don’t know,” I murmured. He pushed himself in and shouldered his way past me. Hard.
“Get your shit together, asshole. They don’t just have Jade. They have my fucking girls. Sober the fuck up and get your ass downstairs. We need every man we’ve got.”
“Who is they? The Italians?” I asked while snatching up my keys, piece, and phone. Graham nodded, jaw clenched.
“Fucking Lucky Lucianos.”
“Got any more weapons?” I asked, holding up my gun. “This is all I got on me, and I’m not wasting time picking up more.”
Graham’s face contorted into pure evil when he said, “We’ve got a whole goddam arsenal downstairs. I can start a fucking war with North Korea and win. Now let’s fucking go.”
They had our women. His children. If they hurt one fucking hair on their heads, no one would be left standing, guaranteed. We may have been the underdogs, but we were Savages. And you don’t fuck with The Savages.
We sprinted down the stairs, into the near-empty club. The only people left were employees, shutting shit down for the night. Ignoring the curious looks, we darted out the back door, and to the nearby parking garage. Waiting for us were three black SUVs and about ten men I didn’t recognize, along with Carter.
“This the fuckin’ cavalry? You’re trusting these kids with our girls?” I asked Graham, throwing a thumb in their direction. They looked about twenty, tops, save for one other man who I assumed was their leader. Where the fuck did they come from?
“That’s not what your ma said last night when I shagged her,” one of them said, proving my point. Shagged her. Fuck, Graham was not going to be satisfied until he migrated the whole fucking Ireland to the US.
“Shut the fuck up, Stiles,” the one in charge snapped.
“This is Sinclair, my cousin from Ireland.” Graham nodded at the only one who looked old enough to wipe his own ass. He was inked to the max and looked like a badass, especially in comparison to the rest of them. “And all of these men…are Savages. The rest doesn’t matter.”
The Backstreet Boys went back to loading their weapons and packing their shit into the vehicles. Graham wasn’t kidding when he said he’d brought ammo. I was never involved enough to realize how much weaponry the guy had. From Molotov Cocktails to Glocks, Remingtons, and Colts, they had every single type of firearm they could get their hands on. Everything was neatly arranged across long black sheets.
“How do you know where they are? Do we know for sure the Lucky Lucianos have them?” I knew it was wishful thinking, but I was in denial. I needed Jade to be okay.