Savage Savior (Savage People 3)

“Out!” Stefano barked, snapping his fingers at the men holding me. “Take those three into another room. My sweet Jade and I have a lot of catching up to do.”

“No!” I couldn’t let them separate us. I needed to know they were okay. I ran toward Dahlia and the girls, but I didn’t make it more than a couple feet when I was yanked back by my hair. Stefano gripped my hair in his fist without mercy and hauled my back into his chest. I changed my mind. I didn’t want the girls to see any of this. Emerson screamed, and Dahlia shielded her with her body so she couldn’t see me, whispering assurances that I was okay.

“Tsk tsk.” He clicked his tongue. “You know better than that. Be a good girl, and nobody gets hurt. Capisce?”

I gulped and nodded my head. “It’s okay.” I tried to reassure Dahlia and Em. Thank God Leena was too little to know what was going on. “They won’t hurt you. It’s going to be okay.” Dahl didn’t take her eyes off of me until they disappeared down the hallway. One arm holding the baby, and the other hand clasped to Emerson’s, keeping her as close as possible.

Stefano inhales deeply, burying his nose into my hair. “God, how I’ve missed you. I should fucking kill you, but you always were my weakness, weren’t you?” He still had my hair tangled up into a fist when his other hand came around to wrap around my throat.

“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 breath 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 ar

m 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?