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•KINLEY•I sat in the courtroom biting my nails while waiting to hear if the judge was going to allow Gianni back out on bail while the investigation was ongoing, or if he would be remanded.Fin and King were seated beside me, Luca near the back.Billie was at the mansion watching the kids.I breathed a sigh of relief when the judge said Gianni could have bail.It was a large amount, but I knew we had it.I rushed to Luca to arrange the payment and waited outside with Fin and King for it to be taken care of."At least he's coming home," Fin said.I nodded, "Yeah. But we still have to pinpoint who it is behind this, and a way to stop it."Fin started pacing, "Detective Hilton is trying to take down the big fish like Gianni to exhilarate his career. I bet that if we put enough pressure on him, we can make this all go away.""But is he the type to let it all go away?" I asked.King shrugged, "If we find the sweet spot, yes. And they all have a sweet spot. We just have to find his."I nod
•KINLEY•With the baby bottle in hand, I made my way to the kitchen, pausing just outside the doorway when I heard Luca on a call."Well, she didn't say a damn word to me about being there okay? No, I'm telling you the truth. I'll do my best, but I'm not making any promises. Yes, I know. Thanks for the reminder." I walked in just as he turned to look at me."I'll call you back, Martha," he cut the call and smiled at me, "Gianni on daddy duty?""Yeah. What's up? That sounded serious?""Oh, uh," he looked down at his phone with a frown, "Martha. She has some issues with her sister that she wants me to help with. She's, uh, getting herself involved with the wrong crowd.""Oh no, I hope it works out. Do you want me to talk to Gianni to give you some time off to sort things out?""No, it's nothing that serious. I just need to find out if she was at that cop bar near the precinct last night with her boyfriend."I frowned, "Cop bar? I thought you said she was involved with the wrong crowd?"
•KINLEY•"So? What's the plan here?"Gianni was already in planning mode, "We tap his phone. I'll put someone on him to follow him. We can go to him with these calls, but he can play it down without any real evidence. Once we have evidence, we confront him."Fin nodded, "Got it, I'll get the tap, you have someone follow him."Gianni nodded, "Sounds good. I'll get onto that immediately. Kinley, I don't want you leaving the house unless it's with me. Understood?"I nodded, but I had no plan of listening. I still had to meet with Hilton and see if I could find anything out.I glanced at Fin and he looked away from me, he knew what I was thinking about, I could see it by the way he looked at me.Now I needed a plan to get out of the house without Gianni stopping me.And knowing Gianni, that wasn't going to be easy.I got to my feet and walked out, going downstairs where I found Luca about to leave. "Where are you off to?" I asked, fighting the urge to attack him in anger."Got a lead." H
•KINLEY•I pulled my phone out while telling Luca the truth about what I had been up to with Hilton.Now that I was aware of the reason he was doing what he was, I was sure we could still trust him.We just needed to help him make sure Martha was safe."Who are you calling?""Fin. I have an idea that will help all of us.""Kinley? Do you have news?""I do. But I need you to meet me, and get Gianni here too." I gave him the location and hung up."Gianni is going to skin me alive, why are you bringing them here? I trusted you with this.""You trusted me for a reason, Luca. You know we would never let anything happen to Martha. I just wish you would have told us what was going on sooner. A lot of this mess could have been avoided.""Kinley, they have my wife. I couldn't risk her life. I don't even want to do this right now. If they kill her-""They won't, okay? Trust us, please."Luca looked around as if he was worried someone was looking at us, "If they find out that I'm telling you, th
•GIANNI•"Where the hell is Renato? That kid is always late to something."Kinley chuckled, "He texted me, he's just picking up his girlfriend."I shook my head, he had been talking about this girlfriend for a while now but we had yet to meet her.Today was the big day.I looked over at Luca standing in front of the barbecue.Ripley was sitting busy typing on her phone. I couldn't believe both of my kids had grown up and I had been blessed enough to see them grow.If Fin and Luca hadn't done what they did for me, I may not have had the privilege of having these years to watch my son and daughter grow into a man and woman.We invited Fin for this barbecue, but he was away undercover for work so he wasn't able to make it.I looked over at Kinley and my mind went back to that night all those years ago at the shipping yard.She had run over to me in such a panic when she heard those gunshots. She thought I was shot.In actual fact, it was Fin who shot one of the men guarding Martha.After
I pulled my jacket tighter around myself as I stood outside the club doors. I had just finished with another grueling shift at the bar and was waiting for my lift, who I was sure had completely forgotten about me, I had been waiting for hours. It was rather late, but I knew I would need to walk home, I had forgotten my phone behind and had no way of making any calls to get someone to fetch me. With a heavy sigh, as I shivered from the cold night air, I began my walk home while wishing I hadn't chosen to wear such a short dress; it wasn't exactly the safest area at the best of times. The cold chilled me to the bone as my skin pickled with goosebumps, each step I took felt colder than the last. I was thankful I wasn't far from the flat I rented with my cousin Dom. I couldn't help but shake my head at the thought of him, he had been the only one in my family to ever really understand me without any judgment. He understood that I resented my entire childhood and wanted to part from
My eyes were still covered by the cloth and my hands were still tied behind my back as I was forced to walk forward by the firm grip that held onto my upper arm. I couldn't tell which of the men had me, but I assumed it was the smaller man who had Auburn hair and hazel eyes, he had looked the kinder between the two of them. The man Dom had called Gianni on the other hand had terrified me. His cold eyes were so dark they looked like black pools; I wouldn't deny that he had good looks though, he was tall with broad shoulders and thick arms, and his short dark hair complemented his tanned skin. But where he may have had good looks, it did nothing to take away from the fact that simply looking at him had terrified me, and it had nothing to do with the scar over his eye either. You could immediately tell that he was a cruel man, from the hard look on his face, and the lack of emotion in his eyes. "There's steps coming up." I nodded my head to acknowledge, I was thankful that it was in
GIANNI "Why do you look so pissed off?" Talon asked the next morning as he walked into my office. He paused, "Is that a cut on your nose?" I glared at him, "I went in to her last night. Bitch kneed me in the face." Talon's face went white, "Is she okay?" "Is she okay? Did you not fucking hear me? She's the one that attacked me!" "What did you do to her?" "Nothing! I went in and my dick got the better of me. Almost fucked her but she kneed me in the face. And you know what I did after that? I walked the fuck out." Talon shook his head, "She's going to be difficult. And we both know that Dom is going to take forever to get all the money paid up." I felt myself get annoyed again, I didn't want to have this conversation right now, "Talon, I know what I'm doing. If you're so worried about her, you deal with her. But she stays alive, she is our only leverage." Talon nodded begrudgingly, "Fine. I'll play the babysitter." "No, Scott will handle her." I knew Talon well enough and the