Sitting at a beautiful brass table in Giovanni's back yard, I nursed a cup of tea in my hands.I had been here for two days and Giovanni had been very understanding as to my silence.But this morning he had brought me out a cup of tea with his and taken a seat.Although he sat silently, I knew he was curios as to what was going on."Gianni has phoned a few times." He announced."I guess you know it all then?" I asked.Luca took a seat at the table too."I would prefer to hear your side, Kinley."I looked over at Luca before starting to explain. I told him everything that had happened, including about the FBI.By the time I was done, I was in tears again, "I wasn't going to turn on him, I swear.""I believe you.""But he won't." Giovanni sighed heavily, "He came to see me before he was shot. He wanted his grandmother's ring. It's been in our family for many generations. He planned on giving it to you."I gasped, "What? That must have been the surprise he was talking about."He nodded
Luca was taking me back to the mansion. A part of me didn't want to make a return, but I did miss Gianni.I also wanted to confront Talon as to why he had said Gianni was making plans with Billie, when that seemed to be the complete opposite of what had happened.I hadn't told Gianni I would be returning, it was my attempt at surprising him.But when I walked in, the smile on Talon's face told me he was up to something."You're back.""Yes. Is Gianni in his study.""He is. Billie is here."I forced my smile to remain in place, "Lovely, hopefully he is taking my advice and treating her well."I could see the smile on Talons face falter for a brief moment.Luca followed me up the stairs and I didn't bother knocking on the door before walking in.Billie was sitting on the sofa while Gianni leaned against his desk.His eyes lit up and he smiled as I walked over to him, his arms immediately wrapping around me."My love, are you back?"I nodded, leaning up to give him a brief kiss, "I'm bac
•KINLEY•Keeping a close eye on Talon, it was clear that he was up to something. He was acting strange, but I couldn't quite out my finger on it.I sipped on my coffee while I waited for Gianni, we were going to the hospital this morning for the test results from Billie's paternity test.Gianni was sure the baby wasn't his, but I wasn't. Billie obviously knew that the baby was his, the way she acted left no room for mistakes. She knew what she was doing.Taking another sip of coffee, I frowned over at Talon, "Talon? What is going on with you? You're so jumpy, and can barely stay still."He seemed surprised that I had noticed this, his brows shooting up, "Oh? I'm wondering about this paternity test. God knows we don't need Billie sticking around."I looked down at my cup, Luca had informed me that he had seen Talon speaking to her, so why was he acting like he didn't like her?"Well, there's no use worrying about it, is there? Let's wait and see what the tests say.""She's trouble, Ki
•TALON•"Moving in is genius. Kinley is insecure, and no matter how much she claims to trust him, having you around all the time will definitely put a strain on their relationship." Billie had told me of her suggestion to move in, and I thought it was a perfect idea. I had gone over to her loft to discuss our plans.With her involved I was confident that I would be able to put enough strain on Kinley to have her leave. I knew that once she was away from Gianni, I could use her vulnerability to my advantage. Although the end goal was to take Gianni out of the picture completely, I wanted to make him suffer miserably first.Kinley was his week spot, to see her with me would crush him. And once he was an emotional wreck, I would take everything else from him too."Hey!"I jumped slightly at Billie's loud voice, "What?""What are you thinking about? I lost you there for a second."Billie wanted Gianni and power, so I had no desire to discuss my plans with her."Sorry, I was thinking of
•GIANNI•"Where the fuck is she?!" I screamed, barely noticing the pain it caused the wound on my head. I angrily swatted away the doctors hand who was trying to clean the bleeding wound.Luca looked away at my outburst while Talon paced, barking orders through his phone to my men.I had woken hours earlier after the accident to find myself back at home, my doctor waiting for me.Luca was pretty banged up, but what had really taken me by surprise was walking into the living room to find him crying like a child.Luca was a big, bulky man and I had never seen him express such hurt in all the years he had worked for me.Seeing him, I immediately knew something was wrong with Kinley. The two of them had formed a strong friendship over the last few months.When he had told me he had lost conciseness as she was being pulled from the car, I lost it."Luca!" I barked.He looked up, "Yes, boss?""It's not your fault." He looked away again, I knew this was killing him just as it was killing m
•KINLEY•I opened my eyes with a frown as the door banged open."Get up." Jade barked her orders at me.I pushed myself into a sitting position, careful not to let my thighs touch each other and chafe the burn marks."What now?""We're going to make a little phone call to Gianni." She grinned manically as she came over to cuff my hands together.She sat down beside me and dialled on her phone."Hello? Kinley?" Gianni's panicked voice came through as she put the phone onto loud speaker.Jade nudged me and motioned to the phone."Gianni." Was all I said."Kinley! Baby, where are you?""With some crazy bitch called Ja-" she backhanded me in the face and I yelped."Kinley?!"I glared at her and she shook her head."Jade and Michael!" I screamed. She clearly hadn't been expecting me not t9 listen to her orders. She flung the phone across the room and pounced on top of me, slamming my head into the headboard.With my hands cuffed in front of me, I had more room for movement.I used all the
•GIANNI•After screaming profanities while shouting for Luca and Talon in between, I suddenly came to the realisation that I still had no idea where to look for Kinley.Yes, she had alerted me as to who she was with, but I had no clue where they were."What is it, boss?""They called me, Luca. She was able to shout out who has her, its Jade. I need the men to find them, I need to find Kinley. You know how evil they can get.""But we chased them away from here. How could they be back without you knowing?" Talon asked me.I turned to glare at him in anger, "I want to know the very same thing, Talon. You have assured me that there have been no sightings of them for months!""We have eyes on them, there have been no reports of them coming back. Unless we have a traitor.""Well, obviously we do! Don't waste my time. Bring me the men who were watching them," I turned to Luca, "And you, bring me any one of them. I will show them how to handle a kidnapping." I was furious. Jade was the adopte
•KINLEY•"What are you doing?" Michael asked me, side eyeing me as I dumped my pile of collected twigs on the ground.I was sure we were more lost now than earlier after walking aimlessly for hours. The sun was already beginning to set."Making a fire, genius.""Oh, perfect. Let's cause a wildfire to break out.""Well, hey, at least a blazing fire will catch someone's attention."He huffed and threw up his arms, "You are not going back to Gianni until we have what we need!"If my hands weren't still cuffed I would have out them on my hips."You won't get what you need! Don't you get it? Gianni didn't get where he is by buckling down or bending to anyone's demands.""Yeah, because he never had anyone in his life that could be used as leverage against him. That's changed now.""It doesn't matter what you have. He would never give up his power over you." Even as I said the words, I was doubting them. I had seen how docile he had become when Dom had me at gunpoint. "Jade knows what she's