Nazlynn’s POVI flinched, waiting for the impact of the knife but it never came.When I looked up, Santos was standing in the doorway. He must have said something but I was too scared to hear it.He was giving Alice the most deathly glare I had ever seen someone muster up. “I told you to let her be for a little while longer and that she would come around, what do you think you're doing, Alice?” He asked. His tone was like he was scolding a little kid for touching something they were told not to do.“Father,” she said, standing up. I couldn't help but notice that her voice was firmer now like she was not afraid of what he could do. “We cannot compromise the integrity of our clan for a stranger.” Alice shot me a look of disgust.“Mind your words, that's your sister,” he said sternly.“Oh please. You never really considered me to be your daughter, just some girl you had pity on and took care of,” she spat bitterly.Well, that is certainly a new development. If this were any different s
Nazlynn’s POV I did not expect Alice to come back into the room and certainly not so soon after.She pulled a knife out of her waistband. “I'm tired of waiting for you or feeling like I'm replacing you. Ever since I found out about your existence, all I've wanted to do is kill you,” she said as she approached me.“What are you doing? What are you doing Alice? He said you shouldn't hurt me,” I said, alarmed as I started thrashing in my position.She smirked as she took off the restraints and pulled me to my feet by neck which caused me to start coughing.I yelled out to alert Santos but it only made her smirk deepen. “Oh! Father?” Don't bother about him, he's currently indisposed,” she said simply.Disgust covered my features. Did she kill him? “What did you do to him?”“He's fine, you don't have to worry about any harm coming to the man who had you kidnapped. I just needed him and his lousy men out of the way so I could get this over with,” she said with a shrug. “He'll thank me for
Chapter 147I jumped up from my position on the floor and barged into the emergency room where Nazlynn was, ignoring the attempts of the nurses to stop me.Her body looked so still and lifeless. They were delivering shock to her body using some strange looking device that I see in the movies. There were so many wires coming out of a machine that were plugged into her body, but one machine I recognised was the one showing a straight green line across it. I may not be well versed in medicine, but I knew enough to know that it was not a good sign.“Nazlynn,” I called out to her, pushing off the arms of the two nurses who tried to hold me back so I could walk closer to the bed.I could faintly hear someone shouting for security, but I didn't take my eyes off Nazlynn, not even when I was hauled out of the room by two large men.My heart was in my mouth when I heard the faint beeping sound start all over, and I slid down the wall opposite the door. I'm not sure how long it took until Enzo
“What is it?” I asked. My feet had suddenly frozen to the spot. “She's currently out of danger and has stabilized. We are focusing on managing the injury on her hand. It may take some time, but the doctor would be out to address you further as soon as possible,” she said before giving me a slight bow and walking off.I looked at Sabrina, elated. “Did you hear that? She's going to be okay! Nazlynn is going to be okay.” She nodded, pulling me in for another hug. We stayed that way for a few seconds until I started feeling wetness on my shirt, so I pulled back. Sabrina's face was soaked with tears, I didn't even have time to wonder how she silently produced that many tears in such little time.“I was scared I was never going to see her again, Luca. I thought I had lost her for good,” she sobbed.I pulled her back into my arms and tried to soothe her by running my hand across her back. When her shaking had subsided, I helped her back to the chair so we could sit.I waited until she had
The doorbell rang, insistent and impatient. I turned to the door like the mahogany had become transparent, my heart pounding as I felt a familiar dread settle in my stomach. The man standing at my door looked both familiar and unrecognizable. One thing came to mind, “Father”. It had been almost five weeks since I last saw Father, a title he insisted I called him because it was different from what the other kids called their parents.My father was one thing and one thing only, the sperm donor in my creation. He left us when I was three years old from what my mum told me and never came back.I slowly approached the door. “Father!” I exclaimed, taking in his shirt messed up with blood evidently pouring from his lips. Both his eyes were swollen like he was repeatedly punched, and I couldn't help but notice the smell of burnt skin that was coming from him.The wind picked up outside, howling loudly and pushing branches against my kitchen windows. It brought back ugly memories . ( Flas
The next time I opened my eyes, I realized I couldn't see. A sharp pain throbbing in my head stopped me from making the panicked movements I was making.I tried pulling my hand to my head only to realize that my hands were cuffed behind me, and my mouth was gagged.An unfamiliar stench hung in the air, and I couldn't stop myself from scrunching up my nose. “Ten million!” a voice called out, the sound filling the room in seconds. I jerked up as my senses came alive, I realized I wasn't alone.My heart surged with fear. I said a silent prayer to whoever was listening, hoping that I was not naked. I doubted, though. I couldn't feel the breeze on my mid region and thighs the way I could feel them on my arms and lower legs. Another voice broke me out of my train of thoughts. “Seventeen million!” The thought hit me like a bag of bricks. They were bidding over something. Fear crawled up my spine. We're they bidding over people?“Forty million!” a small voice called out. It was feminine,
It's been four hours fifteen minutes since I was dumped in a room against my will like a bag of pickles. My eyes had barely left the digital clock that sat on the table beside the bed and I could not even imagine myself shutting my eyes for a minute.Rays of sun had started to trickle through the windows before I heard a knock on the door and then the sound of a key unlocking the door.I stood up with my arms crossed over my chest, expecting to see Luca but was greeted with an unfamiliar female face. “Good morning ma'am. My name is Maria, I'm your personal maid and I will be assisting you.“Mr Alessandro is waiting for you in his study. He requested that you freshen up and be out in twenty minutes,” she said without meeting my eyes.The woman looked to be in her mid thirties or so. There were so many questions I wanted to ask but I didn't think she was the best person to answer them so I shut my mouth as quickly as I opened it. I had opened the bathroom door when I saw that she was
I fell on my knees before I could even stop myself. “Please, he's just a kid, please don't hurt him.” “Oh Nazlynn, come on. I'm not a monster, I would never hurt a child,” he said, his voice softening briefly.“That’s only because my men have no problem doing that,” he ended, shattering my hopes.My eyes flickered back to the screen. It was a live video, the man walking beside Enzo pulled out his gun just enough for me to see it. I held a shaky hand to my mouth.“He's just a child!” I screamed. “Are you guys even human?”“It's quite simple actually, you know. I needed a wife and I made arrangements to get you, all you have to do is show up in six days and act like the perfect wife. You do all that, your brother is safe. It's a win-win for us, right?” He asked, not at all sounding like he was asking.My bottom lip quivered but I forced the tears away. “I'll see you in six days then,” I said, standing up to walk away.“You will go with me to meet my family tomorrow and then to the brid
“What is it?” I asked. My feet had suddenly frozen to the spot. “She's currently out of danger and has stabilized. We are focusing on managing the injury on her hand. It may take some time, but the doctor would be out to address you further as soon as possible,” she said before giving me a slight bow and walking off.I looked at Sabrina, elated. “Did you hear that? She's going to be okay! Nazlynn is going to be okay.” She nodded, pulling me in for another hug. We stayed that way for a few seconds until I started feeling wetness on my shirt, so I pulled back. Sabrina's face was soaked with tears, I didn't even have time to wonder how she silently produced that many tears in such little time.“I was scared I was never going to see her again, Luca. I thought I had lost her for good,” she sobbed.I pulled her back into my arms and tried to soothe her by running my hand across her back. When her shaking had subsided, I helped her back to the chair so we could sit.I waited until she had
Chapter 147I jumped up from my position on the floor and barged into the emergency room where Nazlynn was, ignoring the attempts of the nurses to stop me.Her body looked so still and lifeless. They were delivering shock to her body using some strange looking device that I see in the movies. There were so many wires coming out of a machine that were plugged into her body, but one machine I recognised was the one showing a straight green line across it. I may not be well versed in medicine, but I knew enough to know that it was not a good sign.“Nazlynn,” I called out to her, pushing off the arms of the two nurses who tried to hold me back so I could walk closer to the bed.I could faintly hear someone shouting for security, but I didn't take my eyes off Nazlynn, not even when I was hauled out of the room by two large men.My heart was in my mouth when I heard the faint beeping sound start all over, and I slid down the wall opposite the door. I'm not sure how long it took until Enzo
Nazlynn’s POV I did not expect Alice to come back into the room and certainly not so soon after.She pulled a knife out of her waistband. “I'm tired of waiting for you or feeling like I'm replacing you. Ever since I found out about your existence, all I've wanted to do is kill you,” she said as she approached me.“What are you doing? What are you doing Alice? He said you shouldn't hurt me,” I said, alarmed as I started thrashing in my position.She smirked as she took off the restraints and pulled me to my feet by neck which caused me to start coughing.I yelled out to alert Santos but it only made her smirk deepen. “Oh! Father?” Don't bother about him, he's currently indisposed,” she said simply.Disgust covered my features. Did she kill him? “What did you do to him?”“He's fine, you don't have to worry about any harm coming to the man who had you kidnapped. I just needed him and his lousy men out of the way so I could get this over with,” she said with a shrug. “He'll thank me for
Nazlynn’s POVI flinched, waiting for the impact of the knife but it never came.When I looked up, Santos was standing in the doorway. He must have said something but I was too scared to hear it.He was giving Alice the most deathly glare I had ever seen someone muster up. “I told you to let her be for a little while longer and that she would come around, what do you think you're doing, Alice?” He asked. His tone was like he was scolding a little kid for touching something they were told not to do.“Father,” she said, standing up. I couldn't help but notice that her voice was firmer now like she was not afraid of what he could do. “We cannot compromise the integrity of our clan for a stranger.” Alice shot me a look of disgust.“Mind your words, that's your sister,” he said sternly.“Oh please. You never really considered me to be your daughter, just some girl you had pity on and took care of,” she spat bitterly.Well, that is certainly a new development. If this were any different s
Luca's POV Keeping my fingers tightly wound around his neck, I smashed the head into the table again and this time, it caused the wood of the table to splinter. The man groaned loudly in pain.“Please stop, I don't know where they are. I swear to you,” he said through blood and tears.“Wrong,” I smashed his head on the table again, disappointed when he suddenly passed out. I flung him away in irritation.With a clenched jaw, I grabbed the next man from the chair. He was relatively short so pulling him up and pinning him to the wall didn't take much. The place he was sitting had a damp spot. He had peed on himself.“Where did they take my wife?” I asked in a dark voice. This part of me had been concealed for so long but I had to bring it back out.“I don't know, I really don't know,” he said shakily.I smashed my fist into his face, causing blood to flow down his nostrils. He began crying and pleading.Whoever employed these fools must either be retarded or have forgotten what protect
I couldn't have run out of that house faster than I did when my father finished talking. My hands were shaking on the steering wheel, and it took a miracle of some sort to stop me from crashing into something or someone.My mind was reeling. I couldn't take Hailey back with me for two reasons. One, I instructed Gabriel not to let me know where they are until things are completely calm. Two, she was no safer with me than she was there. I basically barged into the house to find that everyone was either sleeping or lounging on the couch.The impact from the door hitting the wall must have made such a loud noise that it woke them all up. Well, all except Enzo, who could apparently sleep through a storm.You could almost see the steam coming out of my mouth as I started speaking. “You're sleeping? The whole clan is staying out of sight, hiding away while we let our rivals dominate us. My wife is missing, maybe seriously hurt, and you're sleeping?” My men scrambled up to their feet. It ha
In case you were wondering, the license plate thing was a dead end. The name there was the most random thing you can ever think of, and the address was an empty plot of land somewhere in Cleveland.It's been two days since then. Two days of chasing nothing, really. If there were false leads for us to go along with, at least we would have been chasing the shadows, but there was nothing, nothing at all.I was losing my mind slowly. I couldn't sleep because whenever I tried to, I would hear Nazlynn calling out to me, but I couldn't see her. Waking up, the thought of her being alone there and scared to death would drive me into downing a glass of whiskey or two. It was the only thing that could drown away the voices in my head.There were no further attacks on any of my properties or the piers, but it was too soon to ask everybody to return to their usual activities so my men were still on high alert.My father had not stopped trying to reach me, so I decided to go talk to him that day.
“What do you mean divorce Luca?” I asked, repeating what he said like I was suddenly hard of hearing. My hand had gone completely numb but I was well aware of the small knife sticking out of my hand.“It means exactly what you think it means,” he responded, taking a few steps into the room.“Father, no,” Alice argued as she stood to her feet. “Where is this even coming from?”“Did I ever tell you about Nazlynn’s mother?” He asked her with a sad smile. “I have committed a lot of crimes in my years on earth but I spent a large number of my youthful years regretting what my actions must have done to her.”I bore my eyes into his, so deeply that I could have been staring into his black soul. “What are you talking about?”Santos shook his head. “That is an information I'm afraid I'll have to take to the grave.”“Father! What the hell are you doing?” Alice spat bitterly.“Language Alice!” He snapped. Santos was crouched down in front of me now. “Your mother was such a lovely woman. What
“Any updates?” I asked Sabrina for the umpteenth time, hovering behind her on the couch. My anger had subsided, or rather I had swallowed it down, and it was replaced by a burning restlessness. I had absolutely no clue what she was trying to track at that moment, but I knew better than to ask her for details.“No, and you constantly breathing down on my neck is not going to change anything except my anxiety level,” she said sassily, shooing me away.I sunk into the couch beside her with a heavy sigh. “I feel so helpless, Sab,” I confessed. Although I didn't check first, I was thankful none of my men were in the living room at that time. All through the night, all I could think of was how scared Nazlynn was and how there was no one there to tell her that things were going to be okay, that we were coming for her.She tore her eyes away from her screen to look at me. “We'll find her, Luca. I know we will.”“What if we're too late? What if we don't make it in time? How do I tell Hailey