“It's better we just report this to the police, and let them handle it instead,” I said, in an attempt to convince Gabriel.He had knocked on my door a few minutes before to tell me that he and some others were going away with Luca for some days. I didn't need to ask too many questions to figure out what it was about. They wanted to find Viktor.“The police?” He asked with a scoff. “The police do not get themselves involved with things like this.”“Why not? It's the only way we can get justice for Jenna and the others,” I said, biting back my tears.Gabriel let out a dry laugh. “They don't give us justice in our world, we take it.”“Do you think Luca might want to talk to me?” I asked in a low voice, twisting my fingers nervously. Gabriel shook his head with uncertainty. “I don't know Nazlynn. I never know with the boss.”I gave him one last look before dashing out of my room and to Luca's room. The door was locked and I knew he was still in the compound since Gabriel was still aroun
Luca's POV“Hold it down,” I barked out to Marco as I emptied the bowl of water over Viktor’s face that was covered with a tablecloth that had dried blood on it.I threw the bowl to the floor and pulled the cloth off. My fist collided with his face without giving him the room to catch his breath. The loud cracking sound of his bones filled the wide room.I shook my hand from the impact. The man coughed, splattering blood on the floor and on his shirt before looking up at me with a bloody grin spreading across his face.My eyes narrowed as I glared at Viktor, who was tied to the chair with both his hands behind his back.“What made you even think you could run from me?” I asked, crouching down to his level.“I didn't even try running. There's not much a pussy like you can do,” he said tauntingly.I kissed my teeth, nodding before swinging my fist to his face with a force that I didn't know I could muster. “You're the one tied to a chair, not me,” I said, wiping away the blood that ha
Nazlynn’s POVI didn't stand too close to the basement door because I wasn't sure if I would hear any footsteps coming out or not.The Viktor guy was clearly taunting Luca with his taunts, and from his loud screams, I could tell he wasn't giving any information up.His screams were causing tears to stream down my face uncontrollably. I heard the first gunshot sound, and I let out a shriek just as a couple more rounds followed through. A small hand covered my mouth and pulled me around the corner of the wall I was standing beside. All the warning bells went off. I was about to let out a scream when I heard the door to the basement open, and I saw Luca storm out.I sucked in a breath as he passed by me.Turning around, I was met with an ashen-looking Maria who still had her hand over my mouth. She gave me an apologetic look while trying to signal me not to raise an alarm. I tried to talk, but it came out muffled from behind her hand. With a grimace, she slowly pulled her hand off.
Enzo’s question threw me off balance, and for a hot second, I considered saying yes, but then I remembered that I was married to the devil himself. If Luca could find Enzo all the way in Atlanta, there's no way we'll be safe. He'll kill Enzo, and then he'll kill me.I forced out a laughter for him. “Come on, that's absurd.”“If you need me to, I could. You could take a leave from work and we'll spend the rest of the month together, get you away from all the stress in the city.”I shook my head before remembering he couldn't see me. Sniffing, I wiped away the tears on my cheeks. “No, there's no need for that Enzo.”“No need? You called me and started crying, there's every need for it Nazi. I can't know you're unhappy and do nothing about it,” he said. His voice felt like a warm hand that was stroking my cheek. It was absurd that my little brother, who I had last seen when he wore nerdy glasses, was the same person who had become my confidant.“You guessed right. It's work. My boss is
“What do you mean Luca doesn't love you? That man has never been one to be with a woman, but you guys are married! He may not show it for the rest of us, but that man must adore you, Nazlynn,” she said, shaking her head like she could not believe I would say that.I barked out a sarcastic laughter at her ignorance.“Luca doesn't love me. Hell, he doesn't even like me.” Elena looked at me incredulously. She opened her mouth to speak, but I cut her off with something that I was sure to regret later. “Luca kidnapped me, Elena. He kidnapped me and forced me to get married to him. He threatened to hurt my younger brother, and I had to stay. I stayed, but now I find myself falling for the monster that is my husband.”Elena's jaw dropped open.“Nazlynn, what are you talking about?” She asked in a whisper.The first tear dropped from my eyes, and I shook my head from side to side. “He forced me. I didn't want to be here. I didn't know anything about this life of guns, death, murder, and ar
The car ride to the restaurant was quiet and I liked it. My mind was racing with possibilities. The one I liked the least was that Luca wanted to talk about a divorce. And crazily enough, that was the one I dreaded the most.We pulled up to an upscale restaurant and my breath caught in my throat at the sight in front of me. The place was stunning. Completely made of glass with soft golden light bouncing off the walls. It looked like something out of a movie.Luca was waiting for me at the entrance, looking devastatingly handsome in a pair of gray slacks and a black tailored shirt. His eyes raked over me appreciatively as I came down from the car.Luca nodded in Gabriel's direction to which he bowed his head slightly before driving off."You look beautiful," Luca murmured, leaning in to brush a kiss against my cheek. I suppressed a shiver at the contact."Thank you," I replied stiffly. "You clean up nicely yourself."Luca's lips quirked in a smirk as he offered me his arm. "Shall we?"
“No?” Luca echoed, not expecting that response.“No, I don't want to tolerate you, Luca. I want to have an actual relationship with you. I want something real, not this,” I said, gesturing between the both of us.He had the decency to look shocked. “Nazlynn, I…”“You what? You certainly do not want to agree with me, so what do you want to say?” I asked, surprised at how firm my voice sounded.“Nazlynn, I didn't get married to you with the intention of forming some sort of romantic connection. It wasn't like that initially,”I snorted in a very unladylike manner. “Why then? What was the reason you kidnapped me, threatened me, forced me to get married to you, and then forced me to stay? Just what was the reason?” I demanded. I was struggling to keep my voice down, but I wouldn't want other people overhearing such a conversation because I raised my voice.“Because I had to, okay?” he yelled out, attracting a lot of unwanted attraction like I was avoiding.Luca noticed and dropped his vo
My body responded involuntarily. I was kissing him back like I have wanted to do since we left the hotel in Italy. His hand trailed down to my ass and lingered there, the heat of his touch seering through the light fabric of my dress.“Luca, we can't,” I breathed out when our lips separated for a brief moment before he slammed his back on mine.My body was saying the complete opposite of what my mouth was saying. I could feel my nipples hardening and wetness pooling between my thighs. My body was responding to his kiss in a way that was thrilling and terrifying. Luca leaned in, his warm breath tickling my ear. “Can we continue our conversation after?” I wanted to say no, my mind begged me, but my body had a mind of its own. With a shy nod, I agreed. I smashed my lips to his, biting down on his bottom lip with a low groan when his hand squeezed my ass. He guided me towards his door, only separating his lips from mine when he needed to turn around to unlock the door.A few more stu
I had just finished washing my hands and was back to where my men stood over Alice's body when I saw a ball of colours approaching me with speed from a distance. My face softened when the ball of colours got closer to me. Nazlynn threw herself into my arms, almost knocking us both off balance. I hugged her tight, breathing in her calming scent and presence. She ran her hand up and down the nape of my neck, and I involuntarily relaxed into it. She squeezed me tighter in her arms, like she was scared to let go.I attempted pulling away to see her face but she shook her head and held on firmly to me. Chuckling, I pulled her closer in my arms, placing a kiss into her hair. When she pulled away, she raked her eyes over my body, running her hand over it at the same time. “Are you hurt anywhere? Did you get… Oh my God, you're bleeding,” she said fearfully, as her hand touched a wet patch on my shirt.“No baby, hey, relax. It's water, I just washed my arms. I'm okay, I promise.”She nodded.
Elena ducked just in time for Enzo to aim for Alice's hand. The bullet went through her flesh, making her drop the gun and release her hold on Elena. She had pulled the trigger as her gun clattered to the ground.Alice glared at me, then looked at the door behind her through the corner of her eyes. I fired a shot as she pushed back into the door and into the library. I heard her groan that indicated my bullet had hit her but not enough to take her down.“I need someone in the rooms beneath and above the library. The rest of you secure this building in case there's a way outside of it. Gabriel, Enzo, with me,” I instructed before following behind her with my gun raised.Gabriel and Enzo walked silently behind me. When we got in, all the lights were turned off, making the library extremely dark. “You don't peg me as the ready type Alice. You can't exactly hide in there forever,” I called out as I walked further into the library.I silently cursed whoever had the idea of making a home
Enzo shot bullets after, but she was no longer in sight. “Go!” I barked at my men who were staring at the place where she stood in shock. “Don't kill her,” I said as they passed by me. “That's for me.”If anything, I was glad we left that floor and were going back to the ground.“I don't know who's sloppier, you or your men,” I heard her call out, cackling. “You have a lot of guts, talking when that would only help us find you faster,” I said, nodding to my men to follow the sound of her voice.“What makes you think that's not what I want?” She asked in a cunning tone. I halted my men, clenching my jaw.Her words were suggestive. The only thing I could think of was that she may be setting up a bomb inside, or she may have already done it within the few minutes she had earlier. She seems to like playing with explosives.She was behind a door, and we had the door surrounded from a safe distance. I knew my men were waiting for me to give a go ahead so they could march in, but everybod
I pulled Hailey out of her crib and into my arms, cradling her shakily. My eyes darted from Alice’s face to the door and back.Alice took a step towards me, and I scooted back on the floor, ignoring the stab of pain as my skin dragged across the shards of glass. “What's wrong? Waiting for hubby, or should I say your prince charming to save the day again?” She let out a menacing laugh. “Lucky for me, it's currently an all girl’s house.”“Please don't hurt my baby, I beg you, Alice,” I pleaded just as Hailey started to cry from the noise she had heard. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw the door to the bathroom open slightly, and Enzo peeked into the room.He gave me a small nod. Once I saw him raise his gun, I ducked, covering Hailey with my entire body. Alice was faster than him, but unfortunately, she managed to dodge the bullets that Enzo rained down on her until she ran out through the door and into the main house.“Fuck,” he swore loudly, rushing to my side.“Are you okay? Did
Nazlynn’s POVAlice was certainly a girl who clearly didn't want to be found. Luca had his contacts pull some strings in the police department to put up a surveillance on her, but nothing has turned up so far. Nothing of essence was discovered at the house that Luca had found me in. Of course, his contacts in the police force had to cover up using some story about a robbery gone wrong. The bodies had already been taken care of by the time they arrived at the scene.I was up to speed at everything that was happening in no time. Elena and Mathias decided to have a small wedding but postponed it until after the whole Alice thing had been dealt with. Luca cleared things up with his father, and they were back to having their weird love-hate father-son thing. Whatever the hell that meant. I was about to convince Luca not to kill my so-called birth father. It's the least I could do since he saved my life.Our mansion was almost completely back on its feet, and we moved back in two days be
“What do you mean you couldn't find her?” I asked shakily. Luca gave me a concerned look.“Luca, what do you mean by that?” I asked again, scooting towards the head of the bed and away from him.“Hey Nazlynn, calm down, baby. I'm right here, and I'm not going to let anyone hurt you, okay?” He said, reaching out to me.I smacked his hand away before it could come in contact with my skin. “No! No, no. She's going to kill me. She's going to kill us all. My baby. Where's my baby?” I asked hysterically. Luca shot up from his position on the chair and approached me carefully. I could see concern for me in his eyes.“Wh..where's Hailey?” I stammered as tears started streaming down my face. “Dr Martin!” Luca said, trying not to shout too loudly but making sure his voice was loud enough. He kept his eyes on me. He edged closer to me until I was cowered up by a corner of the bed. “Gabriel, get Dr. Martin now!” He yelled again.I grabbed his hand tightly, and I could feel my fingernails diggi
Nazlynn’s POVLuca stared at me in shock for over a minute but didn't even give himself some time to answer me before standing up and yelling for Dr. Martin. I had expected to wake up to the pungent smell of a hospital room and the faint beeping of machines that had been working tirelessly to keep me alive but the room I was in looked like the average bedroom. Bright light seeped through the window, casting a glow over the space.As I struggled to sit up, the sharp pain shot through my whole body made me groan. Luca was back by my side in a flash. His gentle hand grasped my shoulder, easing me back onto the pillow.“Take it easy, chica bella. You'll rip your stitches,” he whispered softly. It had been so long since I heard his voice that I wanted to cry at the sound. It felt like music to my ears. Dr. Martin dashed in, greeting me with a smile before she began to do some further checks on me. It was extremely strange to hear someone tell you “welcome back to the living”. It should b
“Baby, can you hear me?” I asked, tightening my grip on her hand so I wouldn't miss any motion.“Gabriel,” I bellowed, and he scrambled in. “Get Dr. Martin here now! Tell her my wife moved,” I said without looking back.I heard no movement after a few seconds, and when I turned, I was met with a wide-eyed Gabriel who was staring at me with shock.Moving closer to her on the bed, I spoke again. “If you can hear me, can you tap me with your finger again?” There was nothing but I stayed put. It was a very uncomfortable position for me, holding Hailey up with one arm while the other was stretched out to her mother, but I was way past the point of caring.It was like Hailey knew something had just happened. She twisted her neck to see what I was doing.“She's here,” Gabriel announced barely five minutes after he had left. I frowned. That was fast.“Hey Luca. I was already on my way here when he called me. What's going on?” Dr Martin said, clearing my confusion as she approached us on the
“You found him?” I asked, shocked to hear it. “How?”Mathias gave me a look. “On my list of ten possible things you would say first, that certainly wasn't a part of it. Is there something else I should know, Luca?”I sighed in resignation. “He's her father Mathias, her birth father, and I think she should have a say in what we do with him,” I said truthfully. “Is he in our custody yet or….” I trailed off.“Not yet. We wanted to receive instructions from you first. I have guys watching and trailing his every move. He's been acting scared as fuck and I don't think it's just you he's afraid of,” he said.“Alice?” He nodded.“That girl must be a total nutcase. I can't help but wonder just what happened there. The only person who can tell us is well, not available,” I said looking at Nazlynn.“She's stronger than you give her credit for, I know she is. She'll pull through,” he said, giving me a pat on the back before standing up. He was almost at the door when he turned. “Come with me.”