Santos turned, looking around in a frenzy. The other three men were pointing their guns at random directions. None of them were trained gunmen, else, they would have easily traced where that shot came from. “Were you really so stupid to have your men surround mine?” He asked with a roar as he pointed a gun at me.I cocked my head. “I wouldn't do that if I were you. In fact, I should be asking you the same question.”Just as he opened his mouth to respond, gunfire shattered through the air. My men and Santos’ men exchanged bullets outside. Some of it whizzed past my head and entered into the already crumbling walls of the lighthouse. I dove behind a weathered pillar, pulling out my gun. My heart was thundering in my chest as I tapped the earpiece in my ear to start the transmission.“Marco. What's the situation there? Have you found my wife?” I asked in a whisper when I heard his voice.“No boss, we haven't gone in yet. There's no movement from the building yet.”“Don't wait. Find
“We need to find my wife. Now!” I roared to Mathias, rushing into my car. He jumped into the passenger seat as I was reversing out of the area. It wasn't hard to locate where Marco and the others were because the fire in the building was still very much flaming. I was out the door before the car even halted to a stop. I grabbed Gabriel off the floor by his collar. “Where is Nazlynn?” I asked him with a growl. My whole body was shaking in what could have been mistaken for anger. It was fear, raw fear.He opened his mouth to respond, but no words came out. I took a quick glance around me. The other men were giving me subtle looks of pity. I pushed him, and he stumbled over, landing on his ass. “Nazlynn,” I yelled, rushing towards the burning house. The flames had started to reduce, but I didn't care. I just wanted my wife in my arms.“Wait, Luca, no,” Mathias said, appearing from nowhere and attempting to hold me back. I growled at him, flinging his hand away. As I made a move to
NAZLYNN’S POVI winced as the cotton swab ran over the open wound on my face. The liquid burned at my flesh. Maria, who could barely look me in the eye without tearing up, had helped me take a bath and change into a fresh set of clothes while the doctor waited outside my room. “Just a minute more, we're almost done cleaning your wounds,” the doctor, Dr Martin, said. I had completely expected Dr. Martin to be a man, but instead, I was greeted with a beautiful redhead in a lazy attire. Her hair colour reminded me of mine when it's not dyed into some new shade.I made sure not to turn my head to my left, where I knew a very angry looking Luca stood. “Okay, we might have to put a splint on your left arm, but let's run the other tests first. Is that okay?” she asked me. I nodded with a forced smile.My mind kept replaying the moment when the bullet flew into Dee’s neck. The way blood gushed out of her splintered vein like a leaking faucet. I kept staring at her body on the floor unti
Dr. Martin's mouth dropped open, she looked from him to me. Luca stood up abruptly, storming out the door and closing it behind him with a loud bang.It was just the doctor and I left in the room, although I was very much aware of the men outside the door. She cleared her throat in discomfort before turning to address me. “I need to assess for any signs of internal bleeding and then, we'll….” I stopped listening after that and was just nodding. She wouldn't do anything to kill me anyway.It took some time, but she finally stopped probing and touching me at the most random places.I started feeling very sleepy halfway through her assessment, but I kept forcing myself to stay awake. At one point, I wondered if I had been given any sedatives, but I hadn't been given any drugs except painkillers.The moment she readjusted the head of the bed, I drifted off. In my half sleep state, I could hear the distant conversation she was having with Luca outside the door.I couldn't hear much of it,
I shot up from the table so fast that the equipment tray beside me almost toppled over.Pain shot up my arm, but it was nothing compared to the internal pain that was spreading around my body at her words.“What do you mean by that? Is my baby…?” I trailed off, holding a hand to my mouth to choke back a sob that was threatening to break out.Dr. Martin looked horrified. “Oh no! I'm so sorry that came out wrong. I meant to ask if you knew you were pregnant before you were taken,” she explained.I let out a sigh in relief, taking deep breaths to steady my breathing. “I thought you were trying to say that my child had died,” I managed to say. She shook her head apologetically. “It was a miscommunication on my part, I'm really sorry.”When I opened my mouth to speak again, no words came out. My throat felt like it was lodged with something. I felt like I needed to cry out, and so I did. I cried like a child. Dr. Martin must have been confused on what to do to comfort me because she wen
Avoiding Luca for the next couple of days was surprisingly easier than I thought. I guess a part of me was hoping he would incessantly try to get me to talk to him.After the day I went to the clinic to get the examinations done, I spent most of the time in my day with Maria or in the kitchen with Nora. Maria didn't ask anything about my pregnancy even though I was sure she wanted to.Luca was hardly in the house. He was always at work. Or somewhere. It's not like I even care. “Maria, where are my stockings? I do not like the way my feet feel against the carpet,” I said to her.“Uh…. Signora, I believe they are all in the master's bedroom,” she responded. “Would you like me to go get them for you?” I sighed. From what Maria told me, Luca has still not slept in our, or rather, his bedroom since the time he confined me in it. He has been staying in one of the other bedrooms and I have been staying in my former bedroom.“No, that's okay, I'll get it myself,” I said, standing up.Gabri
“I…I can't,” I croaked out, standing up to leave.Luca held my hand to stop me from leaving. I internally wished I hadn't taken the splint off yet. He wouldn't have held my hand then. “Don’t walk away from me like this,” he said gently.I softened at his touch, sitting back down, but this time, I looked straight ahead, even though I was well aware of his intense gaze at the side of my head.“They didn't feed me. I had no food for days,” I started. “All I got was stale bread that I couldn't eat. I felt like I was going to die for the first two days. My wounds were not healing. I was in so much pain, Luca.”He sucked in a deep breath. “I promise you, those bastards will pay, I'll make them…”“That doesn't change anything. It doesn't change what happened. It doesn't change the way I feel,” I cut him off with a shake of my head.Turning to him, I said. “Is this how it's going to be all the time? I would not be able to live my life because I'm scared of the next time I'll be kidnapped?” I
“I don't think you can…”“What? You don't think I can handle that? Don't you want to find out?” I asked slowly, coming to straddle him.Luca's eyes darkened, and he let out a low growl.He stood up and walked towards the bed with my small frame still wrapped around his body. His hand was on my ass to help hold me in place. My skin burned from his touch. I couldn't wait for him to touch me, to do with me as he pleased. He sat by the edge on the bed in such a way that I was still sitting on him. I could feel the curve of his dick pressing into my thighs. “Strip. Now!” He said in a deep voice. I swallowed, untangling myself from him so I was standing. I hadn't started showing yet, so there was no way Luca could have guessed I was pregnant. I pulled the sweatshirt over my head in one swift motion, throwing it to the side. My shorts went off next, landing in the small heap with the sweatshirt.The cool air came in contact with my skin, and my nipples tightened even more until they wer
I looked from the man to Alice and back to the man. My face was still stinging from the impact of his hard palm on my cheek when I opened my mouth to speak. “What do you mean she's my sister? I'm pretty sure I would know if I had any other siblings for over twenty years that I have been alive,” my voice trailed off towards the end as it clicked in my head.Until a few weeks ago, I didn't know that the man I thought was my father was not. That meant I could have a whole line of siblings that I was unaware of.The thought that they would all be crazy like Alice crossed my mind, and I shivered. I couldn't believe that I had a sister or that she was the crazy lady with me all this while.“Do you know what started the feud between my clan and Luca's?” Santos asked, ignoring my question as he walked away from the pole and to a chair I had not noticed in all that time. My eyes followed his every movement until he sat on it and returned his gaze to my direction. I shook my head in response
“Don Luca, we have a big problem,” Marco said as he walked up to me. “I can see that, what's happening?” I asked, looking around me.My men were scampering from one place to the other in the compound, so much that my presence went unnoticed. “There's a strange gas that was released in the house, it made a few people drop like flies. I'm not sure if they are just unconscious or it's something worse. We're having everyone evacuated before anything worse happens.”An alarm bell went off inside of my head. “Where are my wife and daughter?” I asked, making an attempt to go into the mansion.Marco sidestepped me. “Your wife wasn't in the house sir.”“And Hailey? Where is Hailey?” I demanded.“Mathias has her, Maria and Tracy stay at one of the safe houses alongside your sisters but I don't know which,” he responded.“Find out this instance and let me know.”“Sir, the less we know about their current location, the safer they are,” he argued. I took two angry steps closer to him, sizing hi
“How is this….how are you…I don't understand,” I spluttered. It was either my brain had gone radio silent, or I was just slow like Alice had said because I could not make sense of the situation.She gave me a few seconds to try to process things, and when she saw that I wasn't able to, she spoke up. “Let me make it easier for you, I kidnapped you,” she said with a sinister smile that made me want to puke.“So you see,” she started, dropping the pair of glasses on the table and picking up the blade that was used to free her. “My mafia needed inside information on Luca's mafia, so I decided to go through you. It took days of my tech guy doing his tech thing for us to finally find a social media presence for you. Although it turned out you had just opened the account that day. You live a very sad life, if I may say,” she tutted.“Anyway. You weren't giving me the information I wanted, so I suggested the therapist thing. It wasn't at all difficult to rent a space, place a few members of
Luca's POV“We've been driving for quite some time. I think we would have found her SUV if it were here to see.” Gabriel said, taking the words right out of my intrusive thoughts. I've been forcing myself to ignore the fact that my wife's car was clearly not in sight. “I'll just drive around this street one more time then,” I said, stepping on the gas to increase my speed. “She's not here, boss,” Gabriel said, and I only hummed in response but showed no sign that I had heard him.“She's not here!” He said, louder this time, causing me to step on the brake so hard that our bodies lurched forward in the car. I glared at him so hard until he cowered. “I'm sorry, boss. You were driving at a speed that was going to get us pulled over by the police.”Scoffing, I shook my head in disdain. I was irritated with myself, with the fact that I couldn't even protect my own wife. “I can't have a repeat of what happened a year ago, Gabriel. I really cannot,” I said, feeling my tough facade slipp
Alice struggled against her restraints, gnashing her teeth at him. “Who are you, and what do you want with us?”The man's face came into view, and I frowned slightly. It was a boy actually, he didn't look a day over fifteen years old. His voice sounded a lot more mature, I would have guessed he was in his late twenties if I hadn't seen his face. “Please let her go. She has nothing to do with me, and she doesn't know anything,” I pleaded on my friend's behalf. Alice looked scared shitless, like she would piss her pants any time soon.“Way to go, Nazlynn. You meet your friend for the first time ever and get her kidnapped,” I said to myself mentally. I couldn't let them hurt her. Alice could already clearly see that she's missing something about my life.The boy just stood there and stared at me. “Do you know him or something?” Alice whispered to me.I shook my head, “I've never seen him before.”He stared at me for a long time without saying a word. His face was void of any facial exp
She scrunched up her nose, and her eyebrows pulled together in a manner that screamed confusion. “You mentioned it when you told me about your nightmares some time ago,” she said.I nodded. “I think you should do what you think is best for your child. You know it's not just yourself that you have to take care of or look out for,” she said, giving me a look that my mother would give me when she was trying to make me see a point that I am intentionally blind to.We talked some more, and I told her everything about everything, going into more details than I did when I sent that long text message. For some odd reason, I felt really calm around her, like I could tell her anything at all. Which was surprising considering how much I was freaking out when I got here.I had come to meet with her to get some advice on what I should do and how I should do it, but here she was telling me that the decision was all mine to make. Just sitting down and talking to her did help me feel better, thou
I agreed to meet up with Alice two days after she had sent that text. Coincidentally, we were in the same city, so it wouldn't be too much of a hassle. She said it was important we met up, and I was curious as to why.“I already fed her, but in case she gets whiny again, give her water in her bottle,” I said to Tracy, crouching down so I could give Hailey a big kiss.The only thing I hated more than being away from my baby was being away from my baby.“I'm going out,” I said to Luca when I saw him in the hallway. He was speaking to some of the members of our security team. He frowned, giving me a once over. “Where are you off to?” “I'm going to meet with someone,” I responded briefly, checking my reflection in the full-length mirror hanging on the wall. Luca dismissed the small gathering of men before turning his attention to me. “Who? You don't have any friends. You're not exactly the most social person,” Luca pointed out. I froze. He had a point. Considering everything that has
Luca walked towards me in a predatory type of way. “Hi princess,” he greeted Hailey before taking her off of me. I stilled as he passed by me, keeping my eyes on Enzo at the other side of the room, who looked half as uncomfortable as I did. “Judging by the fact we've been married for almost two years, you should know that I know you better than yourself,” I heard Luca say from behind me before hearing the door shut and then the sound of a luck turning.I whipped around and was shocked to see an empty space behind me. “What just happened?” I asked Enzo, who was just staring at me.“Your husband just locked us in,” he stated simply.“Yes, I can see that. But why?” I asked as my panic level started rising. Enzo hopped off the chair he was sitting on and started walking towards me. “I asked him how I could get you to talk to me. He said you have a thing for eavesdropping on his conversations, so we decided to see if it'll work. We left the door open a bit, sprinkled your name into the
You're really not going to talk to me at all?” I heard Enzo ask, making me sigh.I had come down the staircase the next morning only to almost bump into him at the bottom. I increased my pace so I could disappear from him as quickly as possible, but Enzo just wouldn't let me be.“I thought I made that clear enough, but apparently I didn't, seeing how you're currently trying to talk to me,” I replied with a fake smile.“Nazlynn,” he called out softly, taking a step in my direction.My eyes searched his. I could still see fragments of the little boy who had left for Atlanta years back, but I could also see something darker. The kind of darkness that you are bound to be exposed to while working with the mafia.I was one to talk, considering how I'm married to a mafia don who is the rival to my biological father who is also a mafia don.“I'm not ready for the conversation you're trying to have, Enzo. I would like to get through one day without reminding myself of how I failed you as a si