Maybe I should have given it more thought, or maybe not. Waking up that morning, in the same bed, in the same house, scared to death of the same man but this time, acutely aware of a child growing inside of me. It was like the adrenaline rush I needed. I was going to run away. The first thing I did was to scout the area. “Gabriel, can we go for a run? I don't want to use the treadmill and my joints are sore,” I said to Gabriel, doing my best to look nonchalant about his response. “I'll ask the boss when he co—” I cut him off. “Oh for Pete's sake. It's just a run in the compound's perimeter. Do you have to take permission from ‘your boss’ for something like that?” “Besides, he's not around and I want to run now before the sun comes up,” I added although I didn't know Luca wasn't home when I asked that. Gabriel contemplated for a few seconds. “Alright ma'am, I'll meet you here in three minutes,” he said before jogging off. I took a deep breath. I'm ready. I came back to my
I didn't know where I was going but I kept running. I finally found what seemed like a homely neighborhood and I slowed to a casual jog.The thrill and adrenaline finally wore off as I sat on a bench by the sidewalk.“What now?” I asked the baby growing inside of me. I wasn't sure what stage they started to hear but I didn't care. If I wanted to speak to my baby, then I would. “You're in there, right?” I asked, poking my stomach but careful not to apply pressure. “Please don't be mad at me that we left without your daddy,” I said.The only things in my mini purse were a credit card which I was certainly not going to use, some neatly arranged dollar bills, a passport sized photograph of Enzo and I from years ago, and a piece of gum.I sighed, popping the gum into my mouth. It tasted bitter so I spat it out right after.There was no way in hell I could go back to where I lived. Apart from the fact that it was on the whole other side of the city, it was also the first place that Luca w
I woke up on a cold surface to a very dark room. I have never been a fan of the dark, so I jumped in an attempt to get away, but I was met with resistance. Trying again, I realized that my arms were chained to the wall. Memories of that night when Luca had taken me flashed through my mind.Where am I? What am I doing here? Who was the person from last night? The chains were pressing down tightly into my skin. It was certainly going to leave a mark.A dimly lit orange bulb that hung just above my head came on, leaving the other half of the room still dark. “Hello?” I called out to the darkness, shifting closer into the wall like there was any space left there. “Who are you?”“I think what you should be saying is please don't kill me,” a hooded man said, coming to stand in front of me.My heart was hammering from fear, but I tried not to let it show on my face. “No?” He asked, cocking his head sideways. I stayed quiet. “Alright then,” he said as he crouched down to look at me.“I'm g
I wasn't sure what he wanted to tell Luca through the video, but he made me stand so he could make a video of me.“You look a little too good,” he said, cocking his head to the side. Before I could speak, I saw his fist approach my stomach and I screamed at the impact. My baby! I wrapped my arms around myself, trying to shield my stomach from his raining blows.“Please stop,” I begged, forcing myself to fall to my knees so he would have access to my face instead.He plummeted blows on my face. I heard a sickening crack of my nose and I wailed. I felt blood trickling down my nose until I could taste it in my mouth. The door burst open and a woman stormed in. She pushed him away from me and pinned him to the wall. “What the fuck do you think you're doing?” She asked him in a low voice.“Oh come on Dee, she can take a couple of hits. She's the Don's wife,” he said with a scoff, pushing himself off of her.The woman leaned in closer to him and whispered something into his ear, making hi
Luca's POVI slammed the glass on the wall, watching the shattered remains of the crystal tumbler litter the floor as the amber liquid seeped into the plush carpet. I stood motionless with my fists clenched at my sides. The silence in my study was broken only by the ticking of the antique clock that hung on the wall.It had been three days since Nazlynn ran off. Three days since I've had my men searching for her.She had nowhere to go to and no one to meet, so where could she have gone?A tentative knock sounded at the door. "Don Luca?" My jaw tightened. "What?" I snarled, not moving my gaze from the floor where the carpet had lapped up all the vodka.The door creaked open, revealing a shaking Gabriel. "Boss, I... the search teams have returned. There's no sign of her in any of the places we listed out."In two swift strides, I crossed the room and seized Gabriel by the collar. “I told you not to show your face to me, didn't I?” I hissed, slamming him against the wall. "You had one
The butler's eyes widened in surprise as he opened the door. "Don Luca, we weren't expecting...""Where is he?" I demanded, brushing past the startled man."In his study, sir, but..."I didn't wait to hear the rest. I strode through the familiar halls, pushed aside the memories of my childhood. Without knocking, I threw open the door to my father's study. Manuel Alessandro looked up from his desk, one eyebrow raised in mild surprise. "Luca. What do I owe the pleasure?"My words came out in a rush. "Nazlynn's gone, I don't know where. I need your help. Your connections, your resources – anything that could bring her home."Manuel leaned back in his chair, regarding his son with an unreadable expression. "Sit down, Luca.""Padre, I don't have time to...""Sit. Down."The command in my father's voice was unmistakable. Reluctantly, I sank into the chair across from the desk.He studied me for a long moment before speaking. "Do you know why I stepped down, Luca? Why I handed the control o
The insistent buzz of my phone cut through the silence that had covered the room. I glanced at the screen, brows furrowing at the unfamiliar number.With a growing sense of unease, I answered, stepping out of the room and into the hallway.“Ah! Don Luca. So good to finally speak with you, I'm sure you've gotten my message.”The voice on the other end was smooth, almost jovial. It sent a chill down my spine."Who is this?" I demanded, although a sinking feeling in my gut told me I already had my answer.He let out a low chuckle. "Come now, Luca. I think we both know who this is. It hasn't been that long."My free hand clenched into a fist. "Where the hell is my wife, you bastard?""Tsk, tsk. Such hostility. Your lovely wife is... shall we say, enjoying my hospitality for the moment. But her continued well-being…that depends entirely on you, my friend.""I'm not your friend," I growled. "What do you want?""What your pig-headed father refused to give me after all this time. The Marina D
I waved Sabrina over with a flick of my hand and she was at my side in an instant. "What? What did you find?"She turned the tablet in her hand towards me. "I increased the sound intensity of the video so I could analyze the background noises. So I could try to isolate any clues about where Nazlynn might be held. And I heard seagulls.""Seagulls?" Mathias frowned. "That could be anywhere along any coast."“No, no, it couldn't be just anywhere,” I said, standing up as I tried to rack my brain. “Seagulls flee from the coast around this time of the year because of the water temperature there. They migrate to cooler regions.”“Cooler regions like on a creek,” Mathias completed for me.“Bingo,” My mind was already spinning. "The lighthouse. Santos wants to meet me at the old lighthouse on Blackrock Point. Draw up the map of the area, find out if there's a creek around there."“Wait, did you say the lighthouse? That building is hanging on a thread. The whole top has collapsed, why would he
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
I was going to respond to the message Alice sent, but then I got distracted by something that Gabriel said, and I kind of zoned out from everything until we got to the house.I knew when Enzo arrived because half of the staff went into a frenzy, trying to prepare a room for the guest. I wonder what he would be referred to as someone who works for the boss or the boss’ wife's brother. Either way, he's getting a wonderful welcome party.Once I got home, I picked up a sleepy Hailey from her nursery and headed to my room. I wanted to take a nap, and I always slept better when I was smothering Hailey in my arms.Some hours later, a knock woke me up. I saw that my girl was already up before me and was staring at me with her eyes that were an exact copy of mine.I swung the door open with a scowl on my face, ready to have a go at the person who has just interrupted my sleep and possibly, Hailey’s. I was certainly not expecting to be met with Luca's expectant face.My face softened visibly.
“Enzo,” I breathed out without turning back.“I'm home, sis. Not at the best of times, but I'm home,” he said, taking steps closer to me.I pressed a hand to my lips to conceal the sob that was threatening to break out. Slowly, I turned back to see a face that I had not seen physically in about eight years. Enzo was right there, standing in front of me.“How did you….?” I said, making a beeline for him, but then I stopped. Memories of the events from the past few weeks came flooding back into my head at once.“Nazi, please, don't turn away from me. I just want to give my big sister a hug after all these days,” he said, his eyes searching mine for any form of forgiveness. I made sure he wouldn't see any.He took a step closer to me, but I held a hand up to stop him. “How did you know where to find me?” I asked.“I called the boss when I landed at the airport. He told me you had just left the house and were headed here. Turns out, the trip from the airport here takes less time than fro
“Thrilling isn't it? To have found out that everybody had been lying to you,” the message read.“Who are you?” I typed in a frenzy. “Why are you doing this?”“Just a concerned citizen who doesn't like getting lied to. Something I figured you and I have in common.”My nostrils flared. Whoever this was, the person clearly knew a whole lot about me, and I didn't know anything about them. “I want to know who you are. Do you want to meet up?” I asked, biting down on my fingernails.“Making friends is not a part of my job description, sweet pea.”I kissed my teeth in irritation. “What job description?”“You.”That one word chilled me to the bone. I swiped away from the chat and quickly blocked the number from calling or texting me before I could allow myself to give it an extra thought. And that was the end of that chapter for me. I completely closed my mind to everything the person had said to me.It's been almost three weeks since Luca and I had the biggest and most emotional argument t
It took me a few minutes of staring at the screen before I decided to turn off my phone and ignore it. I left Hailey under Tracy's care and headed for the gym without taking the bath that Maria had already prepared for me.Between the music blasting through my earphones and how fast the treadmill was, I was in my own world.The treadmill was on the highest speed it has ever been on. Somehow, it felt like I was running away from all my problems and for just that moment, I felt better. I felt hopeful like I could forgive Luca, forgive Enzo, forgive my mother, forgive Vincent, and lastly, forgive myself.I wasn't sure how long I was on the treadmill, running on a spot until Mathias appeared out of nowhere and turned down the speed of the treadmill.“Hey, hey, hey,” he said as I turned to glare at him. “Don't kill the messenger. I'm just here to check up on you.”“Why did you turn it down? I didn't ask for anyone's help,” I said with a scowl on my face as I took off my earphones that were
It had been two weeks since Luca dropped those bombs on me. Enzo had been blowing my phone up nonstop. A part of me was hoping and praying that Luca was lying about the whole Enzo thing, but barely twenty minutes after I asked him to leave me alone, Enzo started calling me.My brother wasn't playing football in Atlanta like I thought. Instead, he was a member of my husband's mafia. How much crazier can this get? At least it made sense now why Enzo did not mention anything about getting threatened by Luca's people or the time when they made me believe he was shot. It was all part of their ploy to get me to stay here and what better way to do so than to threaten my brother? I couldn't even speak to Elena or Sabrina. What would I say? How does a person even start a conversation like that with her friends?I had told Luca to give me space to process things and I clearly needed a lot of that space. He didn't agree too easily though.“You'll need to leave. This room, this wing, maybe even
“What do you mean Enzo?” I asked incredulously.I had stopped pacing and was now standing a few inches away from Luca, waiting to hear what he had to say. My heart was in my throat, choking me internally.“Nazlynn, I promise you, I was going to tell you everything soon. This is not how I planned for you to find out. This was certainly not a part of it,” he said, standing up so we could be on the same level. “I would appreciate it if you explained to me what you meant when you mentioned my brother. You don't know Enzo. You've never even met the guy. Hell, I haven't even seen the guy in years, so how are you speaking about me on the phone with someone you've never met?” I asked all in one breath.Luca is either the worst at starting an explanation or has plans on giving me a heart attack because his first statement threw me off balance so much that I could have crumpled to the ground if only it registered at first. “Enzo works for me, Nazlynn,” Luca said.I fixed my gaze on him. Then