ANTONIO“Where is he?” I roared as I grabbed Raphael, ready to lay into him. “Tell me, what you planned? Where is that fucking arsehôle?” I screamed as I grabbed him by the collar and unable to stop myself I slammed my fist in his stomach. He blocked my next punch and slugged me back in my side, making me suck in a harsh breath. “Where he should be. Did you really think this would be easy?” I tried to hit him again but strong arms grabbed me from behind. “Antonio!” Ephraim pulled me back or I would’ve punched him again. Jonathan grabbed Raphael from his other side, pulling him back because the fucker was still standing there as if I wouldn’t like to kill him.I watched with barely controlled rage as Jonathan helped Raphael, pulling him out of hitting range. I said to Ephraim, “Call Mario. Saze. Elijah. I want to know what's going on there and you—” I took a step toward Raphael, barely holding myself back, as I said, “You fucking pray that she's where she should be. Because if your b
ERICAMonsters clamored and demons laughed, surrounding me from all sides. It was too dark and the shadows crowded me, even when I tried to move I couldn’t. My hands weren’t moving and neither were my legs. I opened my mouth to scream but nothing came out. A man lurked in the periphery, urging me to wake up and I tried to fight the darkness, wanting to go to that solid figure. I jerked up, ready to fight off the invisible hands but I realised it was a nightmare. My eyes finally opened wide and I took in my surroundings, at first not understanding anything as confusion gripped me tight. It was dark in here, not just the dark dots blinding me because of my fuzzy head. I realised I was on a cold concrete floor and there was a sort of old smell in the air, dirty and rusty.I tried to squint and see a little but it felt like I was in a black void. I could not even see my own hand, it was pitch black. I was half lying against the wall and when I straightened, pain shot through my arm and
ANTONIOI jerked Ephraim’s hand off my shoulder as I turned to face Raphael. “This happened because of you. You wanted to one up me and see what it did!” I really wanted to punch him into the wall and make a permanent place for him there. The only part keeping me sane was that as soon as Nikolai had left, I had opened the GPS tracking app in my phone and within seconds knew where they were taking my little devil to. “Fuck off, Rossi. It’s not because of us. We did what we had to, it’s all your doing from the beginning to end.”It’s not a fucking end. I didn’t say it though, I just focused on not killing him because he was her family and she was mine. I let my head drop back against the wall as I breathed heavily, blood rushed in my ears as I tried to control the shit storm raging inside me. Fucking Nikolai, as soon as I get my runaway wife back home, I’ll work on erasing him from the face of the earth. “We have to find a way to save them?” Raphael said after a few minutes of silen
ERICA“The name is Nikolai.”I swallowed as his fingers left my chin and slowly travelled down my neck, to my throat and lower. A cold chill went through me at his touch and my stomach rolled in disgust. Without thinking, I lifted my hand and slapped him hard on the face. “Don’t touch me!”His head turned from the hit and then he started to laugh. I watched with dawning realisation that I should’ve curbed back my impulse, this man was crazy. When he turned to face me, the look in his eyes didn’t bode well. I squeezed my eyes shut and waited for retaliation. But it never came.“Don’t hurt her. Be a man and fight me.” I heard Gabe yell, and I knew he was doing it to save me, even though he was in no condition to fight back.Nikolai stood up and said, “I don’t plan to. Antonio very humbly asked me to not harm a hair on your head. And I won’t do it. I thought I could do that much for years of our friendship.”Nikolai stepped to my side to face Gabriel and I was about to release a breath w
ERICAIt was one hour that seemed too long and yet too short with death hanging on my head like a dark shadow. The red timer on the bomb strapped to my torso was the only break in the darkness. But despite the darkness, I could not forget that there was a dead body there in the same room with me. My senses felt heightened in the dark. I was aware of the cold, the dirt and grit beneath my feet and the smell of my surroundings. Everything was making it hard to breathe, my chest felt too constricted to even take a deep breath in. I didn’t know if it also contributed to my headache that was getting worse and worse with each minute that passed or it was just the injury, but it really hurt even to keep my eyes open. I blinked in the dark, trying to stay awake, even though it was torture in itself to see the seconds tick by. I think I might’ve slipped into unconsciousness because my head felt foggy and my whole body felt like it was no longer responding. I ached everywhere. It hurt like I
ERICA The loud sobs wrecked my body and even as I tried to speak, it came out unintelligible. “You c-came. I knew you will.” I nearly succumbed to darkness with the relief that followed. “Bambina...” His deep voice vibrated through me, giving me a frisson of warmth spread in my chilled heart. “Antonio...” I looked behind him, expecting to find men coming to stop him from rescuing me as I could still hear the blasts in near vicinity but no one came and then my gaze dropped to the men behind him with a pool of blood around them. He killed them and as he came closer with a knife in one hand and a gun in another, I realised it wasn’t just these two men he kîlled as I noticed the stains of blood covering his clothes and the red that was on the side of his face, the blood he spilled for me. I met his eyes, they burned bright as they took me in. I followed his gaze to the timer of the bomb and saw it was only twelve minutes left for the bomb to go off. He crouched down before me and cup
ANTONIOI unlocked her handcuffs and then cut through the zip ties around her ankles before cutting the thick straps that held the fake bomb to her torso, fûcking Nikolai played with me and he succeeded as I was terrified and ready to die with her when I couldn’t diffuse the bomb. I didn't even think that it could be a fake when I didn't found what I was looking for, I was that panicked.As soon as she was free, she cried out and literally fell into my arms like she couldn’t hold herself anymore. I tightened my hold around her as she sobbed into my chest. I caressed her head and rubbed her back, trying to control my own emotions but it was impossible when after thinking that it was the end, here she was now in my arms, alive. I inhaled her scent, mixed with sweat, dirt and our filthy surroundings which was so fucking wrong but the hint of daffodils beneath it all calmed a small part of me. I tried to soothe her but it was a losing battle and I really didn’t want to when my own emotio
EPHRAIM I have no idea how I find myself in such a situation where I have to stay behind and watch him put his life in danger. I looked down at the unconscious woman in my arms and shook my head, because I could totally understand Antonio’s emotions, which was the reason why I wanted to go after him. Turning around, I opened the back door of the car and settled Erica inside. I fucking need a vacation or maybe I should just resign and be done with it. The sound of a car approaching alerted me of company, I slipped my hand to my gun as I turned around, only relaxing when I saw Raphael with Mac and other two bodyguards that were with Jonathan. “Took you long enough,” I gritted out in irritation. “Are they okay? Where is she?” Raphael questioned ignoring my comment. I gestured at the car as I stepped back, letting him see Erica. “Look for yourself. I’m leaving.” “Where are you going? And where is Gabriel?” I barely controlled myself from punching him in his aristocratic face as I bi