Chapter 28 #2
“Mother,” Vin voices, stopping her. “Don’t forget our deal and to meet your driver outside in twenty minutes. I’d rather you weren’t here for the remainder of the evening in case things don’t go well.” He leans over and kisses her cheek. “I had the chef prepare a bag for you to take home.”
She pats his bicep and shows a small smile. “Always looking out for me.”
Everyone bids her farewell as she walks away.
Romeo turns toward the group. “So, what’s the plan?”
“You want us to light things up as soon as they walk through the door?” Marcello asks with a mischievous grin.
“No,” Vin answers firmly.
Caine pouts. “Where’s the fun in that?”
Vin pinches the bridge of his nose. “The plan is—”
“They’re here,” Marco says smoothly, bringing a glass of amber liquid to his lips.
All at once, we turn to watch as the Vasilievs and the Manacordas enter the room: Adolfo, Alastor, Mila, Cressida, and Enzio, followed by Mikhail, Kazimir, Emil, Alik, and Luka.
Their arrival results in a sudden hushed silence among the crowd of guests.
My eyes rake over Alastor, and I start imagining all of the ways I’m going to kill him for what he’s put my princess through. My hands, at my sides, curl into fists unknowingly as the muscles in my body tighten. I rock my neck from side to side and exhale.
“God, they’re an ugly bunch,” Cassio remarks. “Especially that one in the middle with the slicked-back blond hair. Is that Alastor?”
“Yes,” Madeleine replies, swallowing hard as she wraps her arms around herself. “That’s him.”
“Don’t worry, cuz.” Caine winks. “We wouldn’t let you marry someone that ugly. It would ruin our family’s good genes.”
She smiles at his teasing.
“How would you like for this to be handled, Vincenzo?” Marco asks.
“Once Alex retrieves what we need, I’ll arrange a meeting with them after dinner to discuss the matter privately.
But not until then. I want this matter to be handled as discreetly as possible,” he states, straightening his tie.
His eyes darken as Alastor and his cousins turn in our direction. “Follow my lead.”
We wait as Alastor and the Vasilievs approach, stopping a few feet away.
The rest of the Manacorda family moves to their seats at the other end of the room.
Enzio glances at me and nods in greeting, which I return.
As Cressida takes her seat, I notice that her eyes look darker than usual as she stares straight ahead… directly at Madeleine.
“Darling.” Alastor’s slimy smile widens, and it takes everything in me not to punch him in his smug face before choking all the life from his eyes. “There you are. I’ve been looking for you.”
“I’m right here,” Madeleine responds. “I was just catching up with my family.”
Alastor’s eye twitches. “Yes, I see.” He looks to the Marchettis. “I wasn’t aware you would be joining us from Italy for this special occasion.”
“La famiglia è la nostra priorità,” Marco says, a sinister grin tugging at his lips. “Wouldn’t you agree, Mikhail?”
Mikhail’s cold expression remains stoic. “Of course. Family is all that matters.”
“Glad to see we agree,” Vin remarks, his eyes narrowing in on Alastor. Tensions brew amongst the group as each of us sizes up the other. “Maybe we should all take our seats so we can get this night started.”
“Agreed.” Alastor holds his hand out for Madeleine. She smiles and avoids his touch, walking around him to take a seat at the Alarie table. Alastor appears ready to combust from the insult. “Dear, we’re sitting with my parents and cousins.”
Madeleine looks up from her seat, unfolding her napkin. “I’ll join you shortly.”
A vein pulses in his neck. “Of course.” He looks at me with murder in his eyes. The feeling is mutual, mate. And then turns toward his cousins. “Let’s take our places.” The six of them walk away, heading to their seats.
“We’ll take our seats too,” Romeo says. “Just let us know when we’re needed.” The Marchetti men take their seats at the table closest to ours.
As the five of us sit, Mauro appears, taking the free seat beside Leo.
“Everything okay?” Alex asks.
He nods, tugging at his white collar. Madeleine shows him a sympathetic smile.
“Glad you could make it, cousin,” Caine offers as he clasps a hand on his shoulder. “Wouldn’t want you to miss out on all the fun we’re going to have.”
Mauro rolls his eyes, but the hint of a smile appears on his face.
Leo turns toward Vin. “How much longer?”
My brows cinch together. “How much longer until what?”
“Be patient,” Vin answers, examining his watch. “He’ll be here any minute.”
I glance between all of them. “Who will be here—”
“Mr. Alarie, sir,” a boy who looks no older than twelve says as he approaches Vin. “I’ve got it.”
“Good work, kid.” Vin reaches into his pocket for a roll of bills, which he hands to the boy.
The child’s eyes light up with excitement.
“Now, hand over the goods.” The boy pulls a phone from his back pocket and hands it to Vin.
“And remember, if your father asks, you got that money from mowing my lawn. Capisce?”
The boy nods eagerly. “Yes, sir.”
He turns and quickly leaves, walking through the exit.
We all stare at Vin.
Vin shrugs and explains, “He’s the son of one of my guards.
A few months ago, he stole my watch, but his father made him return it.
The kid has quick hands.” We continue to wait for a more detailed explanation.
“So, I asked him to steal this.” He holds out a phone, ensuring that only we can see it. “Alastor’s phone.”
He slides it across the table to Alex, who immediately grabs it and gets up from his seat, striding toward a back hallway.
“You’re sure this will work?” I ask. “You really think he’ll be able to find something on there to show that the Vasilievs were involved?”
Vin simply nods as plates are placed in front of us, revealing tonight’s salad choice. A few minutes pass before someone taps a glass, drawing our attention to the other side of the room, where Alastor stands, waiting for everyone to look at him.
He smiles as he surveys the room. “I just wanted to take a moment to thank each and every one of you for joining us tonight. Madeleine and I are so delighted to share such a special occasion with so many of our dearest friends and family members.”
A hand grips my shoulder, and I quickly turn to find Alex while Alastor’s ramblings blur in the background. He leans down and whispers, “Come with me.” He glances at Leo, Mauro, and Vin. “You too.”
I shake my head. “I can’t leave Madeleine.”
He turns and motions toward his cousins, who all stand and take the extra seats around our table.
“Better?” he asks.
“That will do.” As I stand, I lower my face toward Madeleine. “I’ll be right back.”
She nods, her attention still on Alastor as she plays the part of the doting fiancée that everyone thinks she is.
We follow Alex down a back hallway into a small room set up with computers.
Once the door shuts behind us, I ask, “What did you find? Are they involved?”
“Yeah. They’re involved, all right. But it’s a little more complicated than any of us could have realized.” He sighs, his eyes focused on me. “You’re going to need to listen to what I found for yourself.”
My brows furrow as he presses play. Suddenly, familiar voices sound from the speaker.
“I have a job for you,” Alastor states clearly. “One that will benefit not only my family but yours as well.”
“I’ll be the one who decides that,” Mikhail responds. “Why are you coming to me about this and not my father?”
“Because I need to know that discretion will be a factor,” Alastor answers. “Your father leaves too many loose ends.”
Mikhail pauses before saying, “Understood. So, tell me, what does this job entail?”
“What, dear cousin, could provide our family with more power than we can possibly imagine?”
“An alliance with an even more powerful family,” Mikhail answers, sounding bored. “What exactly are you getting at?”
“Madeleine Alarie.”
Dread coils within me. I look at Leo, whose anger in his eyes reflects my own.
A moment passes before Mikhail says, “I’m listening.”
“I have it on good authority that she has her heart set on a soldier overseas. One named Eli Lyon. And after some digging, I found that he’s currently deployed in Iraq. Specifically, in our territory.”
“How interesting… And your good authority?”
“My other half, of course.”
“Hmm, and what do you want us to do with him?”
“I want him kidnapped.”
My heart thunders so loudly I can barely hear the rest of their words.
I want him kidnapped. This fucking cocksucker is the reason why I was taken.
The reason why my friends died. The reason I was forced into an early retirement from what I loved doing.
The reason for my nightmares and flashbacks.
He orchestrated the whole fucking thing. But why?
“And why would we do that?” Mikhail asks. “I know that name. He’s practically one of the Alaries. Are you trying to make an enemy out of them?”
“No,” Alastor answers. “I’m trying to do just the opposite. If I marry Madeleine, then I become one of them.”
“I see.”
“If he goes missing, Madeleine will do whatever it takes to get him back. And when she realizes her family has no pull in that territory, but that mine does, well…”
“She’ll come crawling to you for help.”
“Exactly.”
“And you’ll offer her a marriage in order to save this man?”
“If everything goes according to plan, then yes.”
Silence stretches between them before Mikhail voices, “We’ll do it. I’ll have my men take him, but what would you like for us to do to him?”
“It’s no concern to me what they do with him.
Torture him, for all I care, but just keep him alive.
He’ll be the only chess piece I have to play with to keep Madeleine in line for this deal to work.
I’ll reach out when it’s time to release him.
But if Madeleine backs out of the deal for any reason, you may kill him.
” He laughs. “Think of it as a contingency plan.”
“That can be easily arranged. But what do my brothers and I get out of this?”
“If this plan works, my father has agreed to name me the rightful CEO of Manacorda Enterprises instead of Enzio. And I will personally grant you a fifty percent share of the company stocks.”
Mikhail hums. “You have yourself a deal.”
The call ends, and everything around me transforms into a deep shade of red.
“I’m going to fucking kill him,” I breathe, a fire of vengeance scorching its way through my body from the tips of my toes to the top of my head. “All of them.”
“We need to put a plan in place,” Vin notes as he removes his jacket, leaning against the wall.
“This is more than we thought them capable of. This changes everything.” He drags his fingers through his hair, exhaling.
“I understand what you might be feeling, but there’s a room full of people between us and them, and we can’t just walk out there and—”
“Watch me,” I snap before turning and stepping out the door. I charge down the hall, hearing distant footsteps rushing after me, but I don’t stop.
Nothing and no one can stop me.
Entering the main room, my eyes land on Alastor as he sits contently with his family, oblivious to the murderous undertone in the air.
I’m going to kill you.
I march toward him, catching his attention.
He feigns a half grin as his eyes regard me with disdain. “Well, if it isn’t the body—”
His words die as I wrap my fingers around his neck. I haul him out of his seat and hold him before me like a shield, pressing my gun to the side of his head. The guests’ screams blur in the background as I turn just in time to see the Vasiliev men stand, pointing their guns at me.
But no bullet pierces the air because they don’t have a clean shot. They know it. And I know it.
Fortunately for me, the Marchetti brothers, along with the Alarie brothers, stand with their guns aimed at them, making the Vasilievs vastly outnumbered.
“Everyone out,” Vin roars, sending the guests scurrying out of the room to leave us to finish this without witnesses.
“Not you, pops.” Vin latches an arm around Adolfo’s neck, stopping him. “You’re not going anywhere.” Vin presses his gun into his back.
“Whatever he told you, I’m not involved. I know nothing about the kidnapping. That’s all on him.”
“Who said anything about that?” Vin questions.
Adolfo pales as he realizes his mistake.
“Drop your gun,” Mikhail demands, his eyes unnervingly calm.
I shake my head. “You motherfuckers staged everything. You kidnapped me to lead Madeleine right into your clammy hands. You tortured me for days!” I shout, my eyes moving to Alastor.
“But your biggest mistake was thinking that when I came home, I would just let you marry her.” My fingers dig harder into Alastor’s neck, feeling his pulse beat wildly beneath my touch.
“It…was…just….business,” he manages to get out.
“Business?” I laugh darkly. “This is just business.” I shoot him in the thigh. He screams out curses as he sags against me. “This is also just business.” I smash his head against the table, splitting his skin open. Blood flows down his temple, staining his perfectly white shirt.
“Okay,” Kazimir says. “You’ve made your point. Now, what do you want? A goddamn war on your hands?”
“I want the mastermind behind this whole fucking scheme! I’m taking Alastor, and I’m going to torture him just like you fuckers did to me, and then when I’m good and ready to, I’ll kill him.”
Alastor laughs manically, clutching his head and leg. “Mastermind? You think I’m the one behind all of this?”
“Of course you are! I heard the whole bloody phone call you made to Mikhail, asking for his help. Asking them to kidnap me!”
He hums, either from losing too much blood or just because he’s a smug prick. “If you heard the call and still think it was me behind all of this, then clearly you weren’t paying attention.”
“What the fuck are you talking about?” Alex demands. “We all heard it!”
He shakes his head, laughing even harder.
I look to Vin, dread building in my stomach.
“Then who is?” Vin asks with vehemence. He thumps his gun against the top of Adolfo’s head and lets him drop to the floor before stepping toward Alastor’s other side. He presses his gun into Alastor’s temple. “Talk!”
My eyes dart to Madeleine’s seat.
Madeleine’s very empty seat.
“Where’s Madeleine?” I yell, my wide eyes scanning the room in a panic.
“Some petite girl came over and asked if they could talk,” Caine says. “They headed toward the bathroom about…” He looks at his watch. “Fifteen minutes ago.”
I shake Alastor. “Who has her?”
“I’m not the only villain in this story,” he murmurs, his lips tugging up into a grin.
“…And your good authority?”
“My other half, of course.”
How did we miss it?
Fury. Wrath. Vengeance.
I become all three as I undergo an out-of-body experience.
My lips part, and a roar like only a murderous God could produce echoes off the walls.
“Where is my wife?”