Chapter 30
30
LUCA
I ’m awoken by the violent rattling of the house. I bolt upright, my heart pounding in my chest. “What the fuck was that?”
“What?” Carina asks sleepily.
“You didn’t hear it?”
She sits up and wipes the hair from her face. “Hear wh—” Sounds of men hollering reach us then.
We’re both out of bed in a flash, searching for the clothes we hastily discarded before we had sex.
“This is exactly why I say we should never fall asleep naked,” she grumbles.
“You could have gotten up and put something on.” I thrust a leg into my pants.
“I couldn’t move after what you did to me!”
I’d grin with masculine pride under different circumstances.
“Stay here.” I grab the Glock from my nightstand. “Lock the door behind me.”
“The fuck I will.” She’s out and in the hall before I can stop her.
“Carina. Fuck!” I chase her down the stairs and manage to stop her in the foyer. “Let me.”
I push her slightly behind me and open the door. Several of my men are waiting under the covered drive, all surrounding a vehicle that has apparently collided into one of the posts that hold up the portico.
“What the fuck?” The men move aside as we approach the black Bentley.
“Sir.” My head of security, Josh Hansen, appears from the chaos.
“What’s going on?” Carina demands.
“He rammed through the gate,” Hansen replies. “We shot at him, but couldn’t stop him.”
Sure enough, the back of the car is riddled with bullet holes. Thank God the posts were reinforced years ago, when Pops refused to teach Sofia to drive, so she took it upon herself to do it. She got only as far as the post. Damn near got herself killed when the roof partially collapsed.
“He’s alive!” one of my guards calls out. “Not sure about the guy in the back.”
I run to the driver’s side to see a very injured, and very unconscious man.
Carina gasps. “Oh my God. That’s Gideon.”
“Get them out!” I order.
Gideon is out first, then, his friend.
“Who is that?” Hansen asks.
“Itsuki. One of his personal guards.” I touch the man’s neck. “He’s dead.”
“What are they doing here?” Carina asks.
“It can’t be good, whatever it is.”
“Hansen, get the doctor here.” Carina is bent over Gideon, who is being carried by two men. “We can’t let him die.”
“Upstairs!” I yell at the men as we follow them into the house. “In one of the guest rooms.”
Gideon is laid on the bed. Carina comes in with a first aid pack and immediately goes to work inspecting his wounds. “He’s been shot three times. Maybe more.”
“Do you think Sofia did this?” I ask, hopeful.
“I doubt he would have come here if she had.” She gnaws on her lower lip, her brows tightly knit.
“You think she’s in trouble?” I can hardly voice the question.
“Why else would he have risked coming to Briar House?” She shakes her head as she uses gauze to stop the worst of the bleeding. “I hate to say it, Luca, but?—”
“If something has happened to her because of him,” I cut her off. “I’ll make him regret it.”
Not an hour later, the doctor has Gideon patched up. “It’s not as bad as it looks. I wager he was already in rough shape. There’s some older bruising and a broken rib.”
Carina gives me a pointed glance, but says nothing. To him, she says, “Will he wake up soon?”
Before the doctor can answer, Gideon’s eyes open. His light blue irises make it easy to discern his focus, as his black pupils dilate and fixate on me.
He tries to sit up, but Hansen is quick to stop him with a knife to his throat.
“I see I made it,” Gideon says.
“Where’s my sister, fucker?” I demand.
“In trouble. May I?” He tries to move Hansen’s hand away, but it only causes my man to dig the blade deeper into Gideon’s skin.
“Let him,” Carina says. “But if he tries anything, slit his throat.”
Gideon sits up slowly, grunting and wincing the entire time.
“Where’s Sofia?” I ask, only slightly more calmly this time, though I don’t feel it.
“She’s in Kingsbrook.”
“King,” I say, recalling what he repeated when he was in my hold. “Kingsbrook.”
“My home,” he says.
“What happened?” Carina sits on the coffee table in front of him. “Who attacked you?”
He glances at me. “My father.”
Turning to the physician, I say, “You may go, doc. If we need anything else, we’ll call.”
“Yup. I’d rather not hear whatever he’s about to share. I don’t know anything,” he says as he leaves.
“Are you saying Stephen Black did this?” my wife asks.
“He’s dead, asshole,” I remind him.
“Well, he rose from the grave.” Gideon slumps against the armrest and remains quiet for a long moment. His jaw works furiously, his gaze locked on his hand. “Everything that’s happened, was a lie. He planned it all. Every fucking detail. It was all a ruse. Now he’s returned and wants his kingdom back.”
“He set you up.” The wheels in Carina’s head begin to turn as she processes what he’s said. “Why? How?”
“Sean Murphy was in on it. He brought someone else in who was already so beat up, none of the others recognized him. Before I could see the body, it was cremated.”
She shakes her head. “And your need for revenge motivated you to finish the job for him.”
“That’s all fine and dandy,” I interrupt. “But are you telling us your father has Sofia?”
“I can’t get her out on my own.” He lowers his gaze to my feet. Damn the fucker, I’ve never seen him like this. He’s humbling himself and it’s unnerving. “I need your help.”
“You need my help?” I laugh. “Tell me where she is and I’ll get her myself.”
It’s his turn to laugh, the humility all but gone. “If I tell you, you’ll kill me. Then you’ll go and get everyone killed because you can’t do it without me either. In fact, we might need the entire bloody alliance. If my father was able to do this to me, there’s no telling what he’s capable of. I won’t risk Sofia.”
“What do you care about Sofia?” I hiss. “She’s my sister.”
“She’s my—” He tries to stand, but fails, instead falling back on his ass in a coughing fit. Grabbing his side where he took a bullet, he grimaces. “Sofia is?—”
“Your what?” I seethe. “Your captive? Your pawn? Your?—”
“The mother of my child. Or she will be soon, anyway.”
“Oh my, God.” Carina gasps.
The world goes red. I no longer give a fuck if he dies. I throw myself on him, my hands instantly wrapping around his neck.
“Luca!” Carina tries to pull me off him, but I refuse to let him go.
Gideon’s face starts turning purple. He grabs my wrists and squeezes until the pain forces me to release him long enough for him to headbutt me. I see stars, but still don’t let him go.
It takes Hansen and one of his men to get me off Gideon. He sucks in big gulps of air as Carina checks him over.
Then, as if I’m the asshole in the room, she glares at me. “You could have killed him!”
“Did you not hear what he said? He got my sister—” I can’t even finish the sentence. I try to pounce again, but I’m held back.
“She wants to stay with me, Luca. She loves me.”
“The hell she does!”
“It’s true. And I… I fucking love her enough to come here and beg for your help.” He clenches his teeth as he waves Carina’s hands away. Then, to my utter shock, he pushes himself off the couch and limps toward me and drops to his knees. “I’ll do anything. I’ll give you whatever you want. Please, please, help me save her.”