Chapter 21
My heart races in my chest, fear and adrenaline surging through me. “Move, Alessandro,” I demand, tears now streaming down my face. I swipe them away, wishing the earth would swallow me up so I can be anywhere but here.
His hands come to my shoulders, running down my arms over my jacket until he takes my hands in his. “You know I can’t do that, princess.” His dark eyes lock with mine, trying to intimidate me, but I’m not scared of him.
The way I’m feeling right now, he should be scared of me, because even I have no idea what I’m about to do. All I know is I’m feeling out of control. Overwhelmed with being so trapped in this nightmare, I shake my head in disappointment. My heart pounds so fast I feel like it’s going to burst right out of my chest. I can’t stay here with these people. This madness isn’t normal. Or okay. This world is fucked up, and I can’t stay another day. Everything inside my body screams at me to make a run for it. I have no fight left in me, and I don’t want to end up like the dude on the stage. Or like my poor ma.
He drops his head closer to mine, overwhelming me with his masculine scent. “Maybe if you know why?”
“Like you’re going to tell me,” I huff, shoving at him so he’s forced to drop my hands.
The crowd erupts, and I know the fight is over. Dante DeLuca is dead. All because of me.
Alessandro backs me into a dark corner. My shoulders brush up against the soft velvet curtain, his eyes not leaving mine for a second, his expression dangerous, telling me not to push him. He’s a man on the edge himself. He positions his body, legs wide, hands on either side of me on the wall, using his imposing size to trap me and make me break out in a cold sweat. “I would love to tell you, princess. Geovani did it for you,” he spits like I’m being ungrateful. “Dante is the reason you and Marco are in so much danger. He worked for Enzo and was the man who betrayed your papa. He was also the one who got Carlo access to our mansion the day our back wall was blown up and you nearly got taken. And the one who helped Carlo and Enzo reconnect. He’s been working both sides for years, and he thought he had everything he ever wanted. All the money and power a man could wish for. But in creating his empire by using our parents, he forgot one thing. By infiltrating everything we fucking do, he made an enemy out of us brothers and Geovani. He thought our papas would protect him. But he was wrong.” His lips twitch up at the side in an evil smile that sends a shiver down my spine. “And tonight, we show them that their offspring have more power in this town than they think. This is what you wanted, isn’t it? Me taking the power from Enzo.”
I stare back at Alessandro, trying to process what he’s just told me. Dante helped Enzo and Carlo start this war. He deserves what he got and more, I know it’s true, but I can’t stand to think of the man I have come to care about being so brutal. And now, no matter what I do, I can’t unsee what he did. “Why kill him so publicly?” A sob wracks my chest.
His hand moves to my chin, forcing me to stare into his dark eyes. He’s different tonight, harder than ever before. It’s like the small amount of light that was still flickering inside has been extinguished. This is what Geovani was talking about, how this life will completely destroy your soul. Alessandro is nothing but the shadow of the man I met a few years ago. Pain radiates through my chest for him. For all of them. It’s so unfair their families forced them into this life. “This is the start of the end, princess. After tonight, Carlo and Enzo will know a line has been drawn in the sand. They’re on one side, us on the other. Unless they fall in line and let me take charge.” His thumb brushes over my lips softly, almost sweetly, and even though he’s mostly dead inside, I can feel what I mean to him. “We end this and take control of our lives.”
I blink back at him. “You’re teaming up with Geovani? But you hate him?”
His lips turn up at the sides. “Better the devil you know.”
“What about Bianca?” I snap, knowing it’s not that simple. They have years of hatred toward each other.
He eyes me with suspicion, and I know he’s curious as to what I know about her. “In the past.” His hand moves from my chin to fiddle with my braid. “I can’t save her now. But I can save you.”
My heart constricts. I know he’s doing this all for me. Going against the family, his papa, for me. My stomach sinks, a terrible weight settling inside of me. This is too much. I glance over his shoulder to see the others have moved from their seats and we have an audience. My heart races wildly and my head spins. I need to get out of here. Away from them all. “I don’t want to be saved. I want to be set free,” I cry.
His face hardens, and I know he’s trying really hard not to lose his temper with me. But it’s the truth. I want to disappear into the night, never to be seen by these men again. Without warning, he closes the gap between us, kissing me. His hands cup my face roughly on both sides as he kisses me more deeply, as if he thinks it will improve this fucked-up situation.
I can’t pull away. I don’t want to, his commanding body making me weak at the knees and temporarily forcing me to forget how close to panic I am.
Eventually he slowly pulls back, still staring into my eyes with his hands cupping my chin. “If you leave, you will break me.”
My chest feels like it’s about to cave in. It will break me too, but staying is turning me into a crazy person. “You’re breaking me by forcing me to stay,” I whisper, trying not to let the threatening tears take over again. In another life I could have had it all with him. With Ricky or Maddox as well. But this isn’t a normal life where I get to settle down with the man of my dreams and have a family. This life is all about winning at any cost. They’re all playing with fire, and I want out before I’m burned to the ground like my family home was.
Dani comes into view over his shoulder. “Sorry to break up this cute little reunion, but Geovani is waiting for us in the Hummer.”
The security guys part the curtain, pausing for us to all walk through.
“Come on, baby girl, we have an after party to attend.” Ricky smirks playfully, but it doesn’t make it to his eyes. I know he can see I’m not okay. Who would be? They made me watch that shit knowing I didn’t want to, knowing I’m not one of them. And knowing what it would take from me if I did. They want me to be just like them, but I never will be. Even now that I’m helping to run my family businesses, it doesn’t make me one of them. I don’t have this brutal side they were born with. I see now what happened to Geovani’s wife, how this life destroyed her and why she chose to do what she did. She would have felt completely helpless and like taking her own life was the only way out of this madness.
Maddox’s stare is more detached, and I feel him distancing himself from me. He was my savior last time, but maybe he knows there is no saving me anymore. Not now that Geovani has his clutches on me as well. If they’re working together, who knows what they all agreed to, because what Alessandro just told me was the first I was hearing of it. So much for me and Geovani being in this together. I feel tricked by the way he kept all this from me tonight. Betrayed by him. I silently plead with Maddox to save me. He takes in a deep breath then drops his head and walks toward the opening in the curtain. I’m fucked.
Ricky follows him with Dani, leaving me with the overbearing asshole who now has his hand on my hip, his fingers digging in. And like he’s scared I’m serious about making a run for it, he slips his other arm over my shoulders tightly and walks me through the opening after them.
Everything inside my body screams at me not to leave this place with them. I don’t want to attend some after party. I want to go home and cry myself to sleep imagining another world, one where I’m safe and free.
But just like every other time when I’m with these guys, I have no choice. He marches me the whole way through the old theatre’s back halls, forcing me to move with his heavy steps, two oversized guards trailing us just so I know there is no escape. There is no one else back here, but I can hear the roar of the crowd still cheering on the next fighters. There were five fights tonight, and I hate to think what the others are for and if they will endure the same fate. But right now, I concentrate on getting out of this place alive. Even with an entourage of burly men surrounding me, I don’t feel safe out in public. All it would take is one stray bullet and I’m dead.
Maddox pushes open the double back doors, and I see the same black stretch Hummer that we left the last fight in. Adrenaline surges through me, and I glance down at my feet. Combat boots were a good choice for tonight.
One of the security men moves in front of us and opens the side door of the Hummer, and Dani, Maddox, and Ricky slide in the car. But I hesitate. “I need to use the restroom,” I mutter.
“Can it wait?” Alessandro grumbles. “We will be at the club in five.”
Geovani steps out of the car. “What’s the hold-up, Red?” He smirks at me. He’s covered in blood. Some of it’s his, his open wounds trickling. But it’s the other blood splattered over his bare torso that turns my stomach. Fuck this. I’m not getting in a car with him or any of them.
I glance over my shoulder and see Alessandro’s raised brow. “Ha, nothing,” I say trying to stall a little more. I keep saying I have no choice, that I have to do what they say and follow their rules, but fuck that. They have kept me in the dark for the last time. Without warning, I bring my elbow into Alessandro’s ribs with as much force as I can then twist out of his grip. And like I had hoped, I catch him off guard, and before he has time to register what I’m doing and tries to grab me, I’m out of the parking lot and running for my fucking life.