Winter Love (Seasons in Montana: Winter)

Chapter 17

Chapter Seventeen

Emmanuelle

The relief I felt when I saw Lukas is indescribable. I started crying and couldn’t stop until I was so stuffed up I couldn’t breathe. They insisted that I needed to go to the hospital and all my protesting didn’t work. When we got there, Felicity was waiting and then the crying started all over again. Then, I saw Rhett and Paxton running into the room and those damn emotions came flooding over me yet again. I was back with my family.

The doctor made me stay in the hospital for a few days. Which pissed me off, I just wanted to go home and be with my family. The Mancinis and Bastianinis are still here and now there’s more of them. I joked that they keep multiplying. And I know something is weighing on Lukas and I’ve tried to talk to him about it. All he says is that there’s something he needs to do and he’ll tell me all about it after. But right now he doesn’t know how to explain it.

I asked him if he was having second thoughts about us. And he said not even a little. This situation he’s dealing with isn’t about me in that way. Which made me more confused. But I’m trying to give him the space he needs to work through it. And then he will talk to me. I know he will, there’s never been secrets between us.

Lukas

The day after we found Emmanuelle, Rónán and his brother Aodhán came to Wintervale. We had met Aodhán at my parents’ memorial. Rónán is a big guy and the anger that I feel coming off of him is real. But I can’t blame him in the least. Giacomo told us what happened to Luciana, and if that had happened to Emmanuelle? I don’t know that I could’ve gone through a trial like Rónán did. Knowing that that bastard was alive, even if he was in jail. They’re also still trying to find out how he got out. Richard got thirty-seven years in prison for what he did to Luciana. He was supposed to serve all of his sentence, then be sent back to England. As of now, they haven’t figured it out and he’s not talking. But today. Today I get to see both of them.

“I have to go out today. Please rest and let Lissy help you. I don’t want you going to the store to work.”

“Come on, baby. I’m going crazy here. I need to do something.”

“How about you and Lissy prep the popcorn? I wanted to make a huge batch for them to take back to Lake Renegade. All the flavors and at least ten bags of each.”

“That’s going to take days.” Emma sighs.

“Please.”

“Fiiiiine.” She frowns at me.

“I love you,” I say as I hold her tight.

“I love you too.”

I drive to the warehouse that the Cimaruta MC rented. From the outside, you can’t hear anything. But when I get inside, I hear voices. I follow them to a room where William is strapped to a chair. He looks a little scared and I can’t say that doesn’t make me happy. This is the man that hit Emma. Just because she wouldn’t cook him dinner.

“Oh good. Now we can start the fun part.” Sebastiano smiles.

“This is William?” I ask as I step into his view.

“This is Willy. Willy is a fucking coward. Willy has now pissed himself and we haven’t even started.” Noah smirks.

“How is it you can hit a woman, but when faced with a man, you piss your pants?” I ask him.

“What the fuck are you talking about? I’ve never hit a woman,” William stutters out.

“Are you kidding me right now? You think we don’t know what you did to Emmanuelle?” I snap at him.

William laughs. “That whore? She’s a liar and a bitch.”

I swing and connect with his cheek, splitting it open as his head snaps back.

“Try again, asshole,” I say through clenched teeth.

“Fuck you. Emmanuelle. Is. A. Whore. I caught her fucking some guy a few months into our relationship.”

I turn and see some weapons on the table. I go over and pick up the brass knuckles, then turn back to William.

“You chickenshits. Hitting me while I’m tied up? Fight me like a real man.”

“Ohhhh. You want to be like a real man? Okay,” Leonardo says as he walks over and cuts the ropes on William’s hands and feet.

“Now stand up and fight me!” I yell at him as he just sits there.

William looks at the brass knuckles. I laugh and take them off, handing it to Rhett. William tries to lunge as me as I turn to my brother. Rhett pulls me to the side and William slams into the wall.

“So you want us to play fair, but you don’t?” Paxton snarls at him.

Before I can react, both of my brothers are on William.

“We don’t do double standards in this family,” Rhett says as he punches William in the solar plexus.

I smile as I watch my brothers, we’ve always had each other’s backs. This is no different. I give them a few more minutes before I step in.

“You’ll never touch another woman ever again,” I say to him as my fist connects with his jaw. He takes a swing at me and catches me in the side. But I can see that he’s losing the will to stand.

After a few more punches, he falls to the ground. Leonardo gets him up and into the chair again.

“You boys might not want to be here for this part,” Antonio says to us. “We need answers and we have a specific way of getting them.”

I nod at Leonardo, then my brothers and I walk out of the room.

“Do you think they’re going to kill him?” Rhett whispers to me.

“I do.”

We make our way to the room where Richard is being held and when we walk in, Rónán has already done his job. Richard isn’t dead, but he’s pretty close to it.

“Did he say why he helped take my Emma?” I ask.

“Nope. And I’m sorry to say, but I don’t think he will. But with the way we found him, we know what he planned,” Celestino answers me.

I can see the rage in their eyes. The revenge they’re getting today is for all of them. Giacomo, Celestino, Francesco, they’re Luciana’s family. If someone had done to Felicity, what Richard did to Luciana? I would be feeling the same way as all of them. As for Rónán? I understand his rage—I feel that same rage for William. But Enea is right, I don’t think I could live with myself if I was the one to end his life. I know it’ll happen, but it won’t be me who does it.

“You assholes. Your MC is a fucking joke. You let your women tell you what to do. What kind of man listens to a woman?” Richard laughs, spitting out blood.

“It’s not my problem you can’t see what women are worth,” Francesco snaps at him.

“Women are worth nothing. Especially your women. Go ahead and kill me. If you think that will make Luciana and Isabella safe, you’re stupider than I thought,” Richard says as he looks at Giacomo.

We all watch Giacomo stand there and stare at Richard.

“Call Elio. We need to get this shitbag and the other one back to Lake Renegade. Tonight,” Giacomo says to Celestino.

“Sì, Papà,” Celestino answers as he gets on the phone.

“Galen and Mitchell, you stay here with this scumbag until we’re ready to move him. At no time will he be left alone, I don’t care what. If you need back up, you call. I need to talk to Enea.”

“Okay,” they both say.

“Can I stay and help watch him?” Paxton asks. “I need to do something.”

Giacomo looks at my brother.

“Sì, you are a good man.”

Rhett and I follow Giacomo and Celestino out of the room. Francesco props the door open and grabs a chair to sit on. He stations himself right outside the door, Mitchell is sitting opposite him, but inside the room. Galen is sitting behind Richard.

“They sit like that so they can see Richard from the front and back. He can’t try to get his hands free when we’re watching,” Giacomo says to me and Rhett.

I would never have thought to have people watching from all directions. When we go to the room William is in, they have the same setup. Sebastiano is behind him, Salvatore is outside and Noah is inside by the door.

“Celestino is calling Elio. I think we need him to help us transport back to Lake Renegade,” Giacomo says to Enea.

“I agree. He can fly in tonight. I’ll call for the jet and we can fly out tonight,” Enea answers as he makes his own calls.

“We’ll finish this back home. I don’t want you to be implicated here,” Giacomo says to me.

“Thank you.”