Chapter 17
Seventeen
Luca
No one greets me.
There are no guards at the entrance, but I suppose Dante doesn’t keep guards at the front door to his compound, either.
Most people aren’t stupid enough to waltz right up and enter the mafia’s home.
I’m not most people.
If DeLuca hadn’t been foolish enough to abduct my wife, I wouldn’t be here.
Which means I don’t need an invitation.
I take a thorough glance from left to right, making sure the camera catches every detail for them to map the interior of the property.
Who exactly did Dante team up with for this level of equipment? I’ve never known for him to have any type of spy or tactical gear, outside of guns, ammunitions, and maybe a bulletproof vest for safe measure.
The sound of boots carries down the hallway, and I keep moving, making sure not to be seen, at least not by whoever is coming. I can’t help the cameras. Had we spent more time planning, maybe someone could have infiltrated the system.
I weave through the hallway and notice a wrought-iron door, much like a gate, inside the house. There are three guards on the opposite side.
It’s unlikely there’s a basement, given the soil and terrain. The metal door with a lock inside the property, dead giveaway.
That must be where they’re keeping Harper.
Footsteps grow near, and I hide in a nearby supply closet but don’t quite shut the door, waiting for the soldier to wander by. I grab my dagger from my boot and grip the handle, holding my breath.
He saunters past, and I quietly exit the closet and sneak up from behind. I slice the blade across the base of his throat.
He falls to the ground in a heap. I drag him into the hall closet, out of sight of the cameras and anyone who wanders by. There’s a small splatter of crimson on the floor, smeared.
Well, I’m not exactly a pro at this shit.
I strip him down to his underwear and white t-shirt underneath, wearing his uniform, ensuring the camera is tucked hidden onto the new outfit before stealing his weaponry. The dark military ensemble is heavy, and the vest is bulletproof. I don his hat and keep my head bent down.
Attached to my ensemble is a set of keys on my belt loop. I grab the keys as I head toward the metal-gated door.
The guards don’t pay me a lick of attention as I approach the lock. I’m not sure which one is the right key, but the first several look more like house keys. Just a brief examination of the lock and it resembles a skeleton style key. Thankfully, there are two of those on the keychain.
I reach for the first key and shove it into the lock, hoping it’ll open.
It doesn’t budge.
I keep my head down, quietly withdraw the key and try again with the second skeleton key. There’s a smear of blood on my hand and I deftly wipe it on the dark slacks, hoping there isn’t more blood splatter that I can’t see.
The lock clicks with ease, and I open the door, stepping inside, closing it but not securing it tight.
I’ll need an escape route, in case shit goes down fast.
“Make sure you slam the door,” another guard echoes to me down the hallway.
I grunt and nod, grabbing the metal, forcing it to rattle, but I’m careful not to latch it.
That seems to appease him, and I take in my surroundings.
Three guards are patrolling this single hallway.
Harper must be nearby.
One guard stands outside a closed door. I walk past him as if I own the place and yank open the door.
There are dozens of girls, and all of them turn toward the now open door, staring, watching, and waiting.
I stalk into the room; it’s not the room from the surveillance footage, but there are several girls being held captive.
They could have moved Harper.
I glance at each of them as I search for my wife, relieved when I find Harper sitting on a makeshift bed on the floor with another girl.
“Boss wants to have a chat with you,” I say, keeping my head bent down. I grab Harper’s arm, dragging her to her feet.
“Get your grimy paws off me!” she snarls, and I catch her gaze.
It flickers and flashes with hatred.
She yanks away from me like I’m the enemy, but it has to be an act.
“I’m not going anywhere with you.”
“Is that so?” I ask and glance her over, gripping her arm, forcing her to follow me into the hallway.
“The collar,” the guard says, like it’s a reminder.
My eyes land on the device secured around her neck.
Shit.
What the hell is that thing?
“Please, no!” Harper pleads with me, and my stomach flops. The fear in her voice is real.
Does she think I’d purposefully hurt her, to make them believe I’m one of them?
“Then you’ll do as I say, won’t you?” I keep my hand affixed around her arm as I yank her out of the room and toward the metal gated door I left unlocked.
“Boss is that way,” the guard says and points in the opposite direction.
I shove Harper behind me, shielding her with my body as I lift the barrel and shoot at the armed men as we hurry backward through the gated door.
Slamming the gate shut, forcing them to unlock it if they want to chase after us, I grab Harper’s hand, pulling her in the direction of the front entrance.
Several guards approach from around the corner near the door, blocking our escape. Guns drawn, a woman steps out from behind them, a small black device in her hand. She presses the button, and Harper collapses to the ground, trembling.
Screaming.
“Stop!” I shout, commanding the woman to obey me.
Livia DeLuca.
She removes her thumb from the trigger, and Harper gasps for breath, panting hard from the floor. Her forehead is slick with sweat, her body weak after the assault.
The men surround us with guns pointed at us from every direction. I kick my weapon away, showing that I’m unarmed, and bend down, lifting Harper into my arms. “You’ll let my wife go.”
“I’ll do no such thing,” Livia says with a cunning wickedness that sends an icy chill down my spine. “Mercurio, show them to their new accommodations.”
I carry Harper, it’s the least I can do considering she’d just been jolted with several volts of electricity. What else had they done to her while she was their hostage?
Her breathing is soft, raspy, her heart still pounding wildly as she trembles every so often in my arms, like her body is trying to catch up after the onslaught of violence within it.
I press a kiss to her forehead, hoping that the team will be inside soon, break through the front door and subdue the guards.
Slowly, I walk forward, following Mercurio, taking my time, giving Ashton and the others an opportunity to come rescue us.
But I can’t be that lucky.
There’s a gun shoved at my back, forcing me to press onward.
“Move!” the guard behind me beckons, and I pick up my pace, my arms holding Harper as we’re led down the hallway, farther into the compound.