Chapter 26
KADE
I watched with pain in my chest as Soren walked into the den that held my brothers, my mother, and Vanessa.
Because she was closing this chapter on her life, and I had to admit to myself that I was a part of that chapter that she was going to close. Whether she wanted to admit it to me or not. She wanted out of that life, and this was for the best.
I was a fool to ever think I could leave this life behind and be with Soren. She had been through enough shit in her life, and I didn’t want to cause her anymore pain.
They always used to say if you loved something to let it go, and even though I feel like I was losing a part of myself, I wanted what was best for Soren. She deserved to be happy, even if I wasn’t.
“Mrs. Peirano, please have a seat,” Finn said calmly, already embracing his role as the head man.
I’d explained that Soren had wanted to meet with him but not the part about her wanting to sign over everything she’d been left by Jude and Lilah.
I couldn’t bring myself to tell him. Soren had to break the news herself.
I pulled the chair out for Soren, and she sat down slowly. Although she was pretending to be strong, I could tell she was nervous. She’d seen my family before, but even I could admit that something about this time felt different.
Not to mention we were all intimidating as hell when we were together, except for my mom. Elizaveta Luchetti was one of the sweetest women on the planet. One look at her and nobody would be able to believe she had been married to a powerful Mafia boss.
But seeing her sitting at the table now, a newly widowed woman, I could tell that something had broken inside of her. The happiness that used to radiate from her was now shrouded by a cloud of darkness. One that she had fought so hard to get rid of after Ava was taken from us.
My mother had the option to take over the responsibilities for the Mafia, but she’d refused and nobody could blame her.
The only other woman in the meeting was Vanessa, and she even had a serious tone about her for once. It was eerie how dark everyone’s moods seemed to be today. The only time I saw her break her dark mood was when she looked at Soren and gave her a small, encouraging smile.
“Kade hasn’t told me what this meeting pertains to, so you have the floor, Mrs Peirano,” Finn said, gesturing toward the table with his hands. I couldn’t resist rolling my eyes at his dramatics.
He’d been in this role not even six weeks and he was already acting like he was hot shit. But if there was one thing Finn never did, it was anything half-assed.
“Well, with Lilah and Jude being gone, everything falls to me, aside from what Jude’s father has control over. But any other assets and money or land or whatever that was left to me, I’d like to sign it over to you and your family.”
I could see Finn trying to hide his shock, but he recovered well, his face only slipping for a moment.
“I see. You want to keep none of the property or the money?” Finn asked, and I could almost see the sympathy oozing from his pores for Soren.
Finn didn’t have the emotional ability to be a Mafia boss in my opinion.
He cared too much about people. He didn’t have the capacity to be heartless.
If he wanted to lead this family, he’d have to learn to let his emotions go.
He had a temper but that didn’t mean he had the ability to control his emotions in any other capacity.
He wore an angry shell on the outside, but one day a woman would be able to bring out the teddy bear side of him that only we saw.
“All I ask is for my two million dollar inheritance, so I can set myself up nicely in another city while I try to find a job and consider furthering my education,” Soren said matter of fact, and a pang hit my chest at the thought of her living in a city that I wasn’t in.
But I also wanted what was best for her. And whatever she chose, I would support, even if that meant she chose a city a thousand miles away on the opposite coast.
“That seems perfectly reasonable. I don’t see why we wouldn’t be able to make that accommodation for you,” Finn said. “If there’s anything else you need, don’t hesitate to let us know.”
“Thank you, but I’d like to leave this life as far behind as I can,” Soren replied, and I knew I wasn’t imagining the sideways glance she gave me, as if to make me realize I was a part of what she wanted to leave behind.
Vanessa tried to stop Soren as she rushed away from the table and out the door, tears flowing freely down her cheeks, but Soren could barely speak and gently pushed her away.
The look on Vanessa’s face was equally as heartbreaking.
I knew she’d grown close to Soren, and cared for her, so seeing her friend in pain wasn’t something she enjoyed.
How did we get here?
I could feel my heart getting cold again. The walls were being rebuilt around it with steel enforcements, never to be opened again.
I pulled up to my house, utterly and entirely numb, wanting to do nothing but wallow in a bottle of bourbon.
I had stayed at my father’s house longer than I thought I would, unable to move or process the fact that Soren signed the contract and didn’t look my way again. My thoughts were utterly consumed by her, analyzing all of our recent conversations to see what went wrong, and how I could fix it.
I had pushed her away because I thought it was in her best interest, and what she wanted, but now I utterly feel like an idiot.
My lack of attention to my surroundings was why it probably took me longer than it should have to realize my front door was wide open, and none of my men were in sight.
Nausea in my gut and a feeling of dread mixed into a combination I had never felt before that worked its way from my toes to my brain, because Soren had come back here with Issac after she had left my mother’s. I knew that much because he had sent me a text to let me know.
I pulled out my phone, making sure I wasn’t imagining things when one singular message glared at me from my phone screen.
Finn
911. Call me as soon as you get this.
“What the fuck do you mean she’s gone?” I hollered, my voice cracking despite my attempt at keeping a handle on my temper.
I’d come home at almost four in the morning to find my entryway in shambles, my best security guard unconscious and bloody in the garage, and the woman I love missing.
If the blood staining the floor was any indication, she’d been wounded during the grab, and nausea swirled in my gut thinking about her laying somewhere hurt and scared.
The scene constantly and vividly flashed in my mind, as did the overwhelming negative emotions at the entire damn situation.
It didn’t take a rocket scientist to know that it was Vincent Peirano who had done this out of retaliation for his son’s murder, but after almost a week we still had no leads on where Soren was.
Vanessa had noticed first that something wasn’t right after she’d texted Soren multiple times with no response.
She wanted to give her space, but even still, it was unlike Soren to leave a message from her best friend unacknowledged.
So she told Sawyer, Sawyer tried to call Isaac, and then Finn was alerted, who told me.
I had been at my mother’s trying to find the will to leave and come back home to an empty house, and if I’d have been here sooner maybe she wouldn’t have been taken.
“We’ll find her,” Finn constantly tried to reassure me, and just like when she was in the hospital bed, I was beginning to have a hard time believing it as time went on. We got lucky once with her life, and I was doubtful it would happen again.
“She’ll be okay Kade,” Astrid said to me when I came out of my room this morning after getting a measly three hours of restless sleep.
I could count on one hand the number of times she’d used my first name since I was a child, and that’s how I knew that this situation was one of my worst fears come true.
Soren was not made for this life and constantly got stuck in the crossfire.
Just since she’d been with me she’d faced death more than she ever did when she was with Jude.
I wanted to punch myself in the face for comparing myself to that man and feeling like he was better than me. But he was dead and gone now, so I was pathetically comparing myself to a dead abusive husband.
“How the fuck do you know that?” I snapped, checking my phone for the millionth time. It was still empty of any messages or updates, and I wanted to put my head in my hands and scream at the world for being so fucking useless.
“She’s the first good thing to happen to me in what feels like decades, Astrid. I can’t handle a maybe or a possibility that she’ll be found. I need to know with absolute certainty that she’s okay, or I won’t fucking survive this.”
Astrid looked at me for a moment and I felt guilty for blowing up in her face when all she was trying to do was reassure me.
“I miss her too, Kade. I love her and care for her just as much as I know you do,” she said in a tone that was meant to be gentle, but I also took as her holding her ground against my outburst.
“Kade?” I heard a voice come from the entryway, knowing immediately that it was Finn before even having to see him.
“In here,” I yelled, practically jumping to my feet. I didn’t know what kind of news he was about to give me, so I had to prepare for anything. On second thought, maybe standing wasn’t such a good idea.
“We’ve found her,” Finn said breathlessly as he made his way into the kitchen, panting for breath like he’d just ran a marathon.
“What the fuck are we waiting for?” I yelled, already grabbing my jacket and lacing up my shoes.
“Hold on there cowboy,” Finn said, raising his hand as if to tell me to stop. “You can’t go with us.”
“What the fuck do you mean I can’t go with you? She’s my…” I trailed off, not knowing what we were anymore. “Over my dead body are you going to get her without me.”
“Fine. But your dumbass is staying in the car before you get both of you killed.”
I rolled my eyes but reluctantly agreed and ran outside to jump into my brother’s SUV.
Don’t worry, baby. We’re coming.
I would tear apart every square inch of this world to find her, and nothing or no one would stand in my way.