41. Forty
Forty
Brodie
“W ould you shut that fucking brat up?” I snarl. I’ve been listening to it cry on and off since I snatched it a couple days ago.
“I need more supplies.”
“I told you to make sure you had enough.”
“I couldn’t sneak too much without being caught.”
“Not my problem, that’s yours.”
“If you want me here, I need the supplies.”
“And you were supposed to get them, or I can hand you over to your loan sharks and not pay your gambling debt.”
“You said you would keep me safe.”
“Doesn’t seem like you can keep up your end of your deal. I need the fucking brat alive.”
“It’s hard when I didn’t have all the information about her. All you told me was she was in the NICU with breathing issues.”
“You’re a doctor, deal with it. Aren’t you supposed to be miracle workers? Oh wait, that would be the ones who have a moral compass and aren’t helping to hold a sick baby hostage. Her poor parents,” I say, faking concern. I obviously don’t give two shits if the little cunt lives, but I need her to force Erik to give me what I want.
Once I have it, I will kill off all the Duncans, making sure none of them come after me for taking over what will be my new empire.
“You didn’t give me much of a choice.”
“You had a choice; you chose to gamble and put yourself in debt and to hide from loan sharks since you couldn’t seem to learn your lesson. No. Instead of trying to pay off your debt, you took any easy money you could get and gambled more, getting more and more in debt.”
“I messed up.”
“Oh, you definitely did, and now you are at my mercy,” I tell him, putting a gun to his head. “So either get the fuckling brat to shut up, or I will kill you.”
“How do you expect her to stay alive if you kill me?”
“Do you think you are the only doctor I can blackmail? No. You were just the easiest. Now you will go with your own personal bodyguard and get supplies for her. If you alert anyone, you will be dropped off at your loan sharks’ front door. Understand?”
“Yes,” he says. I lower my gun, and he stumbles over his own feet as I push him toward Ron.
“Watch him. If he fucks up, you know where to take him.”
“Got it.” The door slams behind them, and I turn my attention back to the fucking brat.
“Alright, little princess. Time to get your daddy to give me what I want.” I cover her mouth with my hand so she doesn’t me give away until I’m ready.
Ring…Ring…
Erik: Hello, Brodie. What do you want?
Wow, he looks like shit: unruly hair and dark circles under his eyes. Seems like having his precious daughter kidnapped is taking a toll on him.
Brodie: Can’t a nephew call to talk?
Erik: You are no longer my nephew and right now is not a good time.
Brodie: Why? Are you missing something?
Erik: Where is she?
Brodie: Right here.
I turn the camera down toward her and remove my hand, only for her to scream her head off.
Erik: What the fuck have you done to her? Where is her incubator?
Brodie: She can have that if you do what I want.
Erik: What do you want?
I grab the tube that is connected to the nose thing that gives her oxygen and pinch it between my fingers. She immediately starts to wheeze.
Erik: What do you want?
Brodie: The Scottish Mafia.
Erik: Fine.
Brodie: Figured you put up more of a fight.
I let go of the tube.
Erik: You have my daughter’s life in your hands. I will do anything.
Brodie: Keep that in mind while you sign everything over to me. I will send you an address soon. You come alone.
Erik: Let me have a doctor with me for Makenna.
Brodie: They stay outside. I will kill them immediately if they take one step inside.
Erik: Fine.
Brodie: Talk to you soon.
I hang up and smirk. If only Aunt Eva hadn’t been stupid enough to go after Erik’s whore. She never had any patience. Bringing a man like Erik down, you need to wait. All good things come to those who wait.
Emilia
“Fuck yes.” I pump my hand into the air and immediately call Julietta.
“It’s go time,” I tell her before hanging up. I change into my black cargo pants, black long sleeve shirt, and boots. I grab my face mask and gloves, along with my duffle bag full of weapons.
I call Theo and tell him to meet us at the plane. I need him with me because of Makenna’s medical issues. There isn’t a doctor I trust more than Theo. He keeps all our planes stocked with medical equipment, and he just got an incubator for Makenna.
Mimi takes one look at me and shakes her head while telling me to be careful. I have a feeling she knows what I’m up to, but she never comments. I love that woman.
I drive to the back of the De Luca estate where we have our own private airport. The pilot has been on standby since this situation started. I park my car inside the garage and walk up the stairs, putting my bag away before getting comfortable in my seat.
Julietta and Theo walk on together. They put their bags up and get settled.
“So why are you two going on this rescue mission alone?” he asks us. Julietta looks at me and I give her a nod.
“Because there is something Julietta and I do that our husbands don’t know,” I say, to which Theo groans.
“Why do I feel like I don’t want to know?”
“Because you probably don’t, but we can trust you.”
“I swear, being your fried is a hazard to my health.”
“If it helps, Esmeralda is part of it.”
“No, that doesn’t help. If anything, that makes it worse.” He puts his hands in his face and, after a moment, says, “Just tell me.”
“We are what you would call retribution killers,” Julietta tells him.
“Retribution killers? What the fuck is that?”
“Killing off people who hurt others. Instead of letting them go through the court system and not get punished because of bullshit, we handle them.” He nods at her response.
“Don’t your husbands do exactly that?”
“No. They only do it if it has something to do with the family. Whereas we don’t have any restrictions on who we serve justice for. And our husbands don’t know, so they can’t stop us.”
“You mean stop you from doing something stupid or dangerous?”
“Exactly.”
“They are going to kill me.”
“I won’t let them. Mateo is trying to convince me to get pregnant again so he wants to be on my good side.”
“Again? You already have seven kids. How many more does he want?”
“According to him, he wants one more. But he doesn’t seem to know how to knock me up without it being triplets. So I’m saying no unless he can convince me otherwise.”
“You know you are not going to win that battle.” Julietta smirks.
“Yes, I know, but please don’t remind me. I’m not looking forward to my skin being stretched to the max, having swollen feet and an achy back, and constantly being horny. Actually, that last one is a benefit. I have Mateo’s dick on demand.”
“Eww, stop.” Julietta gags, and I laugh at her face. I love busting her ass about me fucking Mateo.
“I told him if he gets me pregnant again, he has to get his cock pierced.” I snicker knowing he doesn’t want a needle anywhere near his cock. Probably what is saving me from him tying me to the bed and fucking me nonstop until he has put more babies inside me.
I’m not against babies—I love my seven children—but the little fuckers are a handful. I’m convinced it’s because Mateo is their father.
“I can say a pierced cock is amazing,” Theo says, and Julietta nods with him.
“Rub it in, why don’t you.” I glare at him.
“It feels soo good the way it rubs you.” I toss a pillow at him only to make the two of them laugh.
“Sometimes I hate you.”
“No you don’t. You love me. If you hated me, I wouldn’t be your babies’ godfather.”
“Maybe I should change that.”
“I’d like to see you try. Those are my god-babies, and I will stab anyone who takes that away from me,” he says with a glare.
“Oh, I know,” I say shaking my head. He might not be in the Mafia, but he is fiercely protective of all the De Luca kids. Even Damiano and Lina’s kids.
Five long hours later, we land and head to where Brodie is. I call Esmeralda.
Esmeralda: Hello, Lia bug.
Emilia: Hey, Esmeralda. We just landed. Has Brodie contacted Erik since?
Esmeralda: No.
Emilia: I would be going out of my mind.
Esmeralda: I hope Erik tortures him.
Emilia: He better. Anyway, Theo knows about CR.
Esmeralda: Okay, but why? I thought we weren’t going to tell anyone.
Emilia: We needed a doctor with us to start giving Makenna medical treatment as soon as possible. And I don’t trust any other doctor like I trust Theo.
Theo: Aww, am I your favorite doctor?
Esmeralda: You have me on speaker?
Emilia: Yes, we are driving to Brodie’s place. It’s just the three of us in this SUV.
Esmeralda: Theo, you must not say anything, especially to Marcello. He still thinks Julietta is a gentle flower, and we don’t need to give the brute a heart attack by letting him know what his wife does when he isn’t around.
Emilia: If anyone asks, we brought her along to help you take care of Makenna just in case I’m covered in blood.
Theo: Good enough for me. I want no part of any of whatever this is.
We say our goodbyes and park a bit away from the abandoned warehouse Brodie is holed up in. Theo is staying in the car and will drive it up to the warehouse when we tell him to. With no windows, Julietta can’t use her badass sniper skills, we just have to go in. When we do, we see Brodie, a man in a dirty lab coat, and a buff baboon. The baboon raises his gun, but he is too late because I have already aimed and hit him between the eyes.
“Oh fuck,” I hear Brodie say. Thanks to Julietta, he is already on the ground with a bullet in his knee.
“Fucking bitch,” he calls her, and I snicker.
“You just fucked up, Brodie. Have fun,” I tell Julietta, who smirks as she pulls out a knife. I turn my attention to the doctor. “Give me one reason why I shouldn’t kill you.”
“I was forced here.”
“Okay how?”
“The fucker is drowning in gambling debt,” Brodie yells.
“And if I told you to kill the baby and I won’t kill you, what would you do?”
“I would kill the baby,” he states with no guilt or remorse.
“Well, good thing I’m killing you then,” I tell him and shoot him between his eyes. I look over at Julietta who has sliced the side of Brodie’s face and is tying his hands behind his back.
“Need help?”
“Nope, go ahead and call Theo.”
I call him, put my phone away, and walk up to Makenna, who is laying on a dirty blanket on the ground.
“Hello, sweet girl,” I say as I gently lift her into my arms. She is so beautiful; a mini Kayleigh-bug.
“Let me see her,” Theo demands as he comes up to lay a fresh blanket on the ground before taking her and placing her on it. He kneels next to her, quietly talking as he is listens to her chest. He frowns at the oxygen and nasal cannula she has on and pulls out a new oxygen tank for her and puts a new nasal cannula on her.
“We need to get home soon. She needs to be in an incubator.”
“Okay, let’s go.” I grab Makenna while Theo grabs all the medical supplies. We get Makenna strapped into her car seat, and Theo sits next to her to keep an eye on her vitals. I go back and help Julietta with getting dumb fuck loaded into the trunk. We knock him out by smashing my gun to the side of his head. I don’t need to be hearing his mouth. I’m already feeling very twitchy.