42. Forty-One
Forty-One
Erik
“U hh, boss, Mrs. De Luca is here with Mrs. Giordano and Mr. Walker. They have Makenna and Brodie with them,” one of my guards says.
“What are you waiting for? Let them in,” I say jumping up from the seat in my office and running to the front door. Rowan follows me. As I get there the front door is opening, and the people I’m assuming are Mrs. Giordano and Mr. Walker are walking in, and the woman is holding my sweet baby girl while the man is holding medical equipment. Emilia is dragging a tied and gagged Brodie and dumps him at her feet.
“I will handle him,” Rowan tells me and has two of our men carry him to be tied up until I can deal with him. I nod and move toward my daughter; Mrs. Giordano immediately hands her over with a soft smile.
“Who are you?”
“No need to worry, Erik. Julietta is my sister-in-law, and Theo is my childhood best friend. Theo is the only doctor I trust, and Julietta was here to help him.”
“Thank you, but how?”
“I’ll explain that later. Little miss needed some extra medical attention. Is she staying here or going back to the hospital?”
“Here. I have hired medical staff and had one of my rooms turned into a NICU.”
“Perfect, lead the way. And where is Kayleigh?”
“In our room.”
“Then I’ll go grab her while you get little miss settled.” She walks off and Julietta and Theo follow me silently to the medical suite that’s been set up for Makenna. When I open the door the team I hired immediately get to work. They check her over and place her in her incubator.
Kayleigh storms into the room and slumps as she lays eyes on Makenna. I grab onto her and hold her in my arms. After what seems like hours, the doctor tells us that, for being taken away from us and held in such awful conditions—Theo told us she had low quality oxygen and a dirty nasal cannula—she is surprisingly okay. She will need to be in her incubator and closely monitored but the doctor sees no reason why her lungs won’t be healthy enough that she can run around like a normal, happy little girl.
Kayleigh chooses to stay with Makenna while I go thank Emilia and her friends.
My staff have already provided them with food and drinks in the kitchen. I walk in and immediately go to Emilia.
“I don’t know how you found him, but I can’t thank you enough.”
She waves me off. “The moment Kayleigh called me, I starting using all my resources to bring Makenna back to you. I am diabolical and a psycho, but if you mess with women and children I become really psycho and do everything in my power to make sure they are returned home.”
“How did you find her, if you don’t mind me asking?”
“I hacked into your phone.”
“What?”
“I knew they would call to taunt you, and once they did, I would be able to trace the call.”
“There is no way you were able to do that. My tech guy has it where none of my men’s phones can be hacked.”
“Your tech guy isn’t me. I don’t advertise it, but I’m pretty good at hacking. I learned it from my big brother.”
“If you learned it from him, I have to see what he can do.”
“I wish you could, but he was killed with the rest of my family a long time ago.”
“I’m so sorry. Did you find who did it?”
“Yes, it was my oldest daughter’s father, but I tortured him years ago.”
“Wow. I’m sorry. Judging by your expression, it was painful.”
“Yes, and I miss them very much. But I have my own family now.”
“Yes, and I will be indebted to you. How can I ever thank the three of you?”
“Remember that when our husbands come here pissed off because we kind of snuck out of Italy without them knowing,” Julietta says.
I blink and stare at them, thinking they must be joking. Oh fuck; nope, they are serious. “Do I want to know how you were able to do that?”
“Let’s just say one of Mateo’s nicknames for me is Houdini,” Emilia says, chuckling, and the other two laugh along with her.
I call my guards at the gate and let them know the De Lucas would be coming, and they were right. Two hours after they arrived, three very pissed-off Italian men come storming into my home. I called Mateo after Emilia and I talked and let him know the three of them were here and safe.
“Emilia De Luca. This has you written all over it. A smoke bomb in my businesses, really?” Mateo states, marching up to her.
“Well, I had to keep you all busy so we could get on the plane without you brutes in the way.”
Mateo turns to me. “Do you have a room I can borrow? Seems my wife needs a reminder of why she can’t put herself in harm’s way.”
“Yes, my maids can show each you to your rooms.” Seems like all three of them are getting punished as Emilia, Julietta, and Theo are escorted out of the room by their husbands. I shake my head laughing and go back to check on Makenna. Kayleigh is standing next to the incubator just staring down at her with my brothers and their wives surrounding them. I walk up and wrap my arm around Kayleigh’s waist.
“She is here, and she is safe,” I whisper into her hair as she leans into my embrace.