Chapter 1
one
Teo Donatelli
Present Day
“If you are going to beg, the least you can do is make it worth my while.” I smirked at the man stupid enough to threaten my future wife. As if I would ever allow anyone to ever place a finger on her and live to get away with it.
Five years of peace. Five years of Yanna living free from danger. A full year before I was supposed to fully claim her as mine. And someone had finally grown bold enough to try to test me. Using her of all people. It was a death wish.
“Tell me, was that the same hand you planned on touching my wife with?” I asked, studying the blade in my hand, as I watched his severed finger hit the floor and the beads of sweat dripping down his face.
“Teo, man. You have to believe me.” He shook his head vigorously.
“Please.... please...please...” His sobs broke into choppy, incoherent pleas.
All of his begging and pleading fell on deaf ears.
My knife was already slicing through a different joint and his blood curdling screams were music to my ears.
“Should’ve thought about that before thinking of touching something that doesn’t belong to you.” I told him as I wiped the crimson colored blade on his clammy and sweat stained shirt.”Now... who sent you?” I snarled, jabbing my blade into freshly open wound near his collar bone.
“I don’t know.”
“Not good enough.” I twisted the blade again, making him scream.
“You have to believe me. They didn’t tell me shit!” He breathed out harshly.
Behind me I heard Bash’s heavy footsteps pacing like a caged animal. The harsh breath he exhaled let me know he was at his breaking point.
“This shit taking too long. I’m about to shoot this nigga. He playing games.” Bash’s deep voice boomed from the shadows.
My future brother-in-law, brother from another mother, and close friend stepped into the light. His gun was already cocked and aimed straight at the man.
“You think this is a game? You think you can try to kidnap my sister and get away with it? Hmm?” He dug the barrel of his gun into the man’s forehead.
“I will blast your ass from the face of this earth, go home and sleep like a fuckin’ baby.
Whether you tell me, or that pretty lil’ bitch of yours tell me.
I will get an answer,” he growled impatiently.
The man’s eyes widened in sheer terror at the mention of his girl. His body tensed, trembling beneath the weight of Bash’s words.
“No... no, please,” he stammered, his voice cracking, desperation filling his every word.
“She don’t know nothin’—leave her out of this.
” He violently thrashed against the rope around his wrist. “I’ll tell you what you wanna know, just..
. don’t touch her.” He gasped for air. Fear dripped from his pores like a cold sweat.
His pleas didn’t faze Bash. If anything, it fueled his rage.
Bash’s impatience didn’t surprise me, nor did the very real threat on that man’s woman.
He would make good on his threat. The nigga had grown into someone formidable, but he was a hothead.
Which worked most of the time. However, right now I needed answers instead of a dead body.
“Nah, Bash.” I chuckled. “I got this. Chill.” He huffed clearly upset but lowered his gun.
But not before smashing the butt into the man’s mouth knocking his front teeth into the concrete floor.
Blood mixed with saliva flew everywhere as the guy groaned, trying to keep from choking on his own spit.
“Bitch ass,” Bash mumbled, stepping back into the shadows.
“That hurt, huh?” I asked, my voice soft, but deadly. “But not as much as this will if you don’t start talking.” I pulled out my pistol and placed it on his thigh and squeezed the trigger.
The deafening shot reverberated through the room, and his body convulsed in sheer torment. His screams were so loud it was almost a relief when his voice finally broke. I leaned in closer, my voice like ice. “Now, tell me… who sent you?”
I already had my gun on his other thigh, ready to unleash on him.
His face twisted in agony, and he sobbed uncontrollably.
“He didn’t give me a name. I only met him once,” he stuttered, voice shaking.
“This was supposed to be a quick and easy job. Lure the girl. That’s all I know.
He gave me strict instructions, then I left. ”
“Where did you meet him?” I pressed, leaning in closer. The barrel of my gun pressed heavy into his leg.
“Across the street from her shop,” he whimpered, his voice barely a whisper. “In that old barbershop parking lot. He—he didn’t say much, just handed me the cash and told me what to do.”
‘What did he look like? Old…young?”
“He was y- young. Maybe your age. No older than thirty.”
“Black..white.. Hispanic?” I snapped, my patience at an all time low.
“He was black. I’ll tell you everything I know about the plan if you let me live.
The plan?
Rage surged through me at the thought of any plan being directed at Yanna. He could feel it radiating off me… in waves. Tears streamed down the man’s face as he realized there would be no escape. He would die for his sins. Realization set in, but it didn’t stop him from begging.
“Please?”
I didn’t move. Didn’t even blink. My mind was made up. He wouldn’t live to see sunlight.
“Keep talking. What were your orders.” I asked, and his breath hitched like I agreed to his request.
“They asked me to grab the girl and bring her to the drop-off location.”
“And where was that supposed to be?”
“On Cascade, near the old, abandoned warehouse,” he rambled. “But I never touched her. I promise. She never came out of the shop.”
I know he didn’t. Her detail had informed me of the nigga lurking and I had him snatched before she even knew there was a threat.
“Hmm,” I thought, wondering who I knew in that area, and who would be bold enough to cross me or the Reeds. Bash gave me a similar look. It was possible for it to be either one of our enemies. Or even an enemy of the faction.
Without missing a beat Bash whipped out his phone. “I’m already on it.”
He dialed his Atlanta crew and instructed his men to raid the warehouse, gather information, and leave no witnesses.
Turning my attention back to the battered man, I asked, “Do you even know who you crossed?” My tone was calm as I motioned between Bash and myself.
The man shook his head, trembling. “I—I swear I didn’t know—”
“That was your first mistake.” I leaned in, my voice dropping to a menacing growl.
“The second? Thinking you’d live to see another day.
Normally, I would send your body piece by piece to your family.
Cut you limb for limb and let you slowly bleed out.
Let you think about how even thinking of touching what’s mine is a costly mistake. But luckily for you I got shit to do.”
With that, I lifted my Glock, the cold metal feeling perfectly balanced, and emptied the clip in his ass.
One thing these motherfuckers were going to understand about me is that I don’t play games. I’d spent the last six years of making people fear my name; and fear the power behind it. With me there were no second chances. You’d find yourself at the bottom of the river.
“Clean-up crew is on their way,” Bash stated, pulling me from my thoughts. “Who do you think is behind this? Who’s stupid enough to pull this shit?” He asked the very question that had been running in my mind as we walked out of the warehouse.
“Someone with a death wish, that’s for sure. This was a message.” I glanced at him, still running through the possibilities, as the muggy night air hit me.
Whoever had the balls to make this move knew the risks and didn’t care. That meant one of two things: they were either powerful or incredibly stupid. Either way, they were about to learn a painful lesson.
“Message or not, they tried to touch my sister. And that is a major fuckin’ problem. It’s gonna get handled. Ain’t no way I’m lettin’ this slide,” his lip curled in anger.
I scoffed, letting out a mirthless chuckle. “You think I’m gonna let this shit slide?” I shot back, my voice hard. “She’s my future wife. Someone must think I am a fuckin’ joke.” The muscle in my jaw ticked as I contemplated my next move. “I can’t keep her safe out here. We’re moving the timeline.”
I told him, not giving a damn about what he or her family thought was best. Bash was my boy.
We had grown extremely close over the years.
But Ayanna was mine… to have and to protect.
And I’ll be damned if I left that up to any other nigga.
I didn’t care if it was her brother vowing to keep her safe. “You have one day to tell her.”
He shook his head. “She still has one more—”
“Nah, time is up.” I told him cutting him off.
Three hours ago, my world turned upside down.
Learning there’d been a hit put out on Ayanna sent me on a rampage.
I scrambled to find the person who had the balls to cross me but came up empty.
All I found was the nigga dumb enough to do their bidding.
His death wasn’t enough. I needed to have my eyes on her.
She needed to come home. Even if she didn’t know that home was with me.
Over the years, I’ve allowed her to walk around carefree, under the guise of being separate from street shit, giving her the illusion of freedom, of distance from the life our families led.
The arrangement had always been kept from her, at her parents’ insistence.
I thought she should’ve known after that important meeting all those years ago, but her family thought otherwise.
I was young then, still making a name for myself, so I didn’t push it.
Now I see that was the wrong decision. All it did was leave her vulnerable, wide open to attacks like this.
Now, no nigga puts fear in my heart—not even her father, though I respected him tremendously. Ayanna was moving to New York, and there wasn’t a single soul who could stop me.
“Tomorrow,” I finally told him. “Y’all prepare her, or I’ll handle it myself.”
He sighed. “She’s not going to be happy. She’s gonna fight you on this, you know that, right?”
I didn’t doubt that. In fact, I counted on it.
Ayanna had grown into a formidable woman.
She was strong-willed, determined, and didn’t take shit from anyone.
Not even from me. Those were all qualities I both admired and loved.
She might not have been in Reed’s street business, but she was definitely a boss.
“She can fight all she wants. It doesn’t change a thing,” I said, finally sliding into my car. “She’s coming with me whether she wants to or not.”