14. Theo
Chapter 14
Theo
When I woke up the next morning, Astrid was passed out beside me. She was tucked into my side like glue, her forehead against my arm as her hand gripped me. She breathed gently, her whole body relaxed.
I watched her for a couple minutes before I made my way into the bathroom. The bruising along my side had gotten worse. The discoloration of my shoulder was hidden by the bandage I would have to change daily for a week. None of it was alarming, but it’d been for nothing since Bolton was still around.
I couldn’t lift with my injuries, so I took a quick shower then headed downstairs. The house was quiet now because my butler had taken off with a bag of money in the trunk of his car. The chef was gone too—dead or bribed, I didn’t know. I hadn’t cooked for myself in years, but I would figure it out.
I stepped into the kitchen and looked around, seeing all the produce that was still stocked. If my butler was on Bolton’s payroll, I didn’t understand why he hadn’t just poisoned me. Maybe because he couldn’t guarantee that he wouldn’t poison Astrid too.
My phone rang in my pocket, and I answered it. “Yes?”
“Yes?” Axel asked. “I marched through a sewer for you, and that’s how you talk to me?”
I smirked. “Didn’t check the phone before I answered. Trying to find something to eat.”
“Oh, gotcha. Too bad you don’t have a sexy little thing who knows her way around the kitchen like I do.”
“I’m sure Astrid can cook, but she’s knocked out cold right now.”
He purred. “Way to go, tiger.”
“How are things over there?”
“The same. Scarlett’s at work right now. Kids are with the nanny so Daddy can have his coffee.”
I opened the fridge and looked around, seeing the carton of eggs and all the ingredients I used for my shakes. I started to take everything out and pile it on the counter. “All quiet, then?”
“Yep. ”
“How did you know about the tunnels?”
“Remember that project we did in primary school?” he asked. “We had to do a research project on modern-day history, so I picked the catacombs. My dad helped me with it. I called him, and he still had all my stuff, so he sent it over.”
“No, I don’t remember that. But I was a shithead.”
“Still are,” he said with a chuckle.
“Thanks for doing that, Axel.”
“It’s no problem.”
“I mean it. You’re the reason she’s still here.”
Axel didn’t say anything. “Then it’s a good thing we treat our relationship like an adulterous affair.”
“It seems that way.”
“I don’t know how anyone would figure out she was here, not after taking the tunnels. If Bolton did somehow suspect me, I doubt he does anymore.”
“I’ll take her to work today so he knows she’s with me again.”
“You think she should be going to work right now?”
“I’ll have her go today for appearances, but then that’ll be it until this is done. ”
He gave a sigh. “Can’t wait for this shit to be over.”
“Me too.” I walked to the coffee machine and started my espresso.
“How’s the shoulder?”
“It’s fine. Don’t even notice it.”
“Okay, tough guy.”
I’d just taken a drink of my coffee when Astrid walked into the room, wearing one of my shirts as a blanket. “I’ll talk to you later, man.”
“Tell Astrid I said hi.” He hung up.
I put the phone on the counter before I walked over to her.
She smiled as she stepped into me, giving me a tight hug like I was her favorite teddy bear.
I squeezed her back and brushed a kiss to her hairline. “Want some coffee?”
“Sure.” She moved for my coffee cup. “I’ll take this one.” She gave me a playful smile before she leaned against the counter and took a drink.
I smiled before I turned back to the coffeemaker and made another espresso.
She watched me, drinking her coffee. “How’s Axel?”
“Good,” I said. “After breakfast, get ready. I’m taking you to the gallery. ”
“The gallery?” she asked blankly. “I’m not going to work today.”
“I’m coming with you.”
“You aren’t going anywhere with those injuries?—”
“I want Bolton to see us together, so he knows you aren’t anywhere else—like with Axel.”
Once she understood, she let the argument die. “Okay.”
“When this is done, we can have our fun, sweetheart.” I’d slept through the night, but I would have slept harder if I knew my enemies were in the dirt. Until he was dead and I could look at his corpse with my own eyes, I would always look over my shoulder.
“What’s your next plan?”
Honestly, I didn’t have one. “I don’t know. He must have changed locations by now.” I didn’t know how I would find him, not without a lead. He would wait me out and hit me when I least expected it. Every war in history spanned years, and this one was no different.
She drank her coffee and tried to mask her disappointment in silence. “Maybe you could use me as bait to draw him out?—”
“I’ll figure this out, sweetheart.” I didn’t mean to snap at her, but I didn’t lose my brother’s remains and get shot just to use her as bait on a hook. “I always do.”
I left Astrid at home that night, protected by the walls of my fortress. The codes to the system had all been changed, and I had a security team stationed outside the property every hour of the day. The only way Bolton could get to Astrid was if he bombed the place—but he would kill her in the process.
I was at the Underground with Octavio and the guys, preparing our hit against the Brotherhood.
“We go in guns blazing,” Octavio said. “Hit the entire network and force them to give up Bolton.”
I wasn’t convinced anyone knew where he was. “And if no one talks?”
“Someone knows something,” Octavio said. “The leader of the Brotherhood doesn’t just let his position go. He’s in communication with someone. If we can’t pick them off one by one, we’ll just take the whole damn thing.”
I didn’t tell Astrid about the plan. If I did, she would worry herself to death, and she was already worried enough about my well-being. I didn’t leave her with Axel, not when he’d already done me a huge favor by protecting her once. “Let’s do this.” I strapped on my bulletproof vest then grabbed a rifle from the cabinet.
My phone rang in my pocket. It was Axel. If it were anyone else, other than Astrid, I would have ignored it. “Let me call you back. ”
Silence.
I waited for Axel to say something. “You there?”
“Oh, I’m here.” A smirk was in his voice, a dangerous one. “Axel, however, is not.”
I froze on the spot, and for the first time since I could remember, I was truly scared.
“I’ve got Scarlett here,” Bolton said. “And I thought Astrid was feisty…”
Scarlett’s voice came from the background. “I swear to fucking God, I’ll kill all of you—” Her voice cut off like someone had punched her in the face.
My heart cracked right down the center, but I kept an even tone. “What do you want, Bolton?”
“I’m glad I have your attention, Theo,” he said. “Axel won’t come to her rescue, not when I have a gun to his daughter’s forehead?—”
“You motherfucker?—”
“Yep, that’s me,” he said simply. “But all of this could have been avoided if you just hadn’t touched what was mine. So, you’re the motherfucker, if you ask me. But I have some good news for you. You can save Scarlett and Axel and their two little ones if you do what I say.”
I knew what he wanted— Astrid .
All the guys knew something was amiss because they stopped what they were doing to stare at me.
If I handed her over, I might not get her back. He would take her somewhere far away, make sure I couldn’t find them again. She would endure his malice and his cruelty. But if I didn’t hand her over, Scarlett would die.
I couldn’t even entertain the idea. Couldn’t imagine the look on my brother’s face when he found out that his wife died because I refused to give Astrid up. That he would raise their children as a single father because he’d lost the love of his life.
Fuck.
“Are you listening, Theo?”
It took all my strength not to strike with an insult, to be obedient. “Yes.”
“Good,” he said. “You’re going to walk to the street outside the restaurant. A black van will pull up, and you’ll get inside. No guns and no men.”
My eyes shifted back and forth, trying to understand these demands. “I don’t understand.”
“They’re simple directions, Theo.”
“I assumed you’d want Astrid.”
“You assumed wrong. ”
My heart should pound in my chest, but it remained slow. His plan started to unfold in front of my eyes. Once he had me, he would kill me—and nothing would get in his way again. Astrid would have nowhere to run. Axel would need to focus on protecting his family, as he should.
“It’s you or Scarlett. What’s it going to be, Theo?”
If I’d known that a love affair with Astrid was going to get me killed, it probably wouldn’t have changed anything. I would still want her. I just wished the story would end happily for her, instead of trapped with him.
“You have five seconds before I change my mind.” He spoke to the guys in the background. “Cock the gun and put it to her head.”
Scarlett screamed in the background.
There was no other choice. I had to do this. “I’m coming, asshole.”
“Oh good,” Bolton said. “I’ll have a scotch waiting for you.”
I hung up the phone and looked at Octavio.
He seemed to hear everything based on the sadness in his eyes.
I took off the vest and left it on the table. Put down the rifle and removed the handgun from the back of my jeans.
“What’s the plan?” Octavio asked .
“There is no plan,” I said before I turned around. “He won.”
I was handcuffed, and a bag was placed over my head.
You weren’t blindfolded if you were going to die, so Bolton was paranoid that I would get the upper hand and call for backup. But if I didn’t know where to send them, then I would be cut off at the knees.
It was a long drive, at least an hour and a half. The road was smooth before it turned bumpy as we went into the countryside. They were probably taking me to a village in the middle of the hills, surrounded by acres of olive trees and vineyards, so remote that gunshots wouldn’t be heard.
I didn’t say a word, and neither did the guys in the car.
I should be panicked right now, but the sense of defeat was potent. All I cared about was getting Scarlett out of there. Some men would have shot Scarlett when I turned up just because they could, but I didn’t believe Bolton would do that. Not when he knew Astrid cared about her. As sick and twisted as his mind was, he knew he wouldn’t be able to fix their marriage if he killed her friend.
We drove up a hill, and then the van came to a stop. The door was pulled open, and the bag was yanked off my head before they shoved me out of the van. With my wrists still bound together, I walked forward, looking at the Tuscan villa as it stood glorious in the uplighting. The guy behind me pushed me forward. “Move.”
I threw my body back and hit him so hard he faltered backward and smacked into the van door. “Tell me to move again.” I might be handcuffed and they might have guns, but I was still bigger than every single one of them.
He looked pissed off but didn’t do anything.
Bolton would want me to die by his hand, so I knew there would be no retaliation.
They took me through the terrace, a fountain in the center with lights hung overhead. Must have been one of Bolton’s properties. Perhaps he took Astrid here in the summer once the crowds swelled in the city.
They walked me through the double doors, and I entered the home. We passed the foyer then entered the large living room, big enough to comfortably fit twenty people. Scarlett was on one of the couches, her hands tied behind her back, her left eye black and swollen.
She looked at me, and her uninjured eye started to well up.
I was the one about to be shot and dumped in a landfill, but I chose to comfort her. “It’ll be alright.”
Bolton walked into the room in a collared shirt and slacks, a grin on his face. “Glad you could join us, Theo. Take a seat. ”
I remained where I stood. “We made a deal.” I continued to stand in front of Scarlett even though I couldn’t do a damn thing to protect her. “Now let her go.”
“We’ll get to that.” Bolton moved to one of the armchairs, practically giddy as he crossed his legs.
“We get to it now. Astrid will understand why you killed me, but she’ll never forgive you for tormenting her friend. Now, let her go.”
“Kill you?” he asked. “Did I say I was going to kill you?”
Then what the fuck did he want me for? What was this plan that I couldn’t see? “Bolton, just the let the woman go.”
His arms rested on the armrests as he gave me a long, hard look. Then he looked at Scarlett. “You want to go home, sweetheart?”
Scarlett didn’t speak.
I didn’t want to think about what had happened to make her so quiet.
“Miss the kiddos?” he asked.
“Stop antagonizing her, and let her go,” I snapped. “I mean it.”
He rolled his eyes before he gestured to one of his men. “Take her home. But keep that gun on Axel until we’re finished here.”
“You have me,” I said. “No gun needs to be on Axel or his family.”
“I’m not stupid, Theo,” he said. “I know he’ll come to your rescue the second he can.”
“His priority is his family,” I said. “He’s not going to leave them after what just happened?—”
“Keep the gun on him until we’re done.” Now he raised his voice, his giddiness fading.
One of the guys walked to Scarlett and yanked her hard to her feet.
I slammed my body into his and sent him into the couch. “She can walk, asshole.”
“Theo.” Scarlett spoke to me quietly, like she didn’t want anyone to hear. “It’s okay.”
The guy got back to his feet, took her by the arm, and guided her out, much gentler this time.
Her eyes remained on me as she was led out. “I love you.”
My heart stung…stung bad. “Love you too.” I watched her go with a pain in my heart then I forced myself to look at Bolton again.
He remained in the chair, his elbow propped, his legs crossed. “That was touching.”
I tested the handcuffs that bound my wrists. They were as tight as they could be, so I couldn’t snap them or twist. Couldn’t pop my shoulder out of the socket to move my wrists over my head.
“Sit.” He gestured to the seat beside him.
I continued to stand.
He rested his chin on his knuckles, his blue eyes still on me.
“Now what?”
“Impatient, aren’t we?”
Astrid could wake up at any moment and realize I wasn’t there. I wouldn’t respond to her texts or phone calls. She wouldn’t be able to get a hold of Axel or Scarlett either. Then she would panic. “What’s your plan, Bolton? If you’re going to kill me, let’s just get it done.”
He continued to stare at me, milking every second. “You’ve got a death wish, Theo?”
“Yes. But not for me.”
He smirked before he got to his feet. “I’m curious.” He crossed his arms over his chest and looked at me.
I wanted to throw my shoulder into his chest and knock him backward, but that wouldn’t get me anywhere in the long-term. I waited for him to finish his thought.
“Last time we spoke, she said…” He paused like his next words were truly painful to say. “…that she loved you.”
Because she did. If I were born blind, I’d still be able to feel her love in the air around her. Hear it in the sound of her voice.
“But did she mean it?”
Yes .
“We’re about to find out.”