Chapter 23
23
AMARA
Shouting and dogs barking bring me abruptly out of sleep, and I shoot up straight in bed, looking around wildly. The door flies open, and I realize I’m still naked when Mario zeroes in on me and immediately looks away. He keeps his eyes averted as he rushes for the bed, ordering, “We need to go.”
I yank the sheets up to cover myself, trying not to panic, but not quite succeeding. “What’s going on?” I demand. I screech when Mario rounds the bed and scoops me up, blankets and all, and runs out of the room.
The hallway is utter pandemonium. My heart leaps into my throat as I try to comprehend what’s happening. Where is Lazaro? Why isn’t he here? Did something happen to him? My breath comes in short pants as I try to get myself under control.
“Give her to me,” a deep voice orders, and my head whips to see Massimo grimly shoving a gun into a holster at the small of his back before he opens his arms for me. “Get down to the salon and clear it. We’re getting all the women in there. You, Peter, and Antonio are on guard for all of them until we can spare any others.”
Mario doesn’t hesitate as he hands me over to Massimo and takes off. Massimo carefully adjusts me, picking up the hanging edges of the blankets and wrapping them around me so it’s only my face peeking out. Despite everything, he winks down at me and says, “Don’t want Lazaro to murder me for seeing anything I shouldn’t.” Then he’s off and running.
“What the hell is going on?” I demand, craning my neck around, but with all the blankets, I can’t see anything but straight in front of me.
“Your dear old Papa has sent men to retrieve you,” Massimo tells me as he rushes down the steps, his arms tightening around me as I’m bounced in his arms. “But we won’t allow that to happen. Don’t worry, cara , you’ll be safe. I’ll make sure of it.”
Fear grips me at the mention of my father. He’s here to take me? As in, kidnap me? I try not to freak out, but my breathing picks up even more. “Where’s Lazaro?” I gasp, gripping the inside of the blanket so tightly I can feel it tear.
“He’s handling some things,” Massimo tells me absently as he reaches the bottom of the stairs. “He’ll get to you as soon as we deal with this, I promise.”
If I thought upstairs was crazy, down here is a thousand times worse. There are people running every which way; the air is alive with screams, cries, barked orders, and gunshots. It’s like being back in the SUV with Lazaro that first time all over again, but with a thousand times more people, and less glass flying everywhere.
I don’t know how we manage to get there through the sea of people and the chaos, but Massimo carries me into the salon, barking orders in Italian to the guards at the door before stalking inside. Sienna and Gia are here as well, along with a very pissed off looking Sofia. Wait, where’s Rori?
Before I can ask, Sofia rounds on Massimo and shouts something at him in Italian. It’s rapid fire, and Massimo snaps back at her, clearly irritated at whatever she says. Sofia snarls something, and all I can do is look between them while I’m held in Massimo’s arms. I hear Dante’s name, then Nico’s, and finally Massimo turns away from her to look down at me. “You’ll be safe in here, cara . I’ll try and get you some clothes as soon as I can, but I need you to hang tight for now.” He sets me on my feet, careful to keep the blankets from falling away before he turns, barks something over his shoulder at Sofia, and slams the door behind him as he leaves.
“I’m going to roast his ass,” Sofia hisses, dark eyes fiery and her fists clenched at her sides. “I’m going to roast all of them. They think they can bark orders with no information, and we just accept it?”
“I mean, you did call him a pig-headed jackass and suggested some anatomically impossible things he can do with himself,” Gia points out drily as she walks toward me.
“They’ll be anatomically possible when I’m finished with him,” Sofia huffs before turning her attention to me. “Did they just scoop you out of bed and not let you dress?” she demands, angry all over again. She spits another string of Italian curses. She looks around the room, but nothing stands out, and she mutters something under her breath.
“It looks like I’m out of luck,” I say with a weak smile. “As long as we don’t have to make a run for it, we should be fine.”
“Who knows, maybe if you have to streak out of here, you’ll shock people enough to buy yourself some time,” Sienna jokes, but I can see the worry on her face. She’s wearing a pair of tiny silk pajama shorts and a cropped tank that barely covers her boobs.
“You’ll be distracting all on your own.” I smirk. “You start running, and you might slap yourself in the face with those babies.”
Sienna glances down at herself, then laughs and shrugs. “Blame Alessio. He’s the one who bought me all the stupid clothes, and it’s either this or naked. I’m glad I refused to get naked tonight, though not for lack of trying on his part.” She winks at me with a wicked grin. “Then he got the call and had to leave, so that kind of ruined the fun.”
“Who grabbed you and brought you down here?” Sofia asks curiously.
“Not sure, but pretty sure it’s someone that works for Alessio, not Nico.”
Sofia smirks. “Well, they’re in for a world of pain when Alessio finds out. Massimo and Mario will also be hurting, when Lazaro learns of the state of Amara right now.” She looks over at Gia. “And you’re no better, darling. I imagine Nico is also going to be pissed as hell.”
Gia’s wearing a short white nightgown with flowers. It barely hits her mid-thigh, and has such tiny straps that I’m surprised they can even hold up the fabric. Looks like all of us were up to something tonight. Well, other than Sofia, who’s still in her work uniform, though her hair is down instead of up like normal. She must have been done for the night but not gone to bed yet.
Or she was smart and got dressed at the first sound of trouble to avoid being caught unprepared.
Note to self: From now on, always put clothes on when sleeping.
Gia blushes and hunches her shoulders a little. “Nico liked it, so I thought I’d wear it to bed, and then he got called away before we could…so, yeah, I just slept like this so I’d have it on when he got back home.”
Sienna and Sofia share a knowing grin. They start to look my way, no doubt to ask me about my current state, when the door bursts open and in walks Alonzo with a supremely pissed-off Rori slung over his shoulder and a barking Hades following along. “If you don’t put me down right this fucking instant, I’m going to do more than have Hades bite you in the balls. I’m going to have him rip them off, spit them out, and then go for your dick,” she snarls, struggling to get out of his hold.
Alonzo barks a command in Italian to Hades, who goes quiet but stays on guard, looking confused. Same as before, Alonzo pulls Rori down from his shoulder and covers her mouth with his hand, glaring hard into her eyes. “Don’t even think about it,” he hisses into her face. “I do not need to worry about your stubborn ass while we’ve got enemies coming at us from all sides. You will stay in here, help guard the women, and then you and I will have this all out when it’s over. Do you understand me?” The pure steel in his tone even has my spine straightening. This is a man who expects to be obeyed. “If I take my hand off and you set Hades on me, you will not like the consequences. Do you understand?” Again, the same tone.
Something flashes across Rori’s face. Defiance maybe, but if I’m not mistaken, there’s something else there too. She’s not completely pissed at him. She glares at him, but he must take that as agreement because he removes his hand. “I’m going to enjoy taking you down, Goliath,” Rori tells him so coldly that I shiver. “Now let go of me. And if you ever command my dog again, it’s you who won’t like the consequences. You’ve done it twice now, but never again. He’s mine, not yours.”
“Looking forward to it,” Alonzo replies darkly, but I detect a hint of anticipation there, too.
Holy shit, is it hot in here, or is it just me?
Alonzo finally releases Rori and she snaps a command at Hades who quickly moves to her side, standing at attention and growling in warning at Alonzo. There’s no mistaking that she wants to set the dog after him, but she holds herself back. Then she turns and stalks away, Hades following and nudging at her hand in silent support. I look back at Alonzo, and for a brief moment, there’s hunger in his expression. The same kind of feral hunger that I saw on Lazaro’s face earlier, but it’s gone in a flash.
He turns his attention to the rest of us, pausing when he sees me bundled in my blankets. His brow arches. “Are you cold, Amara?” he asks.
“Ah, no, not exactly,” I say shyly, blushing and looking away.
“Massimo brought her in like this,” Sofia informs him in a biting tone. “She’s naked, Alonzo! Hell, Sienna and Gia are practically naked as well. If we have to run for it, they’re targets immediately.”
“We’re fine as is,” Sienna objects, gesturing between herself and Gia. “But Amara definitely needs something to wear. She can’t walk around in blankets. On second thought, we might need the blankets to keep warm, because yeah, we’re going to get cold if we’re only in these.”
Alonzo curses, then swiftly pulls off his suit coat before yanking up his shirt. I stare at him in shock, watching him swiftly unbutton his shirt and pull it off his shoulders. Oh boy, it looks like good genes run in the family. Alonzo is also well-muscled and is covered in tattoos; by the looks of things, he has even more than Lazaro.
I know I shouldn’t be looking, but wow, a girl can appreciate, right?
He walks toward me, his shirt dangling from his outstretched hand. “Put this on, Amara. I’ll try to get someone to get you all some clothes, but it won’t be right away.” I take it, managing to extend a hand through the blankets without exposing myself. I glance over at Rori, unsure how she’s feeling about this right now, and I swear there’s a flash of jealousy across her face before it’s gone, and a mask of indifference replaces it.
“Ah, thank you,” I say awkwardly. “Have you heard from Lazaro? Is he okay?”
“He’s fine, cara ,” he tells me with a fleeting smile. “But he’s going to be pissed when he sees you in my shirt, so I need you to keep him from killing me, alright?”
“He’s not going to kill you for giving me something to wear,” I say with a shake of my head. I’ll make sure he understands that this couldn’t be helped. I mean, he wouldn’t want everyone to see me walking around naked now, would he?
Alonzo doesn’t dignify that with a response. “The rest of you, just hang tight, and we’ll get you out of here as soon as possible. Rori, I trust you and Hades will take over guarding the women in here?”
“Of course, I will,” she snaps. “Get the hell out of here and deal with the assholes that got in the way of what I was sure was going to be a fun night.” Her smile is sharp enough to be lethal.
Alonzo looks at Sofia, giving her a cursory once over before saying something in Italian. Sofia nods, but her mouth twists into a scowl when he answers a question of hers with a smirk on his lips. Then he turns and rushes out the door, slamming it behind him.
“What was that?” Sienna asks Sofia, who is glaring furiously at the floor, as if it’s the cause of her anger.
“That,” Gia says with a gentle laugh, “was Sofia getting reminded that Dante cares about her, and if she thinks the two of them are going to be over at any point, she is seriously mistaken.”
“He’s not going to have to worry about that because I’m going to murder him the moment I see him.” Sofia seethes. “How dare he think he can order me around that way? Or order any of the men in this house to hide me away and guard me like some weakling. Fuck him.”
“I can offer a two-for-one special when we get out of here,” Rori offers with a sly smile. “Hades can move fast.”
“Don’t tempt me,” Sofia huffs. “Alright, let’s get you dressed, Amara.”
I glance at Rori again and offer, “I don’t have to. I can just stay like this.”
Rori arches a brow. “Is there a problem with the shirt?”
“No, but…” I trail off, unsure of how to say what I’m thinking without upsetting her. Maybe I’m off the mark.
“Then don’t worry about it,” she tells me with a reassuring smile. Then she gives me a wicked grin. “From the state of you, I take it you and Lazaro figured out your shit and had a fun night.” She waggles her brows at me. “Please, tell me you’re going to share, for those of us who aren’t able to get any right now.”
It’s my turn to blush, and I try not to shuffle my feet. What happened with Lazaro was amazing, and I want to repeat it, but I haven’t told them what happened to me or how monumental tonight was. I also don’t really want to share it with them yet. Or at least not everything. I mean, I know they’re nice, and they’re doing all this for me, but that doesn’t mean I’m ready to trust them completely.
Gia, thank God, must sense how uncomfortable I am because she jumps in to say, “I’ll hold up the blanket for you so you can change, and don’t worry, you don’t have to share anything you’re not comfortable with.” She holds out her hand to me with a smile.
“If you’re holding back because of me, don’t worry, darling,” Sofia adds with a smirk. “I’m well aware that my brothers are not choir boys, and I’ve been around for some of their wilder adventures. There’s nothing you can say that’s going to surprise me.”
I hadn’t thought of that before, but now that she’s put the idea in my head, horror consumes me. Before I can stop it, I blurt out, “I am so sorry about the sheets. I tried to tell him, I really did, but he was being a man and laughing and not helping at all. I’ll replace them, I promise. Or I can wash them myself, or?—”
“Amara, stop,” Sofia says firmly, hands coming to rest on my shoulders as she looks down at me, her lips twitching like she’s trying to hold back laughter. “It’s fine. I don’t give a shit about the sheets. I don’t wash them; we have people for that. Besides, technically they’re Nico and Gia’s sheets, and trust me, with what I’ve seen and heard coming from them, they don’t care either. As long as you are okay, and nothing happened that you didn’t want to happen, then there’s nothing to worry about.”
Oh God, I said all of that out loud. Oh God, kill me now. I gape, my mouth opening and closing as I try to find the words.
“Don’t worry, we’ve been there,” Sienna assures me gently as she moves closer to Sofia. “Let’s just get you in that shirt, and then we can find something to do to keep ourselves occupied. Other than help Rori and Sofia plot the demise of their men.”
“He is not my fucking man,” Rori snaps.
“Yeah, you keep telling yourself that.” Sienna scoffs as she takes one end of the blanket and Gia takes the other. They avert their eyes as I quickly pull on the shirt and button it. It’s so large that it hangs past my knees. I don’t need to worry about showing anything.
“What’s that supposed to mean?” Rori demands, hands on her hips as she glares angrily at Sienna. “You saw the way he was acting when he brought me in here! And daring to give Hades commands? No fucking way. That man hates me, and I hate him. The next time I get him alone, he’s going to learn that treating me like this is a big fucking mistake.”
“What was it you were telling me when I was wondering about Alessio and I a few weeks ago?” Sienna asks mockingly. “Get the hell out of your head, or else you’re going to make the both of you miserable. Or, in your case, pissed off at each other all the time. And then you said to ‘leave behind whatever notions you’ve been cooking up in that head of yours and pay attention to only the ones that matter’. It’s a bit different for you and Alonzo, but you wouldn’t spend so much time bothering him if you didn’t want him. I know you better than you know yourself, bitch.”
“And you’re looking at things through rose-colored glasses because you’re in love,” Rori snaps at her. “We don’t all want to live happily ever after, Sienna. Some of us are happy with how things are, and I certainly don’t want to be with a man that treats me like I’m an annoyance, someone who disrespects me and the boundaries I’ve made very clear from the start. Do you even understand what him commanding Hades has done? How much it’s confused him? Do you have any idea how much work I have to do now to re-train my dog, so he stops taking orders from other people, and get himself hurt or fucking dead? So no, I don’t want that annoying asshole. I’m happy for you that you found the man you love and want to be with, but that isn’t what is happening with Alonzo and me. He has a vendetta to settle from our first meeting, nothing more.”
“I suggest you open your fucking eyes, because that man wants you. If you don’t want the same, then you make that very clear and steer clear of him,” Sienna replies bluntly, refusing to back away.
I glance over at Gia and see her watching Rori and Sienna worriedly. Sofia looks intrigued, but I can’t quite gauge her thoughts. This is her brother we’re discussing, after all.
Rori’s expression doesn’t change at Sienna’s assertion. Instead, all she says is, “I’m not talking about this right now because I’m too pissed, and I’ll probably end up punching you or something.” Sienna scoffs again, but Rori ignores her. She looks at me as I step over the blankets that Sienna and Gia drop to the floor. Rori chuckles. “You’re swimming in it, but at least you’re covered. Feel better?”
I nod. I’m still worried that she might be upset with me for wearing the shirt, but I let it drop. Instead, I ask, “Now what?”
We all look at each other. “Do we know what’s going on out there?” Sienna asks. “I tried to message Alessio, but the guards took me out of the room too fast for me to get an answer, and I dropped my phone on the bed so it’s not like I can ask him now.”
“I didn’t even think to grab my phone,” Gia admits with a wince. “I’m still getting used to having it.”
“Well, I have mine, but we all know that none of them are going to answer me if I call,” Rori huffs. “Looks like we’re stuck in here until they come to get us. Unless there’s another way out.” She glances around the room along with the rest of us, but it’s just the four walls, the new salon furniture and equipment, and the trench in the floor where the new water lines are going to be run. “... and we’re out of luck there.”
“I guess we don’t have a choice but to wait.” Gia sighs.
“I’d suggest we get Amara to do our hair, but the last thing we need is to get caught in the middle of all that and deal with whatever is happening out there,” Sienna agrees. “I guess we sit around and chat, or just wait.”
“I hate waiting,” Sofia grumbles, crossing her arms over her chest and leaning against the wall.
“I prefer this to running away from the guys like last time. This is a much better option,” Gia points out, pressing her back against the wall next to me and sliding down to sit on the blanket.
“What happened last time?” I ask curiously.
They all glance at each other, then Sienna looks at me and warns, “This isn’t going to be an easy story, but clearly no one else told you about it, which I think is a mistake.”
“They didn’t want to send her screaming,” Rori reasons as she comes to sit on the blanket, too. Hades moves to lay beside her, his head on her lap, almost like he knows she’s upset and wants to comfort her. I sit down between her and Gia, and Sienna comes to join us. Sofia sighs and slides down to sit with us, too, though I see her glancing at the door constantly, like she’s waiting for Dante or anyone else to come through.
“Like Lazaro would let that happen.” Sienna snorts.
“You say that like Alessio didn’t do the same thing to you,” Rori reminds her drily. “He chased you across the freaking ocean after telling you that you were going to marry him because you needed to take Gia’s place in the marriage contract. He didn’t tell you it was all a hoax, and that sent you running. Lazaro probably didn’t want to chance that happening this time.”
“He did what?” I gape, shocked.
Sofia groans in exasperation. “That answers the question of how much Lazaro has told you. Stupid man.”
“It’s a lot of work to carry thoughts through the rest of his body up to that big brain of his,” Sienna protests jokingly.
I snort out a laugh, making them all grin. “I make cracks all the time about the air being thin up there,” I explain, still giggling lightly.
“See? She gets it.” Sienna beams, glancing over at Sofia. “I suppose you’re used to it, growing up with them.”
“Papa has always been large, so I suppose, yes, I always expected my brothers to be the same,” she agrees. Then she grins. “I’ve made more than one jab at their height. They need it or they get a big head.”
“So, what exactly do you know?” Sienna asks, drawing my attention back to her. I give her a quick rundown of everything Lazaro told me in the bunker, and the few things since then. “Okay, so you know the basics, but not much else yet,” she summarizes when I finish. “Well, strap in, baby, because I’m about to take you on a wild ride.”
The longer we’re talking, the further my mouth drops. Shock and horror batter me in equal measure. When Sienna finally finishes, and the others have added their input, I stare at them, letting it all sink in.
“So, let me get this straight,” I say slowly, pointing at Gia. “This entire mess started not because Nico married you, though that has a lot to do with it, but because he actually freaking kidnapped you and wouldn’t let you leave. Everything else is just a happy by-product because of that.” I point at Sienna next. “You ended up running all over the freaking globe to avoid Alessio, thinking he was going to force you into a marriage contract. He almost caught you twice, and one of those times you tied him naked to the bed, and sent pictures of him with your knife to his throat to Lazaro and his guards before you escaped again.” I point to Rori. “You showed up even though you weren’t supposed to and decided to involve yourself because you couldn’t let Sienna handle it alone, and you decided to let Hades have a few snaps at Alonzo’s balls to prove a point. Then, a traitor that worked for Nico helped my brother, and some other guy that was supposed to marry either Gia or Sienna, break into the house via a secret passage and try to kidnap all of you. You all ran away but ended up getting caught in the backyard, which is actually a giant rose maze that Nico’s mother planted. Sienna killed my brother when he tried to attack her, while Alessio killed the other guy that tried to take you, and now that family is out of the running.” I point at Sofia. “And you killed the double agent traitor guy. Do I have that all right?”
“Pretty much,” Sienna says with a shrug. “Wild, huh?”
I gawk at her. Wild? Wild? “It’s a good thing Lazaro never told me any of this, or I wouldn’t have come within a hundred miles of this place,” I cry. “What kind of stupid Hollywood B-movie bullshit is this? This does not happen in real life!”
“Maybe not to this extreme, but crazy things like this happen all the time in this world,” Gia says sympathetically, reaching out to pat my forearm. “It’s not normal, but sometimes good things come out of it. If Nico hadn’t taken me, I’d either still be in my old apartment, being constantly beaten and berated, or I’d have been married off and still dealing with the same things.”
“And I’d be dating all the wrong men and living a boring life running my parent’s graphic design company,” Sienna interjects. I blink at her. “I know that doesn’t sound bad, but you haven’t met some of the men out there on the dating scene.” She shudders. “It’s hell. With Alessio, I never have to guess what he wants or what he’s looking for. And it’s exciting all the time.”
“What’s your rationale?” I ask Rori drily. “That Hades gets an unlimited supply of free chew toys?”
“Pretty much,” Rori chirps with a grin. “I’m normally chasing after the bad guys and getting myself all gross. This is much more fun. There’s no pay, but money isn’t everything.”
Before I can ask Sofia her opinion on all of this, there’s shouting and cursing outside along with the sound of gunfire. I tense and scoot toward Sienna and Gia, while Rori is instantly on her feet, barking a command at Hades, and Sofia rises next to her, even as Hades lets out a low snarl.
Fear grips me. The guns sound far too close, the yelling too loud for this space, and I’m just praying that Lazaro is safe. Because the minute I see him again, he’s going to get a fucking earful.