Chapter 5 Caterina
Caterina
There was no sign of her or Lizzy. I was close to breaking down Vincenzo’s door and bringing my wife home.
My men were out searching, finding any clues they could, and I was here, twiddling my thumbs with anxiety.
I told my father what happened, and he said they would be home on a red eye tonight.
Ruining my father and Serena’s vacation was not my intention, but I needed them both here.
I hated this feeling in my chest, this fear.
My father was never the same after he lost my mother, and I hoped now he would get his spark back and enjoy life.
If I lost Harlow I would—no. I wasn’t going to lose her.
She would be back home, safe in our bed while Xavier’s body was rotting.
I would find her if it was the last damn thing I did, and I didn’t care how much blood I had to spill.
My office door slammed open with a confused Luca standing at the door. “What the hell is going on, Cat?” I should have texted him, but at the same time, an angry Luca raging on the streets of Chicago would end horribly. “I know that look, Cat. What the fuck is going on?”
“Harlow and Lizzy were taken by Xavier Caruso.” I saw his eyes falter, but he put on his mask, something we have in common. “I’m going to find them.” It’s only been a few hours, but I know for Lizzy and Harlow, it would feel like a lifetime.
“Don’t bother. I know their location.” This piqued my interest.
“How?”
“I put a tracker in Lizzy.” A fucking tracking device. He bugged his girlfriend. “Before you go all overprotective alpha dog, I have one, too. We agreed to it in case anything like this happened again.” After today’s events, I was going to take that into consideration.
I grabbed my phone, calling Malachi. “Gather the men. We’re going to bring my wife home.” I hung up and looked at Luca. “I’d say you two were crazy, but it’s going to help us rescue them. Where are they?”
He opened the app and located Lizzy—she was in the warehouse district by the docks.
It meant it would be highly manned and Vincenzo might be setting a trap.
Why would they take them both to a warehouse?
Then I realized Harlow might not be with Lizzy, and she could be back in Vincenzo’s mansion.
He’d better hope I didn’t have to go to his home again, because this time I wouldn’t leave it standing.
I pushed the thoughts to the back of my mind for now, whispering a silent prayer that Harlow was with Lizzy and she’d be back in my arms soon.
After this, I was never letting Harlow out of my sight.
I might just be branding her with her own GPS tracker, God forbid this ever happened again.
Why didn’t I think of that? Luca was onto something, but despite my desire to do it, I wanted to get her approval first. Harlow was her own person, finally free to make her own choices, and I knew control was something she desperately needed in life.
I refused to be the one to take her control away from her.
When I saved her, we were leaving. I was giving her a break away from the city, away from Vincenzo, and giving her a chance to breathe. There would still be a war when I got back, but fuck it. My wife needed a moment of peace.
I had a townhouse in New York. Roman could officially meet my wife and she could finally see the Met. It wasn’t how I wanted our first vacation together to be, but it is what it is.
Xavier would regret his choices, and he would die. I would make it hurt.
I strapped extra guns to my vest and tucked a few throwing knives into my ankle holster. Just hold on for me a little longer, baby. I was going to get my wife back and do whatever I had to in order to help both of them heal from this trauma. Harlow was strong; she was my warrior.
I had extra manpower and over five dozen guns ready to be used for a full-blown war.
If Vincenzo was smart, he would tell his men to surrender because I would kill them all to get Harlow back.
My father could find more men if needed, but I had enough ammo to leave a permanent mark on Vincenzo.
He better pray my wife was at the docks or I would burn his house to the ground this time.
We were a few minutes away from the warehouse when Luca signaled us to stop. “Lizzy moved. She’s here.” I looked around at our surroundings, but there was nothing but abandoned buildings.
Luca knew calling her name would make ourselves known, so he scurried between crates looking for Lizzy.
He looked defeated and twice as angry when he didn’t find her.
Before he got back to the SUV to drive further and look for her, Lizzy stumbled out of an alleyway, crying for Luca.
She was half-naked with dried blood caked in her hair and tears streaming down her face.
Luca was quick like a lightning bolt, running to her.
She sobbed harder in his arms as Luca wrapped his jacket around her petite frame.
I raced to their side as Lizzy clutched onto Luca like he was her lifeline. Lizzy looked at me and hiccupped before sobbing into Luca’s chest again. My mind went down a thought spiral I never wanted to see again. I was not losing my wife.
“Lizzy, where’s Harlow?”
“She’s in the last warehouse. He…Harlow told me to run. I-I didn’t want to leave her, b-but she s-said it was her t-turn to protect me.”
“Get her in the car. I’m going to get my wife.”
Luca picked her up bridal style. “Don’t kill the bastard until I have my turn with him.”
I nodded, grabbing my gun and running to the warehouse where my wife was.
I heard a gunshot, and my blood froze. My pace stumbled, but I didn’t stop.
My men were fast on my tail as I ripped the door to the warehouse open.
Xavier was on top of my wife, but his back was to us.
I couldn’t see what he was doing, but I fired anyway.
No one touched my wife without there being consequences.