Chapter 16
Emma
L uke left with Jimmy in such a hurry that I feared they’d both be walking into a trap. If that Rossini guard hadn’t addressed Jimmy so urgently, I would’ve cautioned Luke to think twice.
I hadn’t known Nina Sawyer for long, but I was getting to know my future husband very well. He doted on his mother and would always take care of her. More than once, he’d stressed about not seeing her while we’ve been hiding.
Of course, he’d jump into action and go rescue her.
But what if that’s it? What if Antonio or my father are banking on that to get Luke to come out of hiding?
The only reassurance I could tell myself was that it seemed unlikely for anyone to know who Luke’s mother was. The Marcheses had gotten so interested in Luke in the first place because he had been seen with me. And I was definitely on Antonio’s radar.
But it seemed that they had only figured out Luke’s connection to Jimmy, and then dug further and found out that Luke was Marlo’s son. It hardly mattered who Nina was. It sounded like she was just an ordinary woman, not affiliated with any family. Luke didn’t have many details about how his mother conceived him, and Jimmy brushed off those questions so well that it nagged me.
The concept of being lured out of hiding came true not even an hour after Luke and Jimmy left.
I frowned at a call from Krista. It went straight to voicemail, which was nothing but her screaming.
I was instantly on edge, listening to the recording a few times to see if it was her. With AI and all these damn apps that could make the impossible look and sound so real, I was skeptical.
A video came afterward, of Antonio prowling around Krista tied to a chair. Her face was bloody. A huge cut showed on her mouth.
He tilted his head side to side in that stupid habit he had. His words chilled me, but I fought to remain levelheaded.
“You said you’d rather die than give up Luke,” he started in a pedantic tone. “But would you let someone else die instead?” He gripped her hair and tugged so she’d look at the camera someone else held. “Do you want your lovely whore of a friend to die?”
He pulled her hair so she’d look up at him.
“Do you want to die?”
She spat at his face. “Fuck you.”
Antonio growled, releasing her with a shove and stalked away to clear the bloody spit from his face. “Emmali na . If you don’t come here and agree to leave Luke, she’s dead. You hear me? She’ll be dead . Let that sit on your conscience, you stupid bitch.”
My blood pressure soared with each time I rewatched the short video.
It had to be her. He’d used her phone to contact me on this burner, but he couldn’t trace it to me. Jimmy had rigged both of my and Luke’s burners to be routed nowhere.
It was Krista, no doubt about it. He had her phone. It looked like her. And her talking back and spitting on him rang true to her nature as well.
I paced in the room Luke and I had claimed. Back and forth, I wore down the tread on the carpet. With my hand on the back of my neck, I rubbed the muscles that had yet to lose the tension pulling there.
Anxiety claimed me. My heart sank at the knowledge of my only friend, my best friend, being hurt because of me. She didn’t deserve this. She shouldn’t be caught up in this.
The more I paced, frantic about this obvious bait that Antonio was lying for me, the deeper and hotter my anger grew. It escalated into a force of wrath I struggled to bottle in.
Envisioning killing that sick sadist, I let my thoughts wander into dark territory. I’d shoot him. I could strangle him. A knife over his throat would work, too. Grisly and gruesome wishes filled my mind, but I tried my best, again, to detach from the turbulent emotions overtaking me.
I had to think.
I had to focus and not panic.
It didn’t help that all my calls to both Jimmy and Luke went unanswered. If they were on their way to recover Nina from whoever had taken her, they couldn’t have their phones ringing.
As I strained to react properly, I realized how alone I was. None of these Rossini guards would help me. No one in the Marchese residence would give a shit about what I wanted.
It. Is. A. Trap.
I had to remember that, because it changed it all. I wasn’t stupid. I knew he was bribing me to come to him. He would still kill her if I came. He wouldn’t let her go. I considered how the hell he’d found her, too, but that seemed irrelevant now. It hardly mattered how he got to her. He had. His men would be working overtime with what Luke and I had done in breaking the arrangement that would’ve tied me to Antonio and in the discovery of Luke being Marlo’s son.
I refused to fall for a trap. I was smarter than this. Krista would never forgive me for risking myself for her. And Luke? He’d be furious that I’d fall for this and go along with what Antonio wanted all along—control over me.
But what if...
I whimpered, pacing faster. I was torn, even more so when I couldn’t reach Luke or Jimmy. Even though it was so obvious that this was a trap, I was legitimately nervous for my best friend. I couldn’t live with myself if I let her die. If I tried to call Antonio’s bluff and stay here, safely hiding.
If I had any backup, if I had any resources that a mafia princess like me normally would, then it’d be so simple. I’d get my men and go.
But my only man was Luke. If he took over the Rossini family like Jimmy expected him to, then I would later have that force behind me as Luke’s wife. I would be protected once again.
But I’m not.
By running from my father, I’d cast myself out of his favor and protection. I’d never actually had his favor. He only ever gave a shit about me for what I could give him, which was the alliance with the Marcheses through marrying Antonio.
By severing the arrangement, I’d lost any chance of the Marchese security as well. I doubted they’d care about my wellbeing either. If the new recruits at that bar were already swayed with the preconception that Antonio’s bride could be shared among the soldiers, they would only keep me alive to rape me.
I was stuck. Alone. And so helpless that I couldn’t stand it.
Is it all for nothing?
That dark and depressing worry hit me unbidden, and I struggled to silence it.
I couldn’t afford to lose faith now, not so soon after I so vehemently told Jimmy that I had all confidence in Luke and his strength. I couldn’t succumb to the doubts and woes.
They’d pick at me and pry at my love for Luke. They’d stand between me and the hopes I had that we could stay together.
Still, with trouble coming from two fronts—with Nina captured and Krista being held hostage—I debated if Luke and I staying together was selfish. That in choosing our happiness and our love that we would pose too much danger to others who deserved to be safe and free from our enemies.
I didn’t want to think that I was growing weak. I refused to leave when the going got tough.
Yet, I saw no end in sight.
Luke might have been joking, at least a little, when he said the only way to end all of this was to kill both Marchese leaders as well as my father. Maybe he was that na?ve, to think that he was able to pull that off. He was a fighter, and he had a stubborn fighter mentality.
Neither of those plans would be feasible, at least not yet and not easily. Antonio and Vincent hid behind so many layers of trained security at their mansion. I still marveled at how Luke had managed to slip away.
My father was just as guarded. Luke—nor anyone else—could traipse close enough to end him.
And even if he did, if Luke took over as the Rossini leader, there would be more danger to come his way later. More enemies would step in and grow to power later. The cartel, the bratva, the gangs. Even the MC men. Countless others could continue to target Luke as the future leader of the Rossini family, and it hit me with a painful punch that I would always be collateral for him. I would always be an accessory target for anyone to try to reach him and hurt him.
Nina was too, as was evident in how quickly he rushed to rescue her.
So many people were working against us for us to stay together. It seemed so impossible for it to work.
In this clarifying moment, though, I came to a firm realization that I wouldn’t bend on.
I couldn’t live with myself if I walked away from Luke and our love.
But at the same time, I wouldn’t be able to live with myself if I left Krista to fend for herself and continue to be harmed.
It was time to compromise. This was my chance to make the choice that would ensure everyone could be happy.
I’d get my friend back.
I’d gotten away from Antonio and my father once, and I damn well would again.
Nothing would keep me from returning to Luke.
As I prepared to leave and get a car from the many garage bays, I only prayed that Luke would understand that I had to risk myself—temporarily—for a greater good.