16. Chapter Sixteen
Chapter Sixteen
Leo
It only takes me a few minutes to realize that something is wrong. Emma has been in the bathroom for much longer than I expect. When I knock on the women’s bathroom door, no one answers. A quick peek inside shows that she is not here.
Fuck. Did she try to run from me? Or did something worse happen?
I confront Gabriel in the middle of the ballroom. “Did you steal my wife?”
He tenses before frowning. “No. I did not.”
“You want to marry her off to Matteo when I have made it very clear that I am not giving her away. Find someone else to give to Matteo. Where did you take her? Where is Matteo?” I look around the room but I don’t see him anywhere.
“Leo.” Gabriel places his hand on my arm but I shove him off. “What are you going on about? I didn’t kidnap your wife. I haven’t given her to Matteo.”
“Yet,” I snap.
He sighs. “She is the best choice for peace. Giving her to Matteo ensures that.”
“Find someone else,” I hiss. “You want to ruin our friendship? Because that’s what will happen if you do this. Maybe I don’t want to keep working for you. Maybe I want to be the boss myself.”
“You’d be willing to go to war for this girl?” The shock in his voice is obvious.
“I would die for her,” I answer honestly. “She is mine. My wife. Not Matteo’s. I am not giving her up. So where did you take her?”
“I did not take her. I am not responsible for your wife missing.”
“Then did Matteo try something? He worked for Alessandro. He might try and take her from me.”
Gabriel sighs, running his hand down his face. “I don’t know. But we can look into it. I didn’t realize you had real feelings for the girl. I thought you had taken her just to hurt Alessandro.”
“Originally, yes. But not anymore. I care for her, Gabriel. Hell, I might even love her. I am not going to give up without a fight. Are you willing to go to war with me over this?”
“No,” he admits. “You’re my best friend, Leo. I don’t want to lose that. I can try to find someone else to give to Matteo. But I can’t promise that. If it comes down to it, it might have to be Emma.”
“I first need to find her. If Matteo is responsible for this, then I’m killing him. And you can’t stop me.”
“Then another one of Alessandro’s men will come out and try to go to war. It’s better if we make peace with Matteo.”
“Not if he has Emma. I have to go find her. Where does Matteo live?”
“He told me he’s currently staying at a hotel in the area.”
“Tell me,” I say.
After Gabriel gives me the address, I hurry out of the ballroom and go straight to the hotel Matteo is staying at. I find the room number and pound on the door.
Matteo answers after a few seconds. “Mr. Detti? What are you doing here?”
I storm past him inside the room. “Is Emma here? Did you take my wife?”
“I can see there’s an issue going on.” He raises his hands. “Why don’t we calm down.”
“Calm down? You’re trying to take my wife from me. I will not give her up.”
“I can see that. But Gabriel promised her to me to make peace.”
“Take another girl. I don’t fucking care. But it’s not going to be Emma.”
He crosses his arms, staring me down in a way that makes me fucking angry. “It’s not up to you. I was promised Emma to make peace and I expect to have her now. She was my boss’s daughter. It’s only fitting.”
“Fuck you,” I snarl. A look around the hotel room tells me that Emma is not here. Which means there’s one other place to check.
It takes a few hours but I eventually make it to the farm. The sight of the rundown house surrounded by trees and cows is a sad sight. Did Valentina come back for her daughter?
I keep my gun in hand as I slowly approach the house. Last time, Valentina threatened to shoot me with a shotgun. I have to be careful this time.
I make my way around the house to the back door. It’s dark and silent from the outside.
My hand wraps around the doorknob and I slowly ease the door open… right before the sound of a loud gunshot pierces the air and an intense pain ricochets up my arm. Stumbling back, I clutch my shoulder where I was just shout.
“I will shoot you in the head if you come in here,” Valentina warns.
“Mother, don’t!” I can hear Emma scream but I can’t see her.
I press myself against the wall, gritting my teeth against the pain of the bullet. Fortunately, it was just a shoulder shot. I’ll live. But not if Valentina tries shooting me again.
“I am here for Emma,” I say. “Valentina, give up. You can’t keep your daughter here forever. There will always be mafia men who want her. But I can protect her. I can keep her safe.”
“You’re the reason she’s in this mess in the first place!” Valentina screeches. “I will kill you if you come for my daughter.”
“Emma, are you all right?” I ask.
“I’m fine,” she responds after a quiet moment. My heart unclenches a little. At least I know she’s alive. “But you can’t come in here, Leo. I don’t want you to die.”
“You have every reason to want me dead.”
“But I don’t. So please, don’t come in here. Just leave.”
“So you can spend the rest of your life as a prisoner with your mother? I don’t fucking think so. I promised you, baby, that you were no longer my prisoner and I meant that. I will save you. I will give you the freedom that you want.”
“Please, Leo,” Emma begs. “Just go. I can’t watch you die. Just go.”
“Shut up,” Valentina hisses, though I’m not sure if it’s directed at me or Emma. “Just leave right this instant. Go and never come back.”
“Emma,” I say. “I can’t leave you. I made you my wife to make you mine. I will not just give you up to be a prisoner to your mother again.”
“Leo, don’t,” she sobs. The sound breaks my cold fucking heart. “Just go. I can’t watch you die.”
“I’m not going to die,” I promise and in one quick move, I face the doorway, firing my gun. It misses Valentina just a hair and that gives her enough time to pull her trigger. The bullet hits my arm again. I stumble back, bleeding more now. Fuck. This isn’t good.
“Leo!” Emma shouts. I watch as she runs towards me.
“Stop,” Valentina warns. “Emma, get back here.”
“You’re going to kill him!” Emma screeches as tears run down her eyes. “Don’t kill him. I came with you so you wouldn’t kill him.”
“It’s not my fault he showed up here. He should already know I’ll do anything to protect my daughter.” She shoves Emma out of the way and aims her gun at my head. I raise my gun while ignoring my bleeding arm.
“I will kill you,” Valentina threatens. “Go.”
“I will shoot you,” I say in response. “Let Emma go and I won’t have to kill you.”
“No,” Emma sobs. “Don’t kill each other. Please. I don’t want this. I don’t want any of this. Why doesn’t anyone care what I want?” She runs between me and her mother. “Just stop this. Please.”
“I have protected you all your life,” Valentina says to Emma while keeping her eyes on me. “I am not going to give you over to this man.”
“I am no longer anyone’s prisoner. I am not staying in this house to watch you kill my husband.” Emma turns to me. “And I can’t watch you kill my mother. Despite everything, she’s still my mom. So please, lower your gun.”
“She will shoot me again if I lower my gun.” At that exact moment, the intense pain from the bullets in my arm sends me stumbling back. The blood seeping out of me is making me woozy.
“Leo,” Emma gasps as I kneel to the ground. She bends over me, pressing her hand into my wound. “You’ll be ok. I’ll make sure you’re ok.” Emma sounds like she’s trying to convince herself more than she’s trying to convince me.
“Get out of the way,” Valentina says. “He needs to die.”
“No!” Emma screams. “I will not let you kill him.”
Valentina looks like Emma just slapped her with the way her eyes widen and her face turns white. “How can you care for this man? He kidnapped you. He used you as a pawn against your father whereas I only ever protected you from him.”
“By abusing me,” Emma snaps. “You kicked me. Slapped me. Used words to hurt me. Leo did hurt me once. And it cut me to the core. But I know he’s not like that anymore. He made a promise to me that I’m no longer his prisoner.”
“And you believe him?” She scoffs. “Emma, you will be used time and time again in these mafia games as a pawn. But with me, you’ll be safe.”
“I’ll never be safe with you. Not when you’ve hurt me time and time again. Can’t you just let me go, Mother? I just want you to let me go. I want my own freedom.”
“And you think you’ll find that with him? No. Over my dead body will I let that happen.”
“I can arrange that,” I threaten.
Emma grabs her mother’s arms, forcing Valentina to lower her gun. “Just let me go. Please. I don’t want to be here. I don’t want to stay with you. I want to be with Leo.”
“How can you say this to me? I am your mother.”
“If you truly treated me as a mother would, you never would have hurt me. I read your books. All of them. I know the ways people should be treated and you never treated me right. So let me go, Mother. Please.”
Valentina jerks back. “You read my books? You weren’t supposed to read those things. They’re filth.”
“So then why did you read them yourself? You’re a hypocrite, Mother. You claim to want to protect me when you just want to control me. Leo is bleeding out. He could die. I have to get him to a hospital. Stop coming for me.”
“Or what?”
“Or I might have to kill you the way I killed my own father.”
Her eyes widen. “You… you killed Alessandro?”
“Yes.” Emma’s voice doesn’t waver. The shy, timid girl she once was is gone. “And I don’t want t have to hurt you. So please, just stop. Leo and I will be leaving. I will go back home.”
“This is your home.”
“My home is with Leo now. Not you. I am choosing him. This is my choice. Listen to it. Respect it. Please, Mother.”
“He shot me before. In the shoulder. He has to die.”
“And you survived,” I spit out. Fuck, I’m getting more and more woozy by the moment. “I didn’t intend to kill you but I should have.”
“He needs to die,” Valentina says, raising her gun again but Emma puts herself between me and the barrel.
“Then you’ll have to kill me.”
“You would die for him?”