Chapter 15
Chapter Fifteen
Kira
Matteo brings me to a luxury apartment. The penthouse. Guards are everywhere in the hallway leading to the penthouse, which means I’ll have no way out of here. I’ll be stuck with Matteo forever unless Enzo can find me but that will mean putting himself in danger to save me.
And I’m starting to realize that I don’t want Enzo to be hurt.
Yes, he drives me insane. But he’s also my future and I’m finally seeing that.
Matteo makes me sit down on the couch. It takes everything inside of me to not scream at him. To not fight him. But if I fight, things might be worse for me.
“What are you going to do to me?” I ask, trying to keep my voice strong.
“I am going to keep you here as my own pet. It will drive Enzo insane. He’ll see the error of his ways. He’ll see that he can’t cut me off.”
“Is your plan to make him reinstate you then?”
“My plan is to take away his power and take it for myself.”
I suck in a breath. “You’re insane. You truly think you can have what Enzo has?”
Matteo places each of his hands on either side of me. Blocking me in. “I know I can. I already took his wife. I can take everything else.”
“Except you don’t have me. I’ll never be yours.”
“You don’t really get a choice in the matter.”
Working up my courage, I spit Matteo in the eye. He flinches back and I use that moment to surge off the couch and run to the door but Matteo catches me within moments and throws me back onto the couch.
I freeze when he looks down at me. The memory of him trying to rape me haunts me in my bones.
“You are just a weak, pathetic woman,” he sneers. “You are nothing.”
“But I’m not. You just said so yourself. By taking me, you have the power to hurt Enzo. That means something. So I am everything.”
Matteo flashes me a charming, handsome smile that would have worked on me weeks ago but now? Now it means nothing to me.
“You are going to be mine,” he growls before lowering his body onto mine. I scream and buck and fight him off but he’s too strong.
As his hands go to my zipper, I’m reminded of the park. Of what he tried to do and what he’s going to do to me now.
My eyes land on a paperweight on the coffee table. It’s in the shape of a bike. The moment Matteo sits up to undo his own pants, I lunge for the paperweight and grab it.
Matteo yanks me towards him. Still holding onto the paperweight, I smash it against his head. He lets out a grunt and falls onto the floor. Breathing heavy, I bring the weight against his head once more, leaving a large, wet bloody welt on his forehead. Matteo groans, telling me he isn’t dead.
He doesn’t get up though, which gives me time to run to the door.
But then I stop. There are at least five guards in the hallway outside the penthouse.
I can’t get past them. I just have to wait until Enzo can come save me but I can’t risk Matteo hurting me in the process.
He still hasn’t gotten back up yet so I rush to the kitchen and find duct tape and rope in one of the drawers.
Hesitating, I approach Matteo. I grab his hands and tie them with the rope. He tries fighting me but he doesn’t have the strength after being bashed in the head. Then I place the duct tape over his mouth so he can’t yell for his guards to come.
I know mafia men carry guns on them. My brother and father always did and I know Enzo does too.
Matteo glares at me as I reach into his jacket pocket and pull out his gun. It’s the best weapon I can have but I was never taught to use it.
All I can do is sit on the couch, keeping the gun pointed at Matteo. I have no choice but to wait for my husband to come save me.
The husband I once hated. Now I have no one else to rely on.
Enzo
I know all the properties Matteo owns given that we were once friends. I order a lot of my men to go looking at each and every one of them. I will find Kira before it’s too late.
I never knew I could care this much for another person. Didn’t know I had it in me. But with Kira, she lights something up inside of my body. My soul. I feel challenged but excited. I made the right decision in marrying her.
Now I have to get her back.
I end up outside of the large apartment building that I know Matteo owns the penthouse of. Because of me and the money I gave him. Well, I’m not going to let that fucker earn any more money from me. He has to die, even if it causes problems with my men.
When I called them to tell them that Matteo kidnapped my wife, most of them seemed to be on my side. Marco didn’t believe me at first but he eventually came around. It’s not the Bratva we need to fear. It’s our own people. The betrayal cuts deep.
I don’t have the key to get up to the penthouse but I can charm the security guard in the lobby into giving me one.
“I’m Enzo Bianchi,” I say to the security guard that has no clue who lives in the very apartment building he has to protect. “My friend, Matteo Rossi, lives in the penthouse. Give him a call and tell him I’m here.”
The security guard picks up the phone and tells Matteo that I’m here to see him. After a moment, he nods and hangs up. “You can go on up.”
“Thank you.” The security guard is lucky that Matteo agreed otherwise, he’d be passed out cold since nothing is going to keep me from Kira.
When the elevator reaches the top floor, I’m confronted with the sight of five guards in the hallway leading to the penthouse. Fucking great.
Before they even realize what’s happening, I lift my gun and kill three of them in an instant. Thank god for silencers.
The other two shoot at me but I dive back into the elevator. The gunshots stop. I wait for them to make the next move because I know they’re waiting for me to expose myself and I’m not stupid enough to do that.
I hear footsteps come my way. That’s when I sense the guard close to the elevator and I rush out, shooting him in the stomach.
He slumps to the ground and then I shoot him in the head.
The other guard fires at me but I duck back into the elevator.
He keeps firing until he runs out of bullets and that’s when I attack. I shoot him in the head.
Then… silence.
All five guards are dead on the ground. This is a problem for another day.
I kick the door of the penthouse open and surge inside… only to find Kira, with a gun in her hands, unhurt while Matteo is tied up with a gash on his head.
“Enzo?” she gasps.
“I’m here. I got you.”
With a gasp, she rushes into my arms and I hold her close. Never would I have thought Kira would come to me but I’ve never seen her happier. I tighten my arms around her before letting her go so I can go over to Matteo.
“What happened here?” I ask.
“I got the upper hand on him,” Kira says with pride. I flash her a smile. I have a badass wife and I love that.
I rip the duct tape off Matteo’s mouth. “Hello, Matteo.”
“You can’t kill me without bringing a war down on your head,” he snarls.
“Honestly, I don’t fucking care about that right now. You kidnapped my wife and that can’t stand. You tried to rape her and that definitely cannot stand. So you need to die, Matteo. I’ll deal with the fallout another day.”
“We were once friends!” he exclaims.
“Then you should have thought about that before you fucked with me.” I aim the gun at his head and pull the trigger. His blood splatters on the wall. Matteo is well and truly dead.
“He’s dead,” Kira breathes out.
“He’s dead. Let’s get you home.” I hold my hand out to her and she takes it without any hesitation.
After calling my men to come clean up the bodies I left behind, I bring Kira home. But before I get the chance to comfort her, I get a call from Marco.
“You killed Matteo?” he asks, sounding aghast.
“I did. He went after my wife. You understand, Marco. You have people you care about too. Don’t make this a bigger thing than it needs to be.”
“You are asking for a war,” he threatens.
“I was just getting rid of the trash. Either come for me or leave me alone.” I hang up the phone.
“Are you in trouble?” Kira asks, wringing her hands together.
“Nothing I haven’t been in before. I wasn’t supposed to kill Matteo. His friends won’t be happy about it. Honestly, your brother and father won’t be happy about it either. They want peace and I just plunged us into a war. That puts you at risk.”
“I can handle my dad and brother.” She wraps her arms around my waist. “You saved my life.”
I gaze down into her eyes. “I did.”
“I never knew you had it in you.”
“That I was capable of good?”
“You frustrate me,” she admits. “You drive me crazy. But you also make me feel safe in a way I never expected with you. I feel… happy right now.”
“I never expected to be happy with you either. But here I am, fighting to keep you safe. You bring that out in me. I never knew I would feel this way for a woman who’s so good at driving me insane.”
“I just want to feel safe, Enzo. That’s all I’ve ever wanted. To feel safe and have my freedom.”
“I promise I won’t lock you up again. I don’t want you scaling down the house and getting hurt once more.”
“I don’t want that either.”
We both fall silent as we lock eyes. There’s a moment between us… right before our lips collide.
Kira sinks into my body with a moan as I deepen the kiss. I want to consume her. I want all of her. I never want to let her go again.
She gasps when I press her against the wall and squeeze her hips. Her hands run down my chest, tugging at my shirt. We’ve both danced around this. Neither one fully giving into the other one.
But that has all changed. Realizing I don’t want to be without Kira has made me desperate for her and I can sense her own desperation as well. She needs this as badly as I do.
In one motion, I pick her up in my arms and carry her into our bedroom. I toss her onto the bed and she glares up at me.
“You could be more gentle.”
“You don’t want it gentle,” I say. Her own eyes darken. “I’m going to fuck you, Kira. Claim you for good. Tell me now if you want to stop.”
She doesn’t say a word.
“Tell me you want to be mine,” I say.
“Yes,” she says, sealing her fate.