Chapter 19
RAQUEL
The hour arrives quickly, and the fear of my escape grows with every step I take toward the front door.
I’ve come up with a reason to go outside. I don’t think Dante’s men will refuse me. If they do, I’m screwed. Everyone will be. My mom will not let it stand. I can already hear her calling the family and arranging an army to come get me, no matter what she said.
If her foot soldiers don’t see me up front when I’m supposed to be, they’ll find a way to get me, even if it involves bullets.
My mother might have promised to keep the guns at home, but I know her.
She’ll make sure every man is strapped. I have a feeling Dante’s men won’t let me go that easily, either.
Dante.
His name alone brings a lash of pain into my chest. I’m going to miss him. Miss what we had—or what we could’ve had. I really liked him, and if I’m being honest, it was starting to feel like a little more than that.
Tears sweep over my gaze as I exit the kitchen, but I rapidly brush them all away. He doesn’t deserve them. Whoever he is, he isn’t who I thought he was.
Dante was a fabricated illusion, tempting me with lies. I see it all now. If Mom is right—and I have every reason to believe she is—then the moment we met at the bar, he knew who I was and he knew what he was doing. Everything must’ve been part of his well-constructed deception.
But why? How could he do that to me? I’m not part of any of this. I don’t deserve to be caught up in the war between my family and his. If I ever get the chance to look him in the eyes, I will demand to know how he could do this to me.
Despair and anger pulse within every one of my heartbeats, radiating down into my bones and lacing with my grief.
I hate him.
I wish I’d never met him.
I’ll make him pay for this. Somehow.
I march toward the front door, with two guards on each side.
“Hi. I’m sorry I don’t know your names, but do you mind?” I gesture toward the door with an outstretched hand. “I have a food delivery coming.”
“I’m Elliot, ma’am. We can get it for you,” says the tall one, who’s probably in his late twenties.
The other is a little older, maybe early forties. I wonder if they’re one of the ones who heard me come by the pool.
Oh, God. I can’t think about that now.
Clearing my throat, I grin. “I’m sure you can.” My eyes dart between them. “But I’ll be two seconds. You can even watch…”
My face grows hot, eyes widening.
“Me. You can watch me…uh, get the food,” I stammer, swallowing against the lump now wedged in my throat.
Holy fuck. I can’t even get it together before my damn help shows.
The younger one lets out a bit of a chuckle. “All right. Go ahead. We’ll try not watching too close.”
He winks, and it takes some willpower to keep my mouth from dropping wide as he opens the door for me. Both of them walk out, their boots stomping over the concrete before they pause on the steps leading down onto the street.
So they did hear me! Ugh! This is awful.
I groan with utter humiliation, inhaling the scent of freshly cut grass. I should be glad I’ll never see them again…but I’ll never see Dante again either.
Why should I care? What’s wrong with me that I can’t help but miss him already?
Was it really all pretend? Even after he got to know me?
It didn’t feel like that when I was wrapped in his arms. When he held me. I felt like I mattered. Like he cared.
Could he really have been doing all of that if he didn’t have any feelings for me? Is he that much of a monster?
I don’t have time to consider any of it, nor am I willing to stay to delve into the secrets he’s so good at keeping. We’re done.
Before I have time to contemplate any more, tires screech in the near distance, dragging closer until a white van lurches to a stop.
My heart pounds as the men behind me take steps forward, footfalls crunching over the gravel. I jog toward the van just as the door slides open, and a man with a black mask hops out, pistol raised at Dante’s men.
I don’t have a moment to scream or run back to safety. His hand stretches to my arm, grasping it roughly and pulling me up against him, my back to his front.
Pop.
Pop.
Bullets fly from his weapon toward Dante’s men, the suppressor on. I try to duck as one whizzes past me toward the van, and fear begins to settle heavily over me.
Dante’s guys rush toward us, continuing to shoot back, and more run from inside the house at full speed, but they’re all too late.
The masked man continues to fire, dragging me into the van and closing the door behind him before someone else guns the engine.
Bullets strike at the vehicle, but it does nothing to stop us.
This isn’t what I wanted! I should never have agreed to get my mother’s help.
Once I focus on my surroundings, I notice four other masked men inside, taking up the bench seating. They all look up at me silently.
My muscles freeze as panic swells within me. Something isn’t right.
The van speeds down the road at a dangerous pace. My body rattles from the force as I stand. The man who dragged me inside is still behind me, his arm curled around my front, his rough exhales swarming up my neck.
My pulse thrashes in my ears while terror like I’ve never felt causes me to break out in a sweat.
Boom.
I draw in a stuttered gasp from the loud noise.
The van must’ve hit something, but the driver continues rushing down whatever road we’re on now. There are no windows back here. I’m blind.
I remember there being a security officer at the gate when I first arrived at the community Dante lives in. Why didn’t he call for help? Did they hurt him?
“Who are you?” I ask the man.
He doesn’t respond as his fingers dig deeper into my hip.
My skin crawls. Creepy, rotting dread enters the pit of my stomach.
“You don’t recognize your own fiancé?”
My inhale freezes on a gasp as blood drains from my face, an icy shudder running up the length of me.
This can’t be real.
This is a dream.
She wouldn’t.
She couldn’t betray me like this.
Thud.
Thud.
My heartbeats are no longer my own. They explode so quickly, I’m afraid my heart will rip right out my chest.
“Car-Carlito? Wha-what are you doing here?” My voice is broken. Small. It’s pitiful that it even belongs to me.
“When your mother called and told me the happy news of having found you, I couldn’t wait to come.”
“She called you?”
The disbelief is etched so deeply in my tone, it’s hard to hear it. My mother’s betrayal hurts far more than I can ever forgive.
She never meant to let me go. Her control over me has no end. I should’ve killed myself when I had the chance.
A sob slips from my throat as tears well up within my eyes and stream down my face.
An evil chuckle breaks from his mouth. “My God, you’re pathetic.”
He moves forward, facing me now. His hand reaches for my jaw, fingers gripping harshly.
“You’ll be crying a lot worse after what I do to you,” he spits out crudely. “You better hope you didn’t fuck that asshole—or anyone, for that matter. I’ll fucking kill you if you did.”
I pant, the gasping exhales leaving me in a frenzy. His hand falls away.
“When we get to where we’re going, you’re going to tell me everything you’ve been up to with him. I can’t even say his fucking name!” he bellows.
“His name is Dante,” I fire back, the angry waves of emotion rocking my very foundation.
“Shut up, you slut!” he screams so loudly that my head whirls back, but not before the handle of his gun slams into the back of my head.
Stars form before my eyes as my eyelids drift to a semi-close. I whimper in pain, inadvertently covering the burning ache in the spot he hit me.
Everyone I ever thought was on my side—or should’ve been—has betrayed me. My parents. Dante. Even Chiara didn’t tell me the truth about everything she knew. All of them are liars.
My head wobbles back and forth as the darkness encroaches from all sides.
My eyes can’t stay awake. Everything flickers in and out.
Is this death?
No. I can’t die.
It can’t all end this way.
Dante…
DANTE
After the meeting with my brothers earlier this morning, Dom went home to be with Chiara while I decided to go shopping for Raquel. I wanted to buy her something nice. Something sparkly to match her eyes.
I spent almost an hour figuring out what sort of earrings to get her. She doesn’t seem like the flashy type, so I settled on six-carat studs. That seemed like a good size. The other stuff looked too small.
I don’t even know if she’ll like them, but I want her to have something.
It’s not my way of apologizing for the lies I’ve been telling.
I just want to give her something to show her she’s special.
We may have started untraditionally, but I hope she realizes that besides my brothers, she’s the person I care most about.
As I drive home with the earrings in my pocket, I can’t wait to see her face when I give them to her. I’m only a few minutes out when my cell buzzes in the cup holder, the head unit displaying Elliot’s name.
Pressing a button, I let the Bluetooth take over. “What’s up, man?”
“Boss,” he utters, out of breath. “They took Raquel.”
My heart stops beating.
“What the fuck did you just say? When?” My tires screech as I stomp on the gas pedal.
“Just now, sir. She told us she was waiting for a food order, and I fucking bought it. Then seconds later, a van came, guns blazing. We shot back. They grabbed her and—”
“Fuck!” I howl, pummeling my fist on the console over and over. “Was she hit?”
My words are framed with madness.
What the hell did she do?!
“I don’t think so. It happened fa—”
“You don’t fucking think so?!” The vein in my neck pulses angrily. “What the hell have you all done? Did anyone chase the van? Was it Carlito? Her father? Who came for her?”
“I don’t know, sir. They were masked.”
“So what the hell do you actually know?!”
“They shot the security guard up front and rolled in. We’re tailing them,” he adds. “We’ve got two cars after them. I’m sending you the van’s location now.”
I glance at the text he sent, my breaths razor sharp as I read the words.
“They’re not far. I’m going after them.” I drop the call, speeding over a hundred miles an hour and whizzing left in front of one car, who honks repeatedly.
Driving quicker, I zip past another vehicle in the middle lane, nearly hitting it.
She must’ve figured out the truth and called her mom. But how? They couldn’t have found her on their own. My brothers and I bought our homes as an LLC. Our names are not listed. Our addresses aren’t either. We’ve been very careful, avoiding phone lines and keeping burners.
God damn it, baby. Why did you do this?
If I don’t get her back…
I slam a fist down over the console.
“Fuck!” I roar, stamping on the horn to make the car in front of me go faster.
The one on my right veers into the middle lane, letting me pass. Finally exiting off the highway, I go down the less populated roads, knowing they’re only a block away.
Faster.
Faster.
The tires burn through the concrete.
I need to get to her. I need to save her. If I can’t…if she dies…it’s on me. I won’t forgive myself. She was mine to protect, and I failed. I let them take her. I did this.
I make a sharp left, finally seeing the van and recognizing the Audi behind it, which belongs to my guys. We supply all our men with one for work purposes.
I speed faster and loop around to the right of the van, driving parallel. My eyes go to the door, then the passenger side window. A man sits there; his face turns to mine, his dark eyes visible through the ski mask as his lips curve into a vicious smile.
My hand is on the gun, ready to use it. But I can’t let the bullets fly if there’s even a small chance she could get hurt.
The asshole stands, moving out of sight, and suddenly the door in the back glides open until I come face-to-face with someone I know. The one whose skin I’ll enjoy peeling from his face. There’s a nine-millimeter in his hand.
“Where is she, you son of a bitch?” I ask Carlito, who’s unmasked.
“Oh, look. It’s my long-lost best friend. Long time no see. How you been?”
I keep pace with the van, my eyes glued to his. Thankfully, the street here is quiet. Woods surround their side of the road, while mine is filled with grass, sloping downward on a small hill.
“Is she alive? You’d better fucking hope she is.”
Grating laughter is his response. “You know, I had no idea who the hell you were until recently. You got me good. But lying to a man over drinks and a stripper should get your balls cut off.”
“You’re no man.” My mouth curls cruelly.
“Yeah…” He moves his other hand behind him, and I keep my finger on the trigger. “We’ll see about that.”
As I’m about to shoot him right between the eyes, he drags a body forward.
Her body.
On the floor.
Raquel?
I elevate the pistol so the barrel meets his face, my pulse wild.
“Might not want to do that,” he announces, his hand gripping her shirt at the front and lifting her up to a stand.
Something’s wrong.
“What the fuck did you do to her, you piece of shit?!”
Her head hangs forward, eyes closed.
No! She can’t be gone.
My heart drenches in the sin of my regrets.
What have I done? Why did I involve her in our fight?
“If you shoot me, I’ll make sure the bullet lands in her. She’s still alive, but barely.” He laughs hard, and my hand itches to use my knives on him and make him scream.
“I’m gonna make you suffer. I promise,” I tell him.
“All you are is a pussy with a bunch of threats. After I rip her to shreds, I’ll let you have her rotting corpse.” His hand clutches tighter around her shirt, raising her body off the floor and into the air. “She’s my woman! She’ll always be mine until she dies.”
He ogles her like the depraved fuck he is. How the hell do I get her out of this?!
“I’m finally going to get a taste of this body.” His weapon drifts down her breast to her stomach.
Anger spirals from my guts, and my teeth grind until my jaw rattles. I veer the car closer to them.
“You have two choices, my friend,” he continues. “You either let me go and allow me to have some fun, or…”
The gun coasts up her body, the barrel landing on her temple.
“I can shoot her right now and we end this.”
Fuck! What the hell do I do?
Maybe I can fire at him and my men can take care of the ones in the front.
Damn it. No. Too risky. He could pull the trigger and kill her instantly.
The only good option is to let Raquel go and find her on my own before he can kill her. But he’ll make it slow. He’s going to hurt her, and I don’t know how I can knowingly let it happen. But what fucking choice do I have? I have no doubt he’ll kill her right in front of me.
With the deepest regret rattling through me, I decide to let her go, only to find her again.
“This isn’t over. I’m coming for you.”
“Good luck. May the best man win.”
Then he speeds off down the vacant road while I slow, dialing Dom’s and Enzo’s numbers.
This war just got a little more personal.