Chapter 40 Lena
LENA
Iwake up with a jolt. Rem is a heavy heat behind me, his arm slung possessively around my waist. The room he brought us to is dark, the curtains drawn against the pre-dawn sky.
I hear a rustle at the edge of the bed and tense instantly.
“Lena.” It’s part whisper, part hiss, voice familiar.
“Bianca?”
“Yes, it’s me.”
I slip out from under Rem’s arm, careful not to wake him, and am very thankful I put on his shirt before falling asleep. Bianca grips my hand before my feet touch the floor. “What is it? What’s wrong?”
“Sorry,” she whispers back, the two of us tiptoeing to the hallway. I close the bedroom door with a barely audible click. Bianca is worrying her bottom lip between her teeth, her fingers freezing. “I tried calling but you didn’t answer. I couldn’t wait any longer, I had to come.”
I glance up and down the hallway, blinking away sleep as the past few hours come barreling back. “How—how did you know I was here?”
“Lorenzo.”
“Christ, Bianca, you’re shaking—what is going on?”
“It’s Johnny.” Concern is clear in her voice. “He’s with—Ari’s taken him.”
“What?”
“Right?! I mean, it doesn’t make any sense. Why the hell would Ari threaten Johnny? They’re friends. Family, even. At first, I thought he was joking, but Ari’s voice was so hard. So…cold.”
Now is not the time to explain to Bianca how inexplicable everything about Ari has become. Or how dangerous. “What happened, exactly?”
Bianca’s eyes are wide with disbelief, the whites glinting in the dim hallway.
“Johnny called to say he didn’t have to stay overnight at the hotel anymore, that he was coming home instead.
But he never showed up. Didn’t answer his phone.
Lorenzo confirmed he’d been with you at the hotel when Mr. Cerreti arrived, but after that.
..nothing. Not until I got a call an hour ago from Ari warning me that if I ever want to see my husband again, I have to bring you and Rem to Montecristo. ”
I hear a curse behind me, feel Rem’s hand on my shoulder an instant later. “What were Ari’s instructions exactly?”
Bianca flicks her worried gaze up to my husband. “That he’ll release Johnny, unharmed, if you and Lena are at the restaurant by five. It can only be you two, he was very clear about that. No Aldo, no guards.” I can hear the strain in her voice. “Not even me.”
“We’re not going to let anything happen to Johnny. He’s going to be home safe with you and the baby in no time.” I give Bianca’s hand a reassuring squeeze before letting Rem pull me down the hall.
“He’s setting a trap,” Rem says.
“Yeah. Obviously.”
“Obviously, Lena, you’re not coming with me.”
“Nice try, but obviously I am. I’m the one Ari wants, and it’s very clear he isn’t going to stop until he gets what he wants. We need to end this, before anyone else gets hurt. Including your best friend.”
I can sense Rem’s refusal before he opens his mouth.
I cut him off. “You know it’s the right thing to do.
I can’t live in a bubble, Rem, and you can’t be my bodyguard every waking second.
I’m a Cosenza now. And a Cerreti. I’m not going to run and hide.
” I flatten my palms against his bare chest. “We do this together. I’ll follow your lead, follow whatever order you give, but I’m not staying here while you go off to face your brother.
The only way this ends is if we finish it together. ”
“At any other time,” Rem grumbles, “I’d be so proud of your fight, little one, but right now I’m just really fucking pissed.”
“Understood,” I say with a nod. “Now let’s stop wasting time in this hallway, put some clothes on, and get your best friend back.”
Less than thirty minutes later Rem, Bianca, and I are parked in Rem’s car down the street from the Cerreti family’s soon-to-be newest business, a restaurant in the city’s former warehouse district.
It’s still months from opening, the building currently under renovation.
It’s a few minutes before five in the morning; all the nearby shops and offices are still closed.
Rem looks at Bianca in the back seat. “You stay here. No matter what happens, no matter what you see or hear, you stay in this fucking car. I’ll make sure Johnny gets out and gets to you, and then you two get the hell out of here.”
“But—”
“No.” Rem cuts off Bianca’s protest. “You know you have to leave, Bianca. For all our sakes.”
Bianca starts to argue, and I say, a little softer, “None of us will forgive ourselves if anything happens to you or the baby. Rem’s right. You need to stay put until Johnny gets in the car, then you guys get out.”
Bianca glares at me. “Yes. Fine. But—do you really think Ari is dangerous? I mean, he’s your brother. None of this makes sense. I just can’t make any of this make sense…”
“I’ll fill you in on everything as soon as I can.” I give Bianca what I hope is a reassuring smile. “Over a cappuccino and cornetto. Promise.”
She leans back against the leather seat with a huff, arms crossed over her still-flat stomach. “Bullies, the both of you.”
That makes me smile for real. “What can I say, Rem is wearing off on me.”
“He looks good on you,” Bianca says. “Genuinely. You two are good together. Good for each other. Stay safe in there. I wouldn’t be able to forgive myself anything happened to you, either.”
“Promise,” I say.
Rem nods, expression stony. He looks to me. “Time to go.”
Three words and the bravery I’ve been fronting falters. I’m about to walk into an unfamiliar place and face down a near stranger who’s spent the past few weeks trying to kill me. Even with Rem by my side, this feels beyond reckless. And unavoidable.
“Right,” I agree, throat tight. “Time to go.”
The restaurant is a construction site. Walls stripped down to the studs.
Unopened boxes of appliances clustered in one section, building materials and tools scattered in another.
I can make out the footprint of what will be an impressive kitchen, plumbing lines and gas valves protruding out of one wall.
What looks like a giant stack of flooring tile stands in the middle of the cavernous room.
At the far end of the space, harshly lit by a work light on a tripod, stand Ari and Johnny.
With the kitchen area behind us and a shit ton of sharp saws on our right, Rem stops us just behind the stacks of tile, positioning himself so that he’s shielding my body with his. “Fretellos.”
Ari and Johnny clocked us the instant we walked in. I can feel the weight of their attention as we stand in a frozen moment of silence. Me and the men locked in a standoff that three of us know is going to end badly for someone.
Finally, Ari acknowledges us. “Brother. Little Lena. So nice of you to come.”
I hear Rem curse under his breath. He ignores Ari and turns to Johnny. From where we’re standing Bianca’s husband looks unhurt. Furious, but otherwise fine.
“You good, Johnny?” Rem asks.
“Me? I’m pissed at this asshole,” he thumbs in Ari’s direction.
“And fucking exhausted, and confused as fuck. Your asshole brother won’t tell me what the hell is going on or why I’m here.
Just ordered me to come here instead of going home to Bianca.
” Johnny glares at the older Cosenza brother even as he muffles a yawn. “Where I’m supposed to be. Asleep.”
If I wasn’t so scared, I’d find Johnny’s disgruntled cluelessness amusing.
He’s obviously unaware of what’s going on and, in response, I can feel some of the tension leave Rem’s muscles.
“It’s just some brother shit,” Rem says, trying to brush off Ari’s strange behavior.
“Sorry he dragged you into it. Time for you to go home.”
Johnny might be clueless, but he’s not stupid. He looks between Ari and Rem, a frown darkening his expression. “You sure, boss? You don’t want me to hang around for…whatever the fuck this is?”
Rem cocks his head at the door. “Bianca is in my car. She was worried about you, wouldn’t stay put while I tracked you down. You should get out there, get her home. You both need some sleep.”
Johnny is halfway to the exit before Rem’s done talking. “What the fuck, bro—why did you leave her outside by herself?”
Rem shrugs, tossing Johnny the car keys as he passes us. “She’s tired, asshole. I told her I’d send you out velocemente. Don’t think too much about it, just get home.”
Rem follows his friend’s progression across the cavernous space. His jaw is ticking as he tries to keep his emotions in check. He and I both know that, as much as we don’t want to admit it, there’s a chance we won’t get out of this building alive.
Rem knows this might be the last time he ever sees his friend.
But Rem also knows that if he stops him, says anything that even resembles a goodbye, he’ll tip off Johnny that things are nowhere close to fine.
Then Johnny will stay. Then Johnny will fight.
Then Johnny might be the one who doesn’t get back to Bianca and their baby. That’s not an option.
So, his knuckles whitening as he grips my hand painfully, Rem just gives his friend an apologetic shrug and silently watches him walk out the door.
The door clicks shut behind him.
The tick in Rem’s jaw is so intense I’m worried his teeth will crack.
With Johnny gone, a sickening silence settles around us. One that’s broken by the unmistakable sound of a gun being cocked.
My palm is sweaty against Rem’s. My heart very firmly lodged in my throat.
We turn to face Ari and the metallic taste of fear fills my mouth when I see the muzzle of Ari’s gun leveled with my head.
“Well, fratellino,” Ari says to Rem, his aim never faltering. “What do you say we get this over with?”