Chapter 32
NICOLETTE
I can’t figure out where the hell we are. It’s like a building of some sort, I think. The air only gets colder, and I tremble in my corner.
Two more days have passed. I think. If the sun coming and going is any indication of the passage of time. I don’t know how long I can take this, tied to the ground, pissing in a bucket.
My sister, on the other hand, seems to be enjoying herself, eating one of the cheese sandwiches the men brought and drinking the bottled water. I haven’t eaten a damn thing. What if they poisoned mine? What if there are drugs in it?
But my sister has had no issues eating. Hunger digs into my stomach, and I almost cave, fingers nearing the plate.
No. Can’t take the chance. Raph will come for me. I have to have faith. He’ll find a way.
“How can you eat right now?” I ask her.
Disgust slams into me as she licks her fingers.
“Like this.” She takes another huge bite.
“I thought you don’t eat bread.” I snicker.
“Can’t be picky right now.” Her mouth slants up on one side. “Once I’m out of here, I’ll be truly free. From everything.” Her eyes narrow.
My stomach dips.
“Are you even sorry for what you did to Raph? How can you live with yourself?”
She swipes her mouth with her index finger and gently places her plate down.
“Sorry for what? For doing what makes me happy?” She narrows her eyes and gives me a hard smile.
“No. I’m not sorry. There’s so much you don’t know, little sis.
Things I couldn’t tell anyone. But now?” She shrugs her shoulder with a callous glint in her gaze.
“There’s nothing holding me back anymore. ”
“Like what?” A shiver races down my legs, and it’s not from the weather.
“I met Gian way before I met Raph. I was seventeen and working as a high-paying escort.”
“What!” My mouth pops open.
“I know.” She flings her hair back with a flip of her fingers and arches a brow. “Me, an escort… Way too good for that.”
Pretty sure that wasn’t what I was thinking. I hold back an internal roll of my eyes.
“But I needed money for nursing school,” she explains. “So when a friend told me about this amazing opportunity, I tried it out.”
“Did Raph know?” I whisper, disbelief blurring my vision.
“Um, no. Obviously not.” She looks at me like I’m an idiot.
“Anyway…as I was saying before you rudely interrupted, I started working when I could, while finishing high school. Then when I turned eighteen, I met Gian and told him why I was doing this and how badly I needed money. He was more than happy to help. He gave me cash, lots of it, and kept giving it to me on the side. It was all mine. One day, he told me to quit and all I had to do to get the money was sleep with him exclusively.”
When my face upturns in abhorrence, she flips me off.
“Stop judging.”
“Hard not to.”
“Whatever.” An ugly sneer dances across her face.
“One day, he invited me to a restaurant he owned, and that’s where I saw Raph.
And, well, you’ve seen the man. Hot. And I figured, why would I continue sleeping with an old dude when I could have his much younger, much hotter, son and have him pay for my schooling. ”
“Wow… You’re pure evil.”
“Shut up.” She grinds her teeth. “I do what I have to do, and I’d do it all over again.”
“I’m sure Gian was angry when you decided to sneak your way into Raph’s bed.”
“Oh, like you wouldn’t believe.” She looks proud of herself. “But I assured him that for me, this made sense. I’d marry his son and still be close enough to him to keep our arrangement going. He still paid me for sleeping with him while Raph paid for school, as I predicted.”
I blink rapidly, staring wide-eyed. I can’t believe her. I wonder what Mom and Dad would think of their precious daughter being such a horrific person. They’d probably blame everyone else but her.
“I finally had more money than I knew what to do with,” she continues.
“The only thing I needed to cement my marriage to Raph was a baby. I didn’t want the damn stretch marks.
Gross.” She grimaces. “But it was how I’d stay connected to him forever.
And he wanted a child badly. Constantly talked about it.
” She rolls those eyes. “But we couldn’t have any.
It was his fucking fault. Clearly, I had no issues getting knocked up.
But the doctors couldn’t figure out what it was. ”
“There’s nothing wrong with him,” I seethe. I won’t let her talk badly about him.
“Aww,” she mocks. “That’s so cute. The sad little puppy found her favorite toy.”
“Fuck you, Bianca. You are the definition of evil.”
“If anyone is evil…” She grinds her jaw. “It’s you! You were always after him. And didn’t waste any time fucking my husband after my death.”
“Some death it was.” I snorted a laugh. “Why did you tell Gian you were on the pill?” I remember that distinctly from the video recording. “Why would you be on the pill if you wanted a baby?”
“Because I lied to him.” She snaps her brows.
“You think I wanted to tell him the truth? That I wanted to get pregnant by him so that maybe he’d divorce that frigid Fernanda and marry me?
I wasn’t sure if he’d want that. When I got pregnant, I wanted to see what he’d say and, well… you know how that went.”
“Oh my God…” I whisper, my skin crawling with revulsion.
How could she do that?
“I mean, not like Raph was capable of giving me a child. So I wanted the next best thing. If I had Gian’s kid, he’d be stuck paying child support and alimony for the rest of his life. It was a win-win for me.” Her lips wind up.
“There’s something fucking wrong with you.” I blink rapidly, unable to believe she would go so low.
“I’m sorry you feel that way.” Her smile grows in a menacing kind of way, and my stomach drops.
There’s something else I have to ask, and it’s been killing me not to know. “Were you ever pregnant before the wedding like you told Raph?”
Her uncontrite laughter swells through the room. “Oh, you know, I almost forgot about that.” It takes her a few seconds to speak again. “No, I wasn’t pregnant at all.”
I knew it!
“He was breaking up with me all because of you,” she practically growls. “So I decided to think on my feet, and he married me, didn’t he?”
“This is sickening.” I look at her intensely and she stares just the same way at me. “How come you’re telling me all of this? Aren’t you afraid I’d tell Raph?”
“No…”
My heart drums.
Dread fills my gut.
“Because you see, little sis…” She fidgets with the chain around her wrist, and suddenly…she’s free.
“What the…” I gasp for air as the chain clanks against the floor.
I jump to my feet and back away while she reaches into her ankle, and when she faces me again, I realize she has a knife. Gradually, she starts to rise, stalking toward me with a vile grin. The blade glistens as she moves on me.
“Gian promised me he’d let me go and allow me to return to my old life if I did one eensy-weensy thing. One final fuck you to Raph.”
“A-and what’s that?” I back up into the wall, fear clogging my throat.
“All I have to do…is kill you.” She points the edge of the knife to my chest, her laughter springing to life, taking a form of its own.
She really hates me. She’d do anything for herself. It’s no wonder she and Gian were great together. They’re both selfish, egotistical psychopaths.
“Please don’t do this.” I shudder as she creeps closer, my body breaking into hives. “If Raph finds out you killed me, he’ll never take you back.”
I attempt to bring some sanity into her head, but it doesn’t seem to be working. She doesn’t even stop moving.
“But he won’t find out.” She waves the knife in the air. “The two men here have been instructed by Gian to take the fall. It’s all been arranged. Gian gets what he wants, and I get what I want.”
“You can’t do this!” I shout, my heart racing out of my throat.
I can’t die. Not after everything I’ve been through. Not after finally having Raph in my life. Now, we’ll have nothing.
“Any last words?” she taunts, only inches between us.
“Fuck you!”
“Suit yourself.”
She lunges at me, and the knife pierces my flesh.
RAPH
“I had no idea he was using this place,” Michael whispers from beside me as one of his men burns the metal lock keeping us away from where Nicolette may be.
An hour ago, we heard from Gio’s friend Grant, confirming the location of where Nicolette had last been seen.
He had suspected yesterday, but after further surveillance he sent us from the day she was taken, there is little doubt she is still in there.
I saw two men dragging a woman who was wearing her clothing inside, a black woven bag over her head.
I only hope she’s alive. No one will want to be around me if she isn’t. My fist curls at my side at the mere thought.
If she’s here, I’m going to find her and I’m going to bring her home to me. Where she belongs. Spending all this time apart made me realize I’d rather die than be without her. After I get her back, I’m going to marry her, and I hope like hell she says yes.
Focusing on the present, I take in the white van parked across from us while a single streetlight provides the sole illumination in the dead of night.
“It’s just like him to keep a place all to himself,” I tell my brother.
The building was one that Michael had intended on purchasing for the family business when he wanted to open one of our gambling clubs. But he passed on the opportunity for a better one. I guess my father decided to buy it for his own activities.
“Ready?” Michael asks us as the door opens with a squeak.
I clamp his shoulder. “She’s mine. I go in first.”
“Alright.” His mouth twitches, and he moves aside to let me pass.
With a nine in hand, and another at my waistband, I lead the way. As soon as I enter, I’m enclosed in darkness.
“Can’t see a fucking thing in here,” I mutter, and someone behind me puts on a flashlight.
It’s low enough for my eyes to adjust to the puddled concrete floors and steel poles accenting the large empty room.
Footsteps.
I still, pointing upstairs.
They follow as I climb the metal steps; we’re almost halfway there when a shout rings out. A man in a black ski mask greets us from the top with a curse, and before I can shoot him, he runs off.
“We’ve got company!” he yells to someone. “Call for reinforcements.”
“Fuck that.” I jump the rest of the way up, my weapon at the ready.
I don’t know how many of them are up there, but it doesn’t sound like a lot. If we can take them out first before they call for help, I can get Nicolette out of here safely.
When I round the corner, he’s there pointing his Glock at me. He fires off a bullet I easily dodge. Flickering lights hang from the ceiling, making it easier to see my surroundings.
“Where’s the girl?” I ask, shooting him in the upper thigh.
His screams erupt just as my brothers and the others join the fight, going after whoever else is helping him.
“Don’t kill me, man!” He raises both hands in the air. “The girls are right in there.” His arm jitters as he points to a door behind him.
Pressing my thumb on the trigger, I fire a quick bullet right into his forehead, killing him instantly.
Then I’m running, my legs moving so fast I make it to the door in what feels like seconds.
“Get off of me!” Nicolette shouts at someone, and all I register is laughter.
A woman’s laugh. Her fucking laugh.
My breath catches. Bianca’s going to die if she did something to Nicolette.
There’s a padlock on the door, and before I can hurry off and get the blowtorch, my brothers are already there, Michael handing it to me.
The metal dissolves within seconds, and I’m tearing the door open.
And that’s when I see Nicolette on the ground with Bianca pointing a knife right into her throat.
Both their eyes lock to mine.
“Drop the fucking knife, Bianca.” I aim the gun right at her.
“Raph,” she cries, instantly jumping to her feet. “Oh my God, baby, I’m so glad you’re here. This bitch was trying to kill me.”
Suddenly, tears appear in her eyes. She would’ve been some actress.
“I missed you so much,” she snivels and runs right into me, throwing her arms around my shoulders.
But I don’t return them.