23. Sicily #3
I coughed, my body feeling raw and used, even by her. “Go to hell, Fiorella.”
Her eyes lined with tears, but she didn’t seek anyone out other than the crazy, insane nutcase holding her like she was his lifeline to whatever shred of humanity remained. The way they clung to one another was sickening.
“Sicily,” Brenno said, holding my sister’s phone so I could see the screen. “Where is this?”
I narrowed my eyes at the blinking spot that had Bella’s nametag on it, but I felt them spring open again when the map showed me somewhere far too familiar. “She’s at Milan’s garage.”
“His what?” Brenno frowned.
“Exactly what I said.” I glared. “He fixes cars there.” I panted to get more air into my lungs as I spoke. “That’s where she is.”
What the hell was Milan thinking?
MILAN
“What were you thinking?” I snapped at Oratio as he thrust a bound, gagged, and bleeding Bella Fera toward me.
I caught her with my fingers covered in car oil, attempting not to malfunction or trip over several vehicle parts and wires as she cried, and Oratio laughed as though he was deranged.
“We couldn’t get close enough to the house, but she was leaving.” Oratio grinned, gesturing to the small woman. “I found her alone. I just took her before she got anywhere near all those guards. Say ‘thank you, Oratio’. Now you have leverage.”
Bella shivered in my hands, but it was not cold in the garage; the machinery made it too warm. I was simply lucky that all of my men had gone home, and they did not scare her worse.
I removed her gag, some old piece of graying fabric, instantly. “Are you all right?”
She shook her head, and I did not know what I had expected, but it made my chest hurt. She looked vulnerable and soft, a lot like my wife when Sicily allowed herself to be considered in such a way. These women were innocent, yet they were being treated as though they were not.
A breath escaped my lips as I removed her bindings, soothing the red gashes on her wrist bones. She did not run, and I could do nothing else but pull her into my chest to allow her to remember that I had a heart.
I turned to Oratio. “Go and find Adriano and Francesco. Tell them I am here and what you have done.” He nodded at my command, but I gripped his bicep before he could leave. “If anything happens to my wife because of this, you will be held responsible.”
Bella clung to the front of my shirt, exhaustion causing her to find rest in the arms of who she believed to be her enemy.
“I apologize, Bella,” I said honestly once Oratio had left. I guided her to a small bench, crouching to show that she was above me. “This was not supposed to happen. Nobody will harm you here.”
She nodded, but her tears would not stop. “I-I was going to an appointment.” She hiccupped, her fingers hiding inside her sleeves.
The relevance of this fact confused me, but I nodded to show that I was interested, that I cared.
“I was bleeding a little. Well, a lot.” Her sobbing began again, and my stomach began to hurt. “It’s kind of normal for me, I get stressed, and with Cesare being like he is… I didn’t tell them because—because they’d be so sad if I lost the baby, and I can’t do it again—”
She looked so young like this, clinging to my shirt as if I could fix what she had just said, as if I was capable of undoing what Oratio had done.
Bella was pregnant. Cesare’s child was there.
Something akin to the sensation of happiness and pride flashed in my chest, but the growing crimson wet patches on her jeans set the lightness into darkness once more.
“Take a deep breath,” I instructed calmly.
She did as she was told, and she struggled, but she eventually calmed.
“Good.” I squeezed her shoulder. “I will get our doctor to look after you. Francesco will stay with you; you know him, yes?”
She nodded, her sniffling decreasing.
“This is not your fault.” I was unsure of what a human in this scenario would need to hear, but Sicily had recently informed me that something I blamed myself for was not my fault, and this seemed appropriate in this scenario.
She wiped her eyes with her fingers as she whispered, “Sicily’s okay.
She was sleeping when I left.” She sighed into her wet sleeve.
“Cesare just wants you to destroy the contract. He’s terrified of having this looming over him when the baby’s born, and he wants Brenno to have a new start when he and Fiorella get married, and—”
“What?” I frowned, interrupting her rambling, my jaw gaping open uncomfortably.
“Oh.” She sniffled. “Yeah, they’re getting married. It’s exciting, right?”
No, it was not exciting. Fiorella Bianchi had betrayed me, but I did not care for that; I cared that she had betrayed my wife, that Sicily would experience significant sadness and loss over this.
Bella appeared to be a girl who people only showed their best side to, and I doubted that Brenno and Cesare would hurt my wife in front of her.
I also doubted that Fiorella would display her true character before her either, but now that she was gone and in my possession, my wife was fair game, and I had to save her before we lost.