Arranged love

I drive about forty-five minutes out of town. The sun has started to set, and I know that he did this on purpose. He’s had her and her mother for over five hours. He waited this late, knowing that we’d lose daylight. He wants the advantage of knowing the area. And who knows how many guys he has with him. He’s either cocky and has no one, or he has an army.

I turn my GPS off. It shows I have a little over two hundred feet left, but I don’t need it. I can see the lights from the limo ahead. I take a deep breath as I remove the gun from my shoulder holster. He’ll assume I’m carrying, and I want to show him that I’m not armed. I just want her back safe. He can do whatever he wants with me.

I come a stop and turn off my car, but leave my lights on, needing as much visibility as possible. We’ll lose light very soon.

“Where is she?” I ask, slamming the door shut.

He stands there with his arms crossed over his chest and legs spread wide. A guy I know by the name of Donatello stands next to him. I should have killed that fucker that night at the chapel. I take a quick look around. The limo is the only other car out here.

“Pat him down,” Rossi orders his man.

I yank on my shirt; the buttons go flying. I shove the shredded material off my shoulders and toss it to the dirt. Throwing up my hands, I turn in a circle so he can see I’m not packing. When I turn back to face him, I demand, “Where the fuck is she?”

He looks over at Donatello and nods.

He walks over to the limo and opens the back door. He bends down reaching inside and pulls her out. My chest tightens when I see her. She’s wearing a fitted white lace dress that looks like a wedding dress. Her wrists are duct taped behind her back and a piece is over her mouth. Her face has bruises on it and blood runs from her nose, over the tape and onto the once white dress. It’s dirty as though she’s rolled around in the dirt since she put it on.

“Haven …” I step toward her.

Rossi pulls his gun out and holds it up at me.

I stop and throw my hands up. “Let her go!” I shout.

“You know, you two are like Romeo and Juliet.” He muses with laughter. “And we both know what happened to them.”

“Let her go!” I scream at the top of my lungs.Upstodatee from Novel(D)ra/m/a.O(r)g

The smile drops off his face. All humor gone. He reaches over, grips her hair, and yanks her to him. She cries out behind the tape. He shoves her to her knees, yanking her head back, then places the gun to her temple.

“Stop! Stop!” He’s going to kill her and make me watch. He’ll kill me last. He may even let me live a few days after he throws her in the grave that separates us just to make me suffer. “What do you want?” I find myself asking even though I know the answer. I just need to keep him talking while I wait for my backup. They’re not far behind me.

“What I want is to shoot you dead, throw you in the grave, and then bury her alive with you!” he shouts. “What I want is for her to suffer for your family’s sins.”

“What sins?” I demand.

“You know, your father and I were friends once.”

“What the fuck does that matter?” I want to run to her, but I’ll let him waste time venting about the past.

“We worked together. Had plans to take over Las Vegas. But he took something from me. Something that could never be replaced.”

“What?” I ask, taking a quick look at Haven. Her eyes are closed, and tears run down her bloody and dirty face.

“She meant everything to me!” he shouts, getting angry all over again.

“Who was she?” I ask, not believing a damn word he says.

“Ava.”

“What?” I ask. That name makes my heart skip a beat. He must be mistaken.

“Ava,” he repeats, still holding the barrel to Haven’s temple. “I was in love with her. We had been sleeping together when your father took her from me.”

He was sleeping with my aunt? “I don’t understand …”

“Your uncle Marco … He was a conniving little bitch!” he screams. Shaking his head, he yanks Haven’s head back even farther, and she whimpers. “And now I’ll take a Bianchi …”

Just then, a light shines on all of us. When he takes the second to look over his shoulder, I pounce, running at him. My shoulder hits his chest, knocking all three of us to the ground. His gun falls to the dirt, and I pick it up, pointing it at Donatello running toward us and fire. He drops dead.

Then I punch Rossi in the face, knocking his ass out cold.

I hear car doors open and close. I ignore them, knowing they’re my backup, and storm over to Haven. I rip off the tape that covers her mouth.

“Luca-”

“You okay?” I ask, interrupting her. Gripping her face softly, I look over her bruises and busted lip. It’ll all heal. She’ll just need some rest and pain meds for a few days. “Does anything feel broken?”

“No,” she chokes out, shaking her head.

“Here.” I look up to see Titan come over to us. He kneels and cuts her bound wrists with his knife.

“Thank you,” she cries, rubbing them. “My mother …”

“Bones is helping her out of the limo,” Titan answers her.

We help her stand, and I push her into him. “Take them both to my car,” I say when Bones rounds the back of the limo with a crying Misty. She doesn’t have a scratch on her, though.

“No, Luca …”

I kiss her gently so I don’t hurt her busted lip. “It’s going to be fine. I promise you. We’re almost done.”

She nods, letting Titan guide them to my car and get them settled inside. Then he comes to stand next to me.

“Get him ready, Kings,” I order.