Total pages in book: 83
Estimated words: 80550 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 403(@200wpm)___ 322(@250wpm)___ 269(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 80550 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 403(@200wpm)___ 322(@250wpm)___ 269(@300wpm)
And my wife is gone.
“FUCK!” I yell out loud, falling to my knees in horror as Lucio stole my wife right underneath my nose.
Why didn’t she fucking stay away when I told her to?
Why would she come back for me?
I rush toward my own car, where Franco lies motionless on the muddy ground in a pool of his own blood. I go to my knees and rip up my own shirt, so I can wrap it around him and stop the bleeding.
“I’m sorry, sir. I’m so sorry.”
He hiccups blood and spits it out.
He keeps saying it over and over again like it’s going to help.
“Don’t waste your breath on apologizing.”
“She stole my gun,” he says.
My brows draw together. “What, why?”
“She didn’t want to leave, not without you. She was afraid you’d die. And I swear she would have killed me if I didn’t do what she asked. I’m sorry,” he says.
I swallow and tighten the knot to secure the fabric around his wound. “We gotta get you to a hospital, fast.”
One of my men runs up to me. “There’s a ton of dead. What do we do, sir?”
“Call the clinic, and have them bring their off-site personnel to take care of our wounded. I don’t care about the cost, just make it happen,” I respond. “Then gather everyone and empty the gun vault. Arm everyone. We’re taking whatever cars we’ve got left.”
“Yes, sir, he says, and he runs off again, pulling out his phone to make some calls, while I focus on Franco.
“I tried to protect her, sir,” he says. “But I didn’t want to die. And I’m pretty sure she would have shot me if I didn’t listen to her.”
I shake my head. “Yep, that sounds like my wife, alright.”
“What do we do?” He coughs up more blood.
“You? Nothing. You wait here until the clinic comes to help you, and they’ll get you patched up.”
He grabs my arm. “You have to save her.”
Even though he didn’t listen to my commands, and he should be reprimanded, I can’t help but feel guilty because he’s been wounded in a battle I wanted to keep him and my wife away from. This was my mess to deal with, and I involved the two of them because I couldn't let go of a grudge, and now they’re the ones who paid the price.
He squeezes me. “Leave me. Go get her.”
I nod. “Don’t die on me.”
He shakes his head. “I won’t. I swear on it.”
“You’d better keep that promise.”
I get up and walk to the back of the car. Opening the trunk, I grab a bunch of leftover guns that I gave Franco in a case of emergency. I couldn’t let him drive off with my wife in there without a contingency plan.
I’m not gonna let Lucio run away with Stella and do fuck-knows to her. I’ll fucking follow him into the depths of hell if need be, and get back my wife.
STELLA
I kick the car doors as hard as I can to try to escape.
“Settle down,” one of Lucio’s men barks at me, swatting with his free hand while trying to drive with the other.
My hands and feet have been zip-tied, and I can’t fucking move, but that won’t stop me from trying to free myself.
Lucio is right there in the passenger’s seat, and when I get out of these restraints, I’m going to wrap them around his neck and choke him myself, that bastard.
“You’ve evaded me long enough, Stella,” Lucio tells me. “Do you know what it cost me? I can’t even wield a gun in my good hand anymore, let alone my own damn cock,” he says. “I have to use my left hand now, and it fucking sucks.”
“I don’t fucking care!” I shout back.
He strikes me right in the face, and it makes me gasp in shock.
He hit me. He actually hit me, just like he did back when I was still his fiancée.
I’d almost forgotten what it was like to be mistreated like that.
Almost.
“You should learn to keep your filthy mouth shut when a man is talking.”
Bastard.
“Fuck you,” I spit.
“When we’re home, we will get reacquainted with each other’s bodies, don’t you worry.”
Fuck. Just the thought of him having his way with me just so he can get his hands on my father’s money makes bile rise in my throat, but I won’t allow myself to become a victim a second time.
“Over my dead body,” I yell, kicking away at the car. “Let me go!”
“Yeah, you’d like that, wouldn’t you?” He chuckles. “So you can run back to your shit-faced husband.”
“You will never be even half the man Matteo is, you absolute piece of shit,” I say, and I spit at him.
“That’s it,” Lucio growls, and he grabs something from the glove box.
“What’s that?”
He holds up a needle, and my eyes widen, adrenaline and pure panic flooding my veins.