Total pages in book: 98
Estimated words: 95049 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 475(@200wpm)___ 380(@250wpm)___ 317(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 95049 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 475(@200wpm)___ 380(@250wpm)___ 317(@300wpm)
Her necklace shows her last location was here, but what if it’s wrong? What if it’s no longer on her and she’s been taken and I’m sitting here like a dumbass, waiting for—
“And the last, but certainly not least, woman up for sale is … Vanessa Russo.”
I suck in a harsh breath as my beautiful wife slowly walks toward me. I scrutinize every inch of her I can see, and there doesn’t appear to be any marks. Her eyes are filled with fear, but she seems to be lucid.
She’s dressed in see-through white lace lingerie that I would find stunning in a different circumstance.
Leysa talks more bullshit about Vanessa, and then the bidding begins. I’ve thought about how I would handle it. So I don’t call attention to myself, I let the other men bid. At one point, a bidding war breaks out between two men. I’m about to use my clicker to place my bid to ensure, if nothing else, I’m able to buy her when shots of fire ring out, followed by an explosion.
Everyone is unarmed, so they either run or hide, but my goal is to get to Vanessa. So, grabbing the chair, I throw it into the glass, praying it’s not bulletproof.
It shatters, and without waiting, I grab a shard of glass and jump through the open window.
I want to take Vanessa, but the only way we’re making it out is if I’m armed, so with the glass in my hand, I run straight for the guard in the corner. I stab him in the throat and then snatch the gun out of his hand. With blood spurting everywhere, he drops to the ground.
As I head toward Vanessa so I can get her the hell out of here, our eyes meet, and hers fill with fear. And then I remember my mask is on.
“Stop, please!” she begs when I hook my arm around her waist. “Please!” she screams, forcing me to cover her mouth with my hand, not wanting her to draw attention to us.
“Shh,” I murmur into her ear as I haul her through one of the doors. “I’ve got you.”
She sighs into my hold, and pointing the gun in front of us, I guide us out of this hellhole. I’m forced to shoot a couple of people on the way, but for the most part, by the time we make it outside, most of the men have been taken out.
When we make it into the bulletproof SUV, I take off my suit jacket so she can cover herself while Sal calls Matteo.
“What do we do?” I ask when he doesn’t answer.
“He said to leave if we couldn’t reach him.”
“Fuck. I knew he would say that.”
I want to argue, but I promised him that no matter what happened, the moment I got Vanessa to safety, we would leave with or without him.
43
Matteo
“Holy shit, it’s almost as if I’m looking at a ghost,” I say with a smirk as I step in front of the bitch who’s had me chasing her for years. “Oh, wait. You can’t be a ghost because you never died. Your sister, on the other hand …” I tsk. “Doesn’t loyalty mean anything to you?” I cock my head to the side as I press my gun to her forehead.
“Fuck you!” Leysa shrieks. “I had to do what was necessary. And this shit …” She juts her chin out. “Years of leading up to this moment … and you fucked it all up! Nobody is going to take me seriously after this,” she cries. “My reputation is ruined. Everything I did to save my grandfather’s legacy.”
Actual tears fill her eyes, and for a moment, I almost feel bad for this bitch because it’s clear she’s not all there. Andrey, my piece-of-shit sperm donor, did a number on me and my siblings, so I can imagine the shit her grandfather filled her head with.
But then I remember everything she’s done, and the fuck I almost gave flies out the window.
“You fucked with my family!” I bark, shoving her against the wall. “You fucked with my wife.”
“You started it,” she hisses. “You killed my grandfather.”
“Actually, that was my brother,” I correct. “But I will take the responsibility for killing you.”
Her eyes go wide, and as I step back and aim my gun at the center of her forehead, I keep my eyes locked with hers.
Leysa glances around, hoping for one of her men to save her, but nobody will be coming because they’re all dead. My men took every one of them out.
“Don’t worry,” I say with a smirk as the bullet pierces her skull. “Nobody in hell will give a shit about your reputation.”
As she slides onto the floor, I pull my phone out of my pocket and call Lorenzo to make sure he has Vanessa.