Page 80 of The Mafia's Surprise Gift

He released me, only to drag me off the counter by my hair and throw me to the ground. I landed with a thump and a croaking cry. Then his fist collided with my face, and darkness consumed me.

Darkness that smothered me in heat. I was suffocating, burning alive in my own pain.

“Mom!”

I couldn’t let it end like this. Not like this.

“Mom!”

Not my son.

Zack’s terrified screams finally dragged me out of my brief slumber. Weak, I pushed up onto my arms and glanced blearily around the destroyed kitchen, then out into the hall where Zack was fighting for his life while held under the arm of another stranger.

“Zack—” Blood poured out of my mouth. My hands slipped against the floor, and when I glanced down, there was blood all over the floor. My legs weren’t obeying even as I fought to get onto my hands and knees.

“Zack!”

My attacker finally heard me, and he turned to face me, then he crouched down to my level and roughly grabbed my chin.

“I’ll kill you,” I spat, drooling blood down my chin.

He merely laughed.

“Rocc–Rocco will kill you. He—he will hunt–t you d–down and kill you…”

“Oh, my lady,” the stranger sighed and clicked his tongue against his teeth as Zack’s screams grew distant. “I am counting on it.”

The last thing I saw was the sole of his boot coming down onto my face.

34

ROCCO

Each slow, sharp beep from the heart monitor connected to Mae was like a small dagger piercing into my heart.

I was too late.

Too slow.

By the time Jian and I reached her home, the damage was done. Dino was an unconscious, bloody mess, discarded in the front garden like he was nothing other than a bag of garbage. Mae was unconscious in the kitchen, beaten and bloody. Zack was nowhere to be found.

My world had narrowed to a small, intense needlepoint of rage, and nothing else had mattered other than getting my best friend and the love of my life to the hospital. Then, every available man—including those who survived the assault on Mae’s home—was placed on high alert to track down my son.

There’d been no ransom call. Vito had contacted the Pakhan, who offered to send his own men to help, but I refused. I wasn’t sure I could hold back on any Russian man I saw.

These excruciating moments of waiting for someone to do something were the worst. I needed just the barest hint of movement, the slightest suggestion that someone had information on Zack. Then I would unleash hell.

“Sir?” A soft, female voice pulled me from my thoughts. My gaze snapped from Mae’s unconscious face to the nurse peeking her head in through the door. “Your friend is awake.”

Dino.

I reached his room in record time, leaving Jian outside Mae’s room, and true to Dino’s nature, he was fighting to get out of bed.

“Dino.”

“Rocco!”

I rushed forward and gently placed one hand on his shoulder, easing him back down. “Be careful. You have to rest.”

---