Page 31 of Winter Love

I understand what he’s saying. It comes down to protecting his family. And this is how he’s doing that. They tell the guys the plan and we all get back into the cars and head to the house. We park a few houses down, in front of a house that has a ‘for sale’ sign. We walk around it, acting like we’re looking at the house. And we slowly head to the house that Emma is being held in. We’re coming, baby.

Everything happened so fast, faster than I was prepared for. I made sure to follow Francesco, with Rhett and Carmelo behind me. Emma could be anywhere—in the basement, with two rooms, and a bathroom. Or the second floor with the master bedroom and bathroom. And then there’sthe main floor with three bedrooms and a bathroom.

Since we didn’t know where William and Richard would be, my brothers and I were sandwiched between the other guys. Luckily, William was in the living room watching TV. Enea and his team took him down quietly. Then Giacomo’s team went upstairs and our team went down to the basement.

The first room had a bed and dresser in it. But no Emma. The second room we opened, we saw Richard in the middle of getting undressed and my Emma tied to the bed. Francesco, Noah and Rhett took Richard down. And Salvatore helped me untie Emma.

“I knew you’d find me,” she sobs as she clings to me.

“I’d burn the world down to find you,” I whisper as I hold her.

“Let’s get her out of here, she needs to go to the hospital to be checked out,” Salvatore says quietly to me.

I pick Emmanuelle up and carry her out of the house.

“That bitch is mine! You won’t get away with this!” William yells at me.

“Be quiet, Willy.” Celestino smirks as he covers his mouth with duct tape.

Chapter Seventeen

Emmanuelle

The relief I felt when I saw Lukas is indescribable. I started crying and couldn’t stop until I was so stuffed up I couldn’t breathe. They insisted that I needed to go to the hospital and all my protesting didn’t work. When we got there, Felicity was waiting and then the crying started all over again. Then, I saw Rhett and Paxton running into the room and those damn emotions came flooding over me yet again. I was back with my family.

The doctor made me stay in the hospital for a few days. Which pissed me off, I just wanted to go home and be with my family. The Mancinis and Bastianinis are still here and now there’s more of them. I joked that they keep multiplying. And I know something is weighing on Lukas and I’ve tried to talk to him about it. All he says is that there’s something he needs to do and he’ll tell me all about it after. But right now he doesn’t know how to explain it.

I asked him if he was having second thoughts about us. And he said not even a little. This situation he’s dealing with isn’tabout me in that way. Which made me more confused. But I’m trying to give him the space he needs to work through it. And then he will talk to me. I know he will, there’s never been secrets between us.

Lukas

The day after we found Emmanuelle, Rónán and his brother Aodhán came to Wintervale. We had met Aodhán at my parents’ memorial. Rónán is a big guy and the anger that I feel coming off of him is real. But I can’t blame him in the least. Giacomo told us what happened to Luciana, and if that had happened to Emmanuelle? I don’t know that I could’ve gone through a trial like Rónán did. Knowing that that bastard was alive, even if he was in jail. They’re also still trying to find out how he got out. Richard got thirty-seven years in prison for what he did to Luciana. He was supposed to serve all of his sentence, then be sent back to England. As of now, they haven’t figured it out and he’s not talking. But today. Today I get to see both of them.

“I have to go out today. Please rest and let Lissy help you. I don’t want you going to the store to work.”

“Come on, baby. I’m going crazy here. I need to do something.”

“How about you and Lissy prep the popcorn? I wanted to make a huge batch for them to take back to Lake Renegade. All the flavors and at least ten bags of each.”

“That’s going to take days.” Emma sighs.

“Please.”

“Fiiiiine.” She frowns at me.

“I love you,” I say as I hold her tight.

“I love you too.”

I drive to the warehouse that the Cimaruta MC rented. From the outside, you can’t hear anything. But when I get inside, I hear voices. I follow them to a room where William is strapped to a chair. He looks a little scared and I can’t say that doesn’t make me happy. This is the man that hit Emma. Just because she wouldn’t cook him dinner.

“Oh good. Now we can start the fun part.” Sebastiano smiles.

“This is William?” I ask as I step into his view.

“This is Willy. Willy is a fucking coward. Willy has now pissed himself and we haven’t even started.” Noah smirks.

“How is it you can hit a woman, but when faced with a man, you piss your pants?” I ask him.

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