Page 62 of Entangled
It was the first time I could remember anything at all. Whether from the pain, or the cause of a drug they were slipping me, every time I woke up in this hell hole it felt like it was the first time. And as soon as I began to piece together what had happened, they’d subdue me again and start the process all over.
“It’s a good thing you can’t talk, because I’m here to tell you what’s going to happen, and you’re going to listen.”
Dread filled my gut, because nothing about what he said, or my current situation, sounded good. I slowly began to grasp and accept the fact that this time, I may not make it out of here.
“You and your precious little boyfriend killed my only son, and now I don’t have an heir to take up the family business after me,” he practically growled, getting directly in my face. He was so close that I felt beads of spit hit my cheeks, and I tried not to dry heave at how rotten his breath smelled.
“So I figured an eye for an eye as the old saying goes,” he explained. “Since your boyfriend killed my pride and joy, I’m going to kill his.”
A single tear left my eye, and that’s all I would allow myself to give to Vincent Peirano. It’s all the weakness I would allow him to see.
Unfortunately for him, being the daughter of a Mafia boss, I had come to peace with death a long time ago, knowing there was a strong possibility that I would die at the hand of my husband. Death had become an old friend to me, and if it meant I got to see my father again, then maybe it wouldn’t be so bad.
That’s what I pictured in my mind as I heard one of Vincent’s men cock his gun, the warehouse so quiet I swear I could hear the bullet slide into the chamber.
After all that he’d put me through, a quick death by a bullet through my skull felt like a blessing.
I pictured every single happy memory I’d ever had with my father. The way he’d make me laugh so hard it hurt, and how he taught me to ride a bike, and when I would bring home my math homework, and we’d both be sitting at the kitchen table, having absolutely no idea what we were doing, but getting through it together anyway.
And even though I hated that I let him consume my thoughts, flashes of Kade went through as well: the way he smiled, and the look of concentration on his face when he read a book, and how he would put a bullet into anyone without blinking an eye, but would never lay a hand on me unless I wanted him to.
I felt weak that he still had the ability to enter my thoughts so freely.
The gunshot rang out, almost deafening as it bounced off the walls, but the pain never came. It took me a moment once I opened my eyes to realize that the man who had held a gun to my head was now slumped on the floor, dead.
“Vincent, I suggest you take the rest of your men and leave, unless you’d rather end up like your buddy there,” Finn said with a deadly calm. If I didn’t know how he was behind closed doors, I may have been afraid of him. The temper he inherited from his father was one of legend.
“Your brother killed my son, so it’s only fair,” Vincent snarled, looking every bit like the weasel he was. “She’s not leaving here unless it’s in a body bag.”
Another gunshot rang out, and Vincent grabbed his thigh as blood pooled from a bullet wound, courtesy of the man of the hour himself.
“For fuck sakes Kade! I told you to stay in the car!” Finn yelled over his shoulder, clearly not a fan of his brother’s negotiation tactics.
“I’d do it again too,” Kade said directly to Vincent, and I knew he didn’t just mean the bullet in his leg. “Now let her go, or the next one goes in your skull.”
I watched him ponder it in his mind, as if he was actually thinking he had a choice in the matter, before nodding to his men so they’d lower their weapons.
“You think you may have won, Kade Luchetti, but the fun is just beginning,” Vincent spoke as his men practically carried him towards their own SUV, promise lacing every word. Kade’s men kept their guns trained on Vincent and his men, and I didn’t blame them. The man was a snake and just because he seemed to be raising the white flag now meant nothing. He didn’t kidnap and torture me just to give up so easily.
Kade ran over to me, and relief exploded in my chest at the sight of him. But with it came doubt, and the realization that when I left his house, I was leaving town for good, and he had done nothing to try to stop me.
“You ok?” he asked as he gently ripped the duct tape from my mouth, and Finn worked to cut the zip ties.
“I will be,” I replied with a tight-lipped smile, hoping he couldn’t see the thoughts currently swirling around in my brain.
“Let’s get you out of here,” he said, wrapping an arm around me and gently walking me out of the warehouse and into a waiting SUV.
“Look out!” A voice yelled from behind us. Kade pushed me out of the way just soon enough to avoid a blacked out SUV speeding towards us, and bullets ricochet off of the glass with ease. I cowered on the ground, covering myself with my arms and praying for the madness that was my life to just end already.
The gunshots ceased, and I slowly looked up to make sure it was safe. A dozen of Kade’s men surrounded us but thankfully none of them looked to be injured.
“The fuck was that?” Kade roared, jumping up into a standing position from where he was hunched over me.
“That was Vincent Peirano sir,” one of the guards I wasn’t familiar with said. “It looks like he’s gotten away.”
A chill went down my spine colder than the arctic thinking back to Vincent’s promise of this being only the beginning. And now that he had escaped instead of being captured and held prisoner by Kade’s men, that promise felt even more real and deadly.
I had never been sograteful for fresh clothes and a shower in my entire life. I’m also certain I’ve never taken such a long shower, working to get the blood and dirt out of my hair.
