Chapter 15

Chapter Fifteen

LUCA

I can hear the men in the room with her, and I grip my gun tighter. As much as I want to take aim and kill them both, I need to do this as quietly as possible. Marco is on his way down here, and there are a dozen men on the property. Renzo Benecci is dead, and there’s no one that’s going to stop Marco from taking command. If he somehow alerts them that I’ve turned against him, then it could put Nolia in danger.

Deciding that I can’t use my gun, I tuck it behind my back. I watch the men from a hidden door that leads to the room of horrors. When one of them shoves Nolia toward the bed and tells her to take off her clothes, rage explodes inside of me.

My hands are shaking with barely controlled anger as I silently slide open the door and move behind them. Nolia doesn’t see me yet; she’s too busy staring at the mattresses in front of her as I make my way to the table. The first thing I grab is a dirty butcher knife and grip it tightly. Then I reach for the hammer with my other hand, and a calm settles over me.

The two guards have guns, but the one talking to Nolia passes his to the other one. Deciding to keep the noise to a minimum, I turn to the one holding the guns and make my move.

Nolia’s gasp of surprise is the only sound in the room when I bring the hammer down on top of the guard's skull. There’s a sickening crack before he collapses to the ground and blood pours out of his head.

“What the?—”

The second guard doesn't get a chance to finish his sentence before I whip my hand across his neck and slice it open. There’s a gurgling noise as he reaches for his neck and then slumps to the floor. I step over his body as I drop the knife, and then Nolia and I are crashing into each other.

“Luca,” Nolia sobs as I squeeze her impossibly close.

“Are you all right?” I do a quick check, but she’s already nodding.

“Yes, I’m okay. Listen, we have to warn Pru and Vitaly. My father?—”

“I know, I’ve told them. They’re safe.” I’m not sure if that’s a lie, but it’s what I hope is true. “Let’s get out of here and we can talk.”

“Why would you leave when all the fun is about to begin?” Marco’s voice comes from behind me, and I turn to see him standing in the entrance of the basement with a gun pointed at me. “I should have known I couldn’t trust you.” He shakes his head in disgust. “You were never one of us.”

“And I never will be.” I push Nolia behind me as I use my body to shield her. “Vitaly will send his army in here.” I nod to Renzo’s body tied to the chair. “You don’t have enough of his men left to protect you.”

“They’ll never breach the walls,” he scoffs, like it’s a ridiculous thought.

“You don’t think his wife told him how to sneak in undetected?” I say, and Marco’s eyes narrow. “You and Renzo never figured out how Pru was able to escape, did you?” Nolia’s fingers tighten on my back, but Marco doesn’t know she was the one that helped Pru sneak out in the trunk of her car. All I need to do is make Marco believe that there’s a way in and out of here that he doesn’t know about. That it’s likely Pru knows of a secret entrance and Vitaly is going to use it to enter this fortress.

Marco’s brows furrow as he begins to calculate this scenario he didn’t plan for. “It doesn't matter,” he says, but it’s clear he’s worried.

“Are you willing to bet your life on it?” I look over at Renzo. “You saw what he did to the last man that disrespected his wife. What do you think he will do to the man who tried to rape and torture her sister?” Nolia might not be related by blood to Pru, but there is no stronger bond than the one they share.

Marco tightens the grip on his gun and aims it at me. From this distance, I’m too far to rush him before he could get a shot off.

He opens his mouth as his finger squeezes the trigger, but then there’s a sound from somewhere behind him. At the last second, he turns his head, and the gun lowers. It’s my only chance to take him out, so while he’s distracted, I bend down and grab the butcher’s knife from where I dropped it.

I throw myself at him, and the weight of my impact causes him to drop the gun. We fall to the floor, but I’m stronger and quickly pin him to the ground. In the distance, Nolia tries to muffle her cries as I plunge the knife into his chest. Marco’s mouth opens in a silent scream, but there’s no sound before his eyes roll back. With one last twist of the blade, the last breath leaves him, and I grab the gun next to him.

“We have to go,” I tell Nolia as I hold out a hand to her. She looks at it, and that’s when I see the blood. Before I can wipe it off, she grabs my hand with hers and I’m pulling her behind me through the secret door. “Stay close to me,” I order as I pass her the extra gun. “Keep this but don’t shoot it unless we have to.”

“Okay,” she says, and her voice is strong. That’s my brave girl.

“There’s a car in the garage,” I whisper when we go through the back entrance to the first floor of the house. There’s another door that’s hidden, and it leads through the upstairs kitchen. “We can go through the kitchen and get out that way.”

“But what about all the guards?” Nolia asks when she peeks out and sees one pass by.

“Can you play along?” I ask and she looks confused before nodding her head. “All right then, come along, prisoner.”

Her eyes widen as I push open the door and grab her upper arm. “What are you doing?” she hisses.

I move my body so the gun she’s holding is behind her back while I keep my gun at my side like I’m using it to guard her. “Be quiet or I’ll show you what your mouth is good for,” I say a little too loudly, and Nolia blinks up at me.

“Hey!” The guard that’s patrolling the hallway stops in front of us and looks us over. “I thought she was supposed to be in the basement.” He narrows his eyes on me. “And you were supposed to be locked up?”

“Marco had a change of plans. He wants to take her to the party room,” I say, and the guard instantly relaxes.

He looks Nolia up and down with a sick grin and all thoughts of me being locked up float away. “All right. So we’re partying tonight?” he asks, still keeping his eyes on Nolia.

“Yes. Marco wants me to tell everyone to meet there now. He’s having the usual party supplies brought in.”

“Excellent. I’ll make the call.” The guard licks his lips and smiles at Nolia. “And I’ll see you there.”

He takes off in the direction of the party room, and Nolia lets out a breath I didn’t realize she was holding. “I wish I could kill them all with my bare hands,” I say.

“We can’t just leave,” she says as I pull her into the empty kitchen and open the back door.

“I have to make sure you’re safe. Then I’ll deal with everyone else.” I’m not going to argue this point with her. We are running out of time before someone notices we’re gone.

“Wait.” She pulls on my arm and points to the stove in the kitchen. “Isn’t that gas?”

I look at the cooktop, and understanding dawns on me. “That could work,” I say, and we hurry to it. “But we’ll have to break the gas line. If someone smells it too soon, they could turn off the burners.” Tugging the stove away from the wall, I see the gas line feeding to it. “Back up.”

When Nolia is behind me I raise my leg up and then drop my boot down on top of the gas line. When it snaps in half, the scent of gas begins to fill the room, and I go over to the microwave.

Grabbing a handful of metal forks from the drawer next to it, I toss them inside and set the microwave for five minutes. It won’t be enough of an explosion to burn the entire estate down, but it will create a distraction, and that’s what we need to escape.

“Let’s get out of here,” I say. I grab the keys next to the door, and we rush out to the garage.

We climb into the truck that’s normally used for deliveries, and I hit the button for the garage door. When it opens and I pull out, I can see a few guards in the distance heading for the party room. We don’t have much time now.

Up ahead, the gate is open, and at first I’m surprised there’s no one there manning it. That’s when I see the row of black SUVs on the other side and Vitaly standing in front of them shooting the guard.

When the guard falls to the ground, Vitaly turns his weapon on our truck. Then he sees it’s me, and relief floods his face. He comes over to the side of the truck, but before he can say anything, the explosion happens.

It’s much louder than I imagined it would be, and Vitaly’s expression changes to one of delight. “That’s your handiwork, I take it?”

“Is Pru okay?” Nolia asks, and Vitaly nods.

“She’s fine. And so is your father.” Nolia sags with relief, and I feel the same. “Get Nolia back to my house,” Vitaly says and then nods in the direction of the estate. “We’ll take care of this.”

I’m torn between staying and fighting with him and getting Nolia to safety. As if he can understand my dilemma, he pats me on the arm.

“Several of the other houses have joined to take this place down. They were eager to put an end to what Renzo and Marco created. Don’t worry, we’ve got this.”

“You’re sure?” I ask him, and he nods.

With his assurance I drive out of the gates and see the rows of people waiting to get in. Reaching over, I pull Nolia against my side and kiss the top of her head.

“It’s over,” I say and hold her a little tighter. “We made it, amore .”