Wrath (Part II): A Mafia Romance (Esposito Series Book 2) Read online

  WrathPart II

  Wrath

  Part II

  Fariah Zaidi

  Copyright © 2020 Fariah Zaidi

  All rights reserved. No part of this text may be reproduced, distributed or transmitted in any form or by means including photocopying, recording or other electronic or mechanical methods without the prior written permission of the publisher or author except in case of brief quotations embodied in critical reviews and certain other non-commercial uses permitted by copyright law.

  ISBN: 9798602152210

  First printed in 2020

  Cover artist: Shreya Tiwari

  For enquiries, contact:

  [email protected]

  For my grandmother, the most badass woman

  I’ll ever know.

  Contents

  Prologue: Tied

  One: Punch

  Two: Gunshots

  Three: Tears

  Four: Feelings

  Five: Chinese

  Six: Orchids

  Seven: Kiss

  Eight: Green

  Nine: Pleasure

  Ten: Rafael

  Eleven: Pulse

  Thirteen: Crash

  Fourteen: Taken

  Fifteen: Plane

  Sixteen: Rise

  Seventeen: Knife

  Eighteen: Blast

  Nineteen: Lose

  Twenty: Wedding

  Twenty-One: War

  Twenty Two: Return

  Twenty Three: Revenge

  Prologue:

  Tied

  Zara

  “Who are you?”

  My voice trembled against the cold barrel pressed to my temple.

  The man removed his gun from Ria’s head and moved towards me. I took a good look at him- his blond hair was slicked back from his face, his nose was slightly crooked and judging by the sagging skin around his neck, he was pushing sixty.

  “The name is Carl. Carl Hanson.” he grinned through his teeth, “And I have been asked to escort you somewhere.”

  “Let me guess,” I spoke, my voice laced with disgust, “Valentin sent you.”

  His smile widened.

  He moved until he was just a couple inches away from my face. I wanted to turn away when he reached out to trace his finger against my cheek and then down to my neck.

  “I understand now why he is obsessed with you.” his voice was filled with a fascination that made my skin crawl, “You really are beautiful. It would be hard not to fall in love.”

  “In love?” I let out a humorless laugh, “He raped me, abused me and killed my parents right in front of my eyes. We have starkly different definitions of love.”

  “And what is your definition, Zara? Candlelit dinners and sunsets at the beach?” he mocked, “God, women. So bland, so stupid.”

  “You are getting on my last nerve, Johnny Bravo.”

  Somewhere behind me, I heard one of his men snicker. But they were quickly shut down by a glare from Carl. My eyes were then drawn to Ria, who was standing behind him. Instead of the smile I was expecting for my reference to the cartoon character, I saw that her face was masked in fear.

  “Do not engage him, Zara.” she said, shaking her head, her voice trembling, “He’s only trying to mess with you.”

  Carl whirled around, pointing his gun at her, “I’ll get with you in a minute. We have a lot to talk about, bambola.”

  At the word ‘bambola’, my eyes widened when I saw Ria’s feet almost buckle beneath her.

  “Do you know him?” I asked.

  I watched her close her eyes and take a deep breath before opening them. And I realized this is exactly what I did when I was trying to muster up courage through my pain. She gulped before answering my question.

  “He’s the man who ruined my life.”

  One:

  Punch

  Stefan

  I wiped the sweat off my face and slumped down on the mattress, reaching for the bottle of water.

  “Tired already?”

  My eyes met Rafael’s, who stood over me with a mocking smile.

  “Go to hell.” I muttered, before gulping down the water. He and I had been sparring for the past three hours. He was the only one who could put up a good fight. The bastard knew this well and was damn cocky about it.

  I screwed the cap back on and got up, standing in position with my fists raised in front of me.

  “I can do this all day.” I panted.

  “Calm down, Captain America.” he quipped, throwing his own bottle to the side.

  “So,” he began, dodging my punch by weaving right, “are you going to tell me what happened between you and Zara?”

  “No.” I hissed, getting him in the abdomen. He groaned and leaned forward, clutching his stomach, “Fuck.”

  My victory was short-lived when he swiped his leg against mine, making me land butt first on the mattress.

  The entire week, he had been trying to get an answer to this question- in the office, at home, over meals. But this is the first time he's asking me in the ring. And judging by those hits, he might get his answer today.

  “What did you do Stefan?” he asked again, his tone demanding. Annoyed at his pestering, I twisted my body to the right and gripped him in a headlock in one quick motion.

  “Shut the fuck up.” I hissed in his ear.

  His elbow rammed into my ribs making me curse and pull back. The next second, he twisted my arm behind me and pushed his knee into my back, making me fall on my knees.

  “Last chance, Stefan.” he gritted in my ear, twisting my arm even harder, “What did you do to her?”

  I winced in pain and tried to twist free, but he only tightened his grip.

  “Fine, I'll tell you.” I groaned, slapping the mattress with my palm. He finally let go of me and I relaxed, slumping forward on both my arms. I had no choice but to tell him.

  “I said some things to her- things that I shouldn't have, and I deeply regret.” I began, turning towards him.

  “What did you say?” he asked, sitting down next to me and handing me a towel.

  “We had an argument and I told her that she is a debt to me. And I also accused her of flirting with you after which I called her a whore.” I finished in one deep breath.

  I didn't even see the punch coming.

  Rafael's fist landed right on my jaw, so hard that I was reeling back. A string of colorful curses left my mouth and I clutched my face, groaning in pain.

  “Asshole.” he cursed at me, “Why the fuck would you say that to her?”

  I didn’t even try to hit him back because I absolutely deserved that.

  “Because I thought it was true.” I defended myself weakly, “You were going to watch movies with her and getting her dinner. What was I supposed to think?”

  “Instead of calling her a degrading name, you could have cleared your doubts. You could’ve talked to her.” Rafael yelled, “And do you really think I would do something like this? She’s like my sister, you dick.”

  Ashamed, I hung my head low, trying to nurse my hurting jaw. Whatever guilt and regret I’d been feeling increased tenfold, making me feel worse by the second.

  “Look,” he sighed, “it’s obvious that you two like each other. What the hell compelled you to fuck it up?”

  I chewed my lip, finally deciding to tell him the whole story. I started from the morning when I woke up next to Zara, then what happened with Leo down in the basement later that day, how his comments pushed me over the edge and then finally about all that I said and did to Zara.

  “So let me get this straight,” Rafael said after I finished, “yo
u woke up that morning feeling very much in love, then you let a douchebag like Leo get on your nerves, following which you lashed out at Zara and then finally called her a whore when you were the one hooking up with Kandi.”

  “I did not sleep with Kandi, just kissed her.” I hissed, speaking through the pain, “I just wanted my feelings for Zara to be gone and she just happened to call that day. It was probably not a good decision.”

  “Probably?” he mocked, “Please tell me that Zara stood up for herself.”

  “Boy, she did.” I laughed lightly, remembering the fire in her eyes when she came barging through my door, “She said and I quote ‘If anyone’s whoring around, it’s not me, it you.’”

  He seemed extremely pleased with the answer judging by the smile on his face.

  “That’s not all.” I sighed.

  “What else did she say?” he asked, as we started making our way out the gym.

  “She confessed that I was the first person that she opened up to in a long time, the first person that she allowed to touch her. She made it clear that she has feelings for me and I went ahead and fucked everything up.”

  “That you did.” he shook his head.

  “What do I do now?” I threw my hands up in defeat.

  “Talk to her, apologize and clear things out.” he enunciates each word as if I’m dumb. I nodded, trying not to punch this clown in the face, “I’ll talk to her tonight.”

  “You can't tonight.” he said suddenly, “We're all going out for dinner.”

  “What?” I asked, “Why?”

  He just shrugged, “Ria thought it would be a good idea to get her out of the house. She has been miserable the entire week.”

  Concern for their safety rose in my mind but I willed myself not to stop them from going. Even though I had full faith that Rafael will do his best to keep them out of harm’s way, I’ll send extra security just to put myself at ease.

  Hours after Rafael, Zara, Vincent and Ria left, I was sitting with my laptop in the living room with a huge cup of coffee, trying to distract myself by finishing up some work.

  A rather persistent feeling of uneasiness began clawing at my mind. I was suddenly restless.

  So I picked up my phone, intent on calling Rafael and finding out where they were, and when they were reaching home. Before I could dial, however, his name lit up my screen and I answered, holding the phone to my ear.

  “Where are-”

  “Stefan, thank God.” I was cut off by a panicked Rafael, “We got ambushed.”

  “What?” I sprang up from my seat, “Where are you?”

  “We were at The Gemini.” he panted, “They used tranquilizers on us, those assholes. Vincent’s out cold, so are the bodyguards. The security outside has been shot dead.”

  “And the girls?” I asked, my heart racing.

  “They were taken.” he replied after a paused moment of silence, “I’m so sorry, Stefan.”

  “Where are you?”

  “I’m still here. The restaurant is empty now.”

  “I’m on my way.”

  Slipping the phone in my pocket, I made my way towards the front door, almost colliding with Enzo in the hall.

  “Rafael and the others got ambushed.” I informed him in hurried words, “We need to get there now.”

  He nodded, following me to the garage without a single word. Fishing out the keys of the SUV from his pocket, Enzo opened the door and got in. I copied his moves, settling down the passenger seat.

  As we pulled on to the street, I called Rafael again. He picked after the third ring.

  “Hey, how’s Vincent?” I asked, nervously tapping my fingers on my thigh.

  “Alive but still unconscious.” he answered.

  “How come you didn’t get shot?”

  “I dove behind a table in the corner.” he answered, “Vincent was trying to cross the room to get to Ria and Zara in the bathroom.”

  “What the fuck actually happened?” Enzo asked, maneuvering through the traffic.

  Rafael sighed deeply. The noise in the background indicated that he was pacing around.

  “We were in the middle of dessert when the lights suddenly went out. And then there were gunshots. The other diners hightailed it out the doors. Before we could do anything, they were shooting tranquilizers at us.”

  There was a rattling noise behind him, as if he just kicked something out of frustration.

  “I mean, I am good but there is no way I would’ve been able to handle those men on my own.” he went on, “I don’t know why, but I feel like they purposely left me unharmed.”

  “What do you mean?” I enquired.

  “I mean that one of them saw me diving behind the table. He had the gun pointed at me, but he moved away at the last second.”

  Now I was confused. I hung up the call and rubbed my face, sighing deeply. What the hell was happening?

  It took us about fifteen more minutes to reach the restaurant. It was quite the scene. People were milling about, trying to catch a glimpse over the barricade that the police had set up. The SUVs used by my security had their windows shattered.

  Officer Ford’s eyes met mine and he began making his way towards me.

  “Alright,” he spoke in a low voice, “I’ve got five dead bodies and eight unconscious men. You wanna tell me what the hell is going on, Esposito?”

  “You know I can’t.” I shook my head, “But right now, I have something very important to handle, so I need you to clear out this crowd.”

  “I’ll take care of it.” he waved his hand, ushering me to go in, “Go ahead.”

  Officer Jeremy Ford was my friend from the NYPD. It was important to have one to help me clear any evidence and be one step ahead if the police were planning something against me. Ford came to me when his son had been kidnapped by a small-time gang and in return agreed to bury a particularly incriminating picture of Vincent in a drug deal.

  My eyes landed on Vincent the moment I entered the restaurant. He was sprawled on the floor with a disheveled looking Rafael bent over him.

  “Is he finally dead?” I asked with a small smirk.

  “Hah, you wish.”

  Vincent rolled his head towards me. His speech was slightly slurred as he tried to stand up on his feet with Rafael’s help.

  “Enzo, start combing through the security footage and find out which way they went.”

  “You don’t have to do that.” Vincent cut in, reaching for a jug of water.

  “And why is that?”

  “Because I put a tiny tracker on Ria.” he answered, before chugging down the water in big gulps.

  “Hold on,” Rafael spoke up, “you put a tracking device on your girlfriend’s dress?”

  “In her bra, to be exact.” Vincent replied, “But the details aren’t as important as the fact that we can track the girls and find out where they were taken.”

  “Let’s go then, gentlemen.” I clapped my hands, “I’ll call for backup.”

  Two:

  Gunshots

  Zara

  Ria and I were pushed into a couple of chairs and our hands and feet were then tied down. I was on the lookout for Carl, who seemed to have disappeared somewhere with a phone pressed to his ear, talking excitedly.

  I took a good look around. We were in a warehouse of some kind, an old one at that. Gaps in the roof were visible, the moonlight peering through them to illuminate the hundreds of crates and drums that had been pushed into all corners.

  I turned to my left, where Ria had been tied up. She looked in shock, staring in the distance with her eyes wide. I could see her fingers and shoulders shaking.

  “Ria? Ria, look at me.” I called her.

  And when she turned to me, I froze. The fear and anguish on her face made me want to reach out to her.

  “I c-can’t do this again, Zara.” she stammered, “He-he will do things to m-me… I can’t Zara…”

  My heart broke in the moment. Her agonized tone alone made my eyes well up wi
th tears.

  “It’s okay, Ria. I won’t let him do anything to you.”

  Even as those words left my mouth, I knew there was no truth to them. There was no way I would be able to do anything if Carl attempts to hurt her. There were people here twice my size and armed with weapons, whereas I only had a week of training and my bra knife.

  The devil in question walked back in, his face eager and excited as his eyes landed on Ria.

  “Bambola,” he purred, “oh, how much I have missed you.”

  He walked towards us at a slow pace, his eyes lighting up when he saw how Ria squirmed in her binds, desperately trying to get away. Before we could react, his fingers curled into a fist and he landed a punch straight to her face.

  Ria screamed in pain, her head twisting towards her right in a swift motion. The hit looked so painful that even I reeled back in my seat, shocked at the sheer brutality.

  “You bastard!” I raged, “How dare you?”

  “That,” Carl pointed at my friend, “was for running away from me.”

  Ria was crying against the pain on her cheek. Her bruise was already swelling up and Carl’s rings had made her skin bleed.

  He then moved towards me, eyes filled with malice.

  “Don’t worry.” he shook his head, “I’m not going to hit you. Valentin wants the pleasure of doing that himself.”

  Something told me he wasn’t quite finished.

  “However, my dear bambola right here,” he hooked his thumb towards her, “she’s all mine and I can do whatever I want with her.”

  The sadistic gleam in his eyes scared me, yet my anger far outweighed it.

  “You’re right. She shouldn’t have run from you.” my grave voice sounded foreign, even to me, “She should’ve taken those gold chains, wrung them around your fat neck and choked your miserable life out of you.”

  “Bite that tongue of yours, sweetheart.” he spat, “I don’t wish to deliver a mutilated package to Valentin.”

  “Cut her ropes!” he suddenly commanded to one of his men, “Let me have some fun with my doll.”