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

  The war had begun.

  I was going to find that son of a bitch and tear him apart.

  This was the second of Valentin’s clubs that I’d destroyed. And there were five more to go. I was sure I wouldn’t find Zara in any of these clubs. In fact, I felt quite certain he wouldn’t have kept her in the city.

  The sun was setting against the horizon and the darkness had crept up along the now vacant street, only illuminated by the flames that devoured the interior of the club.

  I got into my car, and so did Vincent and Enzo. Just as I pulled away from the curb, I saw the silhouette of a man standing in the side alley. I thought for sure I was imagining it, maybe that my mind was pulling tricks having been on painkillers for the past four hours.

  As the car moved forward, the man came into view. He was standing hidden by the wall, but I was sure he was watching me. He made no move. There was something about him that struck me. I couldn’t place my finger on it, but he felt oddly familiar- like I’d known him or seen him before.

  The feeling was so urgent that I stopped around the corner and got out. Ignoring the questioning glances of Vincent and Enzo, I rushed to the alley.

  But of course, he was gone.

  Who was that man?

  Seventeen:

  Knife

  Zara

  “I’m sorry, what?”

  She looked at me as if contemplating how to go on with her story. Wringing her fingers together, she opened and closed her mouth a couple of times, but no words came out. The classic signs of anxiety and nervousness practically screamed off of her.

  Before she could go on, however, the door was slammed open.

  Valentin walked in and it was the enraged, maniacal look on his face that alarmed me. He didn’t look bothered by Sienna’s presence in the room. In fact, he didn’t even look at her at all. He briskly walked towards me and without a word grabbed me by my hair.

  “What’s going on?” Sienna stood up. I noticed her attitude had completely changed in seconds.

  “Her boyfriend here,” Valentin spat in my direction, pulling at my hair with each word, “just burnt down a few of my clubs. Cost me millions.”

  I couldn’t help the smile. Even with the pain in my scalp, my lips curved with delight.

  But then I screamed when he dragged me by my hair to the floor. He then grabbed my arm and pulled me up, his eyes boring into mine.

  “Smiling, huh? Let’s go see what you look like when you scream!”

  Dread seeped into my stomach as he pulled me out of the room and down the hallway.

  “Whe-where are you taking me?” I stuttered, stumbling behind him, trying to catch up with his brisk strides. The lack of answer scared me till no end. We went down a grand staircase, my bare feet slapping against the cold marble. I could see guards and soldiers standing almost everywhere- backs erect and guns strapped to their sides. But it was as if they were immune to the scene playing out before them. Some even chuckled as they watched their boss drag me behind him.

  He pulled me through another door and I couldn’t help but notice how this part of the house had become darker, quieter.

  “Valentin? Valentin!” I tried to break, free, “Where are you taking me? What are you doing?”

  I slipped on the last two steps of the spiral staircase that he took me down. But that didn’t stop him. He just grabbed my hair and threw me forward with brute force. My hands and knees scraped against the uneven stone floor.

  “Tie her down!” he yelled, throwing off his jacket.

  Out of nowhere, two pairs of hands grabbed me by the arms and lifted me up and pushed me back in a chair. There was nothing I could do to stop them. I was no match for them.

  “What are you doing?” I could no longer hide the panic in my voice, “Valentin, what are you-”

  He slapped me.

  My face twisted to the right and I let out a yelp, shocked over the force of it. I looked back at him, and my panic rose when I saw the small knife he’d just flipped out. The fear was overwhelming.

  “No, no, no, no,” I mumbled, horrified, “please don’t, Valentin!”

  He bent down, looking at me through the haze of craziness in his green eyes, “Don’t worry sweetheart. Since we’re getting married in three days, I can’t have my bride showing up with cuts and gashes on her beautiful face.”

  His eyes followed the tip of the knife he’d placed on my temple, trailing it south.

  “The rest of you however,” he muttered, the blade now on my neck, “is free reign.”

  With a violent tug, he tore open the front of my dirty top, leaving me struggling against the ropes. There wasn’t another moment for me to react when he pressed the knife right near my shoulder blade and dragged it to my chest. I felt my skin tearing against the blade and the blood oozing from the cut.

  “No, no!” I cried, writhing against the searing pain from the cut.

  He didn’t stop there.

  I closed my eyes when the pain came from my right arm, crying out again. My screams and sobs melted into one as he went on scarring my entire body, with zero mercy and zero pity. I don’t know how long it was. I lost all sense of time, my brain couldn’t focus on anything but the excruciating pain. My head was getting heavy and my vision blurry. I just wanted the pain to stop. I couldn’t take it anymore.

  “S-stop,” I mumbled, “ple-please stop, I-I can’t…”

  Stefan

  The moment my head hit the pillow, I fell asleep. The day’s exhaustion, the wound on my head and the constant popping of painkillers had finally taken a toll on me.

  My dreams began blissfully, with me and Zara sitting out at the pavilion by the lake. But then it would morph into a nightmare. I could hear her helpless cries from somewhere around me, but I didn’t know where to go.

  Somewhere between the sleep I must have turned over and tried to pull her closer to me. It was only when my hand came in contact her cold, empty side did I wake up and realize that she, in fact, was with Valentin.

  I could no longer go back to sleep after that. The bedside clock showed 4 in the morning. I’d slept only for about 4 hours and Dr. Khan had specifically advised 8-10.

  Oh, screw it. There was no way I would be sleeping my ass off while my girl was in trouble.

  I left my bed and headed to the bathroom. A hot shower did me wonders, and I was careful enough not to disturb the stitches on my head. I got dressed in a fresh suit and headed to my office, hoping something had shown up.

  I was surprised to find Enzo tossing through some files, holding a bunch of pictures in his hands.

  “What are you doing here?”

  His head snapped up and he hurriedly rounded the table, holding out the file in his hand, “I couldn’t go back to sleep so I put a word out with my informants for any other clubs, brothels or any place that he could be holding Zara.”

  “What did you find?”

  “See this?” he pointed to a building in one of the photographs, “This is an abandoned factory near the harbor which is owned by one of Valentin’s associates named Fox. It is used by him for human trafficking. Valentin could’ve easily used Fox’s services to move Zara out of the country. He may have some answers.”

  “Alright,” I pilfered through more pictures, “but there is no picture of this Fox guy. Does no one know what he looks like? No surveillance photos?”

  “None,” Enzo answered, “very reclusive guy, apparently.”

  “About last night, we found a CCTV camera that has a view of the alley where you saw that man. The footage just came in.” he informed, tapping on his iPad a couple of times. He then turned it towards me and we both watched as it played.

  The video was blurry, to say the least. The smoke billowing from the burning club made it even worse. But I was assured that it wasn’t my imagination last night when a figure emerged from the opposite end of the alley and came to stand beside the lamppost. He stood there about a minute and then suddenly turned around and walked back hurriedl
y the way he’d come. And only seconds later, I saw myself run into the picture.

  “The video is too blurry for facial recognition.” Enzo muttered.

  I nodded thoughtfully, “That’s alright for now. I needed confirmation that I wasn’t going crazy.”

  Enzo’s iPad suddenly pinged, indicating that he’d received an email. He swiped away the footage and opened his mail, his eyebrows scrunching in confusion.

  “What is it?” I asked curiously.

  “That’s weird. It’s a video and… flight information?”

  “What flight?”

  He opened up the document and read out loud what looked to be a scan of a document, “This is from the day Zara was taken. The flight departure reads 1950 hours from New York City to a private landing strip in Rome, Italy.”

  Equally confused, I took the iPad from him and played the second attachment- a video. It was CCTV footage.

  “That is a hangar.” Enzo commented. A small airplane stood in the middle with its door open. We curiously watched as two SUVs halted right in front of it. I recognized the first person that stepped out.

  “That’s Valentin.” I noted, and then I saw what, or who he was carrying in his arms. “And there’s Zara.”

  She looked unconscious by the way her head was rolled and her arms were limp at the side. He carried her up the short steps and disappeared inside the plane followed by two other armed men. But it was the woman that followed them last caught my attention.

  “Turn around, turn around.” I muttered.

  And she did. And it was someone I hadn’t expected at all.

  “Wait, isn’t that Brooke? Rafael’s girlfriend?” Enzo asked beside me.

  “Yeah,” I replied, rewinding the video, “real question however is- what the hell is she doing with Valentin Romano?”

  In precisely twenty minutes, we were on our way to question Fox. Strapped with enough ammo to take out an army, my soldiers and I took six SUVSs as we made our way through the light, early morning traffic.

  I sat alone in the backseat as Vincent rode shotgun with Enzo driving. My mind had again drifted to Zara, praying to God that she’s alright. I picked up my phone and for the third time today, viewed the pictures of Zara and myself. And once again I smiled watching her try on different filters from Snapchat, some of which I was forcefully subjected to. No matter how much I hated having a tiara over my head or becoming a dog, she would pull me against herself in the frame. Her absence caused my pang of loneliness in my heart. I missed her- her laughs, her smiles, and her adorable little pout. I swiped through more and more pictures of her until I landed on the one that was my favorite. It was taken one day in bed when we’d been fooling around. She was wearing my discarded shirt and sitting cross-legged on the bed, her hair tousled, her lips pink with all the kissing and the warm blush that covered her cheeks. God, she was beautiful.

  Enzo pulled me out of my thoughts when he stopped the car, “We’re here.”

  My soldiers were aware of what they had to do. Our vehicles had stopped about a hundred yards from the building’s entrance and we all stepped out, guns at the ready.

  “Leave the front ones to us, the snipers get the rest.” I ordered, advancing towards the building, “We shoot to kill, not injure. I don’t want a single Romano bastard leaving that place alive.”

  It was an ambush. Their guards did not have a moment to react before they were gunned down in minutes. The shots echoed loudly on the empty street. We moved closer to the factory entrance and Seth, one of my soldiers led the way inside its rusty metal door.

  “What is it?” I asked, as we came across another metal door.

  “Biometric lock.” he muttered, moving back through the door and looking at the men we’d just shot, “Excuse me a second, boss.”

  He stepped over the bodies, looking at each of them carefully, before he bent down and grabbed one of them by the arm. The rest of us watched silently as he dragged the man to the door, excusing himself again politely. We couldn’t help but smile as he, in the most gentlemanly way possible, raised the dead guy’s hand and pressed it to the dark screen.

  It blinked once, twice and then turned green.

  “Why did you specifically pick him?” Enzo asked, trying very hard not to show his curiosity.

  “These places rely heavily on their security. I didn’t want to risk setting off an alarm if we broke through the door.” Seth explained, “This guy stood closest to the entrance and there’s a green band on his arm which means he was leading this particular team and would be the only with access through the door.”

  “What about security cameras?”

  “All taken care of. We’re good to go.”

  “Nice work, Seth.” I nodded, “Let’s head in, gentlemen.”

  Enzo opened the door and headed down a narrow hallway and then a long flight of stairs.

  “What the hell is this place?” Vincent wondered out loud. I could tell by the thumping music that we were quite near to whatever this place housed. When we finally reached the opening, I couldn’t help but curse in amazement at the scene that played out before us.

  The cavernous place was filled with neatly arranged tables. Men in groups sat there- drinking, smoking, laughing. They all had masks on, which covered about half their faces.

  “Fuck, it’s an auction.” Seth nudged me, nodding towards the stage, where about fifty girls stood in skimpy outfits, looking scared, some were even crying. And none of them looked older than twenty.

  “Where’s our backup?” I asked.

  “Four teams have surrounded the building, one heading in this way.” Enzo answered, “Plus I’ve got a couple more looking for any other entrances.”

  “Good, let’s go.”

  “Can I go in first?” Seth’s whispered voice filled with excitement, “I’ve always wanted to make a badass entrance.”

  “God, it’s like working with a teenager.” Enzo rolled his eyes. I couldn’t help but smile and nod at him to go in.

  We watched in amusement as he rolled his shoulders and cracked his neck, all the while muttering under his breath, “Just like we practiced. Just like we practiced.”

  He checked his gun and then walked with complete authority and confidence, all the way to the bar. He then hopped onto it and raised his gun in the air, “Alright asshats, listen up!”

  Each person stopped talking and someone cut the music, making the club descend into silence. Everyone’s eyes were now trained on Seth.

  “I’m going to count to five and I want all of you to clear out!” he bellowed, “I see some of New York’s most influential people in this ‘auction’, even with those stupid masks. And I’m pretty sure y’all don’t want to end up on the first page for buying underage girls.”

  He smiled mockingly at the crowd, “So get the fuck out, now!”

  Eighteen:

  Blast

  Stefan

  At once, everyone scrambled for the exits. Men pushed and shoved each other out of the way as they ran to save their asses. Our backup too had arrived, and I was thankful because I’d seen one of the bartenders run back through one of the doors on the side, most probably to alert Fox. A gunfight began as hefty looking men began making their way out from behind the stage.

  “We need to get to Fox before he escapes!” Enzo yelled, nodding at me to follow. We ducked behind the bar and came face-to-face with Seth, who seemed to be enjoying way too much.

  “Seth,” Vincent called out, “as soon as you’re done here, get all the girls from behind the stage and get them to the safehouse, okay?”

  “Yes, sir!” he gave a mock salute. We left him to enjoy shooting people and headed straight for the door that I’d seen the bartender run through earlier. It led into another dark tunnel, but I saw another door at the end of it.

  We burst into the room, eyes darting around for Fox. However, we were in for another shock.

  In the glittery, brightly lit, pink-walled underground room, when the person in the over
sized chair turn around, it wasn’t who we’d expected.

  “Fox?” Vincent whispered behind me.

  “At your service.”

  The woman, Fox, casually leaned back in her chair and crossed one leg over the other.

  Now, growing up, I’d always been taught not to call any woman, or any person, ugly. My mother always said that every person is naturally beautiful. Having said that, the woman that stood in front of me was far from natural. Her ‘surgical enhancements’ were screaming through the skintight dress that she had on. Her unnaturally pouty lips stretched into a grin as she rounded her desk and came to stand in front us, a little too close.

  “I’ve been expecting you, Mr. Esposito.” she whispered, “Shame it’s under such circumstances.” My repulsion almost caused me to step back as she traced her skinny fingers on my tie.

  “Move your hand, please.” I said as patiently as I could.

  “Why? Don’t like being touched by anyone else than Zara?”

  “Don’t you dare-”

  “Another damn shame.” she went on, “Would have made a good addition to my business with those legs.”

  My hand was itching to either wrap them around her neck or to slap the hell out of her. This woman was aggravating.

  “So, you could sell her like you sell all those underage girls?” Vincent stepped up.

  “Yeah,” she turned to him, “your girlfriend got me a good deal of money. Vittoria, wasn’t it? How is she?”

  “You bitch!” Vincent gritted, lunging at her, “It was you! You grabbed her off the street and sold her to that monster!”

  Before he could grab her, however, Fox let out a small yelp. We followed her line of vision down to her stomach, where a small dart was stuck to her dress. A tranquilizer. I turned around to see Enzo pocketing his gun with the most unbothered look on his face, “What? She was starting to remind me of that clown from ‘IT’ with all that cringe-worthy makeup.”