DeLuca (Mafia Romance)

Carlo

A loud noise startled me out of the darkness. It took me a second to get my bearings again. I was alone in the room, still tied to the chair.

Bang. Bang. CRACK!

The wooden door to the storage room flew open, shards of the doorframe soaring everywhere. My eyes burned from sweat and unshed tears, and I had to blink a few times to clear my vision. I recognized Antonio and Angelo immediately. Angelo came rushing towards me as Antonio guarded the door.

“Carlo, shit!”

“Hurry,” I croaked, my voice hoarse from dehydration. “We don’t have much time. They probably heard that.”

“Got it, Boss,” he said as he sawed through the ropes that held me captive, “where are you hurt?”

“Everywhere, don’t worry about that right now, just get me fucking loose,” I said as I felt the bindings on my wrists slacken and blood surge into my arms as I brought them around in front of me. The pain in my shoulders and back was excruciating.

“There, come on,” Angelo said as he freed my legs.

He placed one of my arms over his shoulder and moved to help me up, but as soon as I was on my feet my legs gave way and I felt a pop as another of my ribs was displaced by the weight of my body. I let out a moan of pain that caused Antonio to move from his post at the door to come to my aid. It took both of them and all the strength I had left to get me out of that room.

As soon as we crossed the threshold into the main part of the basement we were greeted with the barrels of two guns and Ivan’s sickening laugh.

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“Where do you think you’re going? We were just starting to have fun,” Ivan’s cruel voice drifted up the stairs.

“It’s over Ivan, you lost,” Carlo’s voice sounded strained but it was still strong. Even though I couldn’t see him, the conviction in his voice told me he was okay and gave me the strength I needed. Creeping down the stairs, careful to use just the balls of my feet so the heels of my boots didn’t make noise on the cement stairs, I made my way to the bottom and peered into the room.

Ivan had his back to the stairwell, and two huge men flanked him. Angelo had an arm around Carlo and looked as if he were holding him up, his other arm was pointing his gun at one of Ivan’s men. Antonio was on the other side of him, also facing off with the second bodyguard. Ivan didn’t appear to be armed, instead his stance was causal as he continued to taunt Carlo.

“Oh you poor man, too many blows to the head has you confused. There is no way out. You’re on my turf, with my men on you. No one is going to save you now.”

I crept out of the stairwell, my gun aimed at the back of Ivan’s head. Carlo saw me but quickly averted his eyes and spoke directly to Ivan, giving me time to get in place.

“Even if you do kill me, it’s not over. My men are loyal. They’ll hunt you down and destroy you.”

“Oh?” Ivan laughed harshly, “Is your precious cunt whore going to avenge you? Please, that little bitch wouldn’t know the first thing about this game we play.”

I took my time getting to Ivan, cautious not to give my position away. When I was just a few feet away I nodded to Antonio and Angelo and spoke, “Checkmate, bitch,” I said, my voice causing all three to turn around. I pulled the trigger as soon as Ivan spun to face me, catching him right between the eyes. Antonio and Angelo fired at the same time, taking down Ivan’s men. The echo of gunshots was still ringing through the dank basement as all three men fell at my feet.

It took me a moment to gather myself. Ivan was dead, but this wasn’t over. I still had to get Carlo out of here. I leapt over Ivan’s still body and rushed to Carlo, his face was swollen and covered in dried sweat and blood. My hands hovered over him, not wanting to hurt him more by touching him. His shirt had been torn open and every inch of his exposed torso was bleeding or bruised. “Baby, are you okay?” I asked, a stupid question but I couldn’t help my worry.

“Fine, let’s just get out of here. Someone had to have heard.”

“Right, come on then,” I said, pulling out my phone and dialing Mouse. I started to speak as soon as he answered the phone, not letting him get a word in, “We have him, we’re coming out. Have the men meet us. We don’t know who else is here.”

“Got it, they’re on their way.”

We made it up the stairs and into the main hallway, Angelo and Antonio practically carrying Carlo’s broken body. I was in front, so focused on the back exit door I didn’t notice the large man with a gun pointed right at me until he had already pulled the trigger.

Carlo

We had to get out of here, I knew of at least one more of Ivan’s men that knew I was down there. If Vlad was in the club and heard the shots we were still in danger. It took both Antonio and Angelo to help me up the stairs. The stab wound in my thigh coupled with my broken ribs made it almost impossible to walk on my own.

Mia was in front of us as we made our way down the hallway. I saw movement to the right as we approached where the hallway opened up to another corridor. Time slowed as I saw Vlad emerge with his gun held out in front of him, pointed directly at Mia. Terror gripped me and I used the last of my energy to lunge for her, calling out her name in warning as Vlad pulled the trigger. I felt white hot pain sear through my side, and then nothing as the blackness enveloped me once again.