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Chapter 3

Vladimir

The hollow in my cheeks filled up with a small smile after she left. I was glad that she was still the same sweet and warm woman I knew.

I'd made the most stupid mistake of my life by abandoning her two years ago, and now that I'd realized my mistake, I would do everything to make sure she never left my sight.

I straightened out my pants and traipsed through the door to the hallway. Darkness had shrouded the building and I wished that the attackers weren't the Outfit or our gang would get involved.

The idea of spilling a good amount of blood excited me, but that would have to take the backseat until the tension between Guilia and I was cleared.

Something chilling caught my attention, the unusual silence of the hallway. Guilia wasn't exactly athletic, there was no way she'd have gotten out of the building within a such a short time.

My heart skipped a beat, a sense of alarm brushing against the walls of my mind as I dug into my pocket and produced my phone.

Coincidentally, power was restored and I did a quick scan around to find a few bodies lying lifeless close to the main door.

"Guilia?" My voice echoed down the hallway, resounding and bouncing off the walls, but I got no response.

Fear spiked within me, blood roaring in my veins. I didn't want to conclude that she was missing, but I could feel that something had gone wrong somewhere.

Using my solid pair of combat boots, I shoved one of the men aside and burst out of the hallway. The intensity of the shooting had waned, but the primal need to find her and whoever might have taken her didn't.

A wince from the opposite direction caught my attention and I pulled out my gun from the holster. The man whom I guessed was one of the attackers raised his gun, his arm shivering uncontrollably.

A pussy, he was. I aimed at his wrist before he could pull the trigger and the gun fell off his hand.

"I'm going to shoot you, motherfucker," He cried out in pain, scrambling to pick up his gun and I scoffed.

My pace quickened as I snatched his throat and slammed him against the trunk of the car where he'd been hiding.

"I'm not sure you know who you're up against, boy. Now tell me who you are and who sent you here.” I drilled my eyes into him, searching out the answers to the questions raging inside my head from his face.

He clenched his jaw, subtly attempting to search for his gun again, but my reflexes were faster as I tightened my grip on his throat.

"Who are you?" I roared, thinking of the first place to strike him: his tongue for being brazen when he was solely at my mercy or his brains for thinking he'd be able to kill me so easily.

Steps fell in behind me but it didn't take my attention away from him.

"You have to let go of him, Mr Mikhailov, Guilia is missing," Guilia's father confirmed my fears.

My hand slipped away from his neck and the man slid down the trunk, gasping heavily for air while rubbing his neck.

I glanced at him, my heart shriveled in my chest.

"What did you just say?" My voice turned breathy instantly. I couldn't remember the last time I was this terrified because of anyone.

"We've searched everywhere, covered the whole perimeter but we can't find her," He explained, his voice thick with an emotion I couldn't quite lay a finger on. He wasn't the best of fathers, and I was sure Guilia wouldn't appreciate him fretting over her because he had never acted like he cared about her.

The feeling of dread crept slowly into my system, erasing other thoughts I had of using my creative cutting skills on our enemy.

For a moment, I was very sure my heart had stopped beating and the complete circulation of blood and other minerals had ceased.

The only thing that continued to ring in my ears was that Guilia had disappeared. She couldn't have left on her own. Someone had taken her.

Alessio appeared behind him, his forehead creased with worry and then he stared at me, his eyes visibly accusing me.

"It's his fault, father. He was given a little opportunity to prove his worth but he couldn't even protect the woman he claims to be his. I'm going to find her, father. They won't have gotten too far away from here.” Oh, yes, you will.

My fingers came together to form fists that I badly wanted to jab at Alessio's face. It was bad enough that he didn't love her, he'd also blamed me for her kidnap.

"And what makes you think that you're capable of finding her?" My tone sharpened.

His eyes hardened as he moved away from Guilia's father and gazed at me.

"And who are you to barge in here and tell me what to do about my wife's safety?" He sounded like he and Guilia had been married for years and now he couldn't stand the thought of losing his soulmate.

I would have continued the banter that stemmed from the uncertainty about his place in Guilia's life, but she was missing and the longer we exchanged words, the higher her chances of getting hurt.

"Point of correction, she was never your wife. Thanks to me, the charade of a wedding didn't continue," I replied with a shrewd, smug tone.

And he rewarded me with a deep frown. Oh, yes. Think about that one, cocksucker.

"I was the first man in her life. I popped her cherry and put my seed inside of her. She has a son who carries my DNA. Our DNA. You can guess now where her loyalties lie.”

His face schooled into a complete mask of rage and I'd never seen someone look uglier when mad. How was she going to stay married to this man?

"You're crossing the line," He growled, tipping his face upward in an awful bid to intimidate me and I lowered my head to his ear since I was slightly taller than him.

"And you should learn to keep your foul mouth shut if you don't want the whole town to know about your dirty little secret," I finished off with a smirk, his eyes widening while I brushed past him roughly as I made my way to Guila’s father.

Even if I let Guilia go, it wouldn't be to a man who didn't know her worth. He was more interested in plunging his dick into ass holes and it disgusted me because Guilia would be at the receiving end of it all.

Not on my watch, though.

Whoever she ended up getting married to— if I allowed it, had to be better than me.

"I need to review the footage from the last five hours," I requested, veering towards the Armando's mansion in quick, large strides.

"Why?" The antagonism in his voice had taken a hike home now that he knew I had something of his in my palm. His steps resounded as he trailed behind me, and I couldn't help but wonder how a man like him walked like a pregnant woman close one week away from her expected date of delivery.

"Because I'm going to get my woman and bring her back home.”

We were all gathered in the monitor room. Me, Rocco Scuderi, Guilia's father, Alessio, Romano and the Famiglia's enforcer. Alessio continued to glare daggers at me, angry that I was given the chance to be a part of the meeting even though I was just a baby daddy.

Romano's fingers swept expertly through the keys of the high-tech computer and then he clicked on a button and the video from the footage instantly covered the screen.

I watched intently, checking for any clue that could lead us to her attackers' hideout.

A few of their men had been locked up in the torture room and I'd envisaged how fun it would have been to extract information from them, sadly, that would be for later if we didn't get anything solid from the footage.

"Pause that," I told Romano, leaning over his shoulder to point at something on the screen of the monitor.

He did as he was asked and folded his arms.

"Can you zoom that image?" I requested.

The more I watched, the more I got clues on how they got access into the Armando's mansion and then I realized that the house's security had been compromised.

"Silas," Alberto sneered through clenched teeth, "He was their third eye."

I held back a snort. "You found out too late, now I'll have to torture those motherfuckers who tried to mess with my woman.”

We heard a bang on the table with a string of curses flowing from Alessio.

"I swear if you call her your woman one more time..." He fumed.

A salty reply rolled to the tip of my tongue but it never made it out of my mouth as a phone call came in. We all transferred our attention to Alberto who put the phone against his ear.

His brows furrowed, his face scrunching up in irritation. "Who are you?"

I admired how he was able to keep his emotions in check even in the midst of a turbulence.

A reply that we couldn't hear followed and then he took the phone away from his ear and blocked the mouth piece. "The fucking Outfit has my daughter,"

Immediately, I patted Romano on the back and quietly instructed him to track the location.

He got to work while I tapped my foot impatiently on the floor. Little voices began echoing in my head, most of them judging me for putting her in this mess.

If only she'd told me that was pregnant, but I understood her hesitation after how I treated her.

The call ended and I glanced at Alberto whose shoulders were slightly slouched. He sighed, avoiding our gazes.

"What do they want?"

He ran his fingers through his grey hair and sighed again. "They want an alliance with them... And for that to happen—"

"You'll have to end the alliance with us," I grinned.

He traipsed to me. "My daughter is with them,"

"The one you don't give a hoot about?" I retorted sharply, tired of his fake concern.

He fell silent and then Rocco Scuderi cleared his throat.

"We'll get back your daughter, Alberto, but we have to do things the right way. Having the backing of the Bratvas is already a big deal for us and we can't mess it up by giving in to the silly demands of these people.” Yeah, leave it to Rocco to state the obvious.

"So what do you suggest we do?"

"We'll have to bait them. Make them feel that we are ready to give in to their demands, but that will only work if someone here can offer to go into their hideout and save Guilia," Scuderi suggested matter-of-factly.

Without thinking, the words tumbled out of my mouth.

"I'm available. When do we move?"