Taken - A Gangster Stepbrother Romance (15 page)

Chapter Thirty

              As Emma rolled to a stop just outside Antonio’s house, she could feel the wrongness of the place.

              Where were all the men? Normally there were guards patrolling every which way around the grounds. But as Emma hopped out of the van, she couldn’t spot one beefy black suited security guard.

              As she walked towards the house, she could see holes in the outside wall. She ran towards the wall, fear gripping her heart.

              Bullet holes.

              As she walked up the front steps, she saw a spill of blood darkening the entry.

              Was she too late?

              The front door was perfect and intact still but open. Emma slowly pushed the door open the rest of the way.

              If a shooting had occurred, where were the bodies? There were bullets and blood. But no bodies.

              Emma walked through the hall, her entire body singing with adrenaline. She saw an odd scuff mark or a stray bullet hole but nothing else seemed to be destroyed or out of order.

              What had happened?

              She reached the library.

              Inside some of the books had been overturned and one of the couches had been flipped over. An arrow of waning sunlight pierced through the window, making something glint and shine on the floor, near the upturned couch.

              Kneeling, Emma saw that it was the two picture frames she had found. The small side table had been knocked over and the frames had fallen out, cracking and destroying the glass.

              Emma gingerly tried to pick up one of the photos.

              “What the fuck are you doing here?”

              Emma’s heart raced as she slowly turned around. With a gun raised and aimed right at her, Ignacio Cavalli stared at her in angry confusion.

Chapter Thirty One

              Emma slowly stood up, her knees almost buckling with the effort.

              Ignacio stepped into the room, his gun still aimed at her. “I said,” he repeated in that similar gruff fashion of Frank Cavalli, “what the fuck are you doing here?”

              Emma swallowed. She suddenly remembered the conversation from the groom’s room.

             
“But, Pops. You know how much I want this. You know I want to take Del Marco out with my own bullet—”

             
It looked like Ignacio had ignored his father’s orders after all. Emma wondered how long Ignacio had been here. Had he seen Antonio? How many times had he already fired his gun?

              So lost in her fears, Emma almost missed Ignacio’s change of expression. His eyes gleamed as he looked her over in an invasive and thorough manner.

              “I told Pops Davey wouldn't know what to do with a cunt like you,” Ignacio said, smirking, his gold tooth peeking through his lips. “It take a real man to take down a Del Marco.”

              Then with a sudden grab the speed of a rattlesnake, Ignacio had a hand wrapped around Emma’s throat. She clutched at his forearm, feeling his hand tighten.

              He grinned. “Yeah,” he murmured. “I know how to make a bitch scream. I know how to make her beg.” He leaned forward, breathing her in before licking her cheek. “Wanna scream for me?”

              Pulling her by her throat, Ignacio yanked her forward, crushing her lips against his. Emma could taste the sourness of cigars and whiskey on his breath. “I’m going to show you what a really Cavalli can do,” he said against her lips before plunging his tongue again to her mouth.

              But before Emma passed out from his grasp on her, she yelped as Ignacio suddenly bit her lip. She looked up, her vision spotty from lack of air.

              Ignacio had stumbled to the ground, clutching his head.

              “Touch her again and I’ll fucking kill you,” Antonio growled.

              Emma gasped. His left side of his face was red and swollen and his lip was split open. Blood was smeared all over the crisp white shirt he had been wearing at the wedding. From his awkward stance, she could tell some of his ribs had been broken. His right arm hung loosely by his side. Emma could just make out the dark stain against his jacket sleeve. He had been shot in the arm.

              His shooting arm. Antonio held no weapon in his hand. Emma could see it was a strain for him to just remain upright.

              Ignacio quickly stood back up, his temple already swelling from the blow. He looked up furious, his eyes glowing a murderous rage when he caught sight of Antonio’s terrible form.

              His eyes glinted black as he pointed the gun straight at Antonio’s chest. “Come on, Del Marco,” he said. “I’ll let you choose. Do I kill you in front of the girl? Or…” he swung the gun towards Emma “kill
her
in front of
you?”

              He cocked an eyebrow and grinned. “Which way, Del Marco? Your bitch first or you?”

              Antonio took in a ragged breath. He lifted his gray eyes, piercing him with what remaining strength he had. “Let’s kill the bitch,” he said before raising his left hand, revealing a .45, firing two shots.

              Emma seemed to watch everything happen in slow motion. Weak and using his non-dominant hand, Antonio’s first shot missed but the second shot found its home in Ignacio’s right shoulder.

              Ignacio screamed. “Motherfucker!”

              Antonio dropped his gun with a thud. Emma could see that he was only minutes away from passing out.

              Leaning against a wall, Ignacio grimaced as he slowly raised his right arm, ignoring the pain in his shoulder.

             
He was going to shoot again!

              Working on pure instinct, Emma threw herself on the ground and grabbed a shard of the broken picture frame glass. Ignoring the pain as it cut into her hand, she immediately thrust upwards, slicing deep into Ignacio’s right hand.

              Ignacio screamed as the tendons of his arm were sliced in half, blood spraying forth and spattering Emma. The gun dropped from his useless hand. “You fucking bitch! You fucking cunt!” Ignacio’s eyes glazed over with pain and fury. “I’m going to fucking kill—”

              A shot rang over her head.

              Emma squeezed her eyes shut at the noise.

              As she slowly opened her eyes, she stared at Ignacio’s blank gaze, his head cocked back against the wall, a bullet almost dead center between his eyes.

              Emma turned around.

              Antonio was on his knees, his gun shaking in his left hand. “God, that was fucking lucky,” he said breathlessly before falling forward.

              Emma caught him just before he hit the floor. She looked down at his bloodied and bruised face. Tears of fear, adrenaline, and relief poured from her like a fountain.

              She held his face delicately with both her hands. She had been so close to losing him. But just as the thought passed through her, she saw how white his face was and how pale his lips were. How much blood had he already lost?

              “Antonio, stay with me,” she whispered fiercely, holding his head in her lap. “Stay with me, please!”

              Silver eyes looked up at her. A faint smile brushed his wide lips. “I’m…I’m always with you. You’re my home,” he breathed softly, eyes closing. “You’re my home.”

              Emma closed her eyes and pressed her forehead against his, crying tears of yearning and immeasurable pain.

Epilogue

              “You’re lucky you’re getting away with just bed rest, Tony,” Steven Wells lectured. “It could’ve been much more severe.”

              Antonio leaned back on the headrest of his large bed. He sat shirtless, his ribs bandaged together and his arm trapped in a sling. A large cut on his left shoulder was stitched and free from its bandage now to promote healthy scab growth.

              Antonio quirked a brow as he lifted his sling. “More severe than a bullet in the arm, three broken ribs, two fractured ones, and split open shoulder?” he asked sardonically.

              The lawyer, seated across from the bed in a plush chair, huffed a laugh but gave his client and friend a stern look. “You know what I mean. An ambush assassination like that? It could’ve been death.”

              Antonio smiled as Emma entered the bedroom with a glass of water and his pain medication on a tray. She caught the warm glow of his eyes. “You’re right,” he said. “I had an angel on my side.”

              Steven tried to smother his pleased smile as Antonio reached out with his good arm for Emma’s hand.

              Emma smilingly stepped into his grasp. Standing by his bed, Antonio’s arm wrapped around her waist, Emma looked at the lawyer. “And what’s happening with the arrests?”

              Steven pursed his lips. “Well, thanks to you,” he said with a smile of admiration towards her, “we have the man that really clinches the case. Having Ignacio Cavalli’s body in custody will make it very difficult for Frank Cavalli to build a good alibi. And the prosecution is having a field day right now with this opportunity. Everything that can be brought up against the Cavallis will be dug up and exposed. They’ve just tipped over their boat and I don’t think anyone is going to make it back to shore.” Steven grinned.

              Emma’s shoulders sagged in relief. “Oh thank god,” she whispered. Then she shifted a little awkwardly. “What about the men?”

              During the ambush on the Del Marco home, many of the Cavalli gunmen had lured the guards away from the home so that Ignacio could have Antonio all to himself. Many of the men had been injured during the shoot out.

              “All very alive and grumpy about the recovery process,” Steven said grinning. Emma sighed, relieved no one had died.

But her stomach tightened as she gathered the courage to ask her final question. “And…David? What about him?”

              Emma felt Antonio’s grip on her waist tighten. She hated to bring up the name but she had to know what she was facing.

              Steven shook his head, his eyes warm and reassuring. “I think given the circumstances, we can push that annulment through, no problem,” he said. Emma could feel Antonio’s hand relax a bit. “And, in case you’re curious, it doesn’t look like David will be indicted with any charges. He’ll be under observation, maybe even receive probation but he doesn’t seem to have any real knowledge of the murder plot.”

              So he hadn’t been a murderer. Just a coward.

              “Speaking of the annulment,” Antonio said, turning Emma towards him, “I have a few things I wanted to say to you about that.”

              Steven matched eyes with his boss before nodding and saying, “Well, I guess you’ll live. Now that I know you’ll still be around to keep me employed, I guess I’ll head on home.”

              Antonio snorted as the lawyer stood up and left, leaving the two alone.

              Emma gingerly sat on the edge of the bed, facing him, careful not to jostle him too much.

              Holding her hand for a moment, Antonio finally pinned her with those penetrating silver eyes. “That was unbelievably dangerous coming into a firefight like that, Emma,” he started.

              Emma could feel her chest tighten. No, she wasn’t ready for the goodbye yet. She wasn’t ready to return to how they had been.

              “You could’ve been injured or worse, killed.” Antonio paused. He squeezed her hand. “And because of your insane bravery, I’m alive.”

              Emma’s eyes widened in surprise. She hadn’t expected that. From the moment the ambulance had come for them, she had yet to see a mask come to cover those knowing gray eyes. And she had been dreading the day the mask would return.

              Antonio raised his hand, gently brushing her cheek. “You are by far the braver Del Marco,” he said with a ghost of a smile. “That day with Ignacio, you were willing to sacrifice your life for me. And before that, you gave me your heart.”

              He looked down. “I’m ashamed to say that I couldn’t accept your love then. I thought I was doing the right thing by giving you a man who wasn’t so damaged, so dirty. I thought I was protecting you.”

              Antonio slowly pulled himself into a straighter position, grimacing a little as he moved.

              “Don’t do that!” Emma cried, trying to help him up. Antonio, seated more properly, nodded. He reached under the covers and pulled out a small box.

              With his thumb, he flipped it open. A beautiful pink diamond ring glowed like a heart from within. Emma stared at the gem, its warm light glittering against the box.

              “I’m afraid I can’t get down on one knee just now,” he said with a small smile. “But I’ll ask anyway in hopes you can forgive that small lapse in tradition.”

              Emma looked into the face of her eternity, her love, her home. She felt the overwhelming warmth of his heart enfolding her to him.

              “Emma,” he said, his voice steady and unwavering, “I love you. Be mine.”

              She smiled, putting her hand over his, feeling the warm diamond pulse between their hands.

              “Yes,” she whispered, unable to stop smiling. “Yes.”

              And she leaned forward, letting the kiss of her forever after ring within her.