Ian watched the mansion through a pair of binoculars. He sat in a white van with Wolf, Dude, and Cole. Faulkner “Dude” Cooper was a member of Wolf’s team. Dude was always in control and was the team's explosives expert. Ian hoped they wouldn’t need Dude’s expertise that night.

Abe and Cookie, two more members of Wolf’s team, joined Max and Ethan in the SUV parked across the street. Abe had gotten his name because he was always honest. All SEALs could swim well, but Cookie could out swim anyone on the team. Ian felt comfortable working with Wolf’s team. Cole and Ian had worked with them a few times before the North Koreans had captured them.

The clock struck ten. It was time to go. Ian opened his door. Abe and Cookie jumped out of the SUV.

“Let’s get my woman back,” he growled to the surrounding men.

“Hooyah,” they answered.

Ian lowered his night-vision goggles. Wolf’s voice came over the comm. Ian gripped his gun in his right hand and nodded. Abe and Cookie headed around to the back of the house. Ethan and Max stayed in the vehicle and watched surveillance. Wolf and Cole flanked Ian.

Tex had been able to get a blueprint of the house. They figured the kidnappers held her in the back-right side of the building. The room had no windows and no way to escape. It would be the best room for holding a prisoner.

Cookie’s voice came over the comm. “Two tangos down.”

Ian stood behind the third tango and wrapped his arm around the man's throat. After a few seconds, the man dropped. Cole worked to tie his hands and feet together. Ian tied a cloth around his mouth. Their goal was to get Bella back, not kill members of organized crime.

Wolf took the last tango down with a punch. The enemy never saw it coming. Wolf moved with the speed of light.

“All tangos have been cleared,” Tex said over the comm. He was watching from a satellite.

The front door was locked. Abe and Cookie were in place at the back of the house. They waited for Ian’s cue to enter. Ian worked a camera under the seal of the door. The four-inch monitor in his hands lit up with a picture of the entryway. He used the joystick attached to the monitor to view the rest of the area. Nobody stood guard behind the door. Ian stepped back and put the camera in his backpack, and Cole used his toolkit to unlock the door.

Once inside, Ian worked his way left, followed by Cole and Wolf. Abe and Cookie entered at the back and headed upstairs to clear the area. Ian could hear voices toward the back of the house.

When he and Cole reached the door to the room with no windows, Ian could hear someone speaking. He leaned close to the door to listen. He didn’t want to go in unprepared, but when a gunshot sounded inside the room, he didn’t wait any longer. He busted through the door. Wolf tried to stop him, but Ian was already on his way into the room. Bella was his first concern.

Bella felt drained from the numerous injections she had received. Ryan kept asking the same question, “What is the password?” She hadn’t known the password ten minutes before. Why would she know it now? And even if she did know it, she wouldn’t tell those two spoiled brats.

Then Bella spotted a scary man dressed in a thousand-dollar suit. He was sitting in a tall-back chair. If she hadn’t seen him, the stench of his cigar would have given him away.

The man hadn’t said a word to her. He answered a phone call and spoke in perfect Italian. She was screwed. Not only did her ex-boss’s kids want something from her, but she also had the fucking mob after her. The situation kept getting worse. She didn’t even know what day it was or how long she’d been out. The damn drugs they’d pumped into her system had messed with her sense of time.

“Why don’t you ask your dad how to access the accounts? I’m telling you, I have nothing to do with them,” Bella pleaded.

Tina tapped her manicured hand on the wood desk. “How do you expect us to ask our father when he is in jail and they monitor his calls, you dumb bitch?”

Bella didn’t see the hand coming until it was too late. Ryan had attached her hands to the chair, and he’d also tied her feet together. There was no way she could have dodged the blow even if she’d tried. Tina’s hand hit Bella’s face with so much force that it made blood trickle from her nose. Luckily, the drugs still coursed through her body, and she felt numb. The first hit didn’t hurt too badly, but when Tina came down with the second hit, Bella felt it to the core. Her head bobbed to the side, and black crept into her eyes.

She took a few calm breaths to get her emotions in check. Her vision came back. When she looked up, Tina’s arm was in a downward trajectory again. Bella squeezed her eyes and waited for impact, but it didn’t come. She opened her eyes to see the scary man in the expensive suit. He had Tina’s arm in his hand. He’d already looked intimidating when he was in the chair. Now he oozed danger as his six-foot-five frame stood in front of her. The perfectly tailored suit accented his well-defined body. If Bella hadn’t already fallen in love with an ex-Navy SEAL house-flipping sex god, she might have gone for the angry, dangerous mob lord—though she didn’t know how she would make it in the crime family.

If she hadn’t already figured out that the man was part of the Mafia, it became obvious when he spoke. “Go sit, Tina.” His heavy Italian accent made it hard to understand him.

“Sir, please let me go. I don’t know what they told you, but I don’t know where any money is. Their father screwed me over like he scr—”

“Shut up.” He lowered himself in front of her. “My tech guys say the password is your childhood animal’s name. Now, tell me the name.” He reached out and held her hand. His touch sent goose bumps through her body—and not the good kind. They formed out of pure terror of the man in front of her.

Bella took a second to figure out how to answer. Would Mr. Ainsworth really use her childhood pet’s name? She couldn’t chance it. If she told them the name, they would get what they wanted and kill her. If she continued to stall, someone might show up and save her. The likelihood of anyone knowing her location was slim. She hadn’t left Ian on good terms. He probably wanted nothing to do with her after she stormed out and didn’t give him a chance.

It was too bad. As Bella stared death in the face, she wished she’d told Ian she loved him, even if it was too early for that. You never knew when you might die. Now she wouldn’t be able to tell the only man she’d ever loved how she felt. But one thing was for sure: she wouldn’t tell these fuckers her childhood pet’s name.

“Buffy.”

Scary Italian guy stared into her eyes. He cocked his head to the side. “Lie.” Before she had a chance to figure out his next move, he pulled her finger back until it snapped. The pain that jolted through her body was enough to make her scream bloody murder. The fucker had broken her finger with a flick of his hand. He hadn’t even flinched.

“Put something in her mouth. I don’t need to listen to her scream.”

Ryan looked around the room until he found a handkerchief and shoved it in her mouth. He had to try a couple of times because his hands shook. He seemed as shocked as she was by the crazy fucker’s action. Tina didn’t look surprised. She looked down at her manicured nails and ignored the incident in front of her.

Tears streamed down Bella’s face. A sob broke from her, but the towel muffled her screams.

“Now, let’s try this again. What is your childhood pet’s name?”

Bella didn’t know what to do. How had the man in front of her known she was lying? Was that a test before he asked the real question? She didn’t know how much torture she could take, but she couldn’t give in.

“Mol—” Bella didn’t even get the full word out before he grabbed her middle finger and pushed it back as far as it could go. The pain so intense that her world went dark.

They put smelling salts under her nose, and she woke up and wanted to vomit from the smell. They kept the handkerchief in her mouth. The tears in her eyes made it hard to see, and the handkerchief made it hard to breathe. Blood and snot streamed from her nose.

“Last time. What is your pet’s name?” The crazy Italian removed the handkerchief from her mouth.

Bella felt defeated. “Scarlett.”

He nodded, reached for her first dislocated finger, and snapped it into place. Bella let out a scream, and before she knew what he was doing, he’d snapped her second finger back into place. The pain was as bad as when he’d dislocated them—maybe even worse.

Ryan looked as if he wanted to vomit. Bella didn’t blame him. If she had to watch a crazy person torture someone, she would look green too. An idea formed in her mind. If she could get him alone, she might have a chance to get away. He didn’t look happy with the way his sister and the crazy Italian were treating her.

“Water,” Bella croaked out. This will get one person out of the room.

The crazy guy looked at Tina. “Go get her water.”

Tina rolled her eyes and exited to the right. Fuck. The room had an attached bathroom. Bella couldn’t get a break.

Ryan took a few steps in Bella’s direction. “Don’t you think this is a little overboard?”

The crazy Italian took his attention away from Bella. “Do you have money to pay for your sister’s drug habit? Tina promised me fifty percent of the money in the account if I could get the info from her.”

“Hey, man, that’s my money too, and I promised nothing like that.”

Tina walked out of the bathroom, raised her gun, and pressed the trigger. She shot her brother without even blinking. For the first time, Bella saw shock in the crazy Italian’s eyes. He hadn’t expected her to take out her own brother.

Bella hadn’t had time to contemplate what happened when the doors of the study burst open. She had to blink the tears away to see who came through. She couldn’t believe her eyes—her knight in shining armor had arrived. He’d come for her even though she’d thrown a fit the day before and hadn’t listened to a word he’d said.

Danger still loomed around them. Bella’s heart leaped. She didn’t want Ian or his friends to get hurt. Tina raised her gun to shoot Ian, and Bella screamed. She heard two shots. Ian jumped to the side and dodged a bullet. Tina’s body slumped to the ground.

The crazy Italian raised his gun but stopped when one of Ian’s men shoved a gun in his back. “Pull that trigger, and you will die.”

When the Italian dropped his gun, Ian’s friend put his hands in zip ties.

Ian rushed to Bella’s side and worked on her bindings. “I’m so sorry. Please forgive me.”

Silly man. She’d forgiven him hours before, and he had bonus points because he’d come to her rescue.

He ran a cold rag over her face and wiped the blood away. After making sure she was somewhat okay, he gave his attention to his friends. “Wolf, you and your team need to leave. I’m going to call the paramedics.” When it looked as though they would protest, Ian said, “Man, it will be a pain in the butt to explain you and your team. Cole and I came after my girlfriend.” He got up and gave each man a one-armed hug, and they disappeared in a flash. Bella hoped she would get to meet the people who’d helped save her life. There was no mistaking that she would have died if it weren’t for Ian and his friends.

Ian had his work cut out explaining to the cops how he and one other guy had taken down five guards and rescued Bella. But the crazy Italian had been on the cops’ radar for months. Their search warrants had been turned down. They finally had something to bring him in on, and they were happy to believe Ian’s story in the end.