Chapter Six

Jillian

Watching Mama Lina break down in Damon’s arms was almost more than I could bear. She loved her children, that was clear. All of them held a special place in her heart, and she couldn’t choose one over the other no more than she could move the moon and stars. Though, for her family, she would die trying to do just that if it would help them.

One glance at Vincenzo told me he wasn’t holding up much better than Mama Lina was. He was only a little more adept at hiding his feelings after years of practice. That was when I realized he reminded me of my dad when we lost my grandmother. Daddy was so brokenhearted over losing his mother, but he put up such a strong front while he comforted me.

That was what Vincenzo was doing for his wife. Comforting her while his heart was breaking inside.

Vincenzo’s eyes were fixed on a single spot on the table. His throat muscles were working overtime, trying to swallow down the ball of emotion stuck in his throat. Had he looked up at Mama Lina and Damon, he would’ve joined her in an all-out sob fest. I moved around the table until I stood behind him then I wrapped my arms around his neck.

“We’re here to help. We’ll get Carrie back, safe and sound.”

His big hands wrapped around my arms, a squeeze his only reply. But he said more with that simple gesture than his words could’ve conveyed. For the first time in months, I felt hope that we could be the big happy family I’d always dreamed of having.

Marco rubbed his mom’s back before taking a seat across from Vincenzo. Mama Lina stepped out of Damon’s embrace, kissed his cheek, then took her seat again. Damon’s gaze landed on me, still hugging his dad, and I saw one side of his mouth lift ever so slightly before his poker face was back in place. Then he looked directly at his dad.

“Are we good, Dad?”

I released my hold on him and took the seat next to him.

Vincenzo nodded. “Of course we are, son. Your mother and I were just going over everything that’s happened and what our next steps should be. In one way, I was right to take up for Leo since he is the Underboss. What he did to our Jillian wasn’t right, and I planned to handle that with him in private. But after talking to your mother about it, I realize I was wrong. It is your place to protect her, to defend her, and to exact revenge when someone mistreats her.”

“I wonder, did you come to this realization before or after your brother kidnapped your daughter?” Damon was barely containing his rage. I could feel it simmering just under his surface.

“Fair question. I questioned my actions before he took your sister, but not soon enough to prevent it.”

“Why is he doing this at all, Dad? He’s always had a cruel side, but never toward his own family like this.” Damon felt the sting of his uncle’s betrayal. The confusion it caused, and the resulting pain, were driving him on.

“He’s jealous of you, Damon. Apparently, I’ve been blind, and he’s been hiding what he truly wants. While we’ve been grooming you to take over as the Boss so he and I can both retire, he’s been planning to overthrow you and take the Boss role for himself.” Vincenzo leaned back, drawing in a deep breath to calm his anger. “My own brother betrayed my son right under my nose, and I never knew. Now he’s holding my only daughter, I presume, as insurance to get what he wants and still keep his head intact.”

“You presume? You don’t know for sure what he wants?” Damon’s brows drew downward as the wheels in his head turned at a breakneck speed. He attempted to put the pieces together himself, but crucial information was obviously still missing.

“Leo won’t answer his phone. Your mother talked to Maria for only a minute before the line went dead. Maria was crying, saying how sorry she was and that she didn’t know what was going on. Apparently, he’s been hiding his deceit from his wife too.”

“What happens now? How do we get Carrie and Lorenzo out of there alive?” I glanced around the table, noting the concerned expressions and hesitant replies.

“Cara, I can’t allow you to be part of this. Even if you weren’t pregnant, it’s much too dangerous for you to be there. If Leo captured you, he’d use you for more bargaining power against Damon. Or, one of his men could shoot you on sight—and they would, without thinking twice about it.” Vincenzo patted my hand, in a gesture of both reassurance and appreciation. “I can’t let him have Carrie and you.”

“Absolutely not, doll. It’s bad enough he has my sister, but I would become completely unhinged if you were hurt. I just lost Benny. Don’t make me face that with you and our babies, too.” The tone of Damon’s voice wasn’t one of a command, but more of a plea. One that pulled at my heart more than anything he’d said to me before.

“I just feel so responsible. If Carrie and I hadn’t set that trap for Lorenzo, maybe none of this would’ve happened.”

“All of this was in the works no matter what you two planned, Jillian. Leo must’ve been working to undermine Dad and Damon for some time. Maybe he made his move because Carrie and Lorenzo were together and that just made it much more convenient. But make no mistake, the outcome would’ve been the same regardless. You don’t own the blame for this.” Marco held my gaze deliberately, getting his point across that the family didn’t hold me responsible for anything.

“Then what can I do to help, short of storming the keep and rescuing her myself?”

“You can stay here and help me watch Leo’s security cameras. We’ve accessed the feed to their security system. You and I will be the eyes and ears for our men. That’s how we can help protect all of them.” Mama Lina dried her eyes and straightened her spine, finding a new purpose to focus on instead of worrying about her daughter.

“Whatever will help, I’m willing to do it.”

Damon, Marco, and Vincenzo left to gather the rest of their loyal men together and begin staging their assault. Car after car packed with brawny and scary men arrived, their serious expressions and piercing eyes daring anyone to fuck with them. They filed into the house then disappeared into the basement. Every time the door to the lower floor opened, I overheard Damon issuing assignments to the various teams. Every sliver of information that filtered up the stairs only increased my urge to join them, despite knowing I shouldn’t.

“Jillian, come with me, cara. There’s something else we can do while they’re still working downstairs.”

I followed Mama Lina into a large room that reminded me a lot of Carrie’s setup. Several iMacs lined the desks along three walls of the room. Large flat-screen TVs hung on the walls, the images on them changing every few seconds with the feed from the security cameras outside Leo’s house.

“Are there cameras inside his house too?”

“There are, but they’re on a closed loop, so we can’t access them. Yet.” A familiar masculine voice replied from behind me. I whirled around to find Matteo had joined us.

“Matteo, thank you for doing all of this. You know you’re my favorite nephew.” Mama Lina kissed him on both cheeks then drew him into a tight embrace. When he smiled, his love for his aunt shone in his eyes.

“So, on top of being an emergency physician, you’re also a tech guru? Very impressive.”

He chuckled as Mama Lina released him and waved his hand dismissively at my compliment. “It’s nothing. I took a few coding language and ethical hacking classes. Now I’m just putting them to good use to help my favorite aunt. If you need me for anything, I’ll be over here in the corner, getting ready to connect to the interior cameras as soon as our guys attach the transmitter on-site.”

“Thank you, Matteo.” Mama Lina took my hand in hers and led me to another computer. “Jillian, let’s make Benny’s funeral arrangements so we can pay our final respects. Damon will appreciate us taking the lead on it. One less thing he has to worry about in the middle of this mess. I know it bothers him, putting off Benny’s funeral while he saves his sister.”

I noticed she didn’t say “while he tries to save his sister.” Either she knew Damon wouldn’t have it any other way, or she couldn’t face the possibility of any other outcome. I understood how she felt, though. I also understood that the probability of Carrie not walking out of Leo’s house alive was higher than any of us would like. Even thinking about Damon not making it back in one piece was enough to induce a panic attack in me. That was when I looked at Mama Lina with new eyes.

The lives of her husband, daughter, sons, nephews, and friends were all on the line. Her entire world could be wiped out with the pull of a trigger. She was staying busy because idle time allowed her mind to wander too much. It forced her to face the stark reality that people had to die in order for her immediate family to live. Whether it was her brother-in-law, her sister-in-law, or Leo’s loyal soldiers, blood would be spilled and lives would be lost.

Either way the coup went, Mama Lina’s life would be forever changed.

She and I sat down together and made the call to begin arrangements. Since the funeral director, Charles, was a family friend, he agreed to go into the city immediately to transport Benny’s body to the local funeral home.

“What about Benny’s family? Have you already notified them?”

Mama Lina gave me a small, sad smile. “He didn’t have any other family but us, that we know of. We took him in when he was a young teenager. He was a runaway, living on the streets, eating out of garbage cans. But he was tough—he didn’t let anyone push him around. And when he came here to live with us, he insisted on earning his keep. He refused to take a handout. So, Vin took Benny under his wing, taught him the family business, and he kept his promise to remain loyal to us until his death.”

I wiped the tears from my eyes, my heart breaking for a man I barely knew. “Lorenzo didn’t mean to shoot him. Benny tackled us and tried to pull the gun from Lorenzo’s hand, and it went off. He was trying to save me, though. I know he did it for Damon more than for me, but still…”

“Damon’s the one who insisted we take Benny in. Vin and I weren’t too keen on bringing a strange boy into the house, especially with Carrie being younger. It’d be one thing if he robbed us blind while we slept, but if he had touched our daughter, nothing on earth would’ve saved him.

“But Damon vouched for him, guaranteed nothing bad would happen, and wouldn’t take no for an answer. Damon received the worst punishment of his life for defying Vincenzo over Benny. Turned out, Damon was right about him all along, and we had nothing to worry about. Damon still says Benny was worth the beating he took for arguing with his father.”

“Damon once mentioned learning his lesson about going against Vincenzo when he was a teenager. That must’ve been it.”

“That was the one and only time. It was very bad, Jillian. That kind of punishment wasn’t uncommon in our small village back in Italy. The mob ruled with an iron fist, and you learned your place very quickly, so seeing other boys after they’d been beaten didn’t faze me after a while. But when I first held my newborn baby, I couldn’t imagine allowing anyone to hurt him like that. When Vincenzo finished with him, Damon was black and blue all over, and I didn’t speak to Vincenzo for two solid weeks.”

“Damon said he’d only defied Vincenzo once as an adult, and that was for me. Well, one time before yesterday, that is.”

“That’s right. That’s also part of why Vincenzo didn’t punish Damon over it. Vin knows his son doesn’t take such a bold stance for just anyone. The person who earns Damon’s trust has to be very special and possess traits Damon is willing to fight for, to risk everything over.”

People could change, but only under immense pain and pressure.

Damon risked facing Vincenzo’s wrath again—the physical pain of it, the pressure to play his part in the family, the real possibility of being exiled or killed—to be with me, to protect me, to make both of us whole again. He had experienced immense pain and loss, and he lived under constant pressure. Damon had changed—for me.

“Mama, Jillian, we’re leaving now. We’ll be back when we have Carrie and Lorenzo.” Damon stood in the doorway dressed in jeans and a thick black sweatshirt. He wore a shoulder harness with gun holsters on each side. Around his waist, he wore multiple knives sheathed in leather sleeves.

I had just found my way back to him. There was no way I could stand losing him again. In one swift motion, I flew out of my seat and into his arms. As if he had anticipated my move, he instantly pulled me off my feet and crushed me against him.

“Promise me you’ll come back to me. Promise me you won’t get hurt. I want to hear you say the words, Damon.” My insistence had a purpose. Damon was a man of his word, and if he made me a promise, he’d move heaven and earth to keep it. “We have a wedding to plan, a life to live, and a family to raise. You can’t leave me here alone. Promise me. Now.”

He squeezed me tighter. “I promise I’m coming home to you. There isn’t a man alive who can stop me. You’re never getting rid of me, doll.”

“I love you, Damon.”

“I love you too, Jillian.”

He pressed his lips against mine, and I eagerly returned the kiss. When I felt his tongue swipe across my lip, I willingly gave him full access. With thorough and intentional movements, he made love to me with his kiss. His tongue repeatedly slid across mine, sending waves of goose bumps across my skin. With his full, firm lips, he lit a fire inside me that burned only for him.

Then he lowered me back to the ground, placed one last kiss on my lips, and left with the others. As I stood there with my chin quivering and tears trying to pool in my eyes, I realized his sweatshirt wasn’t as thick as I originally thought it was. He was wearing a bulletproof vest underneath.

That wasn’t as comforting as I thought it would be.