Chapter 5
Beast
I wake up abruptly out of a deep sleep with my head throbbing and heart pounding. Mornings with a headache is nothing new in my life, I have one every goddamn day. I drink and fuck the club whores a shitload every day and night to deal with my fucked up head. Booze, pussy, and pussy, booze and sometimes long rides on my old girl, that’s the way of my life. When I can get a decent fight in, I take that and get in the ring for a few rounds with my brothers or the underground fighting ring to make the club some money. It works for now, but I know eventually, the reaper will catch up to my ass.
I lift my head to my window and see the sun is already out for the day. I turn around way too fast to grab my annoying ringing phone, that won’t stop. It’s the apparent cause for my abrupt awakening this morning. After grabbing my pounding head to stop the throbbing, I snatch up the fuckin’ irritating as hell phone. The display says it’s Friday morning at 7:38 and I have three missed calls from my mother. She never calls this early unless there’s a problem.
My phone rings again, and I answer it straight away. “Mom, what the fuck is goin’ on? Why the hell are you call me so early?” I say still half drunk and half asleep. I just went to bed about two hours ago. She better have a good fuckin’ reason for calling me at the butt fuckin’ crack of dawn. And someone better be hurt, or I’m gonna hurt someone.
“Giovanni Sebastiano Valentino, you watch the way you speak to your mother, son. I raised you with more respect than that,” mom yells at me in stern tone reminding me to show her respect. I never speak to mom this way, but my patients are running thin.
“Sorry, mom, what’s goin’ on? Why the early mornin’ wake-up call? Are you okay?” I need her to start talking soon before I actually lose my shit. I lay my head back down on the pillow closing my eyes to relieve some of the throbbings and waiting for her to explain.
“I’m fine, but Gio, something is going on up north. I received a disturbing call early this morning from Julia. She was in a panic and wouldn’t give me any details on the situation. All she would say was that it was imperative for me to get in contact with you to call her immediately. She sounded so scared and worried, I’ve never heard her speak with such fear.”
Why the hell would Jules calling mom for me to contact her? I have no ties left up north and haven’t spoken to her in ten years. I only talk to Val every so often, and that’s just to keep tabs on Bella. I just spoke to Val last week, and everything was good. The guys headed to Italy a few days ago to meet their cousins to handle some family business. Mr. C. was sending Val, Romeo, Bash, and Lorenzo to the meeting. Val started taking over part of the business responsibilities.
“Mom, I just spoke to Val last week, and things were good. What else did she say?” There has to be more to this. Jules wouldn’t call unless... Oh shit, unless something happened to Bella. Oh fuck, please let this not be about my Bella.
“Gio, I wasn’t on with her long. All she said was it's important you contact her immediately. The connection was horrible, she mentioned Bella’s name once through all her babbling panic and tears. She gave me a different number than I have for you to call on, I think it’s a burner phone. Something awful is going on, you need to find out what it is,” mom says lighting a fire under my ass just with the mention of Bella’s name. Jumping out of my big king size bed and running to my desk.
I rummage through my drawers for a pen and paper. Mom gives me the number, and I hang up with the promise to call her when I find out what the hell is going on.
Before calling Jules, I grab a quick shower to wake myself the fuck up and get rid of the cobwebs in my fuckin’ head.
I need to find out why the fuck she called and what the hell could possibly be going on that has her panicked and scared. The girls are under so much protection they should never be afraid. Why call me especially if it has to do with Bella? If Bella wanted to talk to me, she could just pick up the phone and call me. I would take her call in a heartbeat and do whatever she needed me to do.
Before I work myself up too much, I throw on a t-shirt and a pair of jeans. Then sit at my desk and boot up my laptop before calling Jules back. I search the internet for anything about up north and find nothin’.
Without any further delay, I retrieve my phone and call her back. The phone rings four times and then a generic message answers. I leave Jules my number and tell her to call me back straight away. I need to know what the fuck is going on and why she called me of all people. When I hang up, I try Val and receive the same response. Not being a very patient man, I try Romeo, Bash and even Lorenzo receiving the same response. I leave them all a message to call me to let me know what the hell is going on.
In the meantime, I search their phone records and see they haven’t used their phones since arriving in Naples.
After an hour of search various things on the internet, I become antsy waiting for all my calls to be returned. I try Jules once more with the same results. I’m in desperate need of coffee to rid myself of this headache.
I enter the kitchen around ten and to my surprise all the guys are up fixing themselves breakfast. Maggie one of the club whores has made food for everyone. I grab a cup of coffee and pile up a dish of food before joining my brothers in the dining hall.
They're all talking when I walk-in taking a seat between Blaze and Hawk. Hawk slaps me on my back. “Nice of you to grace us with your presents this mornin’, brother,” Hawk says laughing, and I growl at him. I’m not in the mood for his shit today. I’ve got too much other shit going on and hear Bella’s name after all these years is screwing with my head.
“Back off, brother, it’s not a good fuckin’ mornin’,” I growl annoyed, he sees the look in my eyes, I’m serious. I’m in a shitty ass mood, not to be messed with, so he backs off.
“What’s going on, brother? No pussy last night for you?” Blaze asks jokingly as all the brothers at the table laugh around me.
“Fuck off,” I growl out and let them have their fun while I finish my food and coffee.
When I’m finished, I head to the bar for a beer. Tiny one of our prospects is tending bar this morning. He knows not to bother the brothers just place a beer or drink on top of the bar. No questions asked.
Ace joins me not saying anything for a few minutes.
“What’s up, man?” he asks concerned. Ace is one of my closest brothers, knows when I’m not right in the head. We’ve had many deep conversations since boot camp and became fast friends. He’s also one of the few brothers that know about my past. Specifically, what Bella means to me, even after all these fucked up years.
“Not sure, waiting on some calls from back home. It’s just driving me fuckin’ crazy waiting, man,” I say look at my beer.
Then I turn to him. “Jules call mom early this morning, freaking the shit out of her. Some fucked up shit is going on up there. According to mom, Jules was crying, panicked and scared. She never cries or panics, she not the ‘get scared kind of girl.' Those girls grow up tough and can handle themselves. In that life you have to be strong,” I pause to think of how Bella always held her own around the guys with a smile on her beautiful face. When she needed to, she would put us all in our place whether it be with her words or her little fist.
“She didn’t call from her cell either. She used a burner phone which could only mean it’s bad. She mentioned Bella’s name, but hung up before she could go into details.” At her name, he gives me a look of understanding.
As I said, he knows everything and knows how to read me. Bella is the most important person in this world to me. He knows the lengths I’ve gone to staying away to protect her.
“Fuck, man.” Yeah, fuck is right.
We sit there in silence drinking for a couple of hours into the mid-afternoon. Friday afternoons are quiet around the clubhouse, most of the brothers are at their day jobs. Ace, Blaze and I own a chain of Tattoo Shop and Bars in Downtown Orlando. We work by request at the shop, taking a client once in a while. In the meantime, we have a manager to cover the rest.
The quiet is not good for me, giving me time to think, all I can come up is that my Bella is hurt. Did she have an accident and hurt or is some prick bothering her? That would be the only reason Jules would call me if Bells needs something, but where’s her father. Mr. C. can handle anything so she wouldn’t need me. What the hell is going on up there? Maybe I should just get on a plane and find out for myself in person.
I grab my phone to search for flights. I can’t keep sitting here waiting anymore. I need to get up there and see for myself what happened. In the middle of checking direct flights, Jules calls.
Out of nowhere, the sight of her name on my screen causes me to panic. Before answering I take a couple deep breaths and look up at Ace who’s staring at me.
“Jules, what the fuck is going up there? Is Bella alright?” I spat out as greeting needed answers last week. I need to know my Bella is safe so I can finally breathe.
“Oh Gio, it’s bad. Uncle Dominic and Aunt Amelia were murdered. I don’t know the details. I can’t get in touch with the guys and Bella… Gio, I don’t even know where to begin or how to tell you. We need your help, and we need it now,” she says fast in a panic. I can hear the fear in her voice and hear her tears falling.
I don’t like this one iota. I give Ace a look that says she confirmed my worse suspicions. Bella is hurt, but I still don’t know how?
“What’s wrong with Bella and how can I help? I’ll do anything you need,” I ask trying my hardest to be patient with her.
I haven’t processed the first part of what she said yet. Uncle Dominic and Aunt Amelia have been murdered. Who would do that to them? And how the hell did they get passed their guards? I can’t think about that now; later I’ll deal with that later.
I turn my phone on speaker allowing Ace to hear what she’s saying. I don’t want to have to repeat anything.
“Gio... Bella’s in the hospital,” she says and breaks down sobbing. My heart is pounding in my chest as I wait for her to compose herself enough to finish.
“Antonio hurt her, Gio, in the worse way imaginable. We need your help to get her and Gigi away from him and out of the state. We need to get her away from him before they release her and we can find her brothers. He can’t get her home alone…” She sobs out. “Oh, Gio, I’m afraid of what he’ll do to her again. She’s barely holding on as it is right now.” Oh, fuck, I see red, bright fuckin’ red blinding me.
When I get my hands around that motherfucker’s throat, I’m going to kill that bastard slowly.
“Jules, I need you to calm down and start from the beginning. I need details, sweetheart. What the fuck happened so I can figure out how to help her.”
Ace and I stare at each other as she tells us the whole brutal story of what she knows from the beginning. I’m in shocked and sickened by her words. Who the hell would have the nerve to sneak into the Castellani’s estate with all their guards and kill him and his wife and hurt Bella? Thank fuck, Gigi is safe with Jules.
When she’s done, we sit in silence for a minute staring at my beer bottle processing her words. One thing that doesn’t sit well with me is Bella. She hasn’t told me how hurt she is, or why I have to get her out of the state and away from him.
“Jules, you left out a big piece of the puzzle for me. How is Bella hurt and why does she need to leave?”
My stomach knots and my heart aches worse than it ever has. I know I’m not going to like the next words that come out of her mouth.
“Gio, I need you to promise me you won’t fly off the handle. We need you in one piece, and you have to keep a clear head to help us. Please,” she pleads, and my anger increases. For Bella, I will do it.
I know Anton’s an asshole and she said he hurt Bella, but how? Did he beat her for refusing to be with him?
“I promise,” I say clenching my jaw so tight it aches. I’m on pins and fuckin’ needles here, on the verge of losing my shit.
She starts to sob really hard again, hearing them racking through her body as she says to worst imaginable words possible. I wish I were there to console her, but all I can do right now is hold my shit together as she speaks.
“Anton, violentata her in the most brutal way possible for a vergine. She almost hemorrhaged to death because of that bastard. He beat her up too. He lies to the hospital about what actually happened.” She stops and takes a few deep breaths and then continues saying the last words faster. My body is vibrating with fury.
She can’t even say the most horrible words imaginable in English. I’m done! My heart has shattered into a million pieces at those horrific words.
“He going to marry her and keep her locked away as soon as he gets her out of there. No one will be able to stop him from hurting her again once she’s in his house.”
This is all my fucking fault. I should have never left her. I should have been there to protect her.
Red is all I’ve seen since she said the word violentata, (raped) I barely heard anything else she had to say.
I drop the phone on the bar and stand up grabbing the back of my bar stool and throw it across the bar almost hitting a brother in the process as it hits the wall. Not sure which one, nor do I give a shit. Then I grab another and do the same with it.
I feel the worst heart-wrenching pain in my chest, and my face is wet. It could be blood, sweat or tears. Not sure from which one?
In the background through my haze, I hear Ace telling Jules he needs to calm my ass down. I’ll call her back with a plan later.
I know he got the gist on her Italian and can figure it out.
I continue on my destruction of the bar, smashing chairs and bottles, throwing tables over, just destroying anything in my path.
Finally, Ace and Blaze tackle me to the ground and drag me outside to calm my ass down.
I haven’t been this murderous in a long time. Not since being in Afghanistan and fighting those slimy fuckin’ pricks.
Once, my brothers finally somewhat settled my ass down I dart straight to my room and get on my laptop. I find the hospital website and patient port to hack her records. I’m reading her report of what that bastard did to her. My stomachs turning, and my heart is breaking into a million tiny shards again. The pain in my chest - my heart – is unimaginable. Red clouds consume my vision again. My blood is boiling at an all-time fuckin’ high. I lose my shit again and toss everything in my room, throwing all my furniture on its side and mattress off the frame. All my clothes from my drawers and closet are scattered around the room. I want to get my hands on that sonofabitch and tear him apart, limb for fuckin’ damn limb. No correction, I will be tearing his ass up. Literally, an eye for an eye seems more than fair in this incident.
Ace and Blaze make me take another break, dragging me outside to my bike for a long ride to cool down and think. Nothin’ is helping; typically my old girl can calm me down, but not today with this storm brewing inside me.
I think about forging a plan to get her away from him, and I need my brothers’ help and fast. Going to my brothers isn’t going to be easy, but it has to be done.
After two hours of riding around and an hour with the punching bag alone in the gym, I know what has to be done.
I head to my room with bloody hands texting Gator and Ace on the way to meet me there in five. I need to talk to them first about this. I don’t want all the brother’s knowing her business. Ace heard what Jules said, but he hasn’t seen the records. I’ll fill Gator in, and we can discuss some options.
I lay everything out for Gator, he agrees to call an emergency meeting for me realizing that this is a time sensitive matter.
They want to help me, but we need to have a club vote because she’s not part of the club or my blood family. I foresaw this problem and have a contingency plan in place.
I’m going to need their help to get passed Anton, and there is only one way to do that.
This is where things are going to get sticky, I’ll have to tread lightly here, so this all goes my way. I have to be completely honest with my brothers and give them a glimpse into my past.
It’s 10:00 on Friday night when everyone assembles into our meeting room. We take our seats at the oval table.
My brothers all have a worried look on their faces. The only time emergency meetings are called is when there’s club trouble. Which I guess you could say this is some kind trouble with a capital T, just not technically “club trouble.”
Gator slams the gravel calling Church, then addresses the room. “I call this emergency meeting to order. Thank you all for showing up on short notice. I’m going to give the floor over to Beast to explain to you why you’re here. Then I’ll call a vote,” Gator says and nods to me.
Here goes nothing. Taking a few deep, calming breaths to settle my nerves before standing to address my brothers.
“Brothers, I need your help. I’ll give you the long story in short. Years ago, I left a very special woman back home to keep her safe. A few nights ago she was brutally attacked and is in the hospital. The man that hurt her is a fuckin’ bastard and will continue hurtin’ her unless I get to her first.”
I need a second to control my emotions, or I’ll never finish.
“I need to extract her from the state immediately and away from him. I also have her much younger sister and best friend to protect. Bringing them here under our protection is the best way to do so.”
Before I can even finish Wolf’s yelling, “This is about pussy, hell no, man. I’m out of here.” Wolf heads towards the door, and a few brothers are yelling shit about pussy and not their concern. They all get up from their chairs to leave following Wolf. My blood is hot and pumping in my veins. I have to stop them. Now!
“Stop!” I shout causing everyone to freeze turning to look at me. “I’m claiming her! I’m claiming Isabella Marie Castellani as my ol’lady! She’s mine which makes her a part of this club!” I yell, and they freeze staring at me in shock.
They never thought they would ever see the day I would claim a woman. To be honest, I never wanted an ol’lady, but I did always want Bella.
“Bella’s been mine since the day she was born, I was just too damn stupid to realize it and take control of my own destiny. I ran away from her like a fuckin’ coward not to hurt, but I have let her down in the worst way possible.” I sound as broken as I feel inside.
I slump down in my chair defeated with elbows on my thighs bowing my head in my hands before I can continue.
“I can’t leave her there in harm's way again. it’s my fault she was brutally attacked by this bastard, I did this to her.” I emphasize those two words.
“I have to protect her from him and get her away from him before he does it again and again or does something even worse to her or her baby sister. He almost killed her this time, next time he just might. Please help me get her out of there and save them.”
I practically beg my brothers knowing without their help, I can’t save her alone. I never cry, but at this moment I feel like I might. I’ve just about lost everything that matters to me. My heart hurts worse than it ever has in my entire life.
“Brothers, this is a terrible situation. This poor woman has been through an ordeal that none of us could even imagine possible. Our brother is suffering because of it and needs our help. We’re family here, and she’s his. Bella was not only brutal attacked by this man, but we also have reason to believe he murdered her parents in cold blood.
“Beast, also believes her 13-year-old sister is in jeopardy as well. We can take her sister and best friend from her apartment. We need a plan is to extract Bella from the hospital. The hospital will be tricky, but I’m sure we can diverge a plan,” Ace says having my back like a real blood brother.
“Wait did you say, ‘Castellani.' The same Castellani has in the fuckin’ Mafia Dom of New York. Holy fuck, Beast, what the hell are you getting us into?” Snake asks causing our brothers to curse and immediately back off afraid of war. I jump up from my chair as Gator calls the room to order.
“Yes, for those of you who don’t know my back story? That was my family before you all became my family. My father was one of Dominic Castellani’s Captains/Enforcer my whole life.
“I rejected that life because a long time ago, in another life, I fell in love with Dominic’s eldest daughter, Bella. I knew I’d never have her or be able to stand by watching her grown up, and live her life. So like a fuckin’ quitter, I left her to fend for herself in that world.
“I always kept tabs on her through her older brother Val, my best friends since we were kids. No one saw this shit coming, or I would have taken her before she was attacked,” I pause to take a deep breath to compose myself before my anger eats me up.
“I would never ask for your help if I could do this myself. I would never put our club in jeopardy either. This will not cause a war with the Mafia. They won’t even know we’re there or had anything to do with the girls leaving. Please help me save them before it’s…”
Great, now I’ve resorted to throwing myself at their mercy. Shit, I don’t even care if it gets them to help me. I’ll do whatever I have to for my girl’s sakes.
“Okay, brothers, let vote. A raise of hands for ‘yay’ for Beast claim on Bella and our involvement.” After a few long drawn out few seconds every one of my brothers raises their hands to accept my claim and are willing to help me.
For the next couple of hours, we strategize and come up with a flawless plan.
Skull purchases our plane tickets on my credit card for this morning.
My brothers and I formulated the perfect plan for extract Bella from the hospital. We’ll hack into their security feed and looped it for an hour.
Hawk and Snake will find someone to cause a distraction in the middle of the night, at the opposite end of the hall from Bella’s room.
We know Anton’s been leaving in the evening, so he won’t be around.
Meanwhile, Wolf and Cowboy will keep watch on the guards making sure they all stay occupied.
This will allow me time to enter Bella’s room alone and get us out safely and undetected.
Ace and Blaze will be waiting in the parking garage with Jules and Gigi in the black Escalade with black out windows. I just purchased it online for us to drive her back in since we can’t travel with them on the plan back. It’ll be delivered to Jules’ place tomorrow evening.
Then we will be gone like the wind.
Cowboy will hang around the hospital to make sure no one is aware she’s gone until the morning. By that time we should be far away.
Gator contacted Skully, Prez of Dragons Breath in Staten Island, to inform him we’ll be close, and we may need his help. They are considered our cousin club of sorts.
I call Jules around one, waking her up to lay out our plan. She’s in total disbelieve that I got shit together so fast. I inform her to get rid of her bodyguard, Ricco, in the morning few a couple of days and we should arrive before noon.
I also warn her not to mention anything to Bella. We can’t chance her slipping up with all the medications she’s on. She tells me that won’t be an issue because Bella came down with an infection today and she’s been sedated. The doctors have been keeping her sedated per Anton’s request anyhow. Probably to keep her mouth shut about what the bastard did to her.
That put another fire under my ass, and I can’t get to her fast enough. He just better hope I don’t get him alone while I’m there because I will kill him for this shit right there and then.
Before leaving I talk to Sam - our club doctor - about transporting her. She tells me just to keep her hydrated, and she’ll send meds with me for her. Sam read through her file so when I get her here she’ll be in good hands. Sam will help her heal from her ordeal. Hopefully, she’ll be able to help Bella. You know, woman understand woman and all.
When we arrive at Jules’, we won’t have much time to get things together. So I texted her a list to start organizing things to work on while we’re in the air. We have to get everything together for tomorrow night’s operation. The least amount of time we have to be there, the better off things will be.
My brothers and I split up all our assignments and start the second we land. We won’t have any time to slack off, but we’ll make it work.
Sunday night can’t come soon enough for me. I can’t wait to have my girl in my arms where she’s always belonged after all these years and will be staying.