The Hitman Takes A Bride: A Mafia Romance (Carlotta Family Book 2) Read online

  I pat the key in my pocket to said new car.

  Calista nods. “Yes, just give me a second to go get my keys.”

  She walks over to the nurses’ station while looking over her shoulders at us. I nod my head at her in hopes of calming her nerves. I’m not going to off her dad in the middle of a hospital.

  “What do you know about Amanda Bruno?” I snarl at him.

  Vincent’s eyes squint. “I have no idea what you are talking about. You might want to get your head examined. It's obvious you are confused about a lot.”

  My eyes squint. “She doesn’t know shit about you, does she? You’re worried I’m going to tell her exactly who you are and what you did in New York!”

  “You aren’t going to say anything because you don’t know anything that happened in New York for you to say anything. My family and I have lived in Arizona for seventeen years.”

  I chuckle sardonically. “What do you know about Amanda Bruno?” I question again. “You have to know something!”

  Vincent straightens his back to look down at me. “I highly suggest you quit whatever game you think you are playing and back the fuck down. Stay away from my daughter.”

  “Or what?” I challenge.

  “I know what you are, and I know what you want to know. What you don’t know is the dedication of protecting those you love more than anything and what you are willing to do to do so.”

  My head spins. Did he just admit what I think he did? “Do you know anything about Amanda Bruno?”

  “Dad,” Calista calls with her keys in one hand and a water bottle in the other. “I need to speak to Victor but here are my keys. It's parked in the staff parking lot. Please let me know if you can save my car.”

  The key in my pocket feels like lead. There’s no way she’s going to openly accept the car I just bought for her without a fight. Especially not in front of her dad.

  Vincent leaves but not without giving me a final stare which proves he’s watching me. I smile and wave at him to throw him off. He’s not going to get the better of me and I don’t give two shits what he thinks about me. I need to find out what is connection to Amanda is.

  “What did you want to tell me about, pussycat?” I question Calista who is gnawing on her lip.

  “I, uh, I want you to know… Shit. I can’t…”

  I couldn’t bear to watch her struggle and stumble over her words. “Take a breath and tell me what you need.”

  “First, come with me.” Calista grabs my hand leading me through the doors which state it's private. I follow behind her with my eyes scanning the room to see what else could be hiding behind a curtain.

  Those fuckers led me here for some reason and I want to know what it is. I’m tired of these assholes thinking they got the better of me because they have information on Amanda.

  We stop in front of a room, she turns to look at me then looks away. “Victor, I’m happy to let you know we found Amanda. She’s alive and in here.”

  My knees almost give out.

  “What?”

  “Amanda has been found.”

  Calista

  M y head swirls with unanswered questions that haven’t even been asked yet. Worst of all, I feel as if my whole world is about to change and I can’t handle it right now. I can’t handle the obligatory “let’s just be friends” speech right now.

  I can’t do it.

  His knees give out and he falls in front of me while his hand hovers over the curtain. “You found her and she’s alive? She’s been alive all this time? What about the baby?”

  Baby? What baby?

  “What baby?” I question feeling the walls to the hospital close in on me. “There’s no baby.”

  “She was pregnant. What happened to the baby?” He asks me and gets off his knees. “I know she was pregnant!”

  I have checked her over myself and didn't see any signs of her being pregnant. Absolutely none. She has never been pregnant before and her examine has proven that.

  I don't know much about Amanda but I don't trust her very much. She seems like a clingy person and I'm wondering if a lot of her story is truthful. I don't know if I don't like her because she now gives me competition or if I really distrust her.

  His elation of knowing Amanda is alive is doing some crazy things to my insides. I don’t want to be the one who has to see him excited to see Amanda. I don’t want to be the one who has to deal with the guilt of knowing I slept with a married man. My stomach feels as if there are bricks inside it. Big heavy ones.

  The more bricks that are added, the more rooted I am to the floor.

  “I don’t know what to tell you but there’s no evidence she had a baby. You need to speak with your wife.”

  I choke out that last word for obvious reasons. Telling my boyfriend his wife has been found alive is more than I can handle at this moment. In fact, my knees start to go weak and I place my hands on the wall to help gain some strength in them again.

  “Can I go in?” He asks me.

  I nod. Really, what more can I do? I can’t erase the time she was gone and I can’t erase how Victor makes me feel. I also can’t erase the feeling of dread inside my gut.

  Watching him want to rush into the room as if he’s missed her is doing all sorts of bad things to my confidence. I want to march in there and demand he makes a choice right now but I don’t want to know the answer. I’m afraid of the answer.

  He’s going to pick her over me.

  My throat is clogged with unshed tears.

  No! No! You aren’t going to fall apart because of this. You are a doctor and you aren’t going to allow this to get you down!

  Even as I replay that message through my head, I still feel my eyes sting. Damn it.

  Victor

  W hatever Calista had to tell me I could tell was really fucking with her. She looks nervous as she shifts her weight between each foot. Hearing the words I’ve been wanting to hear for years is fucking with me big time.

  There is something bothering me in the back of my mind and I can’t help but ask the question I might not want to know the answer to. My gun weighs a ton in the back of my pants. I feel the urge to whip it out and hunt down whoever’s fucking with me. They sent me here for a reason, and I want to know why.

  “What do you mean?” I ask her. Suddenly, my suit is too tight and I feel like I might bust out of it. “She’s been alive this whole time?”

  Calista nods her head then winces. I’ve never seen her look as nervous as she does right now. It’s breaking me up inside knowing how confused she must feel right now. “Yes. I don’t know much more than you. All I know is she’s going to be suffering for a while until she’s better. Until she’s back to herself.”

  My hand reaches out to touch Calista’s face. I’m centimeters away from that beautiful face and that is when she moves out of my way. She completely moves her face so I can’t touch her. The absence is already heavy on my soul.

  “Calista, are you all right? You look a little flushed,” the same asshole doctor asks her in front of me. He places his arm around her shoulder to bait me. I’m not falling for it, though.

  “I’m fine. Just a little tired,” she answers as she moves out of my embrace. He tries to hold her in place but she moves out of the way. From the look on her face, I can tell she doesn’t like the guy. And I don’t blame her.

  “Is everything all right over here?”

  “Yes!” I snap. “Everything is fine. You can go now,” I growl out in a dismissal.

  The doctor looks at me with questioning eyes. “Dr. Inzo, who is this man?” He questions.

  “I’m none of your business,” I retort. I know I should let it go. I know I shouldn’t allow him to make me feel stupid and insignificant, but I can’t help it. I want to shoot the asshole in front of me.

  He smirks. “You know where I’m at if you need anything,” he replies.

  “She won’t!” I yell after him.

  “What is your problem? Don’t you think you
have other things to do besides piss off my colleagues?”

  “Do you have a thing for him?”

  Calista’s eyes widen. “You did not just ask me that. Go see Amanda.”

  She swings open the door and I about lose my knees. Looking at Amanda has gutted me.

  Amanda has been alive this whole time and I’m just now figuring this out? Did those jack asses who blackmailed me into killing Vincent know she was alive? They showed me pictures but you can do anything to pictures now-a-days.

  Seeing Amanda for the first time since she was taken from me is messing me up. I came to terms a year ago the chances of finding her alive were slimming and practically nonexistent but I always had hope.

  “Amanda, what happened?” I ask her while hovering over her face.

  She looks skinnier than before. Unhealthy. Starved and beat. Whatever happened to her…

  Tears well up in her eyes. “I, I, I, uh, I don’t know how to tell you what happened, Victor. I can’t believe it's really you!”

  I feel a tightening in my chest causing me to look out through the glass to see if I can see Calista. She’s watching us with her eyes hooded as if that could protect her from having feelings. I couldn’t imagine how she feels knowing I’m in here with my estranged wife and she’s out there.

  With that in mind, I have an obligation to my wife.

  “Of course, darling. What happened?”

  Amanda

  A sharp poke is what wakes me up and sends me back to sleep immediately. I vaguely remember getting into a fight with Victor before he storms off but that seems so long ago. I have lost all sense of time.

  I feel a warm sensation running through my body making me feel as if I have to pee. The lulling feeling of moving is what keeps me asleep.

  “You know what’s going to happen when he finds out we took her, right?” A man yells at another.

  I can hear someone talking over the loud roaring of an engine.

  As if I’m falling from the sky, I feel myself slipping out of the abyss.

  “Where?” I try to speak but something is gagging me. Something is over my mouth making it harder for me to speak.

  “Give her more of that shit. We can’t have her waking up and causing problems!”

  “On it.”

  Again, the warm sensation flows through my body making me wanting pee. Am I peeing right now? Is that what’s happening?

  The trip seemed as if it went on forever and ever. Each whip of the car, my body jostled against the back seats of the car. Each time the car went over a bump or a pothole, I felt every bump.

  I feel weird. I feel as if I’m awake but I’m not. I can feel my body but my muscles aren’t working at all.

  “This is going to be fucking bad. You know that, right? We’re all going to get whacked.”

  “Probably.”

  If they know they are going to be whacked, why would they steal me? Why break into my house and force me to go with them if they knew? Victor’s a powerful man even though he’s just in the beginning of his career with The Carlotta Family.

  “Turn left here,” a man instructs.

  The car moves to the left side making me fly across the car. My body smashes against the wall of the car with a disgusting noise.

  “You fuckin’ dumb ass! We can’t hurt her or we won’t get paid.”

  I’m being held for ransom?

  Why the hell am I being held for ransom?

  As if the assholes in front of the car heard my internal question, they answer my question. “How much are we supposed to be getting for?”

  “Like twenty-five thousand and a couple kilos.”

  “That’s it? We’re risking our life for that?”

  As these two bicker back and forth, I fight the tears threatening to spill out. I’m not going to let them know I’m crying because of them. They have already kidnapped me and drugged me up. The drugs they’ve injected me with, has my body feeling warm with a tingly sensation throughout.

  A hard punch to the back of my head is what wakes me up. It's sharp and horrifying.

  I yell out through the gag making my scream seem muffled. My blindfold is ripped off my head and I fight to have my eyes adjust.

  “You asked for this. You asked for every single thing. Now, you are going to pay up.”

  “I don’t know,” I tell Victor.

  His eyes are squinting and he looks good after all of these years. I wonder if he has moved on since I left. I know he would never have divorced me in the first place because that’s not who he is.

  Victor is all about honor and he made vows to me. I wonder what would have happened if I hadn’t been taken. Would he still want me? I doubt it. I don’t even want myself.

  He’s going to hate me for what happened. He’s going to wish I never came back and there’s nothing I can do about it. He’s going to flat out wish he never found out I was alive.

  I’m going to enjoy him while I have him.

  Calista

  E ach time I think about the two of them in the room together, it makes me violently ill. How can I feel so jealous over him with his wife? The fact that I’m jealous over my boyfriend and his wife is really fucking with me.

  I pace the hallway outside of their room for a few minutes to calm down before going in there. I need to get my shit together before I have to go and talk to a patient and her reacquainted husband also known as my boyfriend.

  “Calista!”

  Spinning on my heels I see my dad running down the hallway with a determined look on his face. “Yeah, dad?”

  “Where is that man you were talking to? I need to speak to him.”

  I shake my head. “Dad, I can’t talk about it right now. I know you have to speak to him about being a loyal person and all that…”

  He shakes his head and grabs my shoulders. “You need to listen to what I’m about to tell you.”

  I nod. “Yeah?” His accent gets thicker and more intense when he has to tell me something I might not want to know. “Oh, god! Are you and mom getting a divorce?”

  He chuckles. “Your mom would cut my balls off if we got divorced! Are you kidding me?”

  “Well… What do you need to tell me? I have to check on a couple of patients.”

  “You need to stay away from that guy. There’s nothing wrong with your car besides it being old. I will tell you what happened.”

  My eyes clench tight together. The stress of the day is adding up and making me hostile. “What are you talking about?”

  He looks from the left to the right. “We can’t talk here. Come to the house after your shift. I mean it, Calista. Don’t go anywhere.”

  “Dad!” I yell out frustrated.

  He hands me my keys. “Don’t worry about your car, baby girl. I will figure it out.”

  With that, he turns and walks out of the wing. I have the option of running after him, clearly embarrassing myself in front of all the doctors but I don’t. It's bad enough being a woman in this field because people think I’m too emotional.

  Anyone would tear up if a kid died on the operating table.

  Heartless jerks.

  My heart is beating so quickly in my chest and my breathing is erratic but I still go see Amanda. What I see when I enter is something I’m not prepared to see. I’m not prepared to see them kissing.

  They are locked in a liplock and my heart explodes in my chest.

  The air has been clogged in my lungs.

  “Uh, I’ll come back,” I mutter and go to open the door to leave.

  “I’m sorry, Dr. Inzo. I haven’t seen my husband in years! I’m sure you know what that’s like! Are you married?”

  I’m about to tell her the truth when I realize I have nothing to say. I have nothing to say because I don’t want to seem like a complete loser in front of this woman. I’m jealous of a woman who has come back from being gone for years.

  What the fuck is my problem?

  “No, I’m not.”

  “How come? You are so pre
tty,” she presses.

  “Thank you, but we aren’t here to talk about me. We are here to talk about you.”

  Amanda nods while Victor sits next to the bed completely silent. I can tell he has no idea what to say or do. “Yes,” she murmurs.

  “You have two broken ribs, a fractured leg and a broken arm. You are going to need surgery to fix the broken bones due to them healing improperly. They will give you discomfort until you do. Do you have some place to stay?”