Saved Mafia Bride by Mae Doyle

Gavin

“How much longer do we have?” In addition to the gun on my hip, I have one strapped on my chest, a grenade clipped to my pocket, and another handgun. I could load down with more guns than it would be possible to carry, but I want to be able to move without being too hindered.

There’s no way of knowing just how much firepower Nick and his merry band of assholes have with them, so it’s best to be prepared but still make sure that I’ll be able to move.

“They should be here any moment.” Freddy checks the clip in his gun and then gives me a grim smile. “Let’s get out there and try to keep them away from the house. The last thing that we want is any of them coming here and finding Clara.”

Sean pulls his phone from his pocket and screws up his face when he looks at it. “Fucking hell, guys, it looks like they’re going to the main house. They must not have gotten any intel on the guesthouse.”

“Let’s go.” When I turn to look for Clara, I’m glad that she’s disappeared. I don’t know where she’s hiding, but I can’t worry about that right now. When Nick gets to the main house and discovers that she’s not there then he’s going to fan out across the property looking for her. We need to stop him from getting close.

“Who’s in the house?” I ask Freddy as we file out the main door. Once I turn and yank on the handle to make sure that it’s locked, I lead the way up towards the house. There’s a driveway connecting the two, but also a small footpath that’s partially hidden in the woods. That’s the way we’re going to go to try to stay out of sight for as long as possible.

“Nobody.” Freddy keeps his voice low and jogs along behind me. “I sent everyone home yesterday when I thought that the shit might hit the fan. Of course, I never figured that it would come right to my doorstep, but it is what it is.”

“Thank you.” I glance over at him. “Seriously, Freddy, I don’t know what we’d do without you letting us live here. If it all gets destroyed—”

“You’ll pay to have it repaired.” Freddy grins at me. “Don’t think that I don’t know how much money you have stashed away. You’ll pay for the repairs and it will be like nothing ever happened. Or maybe you can buy me an island instead. I’ve always wanted to do some traveling.”

I grin at him and we grow silent as we draw closer to the house. At first, it doesn’t look like anyone is there. The driveway is completely empty, but then a sleek black car drives silently towards the house and I feel my heart beat faster.

The bastard who wants to hurt Clara is in that car and there’s no way that I’m going to let him walk away from this in one piece.

“Don’t be hotheaded,” Sean warns me, putting his hand on my shoulder. “You have someone waiting for you now, so try your best to not be an idiot.”

“I have someone waiting for me to keep her safe,” I correct, checking my gun one more time. Everything with it is perfect, I know that, but it’s second nature to check and double-check it just to make sure that there isn’t anything wrong with it. “We need to wait until we know how many assholes are going to show up.”

Another car pulls up while we watch, then another, and I feel my palms grow sweaty. This wasn’t supposed to be a huge battle, but the more cars that pull up, the more aware I am that shit is really about to hit the fan.

“How many men did he bring with him?” I ask, making sure that I keep my voice as low as possible. “I’m serious, you guys, did either of you know that he’d travel with a fucking entourage?”

Sean shakes his head. “No, but once they’re all here, the Accardis should be close behind them.” He checks his phone, which he must have put on silent, and taps the screen once to bring up a message from Dane. “Okay. Dane said that they’d been watching the road and everyone came up here except for one car, which sped off but they don’t know where it went. They decided to follow the majority of the cars and they’re at the bottom of the driveway.”

“Tell them that we’re about to go in,” I say, breathing slowly to stay calm.

That one car that peeled off in another direction is a bit of a concern, but we’ll handle it. From what the Accardis said, it doesn’t sound like these assholes know about the guesthouse. Even if they did, Clara is safe there. There’s no getting in or out, which means that I don’t need to worry about her.

That doesn’t stop the tight feeling in my chest. I’m not going to feel normal again until I have her in my arms and all of this is over. Knowing that she’s safe is the only thing keeping me here and stopping me from running back down the path to the guesthouse.

She’s fine.

“Looks like they’re all out,” Freddy says, and my eyes snap back to the driveway. The men are all there, all splitting off into teams to circle the house and break in to move through it in their hunt. “The Accardis will be here in a minute. Let’s split up and start taking these assholes, out.”

“Stay low,” I say, and my brothers nod. “We’re all coming out of this together on the other side, okay? Every single one of us needs to walk away from this bullshit and then we can figure out how the hell we’re going to rebuild. Just don’t do anything stupid.”

“No fucking chance of that.” Sean grins at me and then disappears into the woods, moving quickly so that he can skirt around the side of the house and pop out in the backyard.

“I’ll let the Accardis know that they need to take the other side and go into the house,” Freddy says, his thumbs flying on his phone. “You want to go in or what?”

I don’t answer for a moment. I’m staring at Nick, who has gotten out of the car, wanting to know exactly where that asshole is going to go. My goal is to bring him down and crush him, and if that means that I need to follow him into the house, I’ll do that. If I have to confront him on the driveway, I’m more than thrilled to do it there.

He puts his finger up to his ear like he’s listening to something, then nods before speaking. “Assholes are all on radios,” I say, more to myself than my brother. “And he’s going in the house. Stay safe, Freddy.”

I’ll have to wait a few minutes for the driveway to clear before I can follow Nick into the house. Once we take him down then the rest of his men should fall quickly and easily. Most people aren’t loyal to death, which is why I prefer to work with blood.

The Accardi men are different, as are the Bonannos. Our three families have a bond that I don’t think will ever break. I wish for a moment that the Bonannos were here to help us out, but we can take care of this on our own, I’m sure of it.

“Okay, be safe.” Freddy melts into the woods and I stare at the house, waiting for Nick to go in. Most of the men he was with have all dispersed across the property, so we need to move quickly and be careful. I take a deep breath and follow him and his two bodyguards as they enter the house.

For just a moment, as I’m running across the lawn, I’m fully exposed, but I hurry and keep my head down. As soon as I step inside the house, I relax, but only for a moment.

Now is when all hell is going to break loose.