Wounded Redemption by Brook Wilder
Chapter 17
Rory
I wiggled at the zip ties that were cutting into my wrists, biting on the rag stuffed into my mouth to mask the scream that I really wanted to let out. When I had come to, I was no longer in the office, but in a small room with Angelica, who was still out next to me, her chin pressed against her chest.
It seemed that Carmine had found her even though Nico had ordered her to be moved this morning, and since she was here, that meant everyone else could possibly be dead.
My eyes burned with tears as I thought about the guards that had accompanied me, how Vincent—oh dear god, Vincent—had taken Angelica to the other safe house himself.
And what about Nico?
And Anthony?
And Lorenzo?
I refused to believe that they were harmed. I would know it, feel it in my chest that they were gone. Besides, I didn’t need to think that way. I needed to focus on getting out of here, getting both of us out of here, though by the looks of it, Angelica wasn’t going to be much help.
Taking a breath, I looked around the room for something to cut my zip ties. If I could free my hands, then I could easily tackle the zip tie around my feet and exit the door before me.
It was a great plan, if I could execute it. One thing was for certain; I had to get out of here before Carmine came in. I had two theories that he was going to play out for me. Either he was going to do all those horrible things he had mentioned when we were on Long Island, or I was bait for Nico.
Honestly, I hoped that it was the first one because I didn’t need Anthony losing both his parents on the same day.
I also knew that Carmine would want to tout the fact that he had me to his son, which in turn would make Nico come after me, and there was my likely second theory in motion.
The first one still wasn’t out, though. Once he succeeded in finally killing his son, who knew what Carmine would do to Angelica and me afterward, but I doubted it was anything good.
Maybe I could get these zip ties off and hide Angelica and myself among the other things in the room. There was a table that could easily be flipped over for hiding, as well as a stack of what looked like burlap bags that could be stacked over us.
Then the guard, whoever came in, would think that we escaped through the window and would leave the door open so that we could truly escape. I had no idea what was on the other side of that door, but given the heavy smell of the river in the air, my guess was that we were in a warehouse.
I could do this. I had too much to live for, and I wasn’t going to go out like this, nor was I going to let Nico sacrifice himself to save me.
We belonged together.
Working the rag with my tongue, I succeeded in getting it out of my mouth, my tongue dry. “Angelica,” I said urgently, nudging her with my shoulder. “Wake up.”
The young woman moaned, her eyes fluttering open a moment later. Her wide, panicked eyes found mine, and I tried to portray some sort of calm demeanor. “It’s okay. You are okay.” I mean, I didn’t know what else to say really. I was already lying to her. “We are going to get out of here, but we have to work together in order to do so. Can you help me?”
At first it didn’t look like my words were getting through to her. She screamed into the rag, her hands struggling to get free from the ties, and I sighed inwardly. “Angelica, you are hurting yourself,” I tried again, my voice firmer this go round. “I need for you to calm down and listen to me.”
Something must have clicked because she quit screaming at least. “Your hands are tied,” I told her. “We have to cut the tie. You aren’t going to be able to pull them loose.”
She quit struggling then, and I gave her an encouraging nod. “See if you can use your tongue to push the cloth out. It’s not tied tightly.”
After a few motions, she was able to free her mouth, taking several deep breaths in the process. “Where are we?” she whispered, looking around. “Who did this?”
“I really wish I had answers for you,” I said, deciding to keep the fact that I knew that Carmine was behind this all to myself for now. I didn’t know how she would react, and the last thing I needed was her freaking out again. “What do you remember?”
“I was in the living room of the new cabin,” she said after a moment. “Removing my shoes. I don’t remember anything after that.”
She hadn’t seen her attacker like I had. Maybe it was a blessing, given everything she had gone through. “We need to find something to cut these,” I replied instead, showing her my hands. “Something sharp.”
Before she could answer, the door opened, and in walked Carmine, a grin splitting his face. Angelica immediately started to scoot back against the wall, her breathing ragged. “Well, well,” he said, rubbing his hands together. “What do we have here?”
“No, no!” Angelica screamed, shaking her head wildly. “Get away! Please get away!”
Carmine glanced over Angelica before he looked at me. “You’re a pain in my ass, Rory,” he told me, shaking his head. “I thought we had a nice long discussion the first time about what you weren’t going to do.”
How he could ignore the screaming woman beside me was pretty impressive. My head was ringing from her screams already. “Do whatever you want. I’ve already ruined you.”
To my surprise, he chuckled. “You have no idea how many times over this past year I thought about you and how you should have been my child rather than my daughter-in-law. You have more balls than both my children combined, and I’m impressed, Rory. It takes a lot to impress me.”
“I don’t care about how fucking impressed you are,” I spat out, wishing my feet weren’t tied so I could stand in front of him, face-to-face. “You are going to prison if you don’t die.”
Carmine arched a brow. “How? Oh, you are expecting your husband to show up, aren’t you?”
God, I hoped not. I didn’t want him to have a clear shot at Nico like this. “You are baiting him.”
“Of course, I am,” the Mafia don smirked. “What better way to kill the other pain in my ass than to lure him here for his precious wife? You know, I’m amazed at how much he loves you. You see, we D’Agostinos aren’t known for our softer side, and no matter how many times I tried to beat it out of Nicolas, he always retained a piece of it.” Carmine frowned. “It was his bitch of a mother that caused that, of course, and that is what will be his downfall.”
He turned his attention to Angelica, whose screams had subsided to sobs, tears streaking her face. “And you. All you had to do was stay fucking quiet. I gave you everything.”
“You gave her nothing!” I yelled as he walked over and grabbed Angelica by the hair.
Angelica screamed again, clawing at his hand, but he was far stronger, pulling her up from the floor by her hair. The rock that was already in the pit of my stomach grew as I watched Carmine throw her against the opposite wall.
He was on her again in an instant, putting his face right near hers. “Tell her what she doesn’t know. Tell her how I fucking ruled over this Mafia, gave it the name that it needed. And nothing, not even a bitch like you, will be able to take me down! Tell her!”
“It’s okay,” I said instead, straining against my ties. “It’s going to be okay, Angelica. Look at me. Keep your eyes on me.”
Angelica didn’t even glance in my direction, the defeated look on her face worrying me even more. In Carmine she saw everything she had lost, the monster under the bed that she could never grow out of. “Please,” I begged.
Carmine pulled out a gun, and I froze as he slid it over Angelica’s cheek. “Why don’t you beg me?” he said softly, yanking her head back. “Beg, and I might let you live.”
A single tear rolled down Angelica’s cheek, and I started to rock my body, trying desperately to get onto my feet. “Don’t do this. She’s suffered enough, you bastard!”
His eyes slid over to mine. “She knew the rules, and she broke them. Now it’s time that she pays for it.”
Before I could utter another word, he placed the barrel of the gun under her chin and pulled the trigger, the sound blasting through the room and rattling around in my head. I heard someone scream in the distance and realized it was me as Angelica’s body crumpled to the floor, no longer in any sort of pain.
He had killed her. He had killed Angelica.
Carmine calmly took out a clean handkerchief and wiped his face, smearing the blood that had collected on his skin. “That is unfortunate,” he said, throwing the handkerchief on her prone body. “She really had great potential.”
“You monster!” I screamed, struggling against my bonds as he started my way. “You killed her!”
“Rory, Rory,” he tsked, grabbing my arm roughly and hauling me to my feet. This close, I could see the murderous glint in his eyes, the flecks of blood from Angelica on his face. “I promised your husband I would wait to kill you until he gets here, but you are trying my fucking patience.”
I spit in his face and he backhanded me, pain exploding on my left cheek and my already aching head spinning horribly. I fell to the ground and threw up immediately, emptying the contents of my stomach on the concrete floor.
“See what you made me do?” he taunted, tapping his gun on his leg. “I didn’t want to hit you, not yet, but now that I have had a taste, I know the rest of what I am going to do to you is going to feel fucking great.”
“You might torture me,” I shot back, tasting the bile on my tongue. “But you are through, Carmine.”
He chuckled. “You are talking about your little article. There are ways to make things disappear, Rory, ways to make people turn a blind eye, and fortunately I have a lot of fucking money to ensure that they do.” His gaze narrowed. “You think you are so clever, but you’ve gone up against the wrong fucking man this time. I’m going to ruin you and everyone that you care about, starting with that husband of yours, followed by your child. What do you think about that, Rory?”
I gritted my teeth against the next wave of nausea that hit me. “You touch my son, and I will kill you myself.”
Carmine cocked his head to the side. “Fuck, you are pretty bloodthirsty. Maybe I will keep you around longer than intended and put you to work, Rory. Would you like that? Would you like to learn how to kill like your husband did?”
I didn’t get to answer his question. There was a commotion in the distance before there was a flurry of motion at the door and someone burst through the room. Carmine whirled around, the sound of the bullets firing in rapid succession exploding near my ears. The shape fell to the ground with a sickening thud before others started to fill the room, some I recognized as Nico’s men.
No.
Carmine was already on the move, throwing a piece of lumber at the window to my right, shattering the glass before leaping through it to dodge the bullets from the guards. Glass rained down on me, but I didn’t care.
That was my husband in the rapidly growing puddle of blood. “Help!” I screamed, tears clogging my throat. I couldn’t lose him like this! I couldn’t live if he died. “Please! He’s dying!”
