Untangle Me

Chapter 18

Vincenzo

"Got your weapons?" I ask one last time as I secure the bulletproof vest on my chest.

"Yes. Backup is waiting at the other entry. Just waiting for your word," Leo says.

"Okay, fuck, let's do this. Tell them to shoot only when there's no danger of hitting her," I order, my voice steady despite the anxiety tightening every cell in my body.

Truth is, I can barely keep my hands from trembling. This is so unprofessional, I can hardly believe it. A million missions and I've never been this close to losing my shit.

It doesn't make sense. She's nothing, just another job. I never make mistakes on the job so I'll get her back.

I take a steadying breath and finally give Leo the sign. Then I bust open the back door of the warehouse and rush inside. From further away, I can hear another door banging open and more steps fill the old building but I'm not focused on that.

No, my attention is fixed on the two silhouettes in the dark. Before my eyes can adjust properly, someone turns the lights on.

They're low, barely bright enough to reach the far corners but it's enough for me to see the shitshow we've walked into.

My eyes briefly skim over Dante. The bastard is smiling sadistically as he presses a bloody knife against Giada's throat while his other hand holds her head back by her hair.

When I take the woman in, my chest tightens painfully. She's not conscious and from where I stand I can't even tell if she's breathing or not. Her perfect skin is now covered in blood, some of it already a darks crimson as it has dried.

She's taped to a chair, more of her blood pooling around it's four metal legs. It's too much. There's so much blood everywhere it makes me sick. Not because I can't handle the sight of it. In my line of work that's not an option, whether you like it or not. But to know it's her blood. That's the sickening part.

"Took you longer to find us than I thought. Was scared you wouldn't show up at all. I thought perhaps she was right and you truly didn't care about her. Well, a shame she'll never know you did turn up," Dante announces into the space between us, his voice so calm you'd think there weren't twenty guns aimed at him.

His words hit me like shards of glass, each one puncturing my heart. She thought I wouldn't come. Not that I had given her a reason not to since our reunion. I guess I just figured she'd have a bit more faith in me when it came down to something like this.

"You're surrounded, Dante. It's over," I yell back, aiming my gun at him to come off as collected as I should be.

"No fun. You haven't even told me what you think of my new art project. If you had come earlier, you would've heard her beautiful, beautiful screams as she begged for mercy. As it is, I guess you'll only get to see how I give her a new necklace," Dante says. Then he looks down at the woman, about to drag the knife along her throat, no doubt. I act without thinking or hesitating, pulling the trigger multiple times in a row.

Three, four, five bullets embed themselves into the lunatic's head before he drops limply to the ground. For a moment, no one makes a sound, too shocked by my outburst. It's not professional to kill like this and my men aren't used to seeing me lose control.

I don't think I'm breathing myself, my eyes fixed on the body on the floor.

Then, "Move, people! Someone call a fucking ambulance and help the girl!" Leo snaps rushing towards Giada.

But I'm rooted into place, too scared to move any closer. I don't want to see her wounds up close. Don't want to see the pain I let one of my own men put her through.

She was in my building, only a few floors beneath my room and under my protection and I managed to lose her. I let it come to this.

And now I'm not sure I'll ever get the chance to make it up to her.

So I watch from afar as my best friend and some of my men try to untie Giada. The others are about as useful as me, standing off near some wall, either eyeing me or their colleagues.

I don't do much to keep my appearance up or my expression stoic. Most of them know her, after all. Perhaps not everyone recognized her with her blonde hair but enough did to spread the rumors.

When the ambulance finally arrives and they carry Giada to the vehicle, Leo comes over to me. His hands are covered in her blood but it doesn't stop him from squeezing my shoulder encouragingly.

I don't know what's wrong with me, why it's hitting me so hard. I hate her, after all. And I've lost her before. You'd think it would be less scary the second time but it's really not.

Silently, Leo leads me after the medics.

No one asks questions when my friend and I get in the back of the ambulance. They know who we are. Besides, they're too busy rustling around in the cramped space, gathering different tools and machines while talking hectically.

I know the look on their faces. Brows scrunched in concentration, a light sheen of sweat already gathering on their foreheads as their hands move quickly. They're focused but I can't help but read their behavior as panic.

They're not just scared for Giada's life, if I had to guess. They're scared for their own as well.

For the worse or the better, my reputation precedes me. I'm supposed to be this power-hungry, blood-thirsty, heartless businessman/ monster. It's what my father was known for so people assume the same about me.

My old man came to his sticky end when I was 18, making me too young to worry about my image. I had inherited a whole empire so what people said about me was my last worry.

Ten years later and they still stick with that idea of me.

"Will she be okay? She lost a lot of blood," my friend beside me grills the doctors as the ride drags on.

"We have limited possibilities to help her until we reach the hospital," one of the women answers, her fear apparent in her voice.

I take a deep breath, my gaze still trained to the window like it has been since I sat down.

Then the injured girl lets loose a whimper and I almost look at her. I don't want to see it, I repeat to myself. I'm not going to turn.

Another soft whine before Giada softly mutters, "Andr-" she breaks off and gasps softly. I nearly lose my self-control, wondering what the hell the doctors are doing to her. "Andrea," the girl repeats.

The word is barely audible but it's enough to make my heart stutter painfully. It's my name. My first name.

She's calling out for me.

I haven't heard it from anyone's lips in eight months. Not even my mother was allowed to call me it after the accident but to hear it now, from the lips it was always most welcome from. It's too much.

But I choose not to think about it right now and focus on something else instead.

"Just do what you can. Thank you," I tell the medics through gritted teeth. I hate that these people are busy panicking over their own safety instead of focusing on their patient fully.

I'm not going to kill them, for fuck's sake. Whatever happens, it isn't their fault for getting dragged into our mess.

But what will happen is Giada getting better. That's the only acceptable outcome.

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Very much demanded part lmao here u guys go.

Just for clearance: his name is Andrea Vincenzo and hers is Giada Monti

Don't forget to vote and I hope y'all have a great dayy