The Mafia Queen's Husband

Chapter twenty-four

Dante

I pick up my ringing phone with one hand while toweling my dripping hair with the other.

"What is it?"

"Mr. Ricci, you wanted to be informed if your father ever called?"

I pause, slightly taken aback to find Frank's voice on the other side. He's one of our private pilots, except he only flies under the radar. We call him when we want something smuggled out of the city discreetly - or vice versa. But my father never deals with such matters himself. And I knew if he ever did, it wouldn't be for a secret vacation. So, I have been paying Frank double the money my father pays him for keeping me in the loop.

"Yes, what's going on?"

"He scheduled a flight for out of the country, sir." He says. "We will be leaving in two hours."

Something must've happened. And I have sinking feeling in my stomach that it is related to Sebastian.

~~~~~~

I'm out of my car before it has even stopped moving. There is a pool of blood on the ground with no one in sight. The fear in the pit of my stomach intensifies, demanding to be acknowledged but I refuse. If I do I will puke again - like I did back home.

Even the possibility of it is enough to make me empty the contents of my stomach. So I ignore it and burst into Eva's house through the open door.

The house is in a state of full blown panic with everyone running around and shouting in Russian. A few of the servants are patching up each other, huddled up in a far corner. My eyes are jumping around frantically - searching for a head of light brown hair and purple eyes - when his bodyguard catches my attention. She's leaning against a wall and holding a cloth over her right side while trying not to pass out and I realize she must've been the source of the blood outside. At least, one of them.

I run over to her side immediately, my heart in my throat. "Where's Sebastian?"

Her nostrils flare and her eyes fill with rage, despite her obvious pain - or maybe because of it - she manages to deliver a pretty good glare. "Y-You fucking piece of shit!"

"What?"

"Give me a d-day to heal from this i-inconvenience, and I-I promise to make you hurt like never before." Then, she spits out blood right on my cheek, even as she sways from blood loss.

I freeze, my mind not quite registering the strange turn of events. If I was focused on anything other than my brother right now, she wouldn't be alive.

Instead, I wipe the blood with the sleeve of my jacket and ask again. "Where is my brother?"

"He's gone." A familiar voice says, quiet as a whisper and... different.

I notice then, how quiet the room has gotten. Everyone has stopped running around and instead, they're watching the scene unfold with a mixture of emotions I don't know what to make of.

I turn to Eva, who is just standing in the middle of the room and holding a gun limply in her hand.

"What?" My breathing gets heavy, my mind clouded with fears too big to utter out loud. "What do you mean 'gone'?"

"He knows everything. It's over." Her voice is flat and dead, her eyes staring at nothing in particular, too lost in her thoughts - which doesn't appear to be pleasant at the moment.

The fear solidifies in my gut, taking hold of every muscle in my body and locking it tight. I admit I haven't cared much for Eva since the moment I met her, but seeing someone so... powerful look utterly defeated is not a good sight.