Mafia Queen

Chapter Forty Six

Luca

Everything seemed to freeze when Charlotte walked out of the door. For a brief second, it was just the two of us and I felt like my heart might nearly burst. I let myself believe that it really could be that easy and that we were going to get out of this. I was a mess of pride and anger and pure awe at what she accomplished. All of that was quickly dashed, though, when I saw the door swing open behind her and Niko press the butt of his gun to her temple.

"I have to say, this was quite a performance, Charlotte. If you weren't going to die tonight, I would highly recommend acting. Don't you think, Luca?"

My throat was so dry I could hardly speak. Charlotte stared back at me, terrified and expecting me to fix this somehow. "Niko, please. You don't have to do this." I held my hands up, offering myself in surrender. I would gladly trade myself for her, but now he felt she had wronged him too, and I highly doubted he would go for that. "Just let her go, and I'll come right back inside with you right now."

"No." Charlotte shook her head, whimpering. "I'm not going anywhere without you."

Niko chuckled, grabbing her arm forcefully and yanking her back towards him. The gun jammed even harder against her skin. "Neither of you are going anywhere. You don't want to leave me now, do you, Charlotte? Or should I say Stephanie?"

Tears pooled in Charlotte's eyes as she stared back at me desperately. The fear in her eyes was breaking my heart.

"Why don't we tell your husband about all the fun we've had together the last few weeks? Shall we?"

When she didn't answer, he jerked the gun away, and the brought it down sharply on her temple. Char winced, nearly doubling over in pain, and I lurched forward. Niko quickly turned the gun on me. "You move another muscle and I swear to God I will put a fucking bullet in her head. Do you understand me?"

"Okay, okay." I held my hands up again, freezing in place. I wouldn't take any chances.

"Now," He held one arm tightly around her neck and one still aiming the gun at me. "Tell him Charlotte. Tell him about all the times I fucked you while he was starving and broken in my cell right below us. Or how you watched him kill a man the other night and told me how disgusting you thought he was while we laid naked in bed next to each other. How you and I were going to take over the whole mafia world together. Tell him."

Every muscle in my body clenched. There was no way any of that was true. She wouldn't sleep with him, not even if it meant getting me back. She wouldn't do any of that shit. I knew my wife better than he did, so he could say whatever the fuck he wanted, but I knew the truth.

Charlotte's eyes met mine again, filling with heavy tears "Luca, that's not what happened."

"I know, baby." I assured her.

"Niko, please." She begged, her voice breaking with emotion.

"Ah, don't cry, kitten." He wiped a tear off of her cheek. "You and Luca are going to be together for the rest of your lives. I'm going to put you both in my cells and once you've been broken down and tortured, as much as I see fit, I'll kill you, and then I'll go kill each of your children."

I inched my way towards him as slowly as I could when he was focused on Charlotte. This had to end tonight, one way or another. I knew I couldn't spend another minute in that cell, and there was no way I was going to let him do anything to Charlotte.

"Niko, my family isn't part of this. You know this is between you and me. Charlotte will leave here tonight and go far away, and you'll never have to worry about her again."

"I'm not going without you." She insisted through her big alligator tears.

"You need to stay out of this, Charlotte." I held my hand up to her, hoping she would keep her mouth shut. Now wasn't the time to be stubborn.