I gasp. Taking a deep breath, I push the door open and look into the hallway. Will isn’t standing guard. Slowly, I ease myself out of the room and tiptoe down the hall and with a peek around the wall, I see that Will… isn’t here. Where did he go?
On another mission to kill someone? I don’t want to know the answer to that. All that matters is that he isn’t here.
I run to the front door, rip it open, and escape.
Chapter Six
Will
Ihave to leave the house to go on another job. It’s been in the works for weeks before Marco even contacted me. A politician who’s been sexually assaulting young girls. One of his co-workers called me to help with the problem since the politician is too high to be taken down by the legal system. I had to spend time doing some digging but it wasn’t hard for me to find the proof through my ways. My illegal ways. All that matters is that the man is a disgusting pig and I’m glad to kill him.
But it means leaving Gianna behind. She’s not going anywhere, I tell myself. Not locked in that room. Marco won’t be happy about me leaving Gianna unattended but I had this politician job first and I need to see it through.
It’s hard trying to kill a politician who is surrounded by bodyguards. It’s why I’ve had to wait weeks for this. But today is the day that I know, John Sanders, will be alone. He always goes to his beach house on the weekends and his guard count goes down. I guess being close to the beach makes him feel safe.
With my ski mask on, I go to the beach house. It takes me an hour drive to get there and the entire time, I can’t stop thinking of Gianna. Not because I care for her. Of course not. But because I’m worried. What if I don’t make it back and she dies in that room? Surely not. Marco will come for her. Or her brother might eventually find her again.
It’s not my concern, I remind myself. I never get attached to anybody. It’s how I’ve been so successful at my job.
It’s not difficult for me to sneak into the beach house, considering it’s a large mansion with a lot of blind spots and hardly any close neighbors around. There is a guard out front I see as I drive by the house but that won’t be a problem for me. I sneak into a neighbors backyard and make my way towards John’s house. It’s easy to get into his backyard by scaling the fence and then the only thing in my way is the guard on duty at the back door. I shoot him in the knee, knocking him to the ground. Before he can cry out, I wrap my arms around his neck and choke him until he goes unconscious. I don’t need to kill more people than is necessary.
After that, it’s easy to get inside. My footsteps are light as I make my way around the house. John’s not downstairs but I eventually find him in his room. Only to discover that he’s not alone. He has a young woman with him in his bed. No older than eighteen I’m guessing – if even that. She’s screaming as he has his way with her.
I can’t shoot John and risk killing the girl so instead, I run into the room. John gasps and looks in my direction but before he can react, I grab his arm and yank him off the girl.
“What the fuck?” he sputters. I glance at the girl – which is my first mistake. She’s cowering on the bed, tears streaming down her eyes. Instead of looking at me as her savior, she only looks more terrified.
In my distraction, John grabs a knife off the table and slices my arm with it. I stumble back. With a glance at my arm, I see that I’m bleeding. Shit. It hasn’t dripped down yet but this is bad. It could leave my DNA evidence behind. I lift my arm high to stop the bleeding while I use my other hand to point my gun at John’s head.
“Don’t kill me,” he cries out.
I don’t say a word as I shoot him. His blood, unfortunately, sprays the girl behind him. “Go out the back door,” I tell her. “The guard is unconscious.”
She only stares at me in shock. For a moment, I feel guilt. This girl reminds me of Gianna. Young and innocent. Gianna may be twenty-one, an adult, but that doesn’t make her any less innocent. Shit. I’m not supposed to feel bad about kidnapping Gianna. What I’m supposed to do is give her over to Marco and be done with it.
But in this very moment, I’m not sure if I can.
I shake my head and tell myself to stop thinking this way before I leave out the back door. That girl is not Gianna. I do not care for Gianna. I do not need to worry about Gianna.
I return home… only to find the front door wide open. Rushing inside, I see that Gianna isn’t here. She somehow found a way to escape.
Or… Marco came for her. But why would he leave the door open? I shouldn’t be worried. The goal was always to give her to Marco.
Maybe her brother saved her. But if that were the case, there’d be someone here waiting to kill me. No. Gianna must have escaped on her own. It’s the only logical explanation.
I slap some gauze over my cut to deal with the bleeding before I head back out in search of Gianna. She couldn’t have gotten far on foot.
Though, she could have gone to any one of the neighbors and begged for help. If that were the case though, there’d be a team of police officers outside and right now, it’s dead quiet. So where did Gianna go?
I get into my car and begin my search for her.
Gianna
My first instinct upon running out of the house is to go to the closest neighbor but when I ring on their doorbell, no one answers. I can’t try forever in case Will returns and finds me. I try another neighbor but once again, no one answers. It’s the middle of the day. The work week. Most people are not going to be home.
I can’t stay here, I realize. I could try every house on the street but it’s too risky. Will could come back any moment. The farther I’m out of this neighborhood, the better.
I use all the strength in my body to run as fast as I can but I don’t make it far before my lungs begin to burn and I have to slow down to a walk. What I need to do is find a hotel or place of business to borrow their phone and call Enzo. Not the police. I was always taught to never involve police in mafia business. Too messy. Yes, I want Marco and Will arrested for kidnappingme but that could lead back to my brother and I have to do everything in my power to keep my family safe.