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Pia and Bianca came running, charging out of the bedroom, nearly knocking Nicoletta down as they hugged her. Taviano stood behind her, his arms around her, holding her so she wouldn’t be taken to the floor. The two sisters blurted out so many questions at once there was no way to sort them out and Nicoletta didn’t even try. Taviano took charge.
“We’re going to have visitors soon and they aren’t going to be pleasant. You’ll have to save the questions and explanations for later. Nicoletta, you need to wash up and change so you can go with Pia and Bianca to a safe house with my cousins. I’ve put in a call to them …”
He had cousins, riders who would help if he needed it, and who would also make certain Pia and Bianca were safe—and, most importantly, that Nicoletta was.
She shook her head. “Absolutely not. Don’t bother arguing with me, Taviano. I’m washing up, but I’m going with you to find Clariss. Get this done, keep Pia and Bianca safe, and we’ll find Clariss. If she’s with them, we’ll go home together.”
He shook his head. “Absolutely not.”
“We’ll talk about this later.”
Taviano wanted to strangle her. She was more stubborn than he’d ever thought possible, but he should have. She would have never managed to survive all she’d gone through if she hadn’t been able to dig down and find that will and do whatever needed to be done. He didn’t have the time to argue, and she knew it.
“Use Pia’s or Bianca’s cell if anything goes wrong to inform Stefano immediately. He’ll call our cousins. They know the situation and are on their way to us. They’ll identify themselves to you, Nicoletta. They’ll use the family name and Stefano’s name. If that doesn’t happen, you don’t leave that room. Are we clear?”
“Very.”
“Then go.”
Nicoletta indicated the bedroom with her chin, and her friends obeyed. He thought that was telling as well. Nicoletta was younger and much more fragile-looking. She was curvier, yes, but beneath that darker skin, she was pale and sick-looking, clearly not recovered from her ride in the shadows. But she was completely confident, and Pia and Bianca went with her immediately, without hesitation.
Taviano heard the furniture being moved in front of the door. That was his woman, not taking any chances. She had the good sense to know another barrier might be needed just in case. Taviano could get in, but no one from the Demons could enter, at least not quickly.
He moved through the living area, dimming the lights, making certain to cast shadows where he wanted them. He hoped they would bring Clariss. If they did, he could leave Pia, Bianca and Clariss with his cousins and go straight home to be ready when Benito Valdez came with his army to take Nicoletta. Benito had four brothers, and once he was dead, they would have to contend with them, but his family could hunt them. They would have no reason to associate Nicoletta with the Ferraros. They might still try to find her, but the Ferraros would be actively looking for them.
It was only a few minutes later when the keycard was slipped into the lock and the door was shoved open fast. Two men stepped inside, weapons drawn, Armando Lupez behind them, his nose crooked and very swollen, both eyes already looking bruised. He was also armed. Their gazes thoroughly swept what appeared to be an empty room and then they lowered their weapons and grinned at one another, carefully closing the door.
“Little bitches haven’t come home yet,” Armando said. “Rocko, check the other rooms just to be sure. Jorge, stay with me in case they come in.”
“Maybe they went running to the plane?” Rocko suggested as he started toward the library.
“Not without their clothes and jewelry.” Armando snickered. “These are rich little bitches, don’t go anywhere without their things.”
Taviano chose a shadow that would slide in right behind Rocko. He entered the library before Rocko because the tube was fast, but it gave him that moment to collect himself before the man crept in, his gun once more in his fist, sweeping the room, coming in deeper in order to make certain no one was hiding behind any of the chairs. Taviano emerged from the shadows behind him, caught his head in his hands and, using the signature move of all shadow riders, broke the man’s neck.
“Justice is served,” he murmured softly and lowered the body to the floor.
Dispensing justice in a hotel room rented to the Ferraros was strictly forbidden. They were always protected. They always had alibis. Stefano was going to lose his mind over this one, and frankly, Taviano wasn’t certain how this was all going to be explained. Hopefully his cousins in Los Angeles had cleaners in their family as good as those of the Ferraros in Chicago. Pia and Bianca couldn’t see any of the bodies and couldn’t know the men had actually come there to find them. They had to think the gang members had never found them. He counted on Nicoletta to provide some sort of distraction.
He stepped into the shadow and took it back into the living room and rode it straight behind Armando Lupez. He was second-in-command to Benito Valdez, and no matter which chapter he was visiting, he would be in charge. No one was going to want to tell Benito that Armando was dead. That would throw everyone into total chaos. Jorge would run straight back to wherever they had taken Clariss, giving Taviano the opportunity to follow.
“Rocko, what’s taking so long?” Jorge demanded, turning toward the library. He took several steps in that direction when there was no sound. Both men had seen Rocko enter, and he hadn’t come back out.
Armando exchanged a long look with Jorge, and both once more drew their weapons and started toward the library, coming up on either side of the door. The Demons risked a look through the open door, but the room appeared to be empty. Armando indicated for Jorge to enter first. Jorge nodded and stepped inside, immediately going to his right to give Armando a clear shot if anyone should leap out at him. He began to make his way slowly around the furniture in the room. Suddenly he stopped, his eyes on the body on the floor.
Taviano rode the shadow directly behind Armando. He waited a moment, right in the mouth of the tube, breathing deeply, collecting his body, letting the pain in his arm dissolve along with the sickness from traveling such a gut-wrenching, fast shadow, before stepping right behind Benito’s right-hand lieutenant, catching his neck in both hands and delivering the signature kill.
Riders began training as toddlers. It wasn’t as easy as it looked in movies to break a neck, and that particular move was introduced even when they were young, just two, in games and in the strict training regimes they underwent. They practiced endlessly all their lives, and even now, they continued to train.
Taviano broke Armando Lupez’s neck fast and professionally and lowered him to the floor gently. “Justice is served.” He slipped back into the shadows. He needed to be able to follow Jorge when he ran, and he was going to run.
He rode a shadow into the bedroom. Pia and Bianca were in the bathroom. Nicoletta was sitting in front of the bathroom door, looking very determined.
“They’re sitting in the bathtub with the doors closed around them.”
“Clever girl. I knew you would think of something.”
“It suddenly occurred to me if you had to—” She broke off and looked back at the door to the bathroom, shrugging. “It was just smarter to make certain no one saw or heard anything.”
“You have to go with the cousins, tesoro …”
She shook her head. “Don’t protest. Just listen. Clariss has been with them too long. I know what they’re probably doing to her. I’ve been through it. She’ll need me. A woman with her. I can’t let her be raped, possibly tortured, and not be there for her. I have to go, Taviano. Please understand.”
He closed his eyes briefly. Unfortunately, he could understand. It was the one argument she had that made sense. The only argument she could give him that he couldn’t say no to. “We’re going to have to move fast. My cousins should be on their way up now. They’ll take Pia and Bianca to a safe house.”
“They’re worried about their mother. She may be super controlling, but they
love her, and they know she loves them,” Nicoletta said.
“She’s safe. Stefano has her safe. We’ll make certain they know that. I told the boys to bring you some clothes. I love you in my shirt, but I don’t like other men seeing you like that when I know you aren’t wearing panties.”
She blushed. “I’d hoped you’d forgotten.”
“I’m not likely to forget something like that.” He moved the chairs that were in front of the door and headed out of the bedroom. “Let me make certain Jorge made his run for it. I’ll let the cousins in so we can hurry after Clariss. They’ll clean things up and then get Pia and Bianca out of here.”
It wasn’t as easy as he made it sound, and when his brother found out what he’d done, there was going to be hell to pay at the very least and his career to lose if Stefano deemed him that careless—and he was afraid that might happen. He couldn’t think about that now. He had a purpose, and that was to get her friends to safety while protecting his woman.
He rode a shadow into the living room and found the suite empty. He wasn’t surprised. Jorge had no reason to stick around. Two men had their necks broken, and there was no sign of anyone in the suite. There had been no sound. Just like what had taken place nearly three years earlier, when Nicoletta’s three step-uncles had been found with their necks broken. No one had been seen going into the house or coming out, yet her step-uncles were dead, and Nicoletta was missing. Jorge had made a run for it.
Unexpectedly three men appeared in the room with him. Like Taviano, they were tall and muscular, wearing pinstriped suits that fit perfectly on their very athletic frames. They had dark hair and eyes and strong jaws, and looked both attractive and dangerous.
Taviano greeted them fondly. “Maximino. Remigio. Marzio. Thanks for coming.”
“The others let your boy slip through. Severino is following him at the moment.” Severino was the eldest of the six Ferraro brothers in Los Angeles. Like Taviano, they had only one sister, Velia. She was the youngest, and they adored her and were protective, although, as a rider, she was just as fierce as they were.
“He’ll switch off with Tore.”
Taviano frowned. “You couldn’t ride the shadows here, because you had to take Pia and Bianca out of here for me. That already puts you in jeopardy. You don’t exactly have alibis when they discover the dead bodies of our enemies in this hotel. It isn’t like we can remove them safely.”
“Leave that to us,” Maximino said. “We’ll take care of things. Velia sent your woman clothes.” He handed Taviano a small bundle. “She said to say she wished she could meet your Nicoletta, and she was looking forward to joining you later this week to do just that.”
Taviano nodded, grateful he had the kind of family who would put themselves at risk without hesitation when called. “Have your brothers pull back though. I can get Jorge and his friends to give us their location without compromising your family. We’ve been careful to make certain our family is never where the cops can point their finger at us. This is where you live. If they spot your cars on the street cameras following a gang member and then you’re associated in any way with anything that comes back to this hotel room, it could get nasty. Pull your brothers back and trust that I can handle that side of things.”
Maximino nodded. “I’m on it.”
Taviano couldn’t do more than grip his cousin’s hand, walk into the bedroom and hand the clothes to Nicoletta before returning to the living room to find Maximino and Marzio had already removed Armando’s and Rocko’s bodies from the suite, as if they’d never been. Where they’d taken them and how, he had no idea. He’d only been gone a few moments.
“Cameras?”
“Taken care of,” Remigio assured.
Taviano nodded to Nicoletta as soon as she was dressed. “Have Pia and Bianca join us, tesoro, we have to leave quickly.”
Nicoletta knocked on the door loudly and the two sisters emerged, looking a little frightened. They hugged Nicoletta hard. Taviano took their hands gently and immediately introduced them to his cousins. The three Ferraro brothers were at their most charming and helped the women close their suitcases and talked them into allowing the brothers to put them up at the luxurious Ferraro estate, right on the beach.
When they expressed worry about their mother, the cousins assured them that their mother was going to be flown there in Stefano’s private jet, so no worries, and they would have separate apartments from their mother right on the beach for their stay. Since they’d missed out on the concert and Kain was a personal friend, they would do their best to see if he would come for a weekend and swim and relax with the girls. Pia and Bianca were so thrilled they almost forgot that Nicoletta was staying behind with Taviano and that Clariss was still missing. Taviano assured them that Clariss was going to be fine and he was taking care of it.
“Last chance, piccola,” he whispered, as his cousins took Pia and Bianca down the elevator, both women laughing and talking, excited and hoping there really wasn’t trouble after all. They had been drinking, and they hadn’t seen that much to make them think that anyone was really after them. There had been gang members with guns, but maybe it had all been a mistake, the gang after them because they were wealthy or something. Clariss may have gotten lost or she could still be at the concert and just wasn’t answering her phone, as the cousins implied.
“I have to help Clariss, you know that, Taviano. In any case, I wanted to be with you the entire time, but I realized to protect you, I needed to keep Pia and Bianca occupied. What happened? What did you do?”
“I served justice on two of them.” Taviano took her hand and led her to the door. “Once we step into the shadow again, Nicoletta, the same rules apply. You have to hold on no matter how dicey it gets. This is your third time in under two hours. That’s unprecedented for an inexperienced rider.”
“I wouldn’t ask to go with you if it wasn’t for Clariss. I wouldn’t, Taviano. I know what it’s like to be raped like that. I don’t want her alone … I’m sorry I’m putting you in this position.”
He swept his hand down the back of her head, trying to console her, to console both of them. He wouldn’t have allowed her to go for any other reason.
“Listen to me, Nicoletta, this is important. Your body is getting torn up. You’re already experiencing side effects. All of us did in the beginning. Nosebleeds. Body aches. Your legs won’t want to work. You have to tell me, you can’t get brave and think it won’t matter. It will. That’s not courage. Not telling me will only jeopardize both of us. I have to know where your body is and how it’s holding up at all times. I can counter some things by the shadows I choose to use.”
“It makes a difference?”
He nodded. “Everything makes a difference. When we have time, I’ll explain things to you, but for now, you’re just going to have to trust in everything I say to you.”
“You’ve gotten me this far. It does seem like something out of a science fiction novel, but sometimes, that very first time, when I was being taken out of the apartment, from there to the airport, when I woke up in the jet, I remember some of it.”
Taviano stared down into her upturned face. That beloved face. He could hardly remember anymore when he’d come to love her. Maybe from that very first moment when their shadows had connected and he’d felt that jolt of absolute awareness of her go through his body. Or when his chest hurt so damn bad when she spoke, like a key turning in a lock, opening a passageway he’d kept closed and barricaded, even protected by barbed wire, but somehow with just the soft musical notes of her voice she’d found her way in. It could have been when she’d awoken screaming and fighting on the plane, a little warrior woman, ready to battle a hundred men if necessary, her eyes looking into his, terrified but determined.
He’d drown in all that beauty. In all that feminine warrior-woman fight. He loved that. He loved that she would have taken him on in a heartbeat. She’d softened. Relaxed. Not for the others—for him. Looking right at him. Recognizing him the
way he did her. He framed her face with both hands. She’d given him this—that trust—even back then, when he hadn’t yet earned it. There had been those times she fought herself and fought him. Not because she didn’t believe in him but because she wouldn’t believe in herself.
“Before we go back into the shadows, Nicoletta, you have to know, I know I was born for the sole purpose of being that man who will stand in front of you. When you’re there in that dark place, where it feels like a thousand demons are tearing you apart, know I’m there with you. Always, tesoro, because you are my treasure and my only. You’ll always be that for me. You’ll never be alone there, even if it feels that way. In your mind, reach for me and you’ll find me.”
He took her mouth. Those lips. That mouth. She tasted fresh and clean. She was his everything, and she tasted that way, as if she had been created especially for him. Sin and innocence blending together, an incomparable rush. He kissed her gently, wanting her to feel loved. Knowing she would need that in the cold of the shadows, something light to hold on to when the demons came to tear her apart.
He wanted to be gentle for her, knowing what she’d suffered. Knowing what had been done to her. He’d sat through her nightmares hundreds of times, listening in the dark to her screams, feeling the tears on his own face when she couldn’t cry. She didn’t know he was there with her at first, in the beginning. He knew she would have been embarrassed. As it was, she was humiliated that he knew what had been done to her. Then later, when she did know because he couldn’t bear it any longer, she had used him as a punching bag, and he’d let her. Often, he’d held her, rocked her, let her learn to cry all over again on those long, sleepless nights.
He tried to keep his kisses under control, but they ignited together, two matchsticks, creating an explosion. Flames began to lick at his skin, dance in his veins, smolder in his gut and rise higher and higher, spreading from his groin until his entire body seemed to burst into a wild inferno. It was crazy and it was exhilarating. Only Nicoletta could do that to him. He was always in control. He’d thought it had been the alcohol before. He knew now it wasn’t so. She slid her arms around his neck and kissed him back, her mouth moving against his, her body melting into his as if she’d caught fire, too, and they shared the same skin, the same never-ending passion.