(27
The van jerked to a stop after what felt like hours. Rough hands grabbed my arms and yanked me out. My feet hit uneven ground – gravel or dirt, I couldn’t tell through my wedding heels. The night air carried a musty, damp smell.
854 AM C
“Move it.” Someone shoved me forward. I stumbled, the fabric of my dress tangling around my legs. “Easy with her.” Marco’s voice came from nearby. A thug grunted in response
Our captors marched us across the uneven terrain, Crickets chirped in the darkness. The hood trapped my breath, making the air hot and stale. My heart pounded against my ribs.
Metal hinges creaked – a door opening. The temperature dropped as we moved inside. The floor changed to solid concrete under my feet. A musty, moldy smell filled my nostrils.
“Down here.”Vincent’s voice echoed off what must have been bare walls.
They forced us to walk further into the space. The acoustics suggested a large, empty room. My heel caught on something – maybe a crack in the floor – and I pitched forward. Someone caught me before I fell
“Watch it.” The thug’s breath reeked of cigarettes as he roughly steadied me.
“Get them secured.” Vincent barked orders. “And make sure they can’t reach each other.”
Hands pushed me down onto what felt like a metal chair. Cold steel pressed against my back. They yanked my arms behind me, the handcuffs biting deeper into my wrists as they chained me to the chair.
“Comfortable in your wedding dress, sweetheart?” Vincent’s footsteps circled around me. “Not exactly the honeymoon suite you were expecting, I bet.”
I heard similar sounds of chains and movement from where I assumed Marco sat. His steady breathing helped calm my racing pulse. We’d been in bad situations before. We’d find a way out of this one too
The hood still blocked my vision, but I could sense multiple people moving around the space. Boots scuffed against concrete. Someone lit a cigarette the sharp smell cut through the musty air.
The hood was yanked from my head. I blinked against the harsh fluorescent lights, my eyes adjusting to reveal Vincent’s smirking face inches from mine.
“Welcome to the party. Isabella.” He straightened up, adjusting his expensive suit cuffs.
My stomach dropped as I saw who stood behind him. Alexander lounged against a concrete pillar, his blue eyes cold as they met mine. Next to him, Antonio and Shanya stood hand in hand, looking like the perfect power couple in their matching black attire.
“You.” The word came out as a snarl. “What are you doing here, Alexander?”
He pushed off the pillar with a lazy shrug. “Can’t a man attend his wife’s second wedding? Though I must say, getting kidnapped right after saying “I do” – that’s quite dramatic, even for you.”
“Ex–wife,” I spat. “Or did you forget about the divorce papers you signed?”
“Details, details” Alexander waved his hand dismissively. “What matters is that we all have a common interest
here.”
I glanced at Marco, who sat chained to another chair several feet away. His face was bruised, but his eyes
burned with quiet intensity as he studied our captors.
“The great Marco Vercetti.” Shanya’s heels clicked against the concrete as she approached him. “Not so, powerful now, are you?”
see,”
“And the traitorous Shanya Kabbaro.” Marco’s voice dripped with contempt. “Still hiding behind stronger men, I
Antonio’s hand tightened around Shanya’s waist. “Watch your mouth, Vercetti. You’re not in a position to insult
anyone”
“Oh, I think I am.” A small smile played at Marco’s lips. “After all, what’s the worst you can do? Kill me? You need me alive – otherwise, I’d already be dead.”
Vincent cleared his throat. “Let’s not get ahead of ourselves. We have much to discuss first.” He pulled up a chair
8:54 AM & c
Mata Queen Engaged in the Lion
and sat facing me.
Vincent leaned forward in his chair, his eyes glinting with malice. “Here’s the deal, Vercetti. Sign over your properties to me. Every last one. Then you’ll make a public statement declaring me as your boss in front of the enti underworld.”
“And why would I do that?” Marco’s voice remained steady.
Vincent’s hand shot out, grabbing my chin. I jerked away but his fingers dug in. “Because if you don’t, I’ll have some fun with your lovely bride here before deciding whether to let her live.”
The temperature in the room seemed to drop twenty degrees. Marco’s presence, which had been controlled an contained, exploded with a fury I’d never witnessed before. The metal chair groaned as his muscles tensed. The chains binding him creaked under strain
“Touch her,” Marco’s voice came out as a guttural growl that made everyone step back, “and I will tear you apart piece by piece.”
The raw power emanating from him made Vincent release my chin and stumble backward. Even Alexander, who’d been wearing that smug smile, pressed himself against the pillar. Shanya’s hand trembled in Antonio’s grip. “You think these chains can hold me?” Marco’s eyes blazed with a rage that transformed his entire being. The metal links strained and popped. “You think you can threaten what’s mine?”
Another chain snapped with a sharp crack that echoed through the room. Vincent’s face had lost all color. His thugs reached for their weapons with shaking hands
“I’ll killed men for less than looking at her wrong.” Marco’s voice dropped even lower, becoming something inhuman. “What do you think I’ll do to the ones who dared to put their hands on my wife?”
The final chain gave way with a thunderous snap. Marco rose from the chair, his presence filling the entire space. Blood dripped from his wrists where the metal had cut into his skin, but he showed no sign of pain.
Vincent stumbled back another step “Control him!” he shouted at his men, but they seemed frozen in place, paralyzed by the predator they’d foolishly caged.
