Tempted By The Mafia Boss

CHAPTER EIGHTEEN

Charlotte

Gabe takes my hand to lead me inside so he can close the door.

“Talk – tell me what is going on.”

I nod and pull in a deep breath. “Antonio… I know who killed him. It’s Tobias Antonella. I saw him today.”

I don’t know what should worry me more. The situation or the fact that Gabe looks as freaked as my family did when I mentioned Tobias’s name.

“Charlotte…Are… you sure it’s him?” He narrows his eyes and his thick brows furrow. “The Antonellas aren’t usually involved with the De Luccas.”

“It’s him. He…” I blink back tears and rest my hand on my heart to hold it all in.

He places his hands on my shoulders and steadies me. This is the part where I have to dive in deeper and tell him what no one else knows.

“He was a client of Antonio’s. He paid just like the others did to sleep with me …” No, I stop. Why make it sound like he just slept with me. That’s not what happened. “He raped me over and over again. Just like the others. He was just the worst.” I feel so dirty as I say the words. I feel vile. The same vileness I accused Tobias of.

Gabe’s face now is different.

First the blood drains from his cheeks and then it’s like I watch it rush back to his face.

He drops his hands from my shoulders and they hang like deadweights at his sides.

His eyes flat and wide, blaze with darkness.

The darkness I never wanted to see in him.

Darkness I told myself never existed in him because he was so willing to listen to me as a girl read my poetry.

The soulless darkness is there now. It’s there in full bloom and his face contorts into a hard scowl.

“What the fuck are you saying to me Charlotte?” he demands.

“Please… don’t make me say it again. It feels like a nightmare I lived and I don’t want to remember. I don’t want to remember. I had to do it to keep people alive. It all started from the time I was taken. I suffered for years.”

As soon as I say that he growls loud like a feral animal, pulls his guns out and I scream.

I just scream, rush to the corner by the bookshelf and sink to my knees cowering as he whirls around and starts shooting up the glass on the far side of the room.

He shoots and roars like some ferocious hell beast and I cry.

He only stops when the bullets run out, but only to walk over to a cabinet and retrieve more guns.

He rushes back to me and crouches down.

“What does he want? Tobias? What. Does. He. Want?”

“Me…”

He blows out a hard breath and his eyes flash open wider, blazing with fire. “You?”

“He… made a sex tape, he’ll show it to the school if I don’t go to him. I won’t be able to teach ever again.”

He seethes baring his teeth and the vein on the side of his neck bulges. “We’ll see about that.” It’s like he’s borrowed Tobias’s words.

Gabe barrels ahead, torpedoing through the door and I get myself up because I know if I don’t stop him he’s going to get himself killed in the blind rage that fuels him.

Stupid me again…

What did I think was going to happen by coming here to him?

“Gabe, wait… no.”

He doesn’t stop. He continues to his motorcycle jumps on it and rides off, leaving me standing there watching after him.

“Oh my God….”

I can barely breathe.

Actually, I can’t breathe. Gabe is going to get himself killed.

Tobias is no mere person.

I’m not stupid, even if he does kill him it will start some type of war with the Antonellas no one wants. He’s what they call their ace. The king of his stupid games that no one can beat. He’s valuable to them.

Christ, I don’t know where Gabe has gone but I know I won’t find him by myself, so I do the next best thing.

Once again I look so out of place at The Dark Odyssey.

So damn out of place in my casual wear. A pair of jeans, and a little top. I look like I’m about to head to the library, or a college class.

But I’m not here to party and look good and I’m aware of the people staring at me as I rush right in with tears streaming down my cheeks.

I know what I look like but I don’t care.

I head to Nick’s office because it’s the first office you get to on the fifth floor. I don’t even notice all the people having sex around me.

Nick’s office door is closed and so is Salvatore’s. Georgiou and Christian shared an office years ago because they were hardly going to be there as much as the others. That door is closed too.

I know at least one of Gabe’s brothers is here tonight because someone is always here. It’s a thing they have about them in the sense that they are an attraction just as much as the rest of the place. That’s what Gabe told me. I also know his brothers and cousins are very much into the wild lifestyle all around me so I pray to God I find one of them and I pray too that I don’t walk in on something I’m not supposed to.

It’s all well and good to watch people having sex, but there’s no way in hell I can watch someone I know doing it.

I rush away from the floor with offices and then I remember the VIP section the guys have two floors above me.

I almost rejoice when I see Nick, Salvatore and Mimi in the seating area ahead of me. I make my way up the set of stairs when I see them.

Nick and Salvatore are sitting down and Mimi is standing next to Salvatore. It’s been years since I last saw her but she was always nice to me.

Salvatore pulls her into his lap and Nick frowns.

“You two need a room.” Nick smirks.

“What for?” Salvatore throws back. “My friend needs somewhere to sit.”

“Friend my ass.” Nick shakes his head and Mimi giggles when Salvatore nuzzles his face into the crook of her neck.

Nick’s about to say something more when he sees me and bolts upright.

“Doll, Jesus, are you okay?” he asks.

“No…” I answer. “Gabe is. Gabe’s in trouble,” I blurt.

Salvatore stands on hearing that. “What do mean?”

“He’s gone out to find Tobias Antonella.”

They exchange worried glances and look back to me.

“Why the hell would he do that?” Salvatore asks and my hands start shaking.

“Something I told him that happened to me.”

He holds my stare and it’s like he just knows what the something is.

I’m sick of crying. The tears however are not sick of me. They come harder and it’s Mimi who comes to me and holds me.

Salvatore grits his teeth and looks back at Nick. “Call Vincent and tell him to meet us.”

“Already on it.” Nick has his phone out.NôvelDrama.Org: text © owner.

“Come on. I’ll take care of you,” Mimi assures me and the guys leave.

I don’t know what to expect now or what will happen.

I was so stupid to think I could escape my past.

I can’t.

Mimi takes me back to Gabe’s place and we wait.

It’s all we can do.

Wait and worry.

I message my mother to tell her I’m safe and I’ll call in the morning. I owe my family the contact because I don’t want them to worry the way I am about Gabe.

Mimi sits with me and stays with me. She allows me to be what I need to be. Whether that’s the crying woman, the woman who’s staring at the wall or the woman who just needs to be held.

It’s past midnight now and there’s no sign of Gabe or his brothers. No phone call either. Nothing.

Nothing…

Nothing at all.

I can’t stand it, can’t stand the emptiness and nothingness.

She goes to the kitchen to get me some water but I can’t drink it. I can’t do anything but wait.

“Charlotte, please have it. Drink it. It will help,” she pleads with me.

I take the glass and manage a sip.

When I set the glass on the coffee table she sits back next to me.

“I’m so sorry for all that’s happened to you,” she says.

“Thank you.” It feels weird saying that, it’s like that vibe again of what to answer back when someone offers their sympathy. “Mimi, it’s so late. What if something happened? I should have never gone to him. I shouldn’t have involved him.”

She shakes her head and sets her arm around me. “Don’t even think like that. He would have wanted you to run to him, you know him.”

“Mimi. I don’t know what I’ll do if something happens to him.”

“I know. Please Charlotte don’t think the worst. His brothers always have his back. I’m praying they find him. I’m praying they do.”

“Me too.”

Another two hours pass by and then the click of the front door opening makes us jump.

We both fly out of the living room to see Salvatore and Vincent holding up a battered Gabe between them. Gabe still looks like he’s ready for a fight. Nick has a black eye and blood on his shirt.

“Like fuck!” Gabe howls. “Let me get back out there and find that bastard. Fucking let go of me. That fucker needs to die. He fucking needs to die!”

Gabe tries to make a move but Vincent swipes his legs from under him and Gabe goes down hard knocking his head on the wooden floor.

“You two, go upstairs,” Vincent orders me and Mimi.

Mimi takes my hand and leads me away.

When I look back at Gabe he catches my eyes and the pain in them grips me in a way I couldn’t begin to describe to anyone.