Married to the Mafia Boss

Alessandro

Breakthrough.

The heavy weight in my chest lifted slightly. But that weight was immediately replaced by the thirst I had for revenge, and I was glad for it. The men that had been involved in Katya’s kidnapping were still in Paulina’s apartment, a low-rise two-story luxury apartment building.

That was why Samantha had been able to scale down through the bedroom window without breaking any bones.

Dom had already gathered the muscle we needed, but I insisted on them not rushing in.

I would go in first, after we had replaced Samantha, so they didn’t do anything go crazy on Katya’s other friend.

“What’s the status?” I asked Dom through the phone. Samantha had wanted to go back, but her injuries were brutal and many, and I wouldn’t allow that. So, she was in her hospital room, and we were waiting for everything to be ready.

Dom made a humming sound into the phone, as if he was looking through something. The instructions had been very clear.

In place of Samantha, Frankie had suggested we could take somebody vaguely similar back to Paulina’s, and when everything was in place, we could storm in.

She hadn’t been clear on the number of people in the apartment, and some of the information seemed confusing. Probably due to her injuries. We didn’t know the exact number of Maxim’s men in the apartment or their plan.

The only clear had been that some men disguised as the police had come in with guns, and they’d taken Katya away while one had stayed behind. Then there’d been a struggle, both in the apartment and outside with Katya.

But Paulina had been knocked out, and Samantha was subdued, and after the noise coming from outside had settled, more of them had entered the apartment, dragged them into a room, and beaten them. Especially Paulina because she was a model and actress, perhaps she had more worth, and they were thinking of getting some ransom money.

They also wanted to take ownership of the apartment and use it as a front for the Trievs while it was under Paulina’s name.

They were planning on expanding.

We couldn’t be sure of how many would be in the apartment, especially because it wasn’t a small property. We needed somebody that could pass for Samantha, briefly, and Dom knew someone who would fit the bill.

A stripper in one of the Petrenko strip clubs Katya managed. He shrugged when I looked at him, but the stripper’s resemblance was passable, especially after Samantha suggested they add the bruises with make-up.

She said they’d locked her in Paulina’s workroom and left her there after beating the crap out of her.Text property © Nôvel(D)ra/ma.Org.

All their attentions were on Paulina because she was the cow they wanted to milk.

All these steps were necessary because Maxim was a cunning bastard. The men couldn’t suspect the stripper wasn’t Samantha until we’d confirmed their numbers and stormed the place.

I had every intention of getting my wife back within 24 hours.

“We snuck her back in time. I can hear them kicking the living shit out of her, they must have just gone in to check up on her. She’s good at this though, currently, we know there’re at least two guys in there with her, maybe seven or eight more close by, she can’t hear where Paulina is to know how many more are in the apartment. There are more, but probably not many more.”

I stood and Samantha shot up on the bed, I had to gesture with my hand for her to calm down. “I’ll come now, try to get the complete number, and if they’re expecting any more goons.”

“Sure thing, big brother.”

I cut the call and looked at Samantha’s expecting face.

“What happened? Is Paulina ok?”

“Don’t worry, we’re going to storm into the apartment the moment I get there.”

“Ok, thank you.” She relaxed a bit before looking up again. “And from the people in Paulina’s apartment, you’ll be able to get where Katya is?”

I nodded. “Everything will be over tonight.”

She nodded and laid back into the bed, turning to look toward the window on the other side of the room. With a voice that seemed far away, she said, “I hope she’s ok, and that they didn’t treat her as bad as they did Paulina.”

I looked at her for a while before heading out, leaving three men to guard the door.

Fourteen men in all were waiting for me, not all of them with guns.

I went up the elaborate steps with a gun, loaded, ready, and with a silencer.

The two at the door had bullets in their head before they could register who I was, and I knocked on the door.

Behind me, Frankie and Dom, and behind them were a few of the men Dom had gathered.

The whole thing didn’t last two minutes. In the main living room, they dropped like flies with muffled shots on the light-colored carpet, staining it with their worthless blood. They weren’t shot to be killed, so as they dropped, my men nuzzled them and dragged them out.

“I counted eleven,” Frankie said behind me.

In the kitchen that was separated from the living room by a line of counters, Dom opened a can of beer. “Maybe it’s because of the closed bedroom door and the girl being tortured behind it?”

“I will hit you with the butt of my gun,” Frankie answered.

The door wasn’t locked, but what was behind it made me stop in my tracks.

Even Frankie drew a breath behind me.

“Hey! You better stop there,” one of the men shouting a threat, raising his gun, the others scrambling around for weapons.

I took steps into the room, my eyes on the bed where Paulina lay, almost lifeless. I remembered how she’d looked at the wedding. Even though she didn”t hold a candle to Katya, she was beautiful.

Had been.

Frankie was already saying something, but I couldn’t hear him. The white noise in my ears muffled his voice and made it sound distant when I kicked the door behind me. “Don’t come in.”

“Ales, we need them alive to que-”

The door shut and cut him off, and I turned the lock without looking away from the men.

They must have recognized who I was.

This was what Samantha had meant when she’d hoped Katya wasn’t treated as terribly as Paulina.

There was only one bullet left in my gun, but that was all I needed.

The door thudded wildly as I let loose all the frustrations of Katya’s kidnapping on them. I was holding one of them up by the neck against the wall, lifting him up so his feet were off the ground when the door burst open.

“For fuck’s sake, Ales, we need to find where Katya is. I told you not to kill them.”

The one I was holding up was the only one living, just barely, but I intended to put that to an end soon enough.

“Frankie, get Paulina to a hospital.”

“Fucking shit!” Dom exclaimed behind me. In Russian, he called two men to take her to the hospital soon. “Overdosed her on the drugs too, by the look of it.”

“She’s on her way to a hospital now, Ales, let that one go.”

“Why?” I tilted my head, staring right into the swollen eyes that were leaking blood from the cuts around them and tears. He wasn’t even fighting back anymore. “We have eleven of them alive, one more won’t be missed.”

He sighed. “We have nine alive, you killed the two by the door.”

“Fine. I will allow this one live, but only if he can prove himself useful. How about it?” I smiled at the max choking in my grip. “Tell me where my wife is.”

An hour later, Dom was out, happier than I’d seen him in a while, to gather more men. We’d gotten Maxim’s location and I was going to get Katya back.

My hands were dirty from torturing, and I wiped violently with a handkerchief that would never be white again.

“Aren’t you glad I interfered before you killed him?”

I finished cleaning my hand and trashed the handkerchief. “Relieved more like, but still, thank you.”

Frankie smiled. “Revenge at last?”

I smiled too. My brothers knew me so well.