HAVEN
There’s a lot of yelling coming from the first floor, and it has me opening my bedroom door just in time to see Mom rushing up the stairs.
“We’re leaving now!” she exclaims, panic thick in her words.
“What’s happening?”
“Get your bags, Haven!” she practically shrieks while running past my room to get to hers.
A slap echoes through the air, then more shouting follows. Holy crap, I don’t know what’s going on downstairs, but it doesn’t sound good. They’re all talking so fast I can’t make out any of the words and quickly dart back into my bedroom.
I’m wearing a pair of loose slacks and a spaghetti strap top, and for a second, I consider changing into something else, but the angry shouts escalate. Chills rush down my spine, and I push my feet into a comfortable pair of sneakers. Hurrying to the bathroom, I shove everything into my toiletries bag before placing it in my luggage.
I grab my belongings that are lying around the room, and by the time I zip up my bags, the door slams open, and Mom says, “Come, Haven. Quickly!”
I swipe my handbag from the bed and loop the strap over my head so it’s resting across my chest. That way it won’t slide off my shoulder. Taking hold of my luggage, I drag the two heavy bags out of the room.
As we hurry down the hallway, I ask, “How are we going to get the bags down the stairs?”
“Just shove them down,” Mom snaps, and the next second her bags go flying down the staircase.
My eyebrows raise, and when Mom grabs a bag from me, I don’t waste more time and toss the other one. We quickly hurry to the first floor only to be met by Uncle Nicolo, Aunt Giada, Luciano, and Liliano, who are all screaming their heads off.
I take in Luciano’s busted lip and the cut above his left eyebrow.
Uncle Nicolo notices us, and with an aggressive tone, he snaps at Mom, “You’re not going anywhere.”
Mom’s face sets in a stony expression, but there’s also fear in her eyes. “I don’t know what kind of trouble you’re involved with, but we’re leaving.”
We pick up our bags and position them on their wheels so we can pull them, but then a commotion sounds up outside. A gunshot from the front yard has me freezing with fear.
What the hell is happening?
Uncle Nicolo pulls a gun from behind his back and shouts, “Luciano, take your mother and sister out the back. Run!”
“Come!” Mom shrieks, her features drawn tight as if she’s about to burst into tears any second.
Mom speed walks toward the sliding doors that lead out onto the veranda with me right behind her, but suddenly three armed men storm the glass doors, and it has all of us stopping dead in our tracks.
“Oh God!” I gasp, my heartbeat setting off at a crazy pace.
Mom lets go of the luggage, and grabbing my hand, she hauls ass back toward the stairs.
We don’t even make it to the first step when the front door slams open. Intense shock and fear shudders through me when Leo and the other man he was with at the party stalk into the foyer. Holding guns, they’re both wearing black cargo pants and black shirts.
Leo has blood all over his neck and forearms, which are visible because his sleeves are rolled up. The sight makes my fear skyrocket. He lifts his arm, the muscles beneath his golden skin wound tight.
As he trains his weapon on Uncle Nicolo, he growls, “Your coward of a son got one of my men killed.”
Mom begins to drag me up the stairs, but then a man behind us shouts something in Italian, and a bullet slams into the banister right in front of Mom.
Shrieking, I grab hold of Mom, intense fear bleeding through my body.
The image of a boy crouching over me flashes through my mind. I’m gripping his shirt, and he’s like a shield protecting me from the monster looming behind him.
‘Shh.’
When I was younger, I used to have nightmares, but I haven’t thought of them in years, so the memory of the nightmare only makes this situation a million times worse.
The violence unfolding around me undoes the years of therapy it took me to stop having nightmares.
The gunshot and my shriek draw Leo’s attention to us, his eyes only touching on Mom for a split second before they lock on me for an unnervingly long moment.
I’m grabbed by my arm, and it has Mom shrieking, “No! Let go of her.”
“I’m sorry,” I hear Luciano say from somewhere to the left of me. “I panicked.”
Mom begins to slam her fists against the man who’s gripping my arm, and I manage to yank free. Mom pulls me to her just as a gunshot sends shockwaves through the air.
Shit!
“Nooo!” Uncle Nicolo roars. “Stop! Let’s talk about this.”
My eyes dart wildly all over the open space of the foyer and informal lounge. I notice Luciano’s been shot near his collarbone, and as he drops to his knees, Aunt Giada and Liliana grab hold of him.
Holy shit!
Leo’s weapon is pointing at them, and Uncle Nicolo is standing with his arms up in a surrendering manner.
Did Leo just shoot Luciano?
Intense, spine-chilling horror ghosts over every inch of my body, making me feel lightheaded.
Aunt Giada’s pleading in Italian, Liliana’s sobbing uncontrollably, and Luciano’s gripping his shoulder, pain etched on his face.
“Let’s talk,” Uncle Nicolo says again, his tone filled with caution and fear.
My eyes fly to Leo, and I watch as he shakes his head. “You knew what would happen if Luciano fucked up.”
“He’s just a boy,” Uncle Nicolo says, his voice rising with panic. “He’s still learning the way of the mafia.”
Mafia?
The word sends another wave of fear shuddering through me.
Slowly, Leo tilts his head in a scary as hell way, and his voice sounds like a rumble of thunder. “I was just a boy at sixteen when my father was killed and I had to take over. Luciano is a grown ass man of twenty-five.”
My breaths keep bursting over my lips while I cling to Mom.
Is this really happening?
It’s like some crazy scene out of a book or movie.
When Leo lifts his weapon a little higher, still keeping it trained on Luciano, Uncle Nicolo shouts, “Don’t! He’s my heir. We can come to an arrangement to make up for Luciano failing you today.” Uncle Nicolo gives Aunt Giada and his children a panicked look, then he says, “We can arrange a marriage between you and Liliana.”
When Leo lets out a bark of laughter, it gives me the fright of my life, and I tighten my grip on Mom.
“I wouldn’t marry your daughter if she was the last woman alive,” Leo sneers.
The next second, another shot rings through the air, and Luciano falls backward while Aunt Giada scrambles to cover him with her body as she screams, “No! My baby!”
‘No!’ the boy shouts while the monster carries me into the darkness.
I sway on my feet from the memory of the nightmare, and when I’m able to focus on my surroundings again, I see Uncle Nicolo taking a threatening step forward.
Leo’s arm moves, and the barrel of his gun is trained on Uncle Nicolo’s head in a split second.
“I’ve waited seventeen years for this,” Leo growls while looking downright brutal and dangerous.
Mom wraps her arm tighter around me, and all we can do is stand and watch as the nightmare unfolds in front of us.
“I had nothing to do with the attack on your family,” Uncle Nicolo pleads, his voice brimming with fear. “This is going too far, Leo. Marry Liliana and let’s make peace. No one has to die.”
Aunt Giada’s trying to stop the blood seeping from the wound to Luciano’s side while she sobs, “For God’s sake, Leo! Stop this madness.”
A sob bursts from Mom, and the sound draws Leo’s attention back to us. Just having him look at us has my legs going weak with terror.
His eyes lock on me, then they narrow, and I swear my heart has never beaten as fast as it’s thundering in my chest right now. I’m overwhelmed by the urge to run.
Leo’s deadly gaze moves back to Uncle Nicolo, and his voice is a deep rumble when he says, “I’ll take your niece in payment for Luciano’s spinelessness.”
Men instantly come to grab hold of Mom and me and rip us away from each other as we’re hauled down the stairs.
“No! Leave my daughter alone,” Mom screams hysterically while she fights with all her might to get free.
“Mom,” I cry as the man, who’s much stronger than me, drags me toward Leo.
My fear spirals into a chaotic mess, and I’m trembling so badly, I keep stumbling over my feet.
I see blood as I scream for Mommy, but the monster moves fast, carrying me away into the darkness.
I think I hear gunshots, and there are a lot of men towering around me.
My heart hurts, and I can’t stop crying.
I’m shoved down and end up kneeling in front of Leo, my hair hanging around my face while I gasp for air.
“Haven!” Mom screams. “We have nothing to do with this. You can’t just take her. Haven! Let me go!”
Tremors keep hitting my body hard, and I don’t have the guts to look up.
“If Luciano survives today, make sure he leaves Italy. If I lay eyes on him again, I’ll kill him,” Leo mutters with an unforgiving tone.
God.
Someone takes hold of my arm again, and I’m hauled to my feet. Only when I’m standing do I see that it’s the huge man by Leo’s side who has a firm grip on my arm. It looks like he’s strong enough to crush my skull with a single blow, and it makes my fear morph into the most overpowering horror I’ve ever experienced.
I’m carried away from the light, and the darkness is cold.
I rear back and manage to yank free.
“Haven!” Mom cries as I spin around to run to the safety of her arms.
Before I can reach her, the man who’s restraining Mom swings an arm at me, backhanding me across my jaw.
The blow sends me skidding across the tiles while my head spins violently from the blow.
‘No!’ the boy shouts before a monster shoots him, and blood blossoms all over his shirt.
Gasping through the horror, my head spins, and I’m unable to keep a sob from bursting over my lips.
The dizziness lifts, and I hear confident footsteps coming my way, and just as I manage to look up, it’s to see Leo slam his fist into the man’s face.
“Did I give my permission for you to hit her?” Leo barks angrily.
“No, boss,” the man answers, his voice filled with respect.
Even though I’m reeling with shock and horror, Leo’s reaction to me being hurt catches me by surprise.
His enraged gaze touches on me, then he snaps, “Take Haven to the car, Massimo.”
“No! Please,” Mom begs. She manages to pull free from the man who just got hit and falls to her knees in front of Leo. “Please. We have nothing to do with your business. Just let us leave. We won’t tell anyone about what we’ve seen. I beg you.”
Massimo takes hold of my arm, but this time he’s gentler with me while he helps me to my feet.
Deep down, I know I should put up a fight, but I’m in too much shock to do anything, and it doesn’t help that flashes of the nightmare keep bombarding my mind.
Massimo tugs at my arm, and when I stumble, he mutters something in Italian before I’m lifted off my feet. The instant my body is draped over his shoulder like a sack of potatoes, I’m hit with another flashback of a bedroom. There’s a teenage boy lying on a bed, and another one is on the floor with a monster standing over him.
I hear myself screaming something, but I can’t make out the words.
More terror pours through me, and my fight instinct finally kicks in. I push my torso up and wiggle like crazy to get free, but it only makes him tighten his grip on me as he stalks toward the front door.
Panic floods my veins, and I shriek, “Mom!”
“Oh God! No!” Mom scrambles to her feet, but Leo grabs hold of her arm and presses the barrel of the gun to her temple.
“Nooooo!” I let out a harrowing scream, and it has Leo’s eyes flicking to me.
I stop fighting, and choking on a desperate sob, I beg, “Please don’t hurt my mother. I’ll do anything. Just don’t shoot her.”
“Massimo!” Leo snaps, and it has the overgrown ape stopping in the doorway. “Put her down.”
I’m lowered to my feet, then Leo orders, “Come hug your mother goodbye and take your luggage to my car. You have five minutes.”
I run back to them, and Mom catches me in her arms. With Leo standing right beside us, I catch a whiff of his scent, which smells like war, all gunpowder and blood. It sends more chills down my spine.
“Haven,” Mom sobs uncontrollably. “I’ll find a way to get us back home.”
“You won’t do a single thing if you want to stay alive,” Leo grumbles. “Three minutes left.”
“So, you’ll marry Haven, and peace will return between us?” I hear Uncle Nicolo ask.
“For the time being,” Leo replies. “Make sure her mother doesn’t do anything stupid.”
Uncle Nicolo’s words sound ominous as he says, “I’ll take care of her.”
“No,” I gasp, and pulling away from Mom, I look at Leo. “Please. You have to promise me that nothing bad will happen to my mother.”
“You hear that, Nicolo?” Leo is actually starting to sound like he’s getting bored.
The man is ripping my life apart, and he’s bored?
It begins to sink in just how cold and heartless he is. None of this hell affects him.
He’s a monster, just like the ones from my nightmares.
“She’ll be safe,” Uncle Nicolo assures Leo.
The dangerous cold-blooded killer’s eyes lock with mine, then he orders, “Time’s up. Take your bags to my car.”
Unable to move, I stare at him while my future and dreams go up in smoke.
I know the moment I leave with him, my life will never be the same again, and I’m not ready for that.
Leo lifts an eyebrow at me, looking impatient as hell. Not even sparing Mom a glance, he lifts his arm and points his gun at her. “Are we going to have a problem, principessa?”
Life returns to my body, and my chin instantly begins to tremble while I dart to where my luggage is standing. I grab the handles, and as I drag them toward the front door, I glance at Mom.
“Please,” Mom begs, her eyes glued to me. “Don’t do this to us.”
Not knowing what hell my future will hold for me and how long I’ll survive with Leo, I say, “I love you, Mom.”
“Nooooo,” Mom sobs, and breaking down, she sinks to her knees.
The overgrown ape grips hold of my arm while another man rips the handles of my bags out of my hands.
The sound of Mom weeping follows me until I’m shoved into the backseat of a Porsche. The door is slammed shut, and for a moment, a deafening silence falls around me.
I’m paralyzed with fear as I look at the mansion’s entrance, and I watch as Leo comes stalking out the front door.
God, he looks like the stuff nightmares are made of.
Car doors open, and while he climbs in behind the steering wheel, Massimo gets into the front passenger seat.
With a trembling body, breaths bursting over my dry lips, and a heart that’s pounding a mile a minute, I sit as still as possible while the engine starts.
Movement draws my attention back to the entrance of the mansion, and I see Mom running out onto the porch.
The Porsche begins to move down the driveway as Uncle Nicolo grabs Mom, forcefully shoving her back into the mansion.
The sight rips a sob from me, and I quickly cover my mouth with a trembling hand.
God, is this really happening to us?
