Mafia Wife (Mafia Series Book #2)

Part 17

For fuck's sake.

Was he dead? Did he die?

Niccolo could not even take a full breath; everything was painful. All of his ribs were broken, they had to be. It should not hurt this much to breathe. Niccolo succeeded in cracking an eye open, pinching his lips together to withhold the grunts of pain.

As everything around him went from blurry to clear, he took in his surroundings. This was not his dark-ass cell. This was not the Devil's hideout. He remembered a fight and a lot of pain. Blood, a lot of blood.

He freed himself, though he sliced his skin open doing so. His first reflex was to sit up rapidly, but unfortunately - or rather, fortunately - his broken body didn't listen to him and all he managed was to lift his head.

Thank god. That was fucking excruciating enough on its own.

He moved his fingers, feeling how swollen they were, and flinched when he touched something that felt like hair. Gabriella. He'd know that head of hair anywhere. One quick glance was enough to see she had fallen asleep while sitting on a chair next to him. He was... free?

Niccolo looked around at everything else, concluding he was at Lucas'. He knew this place. Though Lucas didn't use it often. But it did mean he kept his promise. A wave of relief washed over him as he allowed his head to drop back down.

He had been on alert, in case he had to be, but now, he could feel the pain as he was not in any immediate danger. Though, it did beg the question. What did they do? He was free and if there was one thing Niccolo knew was that freedom wasn't free.

Who helped him?

Gabriella and Lucas hadn't pulled this off on their own. No way. He was helped by someone who was in the Devil's little army. That required power.

"I tried to stop her."

Niccolo turned his head to the side in time to see Lucas walking toward him.

"She's stubborn. How you feeling?"

"Like I fucking died," he croaked out.

"They did give you back in a body bag. I think she almost had a heart attack."

"Is she hurt?"

Lucas shook his head. "She's been here. I got her pretty quickly, and managed to get out without any issues."

"Really?"

Lucas chuckled as he rubbed one of the bruises on his left cheek. "That came from something else. She had me retrieve something."

"A journal?"

He tilted his head to the side. "You know about that?"

"Yeah."

"Does she know you know?"

Niccolo shook his head. "Let's keep it that way."

"You're the boss."

Niccolo scoffed. "The boss of what? What's left?"

"Not a lot."

Lucas didn't lie, he didn't sugarcoat. Honestly, Niccolo hadn't needed his confirmation. He knew there would be nothing left for him. They hadn't taken him thinking he would ever leave - at least not alive.

All this and now... he had nothing left...

"How long she been there?" he asked, pointing at Gabriella.