Paging Doctor Asshole

Ticking Time

"He hasn't said anything in over an hour," I heard Ace say as Diana and Micheal came into the Mussolini Mansion. My sister was fully pregnant and ready to burst at any moment but looked gorgeous in a loose, olive pantsuit jumper. Her curls were piled on top of her head in a messy bun meant for a goddess and her face was swollen but radiant. She didn't need to be here but I didn't stand up to intervene as Ace updated my twin and her husband on what was going on. All of the Mussolinis had made it to the mansion in record time— Samuel and his husband Angel were the first to pull up followed by, Raphael and Cristiano with their two girls, Lakota and Catalina, and then Jayson and Georgie arrived surprisingly with his  elder sister Aubreella and her husband Cole along with their two kids Nora and Bailey, all finished by Marcelo and Lucca with their son, Rocco.

My sister and Mikey were the second to come in our family not including Ace and Cecil; the first to come was Constantine who lived closest and knew his boyfriend was already on the way to where Maverick was. I saw in his amber eyes how distressed he was but he covered it well with his usual cocky smile and confident flirting. He was no where near as aggressive as he had been before Xabriel but him and Ace couldn't seem to help themselves when it came to their flirty banter.

I ignored it all. I was motionless on the couch as I watched each member file in and just kept my eyes on the tablet in my hand that was keeping track of Taylor's car. I watched as he traveled down the backroads of Chicago with my heart pounding in my chest. I knew they wouldn't kill Maverick but with his mouth, they would definitely hurt him. I had full faith in the families that we would get Maverick back, I just didn't know what that was going to take.

Ace had tried to track down Jaxon as soon as he was filled in by me but the doctor had disappeared. It didn't take a rocket scientist to guess that he was wherever they were taking Maverick and that he knew the attack on the house was going to happen. Tommy had thought they would come for him first but boy was he wrong— Jaxon had probably told them where Maverick was and they took William as a bonus. It made me want to be there already— wherever there was, so I could protect Maverick from all he was about to learn about his father.

Jaxon not only sold drugs to my family and he worked for the Mussolini's off books ever since Tommy's fake death; the man worked for a Russian Mafia and was trafficking people for god knows how long. To top that all off, he sold his most loyal son to said Russian assholes after sending an assassin to kill his boyfriend.

Maverick would go into shock. Mavericks heart would break... and I wasn't there to protect him.

"You've got to stop beating yourself up," Diana said as Mikey helped her to sit next to me on the couch I was occupying.

I sighed. "You know how bad it is," I said as I met the brown eyes that mirrored my own. "His own father, Di."

She smiled and set her hand on her stomach before grabbing mine and doing the same. The gesture calmed me. "Our own father turned you against this family," she said softly, "You know the pain he is going through or will go through and you want to protect him from that. It's understandable but Polly... Maverick has to see his father for who he is, just like I did. Just like mom did."

"Mom ran and hid in the furthest corner she could find," I said without thought.

"She's embarrassed her husband could be so sick and to try and turn her only son into the same kind of monster broke her. But she let it. You won't let what Maverick learns break him," she said and then let me rub her stomach where I could feel the baby stretching its hands up to meet mine.

"I left him alone," I said to her. "I know I can't be stupid enough to blame myself for that but... I could have brought him with me—"

"— and they would have kidnapped his brother and used him for ransom or killed him to intimidate Maverick," she interrupted with fire in her brown eyes and I smiled loving the fierceness that was Diana. "You could blame yourself a hundred different ways but none of those ways are going to get him back, Polly. What's going to get him back is what we are doing; coming together as a family and kicking ass."