Page 93 of Dark Mafia Heir

“Do you need me to do anything?” he asks, his voice heavy with concern.

“If you can, make sure no one leaves the city tonight. Especially not Salvatore or any of his allies.”

“I’ll do that, man. Be careful.”

“Thank you.” I hang up and pack a few more weapons for my men.

By the time Lorenzo comes upstairs again, I have a bag full of everything we need. It will take hours to get to the Port, but I know Peter and Salvatore won’t touch a hair on Vivienne before I arrive. She’s a bait to get to me, after all. A weakness.

But that is where they’re wrong. To me, Vivienne is a source of strength. I’ll walk through fire for my wife.

And I won’t be coming back home without her.

33

Vivienne

The cold bites at my skin, waking me before my eyes even open. My head pounds—an unrelenting drumbeat that makes me wince as I try to sit up. The sharp scent of saltwater fills my nose, mingling with something acrid and metallic.

I blink into the darkness, disoriented. The low hum of engines and the distant crash of waves tell me where I am before my eyes adjust. The seaport.

Everything is blurry at first. Shadows of towering shipping containers stacked like a maze around me. The night air is heavy with the stench of oil and fish, and the flickering orange glow of a distant floodlight makes the shadows dance in eerie patterns.

I shiver, rubbing my arms, and that’s when it hits me; my wrists are sore.

I glance down, my pulse spiking as I see the faint red marks on my skin. Rope burns. The memory crashes into me like a wave—my father’s voice, cold and sharp, his last words to me before I passed out.

The sting of betrayal bites into my heart like the edge of a sharp knife. He betrayed me—my father killed my bodyguards and kidnapped me.

My throat burns, but I can’t cry now. I need to find a way out of here. I need to save my child. And Antonio… God, I can’t begin to imagine how scared he must be right now. He must be going crazy trying to find me.

Resting my hand against the wall behind me, I manage to stagger up to my feet, though it’s a struggle to keep standing because I am still drowsy from whatever my father injected me with, and my vision is a little blurry.

Still, I have to try to leave. I have to get back home to Antonio.

“I see you’re awake,” a voice says in front of me.

I flinch and back up against the wall. No matter how much I squint, I can’t make out who the silhouette in front of me is. I can tell he’s an older man from his voice and short, round, body frame.

He’s not my father, and there’s only one other name that comes to mind. “Salvatore?”

He chuckles. “Smart girl.”

Ice trickles through my veins like water. It’s truly him—Salvatore. My father really brought me to my husband’s worst enemy. “What do you want?”

He shakes his head. “You’re smart. I thought you would have figured it out already.”

Right. It’s Antonio he wants. I am just a bit of bait to get to him. My father set a trap, and I stupidly walked right into it. Now, my husband and unborn child are going to be in danger because of me.

A shiver spirals down my spine. I know our relationship had never been good, but still, I believed my father would never hurt me, not like this.

“I don’t know what you’re talking about.” I inhale deeply, trying to stay calm. Being rash won’t help me in any way. “

“Oh, but I think you do,” Salvatore drawls, closing the distance between us.

My stomach churns with disgust the closer he gets. He smells like cigarettes and rotten fish. Just how long has he been hiding in this place? “You’ll never get Antonio,” I spit out. “He’ll kill you before you even get a chance to hurt him.”

Salvatore pins a knife under my chin, and I groan in pain as the cold metal pierces my skin. “Not if I kill you and his unborn child first. Pray he cooperates, or you’ll be dead before daybreak.”

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