Page 36 of Primo DeLuca

Chapter Fourteen

Primo

Nevah.

Her name was a constant echo inside my head, each chant reminding me that time was a monster gnawing at every thread of calm and logic I possessed. Every second, every minute, every breath I took represented a mark in time that she was under a killer’s gun.

He wanted me to come alone. He was going to get me too: signed, sealed, and delivered. The devilish twitch in my eyes and the edgy tremors of rage racing through me represented the exact version of me he was about to receive. If be-careful-what-you-wish-for were a person, my picture would turn up.

Why the fuck did I think it was okay to leave Nevah alone at such a tumultuous time? She’d been alone from sunrise to sunset, more than enough time for someone to hatch a plan.

She was an innocent civilian who wanted a normal life. If she ended up hurt or killed, it would be on me, and it wasn’t something I was sure I could handle. I was getting her out of this shit if it was the last thing I did with my life.

The hundred-plus miles per hour wind whipping against my helmet and the world blurring into swirling colors in my peripheral vision didn't faze me. The bike’s tires sounded like a squealing pig due to my aggressive driving.

Finally, I reached my destination and ditched the bike in thick shrubs a few houses down from my safe house. I towed off my shoes and jumped my neighbor’s fence before trekking through the only blind spot from the cameras in my backyard. The living room lights were visible outside the house through an opening in the thick curtains that gave me a peek at the moving shadows through the thinner drapes.

My phone, now linked to my earpiece, buzzed. The action told me my early arrival wasn’t anticipated.

“Hello.”

“You should be arriving soon. Try anything funny, and I would hate to make this beautiful woman cease to exist.”

“I’ll be there in a few minutes,” I told him while opening the secret cache of weapons I’d stashed in the backyard inside the deck’s steps.

“How do you want to play this? You’re expecting me to walk through my front door and let you shoot me?”

“You in exchange for the lady,” he directed.

What kind of dumb ass was I dealing with? Did he actually believe that I was about to walk into that house and let him kill the both of us?

“Fucking idiot,” I mouthed while climbing atop the neighbor’s pool house roof.

“I’m walking up to the house now,” I lied while inching across the top of the building to find the perfect spot that would allow me to see into my living room.

Foolishly, he had drawn the thick top layer of curtains open, thinking he would see me approaching through the sheer drapes. Instead, the thin drapes gave me enough of a view to see his profile standing behind Nevah, who was sitting in a chair. Although their images were blurred, I could definitely see that he was aiming a weapon at her head.

Knock. Knock. Knock.

“Come in!” the man called, adjusting his aim at the back of Nevah’s head. He’d fallen for a pre-recording of knocking, playing from inside the house. Dumb ass.

I had a contingency plan for a contingency plan and had hundreds of actions and commands recorded and stored in the house’s automation system. Being prepared in this business kept me alive on many occasions.

“Before I step through this door, let me speak to Nevah.”

Finally, I’d found the perfect spot to stage my rifle to aim at the asshole holding my woman hostage. The problem, she was in the line of fire too.

“Come in, DeLuca. I don’t have time for any of your fucking games,” he mouthed, shaking the weapon at Nevah’s head.

She was silent, no begging or even whimpering. I wasn’t sure if there were tears, but she was thankfully not overreacting.

“Let me talk to her before I place myself in your deadly path,” I demanded.

He released an irritated sigh before lowering the phone closer to her mouth.

“Nevah, are you okay?”

“I’m scared, Primo. Are you coming to get me?” Her voice wasn’t shaky. It sounded strong.

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