Mafia love

Although I couldn’t see where he landed, I didn’t want to look away. It felt like letting go. Letting go of him.

I couldn’t let go.

“Amelia, you have to climb up, please. Don’t let your dad’s sacrifice be in vain. Please,” Luc pleaded.

I couldn’t answer through my sobs.

“He did so much for you.” He reminded. “So much to protect you, so much to make it possible for you to live the life you wanted. Please, climb up.”

His words gripped me to my core. Dad had done so much for me. Right from the very begi

He’d made sure I had what I wanted, protected me and loved me with his last breath.

That crack sounded again and fueled me with strength.

Dad had loved me with his last breath and given me another chance to live.

I couldn’t let his last sacrifice be in vain. I pulled in a sharp breath to clear my head and grabbed on tightly to the rope. Then, with one hand after the other, I used all my upper body strength to climb up.

Up I went until I was above the panel by the bolt the rope was attached to.

“That’s it. Now, get off the roof,” Luc called out.

“Luc. My dad…”

“I know, darling… I know.” I looked beyond him. The fighting had stopped, and our men were all standing looking on in sadness. Even Sinclaire and Max. “Go on now, Amelia. I’ll come get you.” He nodded.

A fresh bout of tears took me, but I gathered my strength and moved across the panels. I wasn’t out of the woods yet. I moved past Tag, not bothering to spare a moment to look at him. I didn’t want to. I didn’t need to.

I could see it. The steps leading down from the roof. The whole thing started to shake, and the panels around all cracked and fell in. I had to jump to make it over the side with the steps.

Instantly, I looked back to Luc, who’d watched me until I was safe.

It was only then that he started to move back. I watched him too, making sure he was safe, holding my breath until he got to his side.

He raised his hand and waved to me.

It was over.

My gaze fell to the drop again, and tears took me, uncontrollable and overpowering.

Dad.

I couldn’t believe what had happened.

It didn’t feel real. It didn’t feel right.

He was gone.

It took Luc and Claudius fifteen minutes to get to me. I never stopped crying.

I seemed to pass out from it, and when I woke up, a bright light blinded me.

I squinted against it, blinked, then refocused. Blinked again.

Luc stood beside my bed… no … I got them mixed up again.

Sometimes Luc and Claudius looked so much alike. It wasn’t until I saw his eyes—one blue and the other brown, and then the cross on his cheek—

that I realized it wasn’t Luc.

Next to Claudius was Marcus. Then Gigi, Max, and Sinclaire.

I looked around me. I was in the hospital. I tried to sit up, but something was attached to my arm. Wires that went to a drip bag and monitors.

“Easy there, pet. You need your rest,” Marcus said, offering a kind smile.

“Why am I here? I’m fine.”

“No, you aren’t. You have a broken rib, and you were severely dehydrated,” Claudius answered. “The doctors wanted to keep you for observation.”

I looked at everyone. “Thank you all so much for coming.”

“Don’t mention it,” Max replied.

“Like we wouldn’t,” Sinclaire offered. “Next time, if the damn golden eagle isn’t riding the horse, promise me you won’t tell me it is.”

“I promise.” I gave him a weak smile and looked to Gigi, who moved closer to take my hand.

She looked a little off. In fact, they all did, and I looked around them for Luc.

He wasn’t there. “Where’s Luc?”

When Gigi’s eyes filled with a wealth of sadness, I knew something else had happened. Something more.

“Amelia.” Marcus cleared his throat. “Victor leaked some stuff to the feds, and the police came to take Luc away this morning.”

My eyes widened, and I sucked in a sharp breath. “What? No, what stuff?”

“How about you rest up, and we talk about it in a little while. Doctors said you may be good to come home tomorrow.”

“No, I want to talk now.” My heart started galloping, and my muscles tensed.

“Trust me, princess,” Claudius intoned. “It’s best not to.”

I looked from him to Sinclaire and Max. Both had that solemn look on their faces.

It told me everything.

Luc was a mobster. Of course, he should be locked up.

What did I expect?

Luc

I was surprised I hadn’t ended up here before now.

Very surprised.

I guess it was just a matter of time before I got what was coming to me.

Me behind bars.

I was sitting on the metal bench of a jail cell at the Chicago Police Department. I wasn’t where I should have been. With Amelia, by her side, making sure she was okay. Or even with my men, grieving our losses. We came out strong but we took hits and several guys lost their lives.

I was here now.

Helpless. Again.

The guy opposite me was just staring at the wall.

When I came in yesterday, he’d looked at me like he recognized me but said nothing. Not a damn thing.

I didn’t care.

What I cared about now was the uncertainty of this situation I’d found myself in.

My dear friend Victor had dealt his last blow. The last thing he could do to screw with me.

He’d gotten to one of our contacts in the feds and threatened his family if he didn’t leak info on some of the rackets I’d run over the past year.

The guy had leaked, and about an hour after we’d arrived at the hospital with Amelia, I got taken away. Handcuffed and led away out in the open like the criminal I was.

They’d been looking for me.

The ironic thing was, I’d taken off my jacket and given it to Claudius just before the doctors took me away to examine my arm. The jacket had the diamonds in the inside pocket.

Dad and Claudius had tried to intervene when the cops came, trying to talk them away, but it was useless. They couldn’t do anything. No one could.

Now, I was here awaiting something I didn’t know what, and no one—

friend nor family—was allowed to see me.

I looked up as the guard approached the cell door. Behind him was Sinclaire.

God, why?

He was the last person I wanted to see right now.

This had to be the classic case of kicking a man while he was already down.

“You got fifteen minutes,” the guard told Sinclaire.

He came in and sat on the chair opposite me.

“What are you doing here?” The void inside me didn’t have the strength to be an asshole to him.

“How you holding up?” He asked to my surprise.

“Doesn’t matter.” Physically, I was functional. They’d tended to the wound on my arm back at the hospital. Mentally… I couldn’t really speak for my mental state right now. “Why are you here, Sinclaire? You’re the last person I expected to come see me. You here to gloat? To tell me how you’re better than me? That Amelia can do better with you than me? You know what? Save it. You’re right. She can, and she should be with you.”

He started laughing and straightened. “Amelia loves you, Luc. I’m jealous of you for that, but she’s my friend, and more than that. She’s like family, close to me like that, and I’m not here to gloat or tell you shit you don’t need to hear.”