Chapter 78

Nico

I call my brother, Tony and wait for him to pick up. My heart rate is so high, I just know that something has happened. Having tried Lucky’s number several times I now know her battery must have died. Now I have no way of contacting her.

“What’s up? Everything okay, did he talk?” Tony fires questions at me.

“Where is Lucky?” My tone is abrupt as my driver speeds as fast as he can to the private airfield without being stopped and pulled over. Dammit.

“About her,” he starts. “She went out, apparently to meet with a friend.”

“Which friend? Where? Why did you let her out of your fucking sight? You were under specific instructions to keep an eye on her!”

“Listen, Nico I am not Lucky’s keeper and when that woman wants to be she is pretty persuasive. She told us she wouldn’t be long and took one of the guards with her. And her driver. She will be fine; you need to stop panicking. Tell me about Andrewkov.”

I want to scream and hurl insults at him, but it will get me nowhere. What damn friend? She is in Atlanta unless of course she has been hatching some kind of plot. I need to regulate my breathing otherwise I am going to hyperventilate.

“Listen to me you dumb fuck, he is not my priority, Lucky is. Her phone has died, and I have no way of contacting her. Who did she say she was going to meet; she doesn’t know anyone in Atlanta? Her best friend lives here in New York.”

“Well have you tried calling her friend? Do you even have the number? Do you know her last number?”

“There is a record of her in my office in a blue folder in the desk drawer. Go and find out what you can and send me her contact information as soon as possible. Fuck Andrewkov. Get me the details and call me back. I’ll tell you more once I’ve gotten hold of this Mia woman.”

Anxiety is brewing inside me, I am like a volcano about to erupt. “We will be five minutes, Sir,” my driver says. I give him a nod and wait for Tony to call me back.

My phone rings, it’s him. “It’s a Mia Petronovokich. Lives in the Bronx.”

“I am almost at the airfield, get one of our guys to her property and ask her if she has anything on Lucky’s whereabouts, if she has recently spoken to her or has any plans to see her.”

The name disturbs me, I didn’t realize there was a Russian connection to Mia. How could I have missed that? Or maybe it didn’t matter to me so much before all of the danger in our lives happened. I need to calm down, plenty of people in New York stem from Russian ancestors.

“On it, someone will be at the property in ten minutes. Will get back to you. Are you flying back now? Haven’t you got unfinished business in New York?”

I let out a deep sigh as the driver takes us through the metal gates having passed security. This feels like an endless journey and now I have a few hours ahead of me on a fucking jet. Why the hell did I leave Lucky in Atlanta when Aurora could easily have handled Andrewkov? Because I didn’t think my fiancée would have slipped out. I rake my hand through my hair.

My driver opens the door for me, I practically run to the steps of the jet not bothering with my overnight bag. I don’t need it; he will send it on. I acknowledge the flight attendant with a nod of my head, take my seat and buckle up. Holding the mobile away from my mouth I tell her I want wheels up without delay. She leaves me and heads towards the cockpit.

“He talked, he is related to Yelena, they are step siblings blood related on the mother’s side. Russian woman as you know. He’s taken a bullet to the head. He is of no further use to us. We need to get Yelena and find out who actually hired her and why.”

“Maybe it’s her, perhaps she is the one with the agenda.”

“That is true, I haven’t dismissed that possibility. Any news?”

“Message coming through, let me read it.”

The attendant comes back to me to inform me that we are about to take off. I nod and ask her for a neat scotch after take-off.

“Mia is not at the property, apparently the neighbours haven’t seen her for the last couple of weeks. Nobody has any idea where she went, apparently, she just disappeared.”

“Not good news. Okay, I am not liking the sound of this. I’ll be landing in a few hours. I want to know exactly where Lucky went.”

“You got it, we’re on it. I will get hold of the driver, and her detail then buzz you straight back.”

This flight is going to feel like the longest flight I have ever been on. There is nothing I can do but try to calm myself down yet it’s difficult when I know something bad has happened to Lucky. What will I do if she is being harmed? My heart feels like it is shattering like broken glass into thousands of fragments. My stomach is cramping. Fuck, fuck, fuck. This cannot be happening.

I will never forgive myself if something happens to Lucky. I will not be able to continue living my life, she is to be my bride, the mother of our children. The one woman who I want to spent eternity with, to wake up every morning to see that gorgeous smile of hers across her face. To feel her lithe body in my arms as we fall asleep at night. I want to cook her breakfast in the morning, go riding together and show her the world. Lucky Gianluca came into my life, and it will never be the same again.

The longest two and a half hours is finally over as we touch down in Atlanta. The first thing I do is take my mobile off airplane mode and see notifications from Tony.

There was a distraction outside of a coffee shop. A Hummer wiped out the back of the Range parked outside the coffee shop. Her detail checked she was safe inside the coffee shop and went to help her driver.

Next message.

When the detail turned back to go to the coffee shop, Lucky was not there nor the woman who was having a coffee with her. A shorter woman, blonde-ish hair. Petite.

Fuck, is Mia involved somehow? And if she is how far back does that go?

Thanks, get our team on the cameras and start looking, they must be able to find the path they took, what vehicle she went in.

The door to the jet opens as I am making my way from my seat. The attendant bids me goodbye and thanks me for flying with them. It’s my damn jet!

The Atlanta sun hits my face causing me to scrunch my eyes. From my jacket I pull out a pair of Aviator shades and put them on. My driver for Atlanta is waiting for me, I had already spoken to my assistant to have him ready.

As soon as I get in, I ask him to take me straight to my property, I need to regroup with Tony and get down to the control center in the basement where we have all our high tech people working on everything we need them to be doing. Usually monitoring our casinos, our banks, our shops, the streets and making sure nobody is on our turf. Having them operational is key to my business. The set up is a duplicate for that which I have in New York where my main residence is.

My driver nods and gets to it, my heart is in my mouth. I know Yelena is behind this. She must have a whole team of people and a lot of money to be able to create the kind of diversion she just did. My pulse is racing, I can hear the blood rushing in my ears. I will never forgive myself if something happens to Lucky.

As I get into the car my mobile rings, it’s an unknown number. Without deliberation I take the call holding the mobile closely to my hear.

“We have Lucky, if you want to see your fiancée again, we suggest you meet our demands.”

The End

PLEASE BE SURE TO KEEP AN EYE ON MY PAGE FOR THE SEQUEL - LUCKY SANTANGELO, MAFIA BOSS LADY