Chapter 87
Nico
The blood in my veins has turned to fire, threatening to burn me up and turn me inside out with a rage I never knew I could ever experience. My heart squeezes several times, making me wonder if I am having some kind of mini heart attack or something.
“Fuck, are you okay? You’ve gone pale,” Tony asks. I can detect the concern in his voice. “Tell me, what’s going on.”
The car pulls to stop. “We are at our destination, Boss,” my driver says as he switches off the engine and steps out of the vehicle to come to open the door for me. I can’t breathe; I am starved of oxygen. Least ways that is how it feels right now.
“It’s Lucky, here see for yourself. The fucking cunts are threatening to kill her.” He doesn’t wait for me to finish. Tony grabs the mobile just as my driver opens the door for me.
“Give me a minute,” I tell him. He nods and waits behind the open door for me to exit.
“What the fuck!” Tony rakes his long fingers of one hand through his hair and plays the video again. “Are they fucking serious? And what the hell do they mean? They have the right to our business. Who the hell is this cunt? Get out of the car, Nico. The sooner we get to this Carlos asshole the better.”
I blow out a long breath and clutch my hand to my chest. “Shit, are you okay? Do we need to get a medic or anything. Talk to me, Nico.”
Taking a few breaths to regulate my breathing I shoot him a look to tell him I will be fine. I exit the vehicle and place my hands on my hips. “I will get your luggage, Boss,” my driver says as Tony exits the car and comes round to me.
I lean forward and place my hands on my slightly bent knees and try to gulp some air into my lungs. The thought of anything happening to Lucky is making me see red and unable to function. It’s as if I have lost all of my senses. “I can’t let anything happen to her, Tony.”
He places a strong hand on my back and gives me a few pats to the back. “Get yourself together, Nico. We will get to her first. There is no way you are giving up your position as head of the business and our family. We will find this Yelena bitch and we are going to bring her down.”
My crew for the flight is standing patiently at the foot of the steps leading up to my private yet. The air hostess is wearing her navy skirt and blazer with a cream blouse and a blue scarf around her neck. She smiles but I can barely manage to smile back.
“Are you sure you’re okay with your chest?” Tony asks as I take more deep breaths before standing up.
“Yes,” I tell him as my driver wheels mine and Tony’s bags to the jet. One of the attendants takes them from him and takes them up to the cabin. We don’t have much luggage since the plan is only to stay for a few days.
That is the plan and, in that time, I want to find Lucky and have her brought back to safety. “Did you see how she looked?” I ask Tony as we make our way to my staff waiting to greet me.
“Good morning, Sir. It’s nice to see you again.” I forget her name; she flies with me all the time. Jeez-us perhaps I’m having a mini stroke. My chest is aching, it physically hurts and my stomach feels as if it is going to bottom out any second from now.
“Good morning, thank you. We want wheels up in less than ten minutes.” My pilot nods and extends his arm to indicate for Tony and I to go into the jet. We walk single file, Tony behind me.
Inside I go to my swivel seat with the small table in front of it, and a leather chair opposite. Tony takes the seat opposite to me and places his hands on the table, I grab my mobile back.
“It won’t help you any to keep watching Lucky like that, Nico. Take my word, you need to be focusing on how we are going to find her and not how bad she looks right now.”
He leans back and nods to the stewardess to come to us. She does. “We’ll have two straight Macallan whiskeys please, two fingers.”
“Of course, Mr. Santangelo.” She goes to the front of the jet where there is a mini kitchenette. I feel like I need to lay down. There is a small area that is classified as my bedroom on board.
“She looks shit, they’ve hurt her. The bastards. I want everyone one of them found, rounded up and given a slow and painful death.” I clench my jaw and ball my fists on the table.
“We’ve got this, Nico. Trust me. If this Carlos is as good as you think he is, we will get Yelena and whoever else is involved. This Mia woman, Lucky’s friend. We need to find her. She will have information. And then we need to get to the bottom of why this Yelena cunt thinks she has a claim on our business.”
I take a long drink from the crystal glass the stewardess has given me. The dark liquid slides easily down my throat, burning as it goes and hits the pit of my stomach which is tied in more knots than an octopus has legs.
Stretching my legs out, I accidentally knock Tony’s legs. He says nothing but doesn’t take his dark eyes off me. He looks mean, angry and like he wants to cut some heads off too. Good, that makes two of us.
I remove my jacket, feeling suddenly stifled. “I need to get changed, be right back,” I tell Tony as I knock back my drink and stand up.
“Sir, we will be taking off any second,” the stewardess tells me with a sweet smile. Fuck, I ought to be able to remember her name. It’s something I pride myself on, knowing all my staff.
“It will be fine; I’m heading to the bedroom.”
She knows not to argue this point with me. Fuck the safety regulations. Right now, I have more fish to fry and Yelena is not going to get away with hurting Lucky nor will she be taking over my business.
The fucking cunt, who the hell does she actually think she is.
Nobody and I mean nobody, messes with Nico Santangelo!