Chapter Seventy Seven

Chapter Seventy Seven
Nicholas POV

It's dark out here, near the docks. They have managed to keep most of the lights on the dock turned off. There are a few near the boat that we are pretending to be getting on. There are some lights inside the warehouse, but few windows so they offer very little light out into the night.

Our plan is to have Gabriella walk from one of the vehicles towards the boat, in such a way that her face is actually hidden in the shadows. She will be surrounded by guards and wearing body armor, just in case. She is not to speak because her voice sounds nothing like Camilla's, so it's imperative that she only whispers if she needs to talk.

It will appear that I am waiting for her on the boat. We anticipate Cain coming in from the road, rapidly. He'll want to do it explosively, thinking he's got the upper hand, that we will be surprised. We are prepared though. We have men ready to throw the gates to the boatyard closed as soon as his vehicle crosses onto the property. Everyone is in place, waiting.

"This will work," I say out loud. I hear two chuckles from the darkness behind me. Carmen's men. I turn and give them a look. "That funny?"

"No capo, just wondering why you are doubting this." One of the men comes out of the shadows and drops a cigarette on the ground and then smashes it with his boot. "Do you know much about the Patron's? That woman does not lose. I've worked for her my whole life."

"Where have you been hiding then?" I ask.

He shrugs. "Here. I'm in charge of the docks. Never do we get breeched, never lost a man, never has anyone stolen from us, from her. She's smart. Smarter than me."

"Hmm," I turn back and look into the night. The breeze on the water cools the warm night air. The smell of saltwater fills my lungs, and I take a deep breath.

"Don't die tonight, Capo. That will piss off la Donna Carmen. I think she likes the idea of you and her granddaughter." He steps up next to me. "What's she like?" he asks.

"Who?" I ask.

"Camilla Patron," he says it like I should know exactly who he means. "I've seen pictures of her. Met her once when she was a little girl, her parents came here for vacation and brought her and Michael. She was quick-witted but always acting like she was thinking about everything and everyone watching them. “She hated my son," he chuckles. "Sebastian was a shit to her, pulling her braids and calling her a princess. She hated it."

I chuckle. "She would hate that now, too, being called princess. She's a lawyer," I say. "Or will be in six more months. Smart. Beautiful, headstrong."

"A lawyer huh?" he says. "Like her mother. Guess I'm not surprised." Suddenly he grips my arm and puts his finger to his lips. "You hear that?"

I listen intently, "Cars," I say. He nods. "It's time." I let out a loud whistle, and we watch as everyone starts scattering to their places, most of them hiding.

Gabriella steps out of the warehouse and climbs into the SUV parked near the front door. The two guards that will be with her stand nearby. One walks towards her door, trying to make it look very natural, that he's about to open it. He does so and she steps out and the three of them walk towards the boat. Her head is turned slightly so all that can be seen is the black of her hair. It is pulled back ever so slightly from her face, but still, she is not recognizable from a distance.

Just as we predicted, three vehicles fly into the parking lot, dust flying behind them. They break hard, and then the vehicles sit idling. I watch as the gates are thrown closed, but it doesn't appear that whoever is in the vehicles has noticed. The front doors of all three vehicles fly open, and six figures step out. I recognize only one of them, a man who is often seen with Thomas Cain. One of his guards we didn't actually kill when we rescued Camilla in Chicago.

We all stand where we are, not making any sudden moves. Gabriella walks quickly towards the boat and a rear door of one of the vehicles flies open. "Stop her," yells a man. When he steps out and stands up, I can clearly make out his face. Thomas Cain.

Gabriella hears him and starts to run towards the boat. One of the guards walks between her and the men, his rifle aimed at them. "No sudden moves," he yells at them. "I will kill at least a couple of you before you kill me." None of them makes a move to engage, but Thomas Cain comes around from the back door and whispers in one of their ears. The man nods, walks to the back of the car, and pops the trunk. We all watch as someone climbs out of the trunk, a bag over their head. It's evident it's a woman. She's wearing nothing more than shorts and a ripped T-shirt. It's too dark to see if she's injured and of course we can't see her face, but I have a pretty good notion that this is Jennifer.

"Where is Tanya?" Thomas hollers out. "We have a trade to make. I see that you are here as promised, Camilla. Don't make it harder than it has to be, come here."

Gabriella doesn't turn towards him, but her eyes are locked on mine, and the two men with her stand firmly between her and Cain's men. He still doesn't realize that it's not Camilla, so we have time to make this plan work.

I slowly step out of the shadows. "Who exactly are we trading for?" I ask nonchalantly. "I don't recall us having any kind of arrangement."

Thomas sneers at me. "She's mine," he points at Gabriella. "I will give Tanya her worthless sister back, and I get Camilla—end of story. I will be the Don, the capo of the largest conglomerate of aligned mafia families. Not you, me. She's been mine since she was a girl."

"See, I don't think that is how this works," I say as I take a step forward. "Who do you have under the hood anyway? Let me see."

Thomas rips the hood over the girl's head. She's pretty beat up, but I do recognize her from the photo Tanya showed us. A few of the men around me hiss in anger when they see the girl's face. Clearly, they are not into abusing women either. "She's pretty used up at this point, probably not worth your time or energy. I've had my fun with her, though, and you can have her. I'm about to marry Camilla anyway, so I'm going to be spending all my energy taming her to be a good little wife." He laughs almost maniacally. A few of his men shift uncomfortably.

I step off the dock onto the dirt and give him a look before my eyes move over to Gabriella's. She has managed to inch a little closer to me, the men still guarding her. "Camilla is going to be leaving," I say as I look back at Thomas. "You won't stop her either. I am going to get on this boat right behind her, and you're going to release the woman to my men here."

Thomas spits on the ground. "Like hell I will." He grabs Jennifer by her hair and yanks her head back. Then he pulls a pistol from his jacket pocket and points it at her temple. "I will kill her, and my men will kill you while I do that."

The door to the warehouse opens, and then giant flood lights come on in the parking lot. Thomas and his men are momentarily blinded. I can see Carmen has walked out into the lot, flanked by a dozen men. When Thomas and his men have been distracted by Carmen and the flood lights, more of our men have come up behind them.

"I think you will put that gun down, young man, and take your hands off that girl." Carmen says this with the calmness of an aged capo, one who has never been told no.

"Who the fuck are you, bitch?" Thomas yells out.

"Who the fuck am I? Such language." Carmen pauses, and four of her men walk forward towards Thomas. As they do, three of his men close the doors of the cars they stepped out of and quietly walk into the dark. I am entirely clueless as to why this is happening, but Carmen and her men don't seem to care. Or maybe they don't notice.

"Carmen," I holler out. She turns towards me for only a second and gives me a wink.

"Wait! Carmen? Carmen Patron?" Thomas says, his anger rising. "Look at this, I get to take Camilla and kill you as well. Finally." Thomas laughs.

"Oh, how you underestimate me, young man," Carmen says with a smile. "Let the girl go."

"Give me Camilla," he snarls. I watch as his finger is twitching on the trigger of the gun that he still holds to Jennifer's head. She hasn't said a word, but tears silently flow down her battered and bruised face.

"Okay, sure," I say.

"What?" he says, now confused. He shakes his head as if to clear it. I begin to walk towards him. "Get back or I will shoot her."

"If you do that, you will never get Camilla because I will kill you myself," I tell him. I continue to walk towards him, and he shifts his gaze between mine and Carmen.

I suddenly hear gunfire and then I watch as Thomas whips his pistol forward and pulls the trigger. I feel the impact of the bullet, and I feel myself falling to the ground. Screaming around me, the girl crying, Gabriella yelling at someone to get down, and then Thomas yelling out, "That's not Camilla, you fucking pieces of shit."

"Nicholas?" a man says close to my ear. "You will be fine, capo," then I'm being dragged across the dirt parking lot, my vision going in and out. I can't die; I must get back to Camilla. I have to make sure Thomas Cain is dead.

"Did you really think you could beat me?" I hear Carmen Patron ask bitterly. She's far away from me, somewhere in the darkness, I can hear her. "Get Nick out of here," she tells someone, and then my vision fades out.