Chapter 26 The Mafia's Help
Amelia
His hands were on my shoulders now, pushing me backward. I hit the wall hard enough to knock the breath out from my lungs.
"You're going to tell me what I want to know." His voice was right in my ear. "Or I'm going to make you."
His hand moved to my throat.
I couldn't breathe.
I brought my knee up as hard as I could.
He doubled over with a pained grunt.
I ran.
Or tried to. Then I crashed into the coffee table. Went down hard.
He shouted, "You're dead!" and then started coming after me. I could hear him.
I scrambled for my cane. Found it. Swung it behind me.
My cane connected with something.
"Fuck!" He grunted again.
A crash followed. Glass breaking. The lamp.
I was crying now. Couldn't help it. Couldn't stop.
"Where are you?" His voice hunts. "Come here."
I pressed myself against the wall, cane held in front of me, trying to be silent.
Trying not to panic. He found me anyway and as he tried to raise his hand on me-
The apartment door burst open.
"Stop! Get off her!" Elena's voice.
"Shut up, Elena! This isn't your business!"
"Get away from her!"
More shouting. More chaos.
Subsequently, another sound came from the door again.
"Nobody move." A male voice was heard. Deep and authoritative. Not Miguel. "Hands where I can see them."
"Who the hell—" Miguel's voice.
"Amelia, it's okay." Another male voice. Younger. "We're not here to hurt you. Boss sent us."
Boss? Who was—
"Where's Elena?" I couldn't stop shaking. "Elena!" I shouted for her.
"I'm here; I'm right here." Elena's hands are on my shoulders. Gentle. "Amelia, what happened? Did Miguel—"
"She's lying!" Miguel shouted. "She came onto me! I was just—"
"Shut up." The first male voice said coldly.
Then the phone rang.
"Boss."
Then I recognised a voice. Coming through a speaker. Familiar. Impossible.
"Put me on speaker."
The man complied. "You're on."
"Elena. What happened?" The voice asked,
The voice from the alley. From the bar. From my nightmares and my memories.
Santoro.
"I don't know. I came home and heard them fighting," Elena was saying. "Miguel and Amelia. When I got inside, her dress was torn and she was—" Her voice broke. "She was trying to defend herself."
"Amelia." His voice changed. His voice softened, but it also became more menacing. "Are you hurt?"
I couldn't speak. Couldn't process. How was he here? Why was he—
"Answer the question. Are you hurt?" He said impatiently.
"I'm—" My voice cracked. "He tried to—he said Elena wouldn't be home for hours and he—"
"I didn't do anything!" Miguel yelling. "She's blind! How could she even know what—"
A sound came through the speaker. Metallic and deliberate.
A gun being loaded.
"Let me be very clear," Santoro said, his voice soft and lethal. "The girl you just assaulted? She's under my protection. Which means you just made the worst mistake of your pathetic life."
Under his protection.
What did that mean?
The rest of the conversation blurred. Elena was pulling me away from the chaos, guiding me to the bedroom.
"It's okay," she kept saying. "You're safe now."
But I didn't feel safe.
I felt broken. Terrified and confused.
Miguel had pretended to help me. He had planned this. Had tried to—
My hands were shaking so hard I couldn't hold the cane.
"Sit down." Elena guided me to the bed. "Just sit. Breathe."
"I don't understand," I whispered. "How did they—why is he—"
"I don't know. I don't know anything right now except that you're safe."
Through the door, I could hear voices. Santoro was still on the phone. Giving orders. Saying things I couldn't quite make out.
Then heavy footsteps in the hallway.
The apartment door flung open.
There was silence for a while.
Then Santoro's voice—no longer filtered through a phone, but real and present and here.
"Start talking," he said softly. "And pray I like what I hear."
JEREMY
Miguel was pinned face-down on the floor, Luca's knee in his back, blood streaming from his nose where Amelia had hit him with her cane.
Good. I hoped it hurt like hell.
I stood in the doorway of Elena's apartment, taking in the scene. Broken furniture. Shattered lamp. Torn fabric from Amelia's dress on the floor like evidence of a crime.
Because it was a crime.
The bedroom door was closed and locked. Elena had taken Amelia into the bedroom, distancing her from the current situation.
It's better that way. Right now, as I stared at Miguel's terrified face, I felt a burning desire for blood.
"Boss." Luca glanced up at me. "What do you want us to do with him?"
Good question.
I had options. None of them were particularly pleasant. But he deserved all of them.
But first, I needed to deal with the girl in that locked room.
I pulled out my phone and dialled Marco's number.
"Santoro." Marco's voice answered on the second ring. "Twice in one day. Should I be worried?"
"I need Nina."
"Nina's not for rent," he said back without hesitation.
"I'm not asking to rent her. I need her to pick someone up. Bring them to Crimson."
..."Who?"
"Amelia," I said
He went silent for a while. Then: "You found her."
"Yes. And she's in trouble. I need her somewhere safe while I handle a situation."
"Safe. At Crimson." Marco's voice was flat. "The place where she was beaten and thrown out?"
"It's neutral territory. You control it. And right now, it's the safest option I've got."
"Jeremy—"
"I don't have time to debate this. Send Nina to Elena Rodriguez's apartment. Third-floor walk-up, Delancey and Clinton. She needs to be here in ten minutes."
"And if Nina refuses?"
"Then you explain to me why you're denying protection to a girl who was just assaulted. A girl who might have information that could compromise every Family in the city if the wrong people got to her."
That got his attention quickly, and I couldn't help but smirk. "What kind of information?" he asked.
"The kind she heard working your private rooms. Names. Faces. Conversations." I kept my voice level. "Apparently someone thought that information was valuable enough to try to force it out of her."
"Cristo." Marco exhaled. "You think she'll talk?"
"No. But I think other people might try what this bastard tried. Which means she needs protection. Real protection. I cannot provide her with the protection she needs while my uncle is pressuring me about family business.
He paused again before speaking. "Nina will be there in ten minutes."
"Good. And Marco? Make sure she has an ensuite room. Ensure that there are no other girls in her vicinity. And if Jade or any of the others so much as looks at her in a wrong way, you deal with it. Understood?"
"Understood. But Jeremy—this is temporary, right? You're not planning to keep her there?"
I looked at the closed bedroom door. "I'm planning to keep her alive. However, I have to do that."
I hung up.