Page 36 of A Wife’s Duty

E nzo Junior was chained to a chair. There was a knife in each hand, as well as each thigh. There were also two pushed into his shoulders to keep him locked against the chair, and to stop him from moving.

The man had already pissed and shit himself. There had also been vomit. Fainting. Begging. Pleading.

The man liked to torture his innocent victims, but he didn’t like to feel any of the pain he dished out. Where Bruno liked to attack underage kids, both boys and girls, Enzo Junior liked to hurt women. He liked to rape and beat them as well.

He’d seen some of the pictures of the dead bodies. Their only suspect had been Enzo Junior, but there was no way to tie the two together. The evidence was never there, or according to the reports, there was no evidence.

Boone had a feeling that wasn’t quite accurate. There was always evidence, and it seemed surrounding the Valdez’s there were plenty of cops that liked a luxury lifestyle. For that, they looked the other way. They screwed over the badge and became selfish.

“Boone, please, you’ve got to stop.”

He sat down in front of Enzo Junior, and looked at him. “You’re looking a little pale.”

“I get it, you don’t like me. You don’t like any of my family, but ... you’ve got to get out of here.”

“You hurt women.”

“Yes,” Enzo Junior said.

“And you did it for fun.”

“Yes.”

This was not helping his cause.

“Why?”

“I don’t fucking know why,” Enzo said, and then gritted his teeth. Any movement against the knives, and he was at risk of cutting himself more. No major artery or organ had been struck, so he could keep him here for some time. He wasn’t going to.

He wanted to get back to his wife. He quickly glanced at the time.

The only two people he needed to deal with were Enzo Senior, and Isabella, who was already being dealt with.

Isabella was cruel as well. Her jealousy knew no bounds, and she would have girls arrested for false possession charges, if she felt they were catching the attention of the men she was interested in.

Although she was Valdez’s oldest daughter, and she needed to remain a virgin for her wedding night, it didn’t stop Isabella from playing around.

She liked to win over men’s affection, then exploit them to make them do what she wanted.

In payment, they thought they were going to win her, but they would never stand the chance. They were all doomed to fail.

It was one fucked-up family, and it made no sense that Lucia was different.

From what he could tell, she’d been deemed an ugly baby, a mistake.

A late pregnancy that had resulted in another baby.

One that had mainly been raised by multiple nannies and other people, or by her own.

This was why she didn’t act like her family.

She didn’t have a cruel trait in her body.

Frank had even snapped a little photo, showing off Lucia with Betty and all the healthy pups. He saw the smile on Lucia’s face as she looked into the camera. She was nothing like her family. He was going to save her and allow her to live her life away from all this bullshit.

All too soon, he watched as Enzo tried to wriggle, then he let out a scream and sat back, panting.

“You’re a piece of shit, do you know that?” Enzo Junior asked.

Boone looked at him and waited. The man was clearly desperate to say something.

He started to laugh. “You’re going to kill me anyway. I guess you don’t want to know.”

It was clear the man just wanted to toy with him, but he heard enough. Getting to his feet, he looked over the tools he hadn’t yet used.

“Didn’t you ever wonder how Leandro was able to find that car?” Enzo Junior asked. “Or, that guy, the one that was watching you?”

Now, this made him curious.

“Or didn’t you know one of them was watching you?”

“The guy that was watching me is dead, and he died a short time ago,” Boone said.

Enzo Junior nodded. “You know, our dad doesn’t like Lucia.

I remember when I was a kid, he considered killing her.

He even bought a small pack of dogs and threw her out, hoping they’d eat her.

They didn’t. Even when he starved them. It did make me curious, and then I learned that some dogs, not all dogs, won’t attack babies.

There is something to do with hormones and shit.

I don’t believe it, because let’s face it, dogs are dogs.

Anyway, he killed the dogs and had no choice but to keep Lucia around.

However, there’s one thing he did do to her on the eve of her wedding night, without her knowing.

He put a little tag inside her. Just a little device that allows him to know her location at all times. ”

Boone looked at him. The fucker was lying.

Enzo started laughing.

“He figured she may not get eaten by a dog, because she is one of them. A fucking ugly dog. So, I’m guessing if you’re fast enough, you might be able to say your goodbyes, because if what you’re saying is true, then my dad is on his way to finish what those dogs didn’t do.”

It had to be fucking lies. Boone looked at him, but it made an odd kind of sense.

Leandro had known where they were, rigged the car, and it was only because Boone had been quick and knew what he was looking for, that nothing had happened.

He couldn’t believe it, but it made sense.

The apartment Leandro targeted. The guy that followed them from their safe house.

He had to get back to Lucia.

After one last look at Enzo, he pulled out his gun and fired a single shot into the man’s forehead. Pulling out his cell phone, he began to dial Frank. If he got through to him, there might be a chance for him to save her.

****

L ucia stroked Betty’s head and smiled at the cute little dog. Frank had just stepped out to make a phone call. All the pups were whining. It had been two days since they were born, and they already seemed to want to move around. Not that they were experts or anything.

“You did good,” she said, kissing the top of Betty’s head.

She’d stayed awake with them all through the night. There was no way she was going to risk going to bed while Betty was hurting, so she stayed, watched, and did what she could. It was all she could do.

Kissing the top of her head, she couldn’t help but think about Boone. He hadn’t been here to see it, but Frank had taken pictures and promised to send them to him, which she was grateful for. She had a feeling Boone would have loved to be with them.

Lucia was just about to get to her feet, when the sound of the alarm shocked her.

At first, it didn’t quite register to her what was happening.

Boone had told her about the alarm, given her a little taste of what it meant, and what she needed to do.

He ran through the scenarios, and she couldn’t believe someone had penetrated the gates and walls.

Betty began to stress, and Lucia didn’t hesitate. The closet held the panic room. She attempted to pick up the dog bed, but it was no use.

Making sure all dogs were accounted for, she began to drag the bed into the panic room.

She typed in the code with speed, feeling herself panic as she quickly went through the motions.

The door opened and Lucia pulled the dogs inside and quickly pressed the alert.

She went to the main security camera and started to check them.

That was when she saw two men coming close to the house.

Just as she was about to look for weapons with a quick scan of the main house, and she saw Frank had stumbled upstairs. He didn’t look good. She zoomed in and on closer inspection, she saw he was holding his abdomen. He’d been shot.

There was no time to lose. She couldn’t leave him there to die, and she quickly got to the door and typed in the code to open it.

She rushed outside. According to the cameras, the people who had invaded the grounds hadn’t made it to the house yet.

Frank was leaning up against the stairwell, and he looked so bad.

“You need to get in the fucking panic room,” he said.

“Don’t start with me. That is where I was, and do you think I’m going to leave you out here to die!” She growled at him, and as she did, she heard the sound of gunshots.

“Get back to that panic room.”

“Then get your ass with me. Do you think I’m going to leave you here to die? Hell, no, and I’m not going to allow your wife or your kids to be without a husband and father.” She started trying to pull him. “Move. They’re coming, and we have the means to be there.”

Frank growled as he got to his feet, and Lucia put his arm across her shoulders and rushed him into the room, turning off the lights, closing the closet door, then entering the panic room.

She secured the door and closed it. Going to the security cameras, the two men were wearing masks.

Lucia had no idea who the men were, or what they were doing.

Frank groaned and her attention quickly changed to him.

“You’ve got to be quiet. I don’t know if they’ll be able to hear us,” she said, whispering.

Opening his jacket, she saw his blood was soaking through the shirt he wore.

“It’s going to be okay,” she said.

“You don’t have to lie to me. I know this is not good. This is bad, very bad.”

She wanted to argue with him, but instead she remained silent. She didn’t know what a good or bad bullet wound was.

Betty was being quiet, but she too started to whimper.

Lucia glanced toward her. “What is it, girl?”

She looked to the bed of pups, and once she counted, she hated that she must have miscounted. She went to the door.

“Where the fuck are you going?”

“To get the other pup.”

“Lucia, are you insane? They’re not afraid to fucking shoot. Get your ass here. Do you think he is going to allow me to live, if something happens to you?”