Page 32 of Merciless Queen (Moretti Mafia #1)

Caterina

Vincenzo didn’t realize I was paying off the guards at the dock just like he was, only my money was worth more to them.

It wasn’t dirty. I got a phone call from the sergeant on the docks about two boats coming in with two dozen women and barely legal teens.

It would be the perfect opportunity to sabotage him.

One mark for hurting Harlow.He wouldn’t get his filthy hands on these girls.

Not this time. They would be safe with me.

With the hotel being closed to guests, it was the perfect place to house these women until we could get them back home.

I had an inside man with the police who would help us keep it under the radar so Vincenzo’s men wouldn’t know where the women went.

You would think someone who was crafty and keen to escape death would do better to disguise his shipments and protect his men.

Of course, Vincenzo was a cruel son of a bitch who cared about no one but himself.

The last shipment I sabotaged was filled with minors.

The youngest being five and the oldest being seventeen.

He enjoyed kidnapping people from Europe and Russia.

I wondered if the Petrov family knew what Vincenzo was doing.

Did they realize that someone was stealing women, girls?

Roman Petrov was like me. We dealt with weapons, drug trade, and consensual sex work.

If we found out any of our men hurt women, we dealt with the problem.

Roman’s wife was not born into this life.

She was a normal person with a normal job at the public library, and caught the eye of some dangerous men.

He saved her, but saving her involved him trapping her in his home, and then they slowly fell in love.

It was a twisted Beauty and the Beast love story.

He was my greatest ally, and I wished he would help me kill Vincenzo, but he had his own borders to worry about.

Personally, I didn’t think he wanted to be involved in my mess unless it was absolutely necessary.

It was eleven on the dot and the boats should’ve been arriving in the bay here any minute.

I had a dozen men and our own trucks to transport these people to our hotel.

Part of me wished I'd brought more women. Men could get distracted by a pretty face and a pair of tits, but Spencer and Elizabeth were the only two I could trust with combat. I needed to train more of my girls, but joining the mafia wasn’t on the top of their bucket list. Spencer wasn’t the comforting type.

Hell, I wasn’t the comforting type, but Spencer would stab someone before giving them a hug.

Bringing Elizabeth here would be a bad idea.

She was not in the proper headspace to help these girls after seeing Harlow’s mental state and her bloody wrists.

It might’ve been five years later since her own escape and near-death experiences, but trauma could sneak up.

Seeing Harlow in that state didn’t help, either.

Hell, it riled up everyone in the house.

Even Moira, who didn’t crack under pressure.

She pulled out her rosaries and prayed over her.

I was sure Harlow didn’t believe in God after what she endured, but it made Moira feel better.

She’d been asleep for six days now. She needed the rest, so Lena gave her a mild sedative.

When she woke up, she was going to be groggy and thirsty.

I was going to kill him, and it would be brutal.

I was going to make sure Harlow got the closure and revenge she needed while also avenging my mother.

No one would miss a waste of oxygen like Vincenzo Mancini.

I just wished people weren’t terrified of him or his power.

When he was gone, his reign of terror would also be gone.

People could sleep soundly without the fear of the boogeyman coming to get them.

I saw the boats pulling in, and slowly a car rolled up and four men waited.

It was not out of the ordinary. They kept the girls in a shipment container until they were ready for them at his club.

If it wouldn’t put our lives in danger, I would’ve destroyed his club, but I didn’t know where he kept the girls.

Harlow might have. She couldn’t handle that when she woke up, though.

With Harlow with me, I believed he would falter.

He was angry. He was retaliating. He wanted her back, but she was mine now.

I would try to be what she needed to heal and move on with her life the best she could.

Harlow was strong, even if she didn't see it.

Ten years was a long time, and she survived during that time.

Now she just needed to survive the internal agony screaming in her head.

Once that part was over or shimmered down, she could finally start living for herself.

I saw the boat making its way to the pier.

There were only three men so far. I was sure Vincenzo thought he was safe.

He’d thought I was fucking her into oblivion instead of plotting against him.

Revenge never slept. The man was too much of a coward to be seen outside of his home or without sacrificing his men to stay alive.

How these fuckers were so loyal to him, I’d never understand, but because of their undying loyalty, they would bleed for Vincenzo’s sins.

Sometimes, I allowed my men to handle everything, but when it came to Vincenzo or my people getting hurt, I took great joy in killing them.

I adjusted my tits even though these men knew who I was.

I was sure Vincenzo had a dart board with my face plastered on it for target practice in his club.

Trying to seduce them would be pointless, and there was no telling if I’d gag or not, blowing my cover.

Malachi covered my back as Alexi and Cornelius headed in the other direction.

The first guy, the leader, was at the dock.

These two were his backup. Without them, he was weak.

They were stupid for only having three people.

I wrapped my hand around the first guy's mouth, holding him back as my knife buried into his neck.

He fought for a moment until he went limp.

I was glad my father started combat training when I was four, making this so much easier.

Alexi and Cornelius took care of the other one. The last man standing walked to the dock and greeted the man coming off the boat. I didn’t need to kill the dock worker. He was working for me and knew what was going on tonight. As for Vincenzo’s man, he didn’t know what was about to happen to him.

I walked up behind him with my men on my side. “Seems like Vincenzo needs to do a better job at manning the docks.”

He looked at me and reached for his gun, but he never got the chance.

I shot him in the head, and he fell to the ground.

Dead. Alexi and Cornelius dealt with the bodies while Malachi, Luca, and I went to the shipment containers.

We had three cans ready to transport them to the hotel, but I needed to comfort them first.

When I opened the first storage container, there were two older women standing in front of the younger girls. I raised my hands as I stepped inside, looking back at Malachi. I didn’t want him to get too close since I didn’t know what was done to them yet.

“I am a friend. Do you speak English? O Italiano? Или русский?”

“I speak some English, yes,” the blonde woman said with a thick accent, holding the redheaded woman’s arm. “Who are you?”

“My name is Caterina Moretti. I am getting you out of here. I have a place for you to stay where you will be safe until we can get you back home. I’m not like the men that took you.”

She looked at me curiously. “We heard gunshot.”

“Yes. I killed the bad guys. He wanted to hurt you, and I don’t like men hurting women, so I dealt with him.”

“My name is Anya. I trust you.”

She repeated the information in Russian to the other women.

I could have told her myself, but they didn’t know me.

When I knew I would be the leader of the Moretti crime family, I went ahead and learned multiple languages.

I knew Italian already from my mother, but I taught myself French, German, Spanish, and Russian.

My alliance with the Petrovs was the main reason for putting myself through that torture.

“I will make sure you are all safe. No one can hurt you again. Will you come with me?”

They nodded and walked with me out of the container.

Anya came with me to the other one that was filled with only small children.

They all spoke Russian, and they were crying.

I was going to make sure their families got them back if the bastards didn’t sell them in the first place.

I was going to make sure they got home, but I wasn't going to send them back to a place that broke them in the first place.

Gianna was still keeping everything organized at the hotel, but this time, she was making sure the women and girls found their families or if they needed placement.

We would make sure they got back to their lives or we’d give them new ones.

No one should have to live in fear, especially with the people who were supposed to make them feel safe.