Page 19 of Saint Of Envy (Tangled Hearts, Sinful Hands #2)

LUC

L eonardo Conti’s estate, located just outside of downtown Las Vegas, is practically a compound.

The familiar guarded iron gates that I could cleverly get through the last time I was here, on the night I climbed through Valentina’s window, are now doubled in security.

He knows I’m coming for him. Good, I hope he knows I intend to bury him six feet under, too.

“If Leonardo is holding a high-priced auction,” Vincent says as we drive up to the gates. “Then it will be here. He wouldn’t risk taking his cargo anywhere outside of his most fortified structure, and there is no place of his that is more secure than this.”

“Agreed, but I still don’t think we’re just going to walk right in. He won’t let us anywhere near the event where Valentina is being held. He knows better.”

Vincent shrugs as he drives up to the guards and rolls down his window. “I’m not so sure about that. Money talks, and I’ve got lots of it. We’re about to see whether it buys us entry.”

“Good evening, Mr. Moretti,” the guard greets us, already aware of who we are.

“Good evening,” Vincent says smoothly. “We’re here to enjoy the auction.”

“I’m afraid that won’t be possible. The two of you aren’t on the guest list, and tonight’s auction is a closed event—invitation only.”

“Oh, come on,” Vincent says with a chuckle. “My money spends as well as anyone else’s. Besides, I’m in the mood to spend quite a lot on the right item.”

The guard’s expression tightens as he has to repeat himself, and I notice his hand set subtly on the gun at his waist.

“My apologies,” he says. “But Mr. Conti strictly instructed that only specifically invited guests can attend tonight’s event. You two weren’t invited. I’m going to need you to turn your car around and leave.”

Vincent notices the hand tighten around the gun at the guard’s waist too, and realizes this way inside is impossible.

“That’s a shame,” Vincent says, shaking his head as he pretends to concede. “Ah, well, there are always other places to spend my money.”

He rolls up his window and turns the car around to leave. I watch through the mirrors at the guards, who stare at us until the car is out of sight.

“Now what?” I ask increasingly anxious about reaching Valentina.

“We’ll try another way,” he says as he pulls the car off the road and parks it under the darkness of some trees.

“We have to get to her before she’s purchased.

If another Don buys her, then that just means our adversaries continue to stack up even further.

I don’t want to fight off a third man who’s pissed about us stealing his “goods”. ”

I bristle at Valentina being referred to as an object, but it’s the cold, hard truth of the situation that she’s currently in. Vincent is right. Time is of the essence.

After getting out of the car, I draw my gun and grip it in my hand while we walk back toward Leonardo’s estate.

We stick to the trees and the side of the property and steer clear of the long driveway where the car headlights of more cars coming to the event are flashing.

When we reach the estate’s perimeter, we look for a way in.

“This gate looks like it stretches around the entire property,” Vincent says in frustration after we’ve walked for quite a ways along the side of the wrought iron.

“There can’t just be one opening, though.

From a security perspective, it makes little sense to have only one way in or out in the event of an emergency.

Besides, Leonardo doesn’t seem like the man who wants his service staff mingling with the guests at a single entry point. ”

“No, he doesn’t,” I say as I spot something up ahead. “Look there!”

A few yards away from us, there is a small door in the gate. It must be a staff entrance to the property. When we reach it, we find the door locked as expected, but a large keypad replaces the lock.

“We could be here all night trying to guess a number combination,” Vincent sighs in frustration.

“Yes, we could,” I nod. “Or we could take a chance on someone having a soul in this godforsaken estate.”

Before Vincent can do anything to stop me, I let out a small whistle at the old woman standing just outside the side door to the building. It looks like she’s just about to take out the trash with the bag still held in her hand. She looks vaguely familiar to me.

She looks over at me and instantly turns to run back inside, likely to alert the guards of our presence here. Beside me, I can hear Vincent curse at the mistake I’ve just made, but I’m not done with this risky endeavor yet.

“Wait, please!” I call out to her in an urgent, quiet voice. “We’re here to help Valentina.”

For a second, it looks like my plea falls on deaf ears. But then, after a second of hesitation at the door, the old woman turns, looks quickly to either side, and rushes silently toward us.

“What are you doing?” she scolds quietly as she stands on the other side of the locked iron door. “You shouldn’t be here. You’re both going to get yourselves killed!”

“Please,” I plead with her. “I’m here to save Valentina. Surely you know that she’s going to be sold to the highest bidder tonight, don’t you?”

“Of course I do. The entire place is abuzz with chatter over tonight’s auction. If you want to have her, then you should just come inside and buy her yourself,” she says. “Unless?—”

The old woman looks at me more carefully in the dim moonlight, and her eyes widen. “You’re Luciano Moretti,” she gasps. “You’re the one who fathered the child within her.”

“Yes,” I say. “I am. And I love her with all my heart—both her and our unborn child. Please help me save them both. Valentina is a good woman. She doesn’t deserve any of this.”

The expression on the woman’s face drops, and her eyes look saddened.

“You might already be too late for that,” she says without elaborating.

“And you’re right. None of us deserves this.

But this place is crawling with armed men loyal to Leonardo and to Angelo Barone.

You’ll never reach her in time. You’ll never make it out of here alive, any of you. ”

“I have to try.”

For a moment, the fate of this plan hangs in the balance as the old woman considers whether to risk helping us and putting herself on the chopping block if she gets found out as having let us inside. But then, she says something that changes the course of how tonight’s plan will go.

“You know, when I was helping to get Valentina dressed for the auction tonight, I couldn’t help but notice the same look in her eyes that she had on the day I was helping her get dressed for her wedding ceremony in Italy,” she says thoughtfully.

“It was a look of sheer and utter hopelessness—like all the life left her eyes as she resigned herself to accepting a fate she didn’t want.

I’ve tried to toughen her up, but there are some women who can never survive in a cage. Valentina is one of those women.”

With that, the woman reaches out her hand and punches a few numbers on the keypad. The door swings open, and she turns to hurry back into the house without another word.

“Thank you,” I whisper to her as she leaves.

She turns to glance at me with a blank expression on her face, one that proves she is the woman who can survive in this environment and that her act of pity for Valentina is a gift that she doesn’t do often.

“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” she says in denial as she scurries away.

Once inside, there is a flurry of activity, which makes it all the easier for Vincent and me to blend in.

We’re dressed like every other man here, in fine suits with designer accessories, and bulging wallets in our pockets to spend at the auction.

No one here knows that we are uninvited guests, and so as long as we steer clear of running into any of the Barone or Conti crew, we should be able to make it into the auction before raising any alarms.

A cocktail waitress walks down the wide marble hallway past us, and Vincent reaches for a drink off her tray. I give him a crooked glance as he takes a sip.

“What? It helps us blend in to look like we’re enjoying ourselves. Besides, it takes the edge off for a steady trigger finger.” He takes a sip and then hands the rest of the glass to me, and I do the same.

When we reach the double doors of the main ballroom, we hear the sounds of the auction already beginning inside.

“It’s too late. It’s already begun,” I shake my head.

“That doesn’t mean they have already auctioned her off,” Vincent reminds me as the staff opens the double doors and lets us inside the grand space.

Eager, hungry men, nearly shoulder-to-shoulder, crowd the ballroom, ready to spend their money on beautiful women and expensive status symbols.

Leonardo frequently holds events like this to sell off trinkets and girls, and everything in between.

I once heard of him selling off a prized thoroughbred with a saddle laden with designer drugs.

The man is a gluttonous prick with little respect for anything other than himself.

“There!” Vincent whispers as he taps me on the side of the arm.

I look up and see Valentina being dragged out onto the stage by a leash that is affixed to a collar around her neck.

The entire scene is nothing short of barbaric, coated with a layer of luxury to make it more palatable for those spending their money.

Many armed people are here. It will not be easy ambushing this event and getting her out of here.

“We’re literally outnumbered several dozen to one,” I say to Vincent under my breath.

A voice from behind us responds to my remark.

“Actually,” the man says. “I’d wager you’re outnumbered a hundred to one.”

We both turn to find Angelo Barone standing there behind us with his gun held at his side.

“I could just kill the two of you right here,” Angelo smirks. “But where would the fun in that be? I’d much rather wait and let you watch Valentina get sold off first. Then we can handle our unfinished business.”

“Valentina isn’t leaving this place with anyone other than us,” Vincent growls at him in a low voice as the sounds of the auction for Valentina begin all around us.

“I assure you she is,” Angelo sneers. “But don’t worry. I haven’t forgotten about the special debt that I intend to claim from you specifically. Your precious Isla will be on this same stage soon enough.”

What happens next happens faster than I can react to it. Within a second, and with a smooth, silent movement that no one even notices until it’s too late, Vincent pulls his gun and shoots Angelo Barone dead between the eyes.

The sound of the shot echoes above the noise of the auction, and the spray of blood and bits of Angelo’s flesh erupts in a gruesome confetti onto all the guests directly around us. Instantly, everyone scatters as screaming breaks out and Angelo’s lifeless body falls to the ground with a dull thud.

For a frozen second, I can see the look of sheer satisfaction and fulfilled vindication on Vincent’s face. Immediately after, the two of us rush toward the stage to grab Valentina and get the hell out of here.

The Barone crew and Leonardo’s guards, hidden in the crowd, fire on us as we dodge their bullets.

Vincent fires back at them, taking a few out with his impeccable aim, but I remain keenly focused on one thing—getting to the stage and reaching Valentina before she gets hurt.

I am almost there, with one foot on the step up to the stage, when one of Leonardo’s men barrels into my side, knocking me off-balance and taking me down.

I fire my gun into his chest, instantly killing him, before shoving his body away from me. But it’s too late.

As soon as I get to my feet again and lunge toward the stage, I see Leonardo grab the end of Valentina’s leash and jerk it so hard that she falls to her knees.

He reaches down to grab her, throwing her over his shoulder before taking off toward the back of the stage, where I assume there’s another way out of the room.

I follow in close pursuit, racing through dark hallways and pushing the Conti staff out of my way as I run after them.

But even as fast as I make my way through the estate, I don’t catch them in time before spilling out into the back of the yard and see Leonardo speed off with Valentina in his car.

“Damn it!” I shout into the night just as Vincent arrives at my side. “Fuck! He got away with her.”

“Come on,” Vincent says as he pulls me toward the trees. “We need to get out of here before we’re overrun. We’ll find her, Luc, I promise.”

I run alongside Vincent until we make it back to his car, with a horde of men in hot pursuit of us as we speed away from the Conti estate.

This mission failed, and now, instead of being auctioned off, Valentina is alone with Leonardo Conti, and I fear that might be even worse.