Page 49 of The One Night Match (Mafia Matchmaker #1)
FORTY-NINE
CRUZ
T he first time I hear her voice, I think I’m hallucinating.
I haven’t eaten anything in over eighteen hours, and it’s been at least that long since I had any water. Add the blistering cold, pouring rain, and constant panic beating down on my chest, and you have a perfect storm for my imagination to run rampant.
But then I hear her again. I know Riley is close.
Hugo and Davis sprint beside me, all three of us falling into line as we slip and slide down a short hill, listening intently for her screams.
I hate the idea that she’s hurt or in danger, but right now it’s bringing me closer to her, and that’s what I keep telling myself.
We pause at the bottom of the hill, listening for voices until Riley cries out again. We take off toward her screams with my heart in my throat.
What if we’re too late?
What if we don’t make it in time?
We break through into a small clearing leading to a steep decline into the ravine that runs through the property, and find Jeremy holding Riley against his front, one arm banded around her middle and the other holding a gun to her head.
Monica stands a few feet away, a look of annoyance and victory on her face as she watches us spread around the edge of the trees, making it impossible for them to leave without going through us.
My focus snaps back to Riley, cheeks covered with a mixture of rain and tears as her entire body trembles.
Her legs are cut up and bruised, her feet caked with blood and dirt.
Every so often, she presses her eyes closed for a moment, grappling for composure in a time that she shouldn’t need to have any.
I take a step forward, and then another, as my mask slips into place. The cold, unfeeling Mafia boss pushes to the surface, even as the terrified husband fights for prevalence.
“Jeremy Moretti, I presume,” I say evenly.
He nods once. “I wish I could say it’s a pleasure, De Luca, but that would be a lie.”
I chuckle, but there’s little humor in the sound. “Likewise.” I pause in the center of the clearing to ensure he doesn’t feel caged in, because there’s no telling what he’ll do if he is. “How about you let Riley go, and we can talk about this like men.”
Targeting his masculinity is a risk, but it’s my best play right now, because the reality is, it doesn’t matter which approach I go with. It’s going to come with its own set of risks.
He presses the barrel harder to Riley’s head, and she whimpers. “I have nothing to say to you, De Luca. This is between me and your whore of a wife.”
Riley flinches at the word but remains perfectly still aside from that. Even from where I’m standing, I can see how much she’s struggling. To stand, to breathe, to hold herself together. But she does it, and I’ve never been so fucking proud of anyone in my life.
I nod slowly, flicking my eyes to Monica to ensure she’s not moving before I take another careful step forward. “You lost everything after Riley accused you of hurting her.” It’s not a question but the version of the truth he sees.
The reality is a whole other can of worms that I have no chance of reasoning with him about.
In his mind, Riley lied to him, he punished her for those transgressions, and then he was kicked out of the family, missing out on his legacy to become the leader when his father retired.
In his head, Riley is to blame for everything that’s gone wrong in his life, and it doesn’t matter how much rationale to the contrary you throw at him. He’s not going to see it that way.
“Everyone turned on me because of her!” he shouts.
“So if that’s the case, why do you want her now? Shouldn’t you never want to see her again?”
“She needs to pay for what she’s done. She needs to lose everything the way I did.”
“I lost everything too!” Riley cries. “I couldn’t fucking walk for weeks. I lost my family’s respect because I cost them the deal with your family. And I lost my ability to trust men.”
“Shut up!” Jeremy screams, slamming the butt of the gun to her temple and tearing a scream from her throat.
Her body crumples against his, but he tightens his hold on her to stop her from dropping to the ground. Not because he cares about hurting her, but because the second she drops, Davis or Hugo will shoot to kill. It’s in his best interest to hold Riley up.
“Stupid bitch,” he mutters, repositioning the gun against her head.
Her eyes blink open and closed as she teeters on the edge of consciousness. I’m desperate to have her in my arms, to hold her and make sure nothing and no one can ever hurt her again, to make sure she’s not seriously injured, but I remain rooted in place.
“And what’s your play, Monica? Your stepfather will be executed shortly, your mother banished from the family, and if you’ve aided in my wife’s kidnapping, you’ll be lucky to meet either of those fates.”
“Once she’s out of the picture, I’ll take her place as your wife.”
A laugh tears from my throat, because in what reality would I ever marry her?
She’s lost her fucking mind if she thinks I’ll ever let her touch me.
Not to mention, I’m pretty sure the orange monster that moved himself into my house will have someone new to torment, and I doubt she’d like her designer dresses being peed on just because the mood struck him.
“You can’t seriously believe that I would ever entertain that idea when you orchestrated my wife’s kidnapping. ”
She purses her lips. “At least it would be a real marriage, unlike the arranged nonsense the two of you have.”
I chuckle. “Monica, I’m going to say this slowly, so you hear me clearly.
I love Riley. Not because I have to. Not because we have an arranged marriage, and it’s expected of me.
Not for any other reason than that she’s the single best thing that’s ever happened to me.
There is no moving on from her. There is no finding a new wife.
If I lose Riley, that’s it for me. I’m done. ”
I’m walking a fine line between dropping the mask I wear for the rest of the world, while making sure Monica knows if she doesn’t fall in line, that she’s going to meet a fate similar to that of her stepfather.
“So please tell me again how I’m going to marry you if Jeremy takes my wife from me. Because let me tell you something, I will burn this fucking world to the ground to get her back. There isn’t a line I won’t cross or a person I won’t kill to bring my wife back to me.”
Silence falls over the clearing, the sound of rain hitting the forest floor the only sound as Monica processes what I’ve said, and I turn my attention back to Jeremy, only to see Riley staring back at me, a fresh set of tears falling against her cheeks.
“I love you,” she whispers, but she may as well be shouting the words by the way my heart clenches in my chest.
Jeremy opens his mouth, but he never gets the chance to say anything. Riley uses her body to shove them both backward, her eyes locked with mine as the edge of the hill gives way beneath them and they both go tumbling down the steep ridge toward the raging ravine below.
I’m too shocked to move for a moment before my body kicks into action and I sprint toward the edge, only to grind to a halt as a gunshot fills the forest.