“Wakey, wakey, Lazzaro. Today’s the day you get out of here.”
I groan and roll painfully onto my side. Another night sleeping on the cold concrete floor hasn’t done a thing for my aching bones.
I’ve occupied myself over the days . . . weeks? Could it have been a month already? I’ve spent my time doing press-ups, sits-ups, lunges, and throwing punches, when I have the strength. They’ve been giving me enough food and water to keep me alive, but no more. If an opportunity presents itself to escape, I’m pretty sure I’m going to need to fight my way out of here.
Marzio unlocks the door and stands back, a nasty light in his eyes. “Out you come.”
“Oh, yeah? Where am I going next? I hope it’s to your mom’s place.” I make myself sound as bored and disinterested as possible, but my heart is pounding as I get to my feet and saunter out of the cage. “Let’s make it a trifecta. Mother, daughter, and grandmother.”
Tomaso and Roberto are there, and from the looks of it, they didn’t enjoy my crack about their mom. There’s another man in the room, one I don’t recognize, who’s bigger than me, heavier than me, and from his beady eyes and the nasty twist to his mouth, a lot meaner than me, too. He’s dressed in shorts and a black polo with its neck emblazoned with a sportswear brand. The way he’s cracking his knuckles together sends an ominous feeling through me.
“This is your lucky day,” Tomaso tells me with a grin, and holds a hand out to the strange man. “You’re going to fight Rocco, and if you win, you get to go free.”
I gaze around the dank basement, certain that I’ve never felt less lucky in my life. I’m fighting in here?
“What’s wrong, Rosetti? Not interested in earning the glory you so clearly deserve?” Roberto asks, hatred twisting his face into something uglier than usual.
I stretch my arms lazily over my head, playing for time. Trying to figure out what’s really going on. “Glory? Please. I need more witnesses to my glory than you fucks.”
“Would we do you dirty like that?” Marzio asks. “We’ve got a fighting ring ready for you upstairs in the gym, and all our friends are invited to watch you get the shit beaten out of you.”
So that’s how it is. These brothers want to turn my demise into a spectacle.
Now that I’m out of that cage, even with dozens of these numbskulls’ friends around, I might see an opportunity to escape. It’s probably going to be my only chance.
“Fine. Let’s do this.” I shrug and head for the door, but Marzio stops me.
“Housekeeping first. I’ve got some forms for you to sign so we have proof that you willingly consent to this fight.”
“I willingly consent to screwing your mom.”
Tomaso sinks his fist into my stomach, and I double over coughing.
Eyes watering, I straighten up and say through my teeth, “Can no one take a joke? What forms? Fucking get on with it.”
“Sign these and you can go.” Marzio slaps a stack of papers and a pen onto a nearby table.
I take a look at them. They’re covered in legalese. “What are they?”
“Divorce papers for Giulia. She wants to be able to say she got rid of you before you got your stupid ass killed. The release forms are for the fight. So your family won’t come for us when we send them your dead body. Baby brother Rosetti died in a fair fight.”
So, this is how they plan on getting rid of me. It’s a good story, claiming my own pride got me killed. That tracks with the way I’ve lived my life.
Only, I don’t plan on dying just yet. I glance at the other fighter. Rocco looks like a walking root canal, but that doesn’t mean he’s a better fighter than I am.
I snatch up the pen and sign all the forms.
Marzio collects the papers, examines them, and puts them away. “Good. Hold his arms.”
Tomaso and Roberto suddenly grab me from behind while Marzio reaches for a baseball bat.
“Wait, what—”
He swings the bat in a vicious arc at my chest. It sinks into my ribs on the right-hand side, and I hear the bones crack. Pain explodes through me, and when my knees give out, I fall to the floor.
Marzio leans down, a gloating expression on his face. “Mia’s getting rid of your baby right at this moment. If you win this fight, you’ll be just in time to wake her up from the anesthetic.”
Every breath causes stabbing pains in my ribs. “You’re lying.”
“Honor Memorial Hospital. Two o’clock. Booked her the appointment myself, and Mia can’t wait.”
It’s not true.
She wouldn’t do that. Not without talking to me.
It’s not true.
But with her family pouring hate and poison in her ear and me gone, just disappeared like I never cared about her, what choice does she have?
Marzio leans down close to me and speaks in a hideous baby voice. “What’s wrong, princess? Are you going to cry? Are you going to wet your widdle pants—”
I pull my head back and slam my forehead into the bridge of his nose with all my strength. He screams and reels back in pain, blood shooting from his nostrils.
“You piece of shit!” he shrieks, and wildly lashes out, slamming his fist into my face.
I reel back and get painfully to my feet. I don’t have time to beat another man to death. I have to get out of here now.
They let me get too close to the door. Rocco is too stupid to realize what I’m about to do, but Roberto and Tomaso shout at him to grab me.
Too late.
I lunge out of the door and slam and bolt it behind me.
Then I hurry upstairs, find an emergency exit, and burst out into the sunshine. Where the hell am I? It looks like somewhere downtown, and I run toward the main road to get my bearings.
A bodybuilder comes out of the gym and heads for his car.
I limp after him, clutching my ribs and breathing hard through the pain. “Where’s Honor Memorial?”
The man turns and stares at me. From the looks of him, he looks like he enjoys cage fighting so he only seems mildly surprised by the state I’m in. “Lose a fight?”
“Nah, I won.”
He grins. “Good for you. But you should probably get yourself to a hospital.”
“That’s where I’m trying to go.” I pull one of my rings from my fingers. “Give me a lift to Honor Memorial and you can keep this. It’s white gold. I’m in a hurry.”
“You’ll get blood all over my . . .” He sighs and shakes his head. “Whatever. Get in and keep your ring. It’s only ten blocks.”
I get into the car, gritting my teeth against the pain and squeezing my eyes shut as black spots dance in my vision. I can’t pass out. Mia needs me.
“What time is it?” I ask as I feel the car start to move.
“Five to two.”
Fuck. Only five minutes before Mia’s appointment. She’s probably already inside, signing forms and doing God knows what.
What feels like an age later, the man pulls up outside an enormous building with Honor Memorial Hospital in foot-high silver letters over the main entrance. I push open the door and get out of the car.
“Thank you. I appreciate it.”
“Good luck, man. Come train with me at the gym sometime.”
His voice disappears behind me as I limp up the path to the entrance. There are people everywhere, arriving at the door from various parking lots.
Then I spot her.
Mia.
Walking arm in arm with Rieta like her sister is giving her strength for what she’s about to do. My woman looks so pale. So forlorn. Even with her sister at her side, she has the devastated air of someone who’s all alone in this world.
The agony in my body is nothing compared to the pain that erupts in my heart. My poor Bambi.
I limp toward her, blood dripping from my nose onto the concrete. She catches sight of me and stops dead. Every footstep is agony, and it takes a thousand light-years, but I finally close the gap between us.
I drop to my knees before her and reach for her hand. “I’m begging you not to do this. Please, Bambi.”
Mia stares at my bruised and battered body, her eyes huge. Then she lifts her gaze to mine. “Laz?”
My split lip screams in protest, but I smile at her. “I’m so happy I found you in time.”
Mia touches my face, her fingers gently skimming my bruises. “What happened to you? Where the hell have you been?”
I swallow hard, trying to catch my breath. “It doesn’t matter. Just swear that you won’t go into that hospital. We can figure this out, you and me. Just listen to what I have to say, I’m begging you.”
She and Rieta exchange confused glances. “Okay, but it’s normal to get a checkup when you’re pregnant. If you want I can wait until next week, I guess?”
I stare from the building to Mia. “A checkup?”
“Please get up, Laz. People are staring.”
“No. Not until you swear you won’t get rid of our baby.”
Mia’s eyes grow huge, and she yanks her hands from mine. “What the hell, Laz? You disappear for weeks and then reappear all frantic and covered in blood because you think I’m about to have an abortion?”
I get slowly to my feet, hope slowly unfurling in my chest. “You’re . . . you’re not?”
“No!” Anger burns hot in her cheeks. “You think I would do that without talking to you first?”
I groan in relief, pick her up in my arms, and spin her around. My ribs scream in protest, but I don’t care. Everything I want is here in my arms. Mia and our baby.
“Your uncles—never mind. Oh, Bambi, I thought I was too late. I’m the luckiest man on earth.”
“Really? You look like mincemeat, and you smell like an open sewer,” Rieta points out.
Mia takes my face between her hands. “They told me you ran away. They said . . . Laz, please put me down so I can talk to you.”
I set Mia carefully on her feet and she examines me closely. “You’ve been beaten up. That’s the shirt you were wearing when you disappeared. Where have you been all this time?”
“It doesn’t matter anymore.”
“It matters to me. Please tell me my uncles haven’t been holding you prisoner all this time.” When I don’t reply, she becomes anguished. “Are you kidding me? They told me you ran away.”
“I would never run from you. All I thought about the whole time I was locked up was you.”
Mia’s expression softens, but a moment later she’s severe again. “Do you think I have amnesia just because I’m pregnant? My life was upended before you went missing, and that was because of you, Lazzaro Rosetti.”
Damn, why does her saying my full name like that make my dick hard?
“Sugar pills. Goddamn sugar pills. I’ve never heard of such a dirty trick.”
I can’t help but smile at her like a fool. There’s fight in my girl yet. I take both of her hands, pleading with her with my eyes. “Bambi, I understand that you’re mad at me. After all I’ve done, I deserve that, but please let me go in there with you.”
“Why should I?” she snaps.
“Because I want to be a part of what happens next with all my black and sordid heart.”
