By Fate I Conquer Cora Reilly Read Online chapter – 39 I jumped back up just when Luca and two men stepped in again.
I raised my gun, ready to blast holes into everyone. Luca was distracted by his son making a crazy-ass dash upstairs, probably to kill the remaining bikers by himself. I knew that invincible feeling of my teenage days. “Follow Amo!” he roared at his men.
They didn’t hesitate and rushed after the younger Vitiello, leaving their Capo alone with me. “Run,” I screamed at Gray as I used this once-in-a-lifetime moment and lunged. Vitiello reacted too late and I barreled into him, sending us both flying to the floor.
He grabbed me by the throat, cutting off my air supply, but I only tightened my hold on the knife and rammed it into his leg, the only place I could reach. The f*cker hardly winced but his hold on my throat loosened enough for me to suck in a deep breath. In his eyes, I saw the same hatred I felt.
His son let out a roar upstairs, followed by shots, screams, and more gunfire. Outside, the gunfire ceased, which meant soon the rest of Vitiello’s soldiers would arrive. Their Capo would be dead by then.
Vitiello tightened his hold on my throat once more, his eyes burning with rage. I rammed my knife into his thigh again. My head began to swim from lack of oxygen. I tried to shove away from him but his fingers around my throat were like a f*cking vise. I brought up the knife and his other hand shot up, grasping my wrist to stop me from plunging the blade into his head and split his skull.
A scream rang out upstairs and for an instant Vitiello’s attention shifted, full of worry, and I ripped from his hold and brought the knife down, aiming for his eye. This was the moment I’d been waiting for all my life.
Marcella’s face flashed before my mind, and I jerked my arm to the side in the last moment, grazing the side of his head and ramming the knife into the wooden board. I couldn’t do this to her. F*ck. What had this woman done to me?
Vitiello’s eyes locked on mine, furious and questioning. He didn’t understand why I hadn’t killed him. I hardly did myself.
“This is for Marcella, only for her, you murdering bastard.”
His eyes moved to something behind me but before I could react, pain radiated through my skull and my vision went black.
The door of the van opened and Dad climbed in, limping badly. A long gash on the side of his head was bleeding profusely, dripping blood all over his shirt, face and arm. He immediately pulled me into a tight hug which he loosened when I winced. He stank of blood and even less appealing bodily fluids but his closeness still felt like a balm on my tumultuous soul. He pulled back and cupped my cheeks, searching my eyes as if he worried I wasn’t the same daughter he remembered. I’d certainly changed but I was still me, the version of me that had never surfaced because my cozy life had never required it. Behind Dad, still outside of the van waited Amo. He wiped blood and flesh off his arms. I marveled at the harsh lines of his face that hadn’t been there before. He briefly looked up and forced a smile that looked grotesque on his bloody face. I could still see the violence and wrath in his eyes.
For some reason, I couldn’t bear seeing him like that. The kidnapping had changed me. How could it not? But I’d hoped it hadn’t done lasting damage to the people I loved. Seeing them now, I realized my wish hadn’t been granted.
“What happened to your leg?” I asked Dad, looking away from Amo.
“Nothing. We’ll take you home now,” he said in a gruff voice. I’d never seen Dad like this, covered in blood and at the edge of control.
“What about Maddox?” I asked, couldn’t help it. I needed to know. Maybe his death would have made things easier, but my heart clenched agonizingly at the mere thought. He was the reason why I was here today, in more than one sense. He was guilty of my kidnapping and responsible for my freedom. I hated and… maybe loved him—if love could even bloom in a situation like ours.
Dad thrust his fist against the side of the van, expression twisting with rage.
My heart thudded harder. “Dad?”
Dad’s face darkened. “He’s alive like a few others and will be taken to a location where they can be questioned.”
Relief washed through me. I knew what questioning meant in mafia terms but as long as he hadn’t been killed yet, there was still hope for him, for us. If I should even hope for us or him. My thoughts were confusing and too unsteady to grasp hold of. Every new thought slipped away like quicksand before I could finish it.
Matteo grabbed his phone and jumped out of the van. “I’ll call Gianna. She’ll rip me a new one if I don’t tell her we’re fine.”
So many people had worried for their loved ones who risked their life for me. I couldn’t imagine what Gianna and Isabella had gone through while Matteo fought against mad bikers to save me.
Dad picked up his phone. His expression told me he was calling Mom. “She’s safe,” he said first thing.
I could hear Mom’s shuddering sigh. Then Dad held the phone out to me. I took it with shaking fingers.
“Mom,” I said. “I’m fine.”
“Oh, Marci, I’m so happy to hear your voice. I can’t wait to hold you in my arms.”
“We’ll be home in about an hour,” Dad called.
“Hurry,” Mom said softly.
Dad wrapped his arm around my shoulder as he led me into the house, trying to hide his limp but it must have been bad if he couldn’t hide it even around Mom. And even Amo hovered close by as if I needed constant surveillance now. Some of the violence had left his expression but not all of it.
“Get a grip,” Dad murmured. “Your mom doesn’t need to see you like this.”
Amo nodded and briefly closed his eyes. I could see his face morphing to something gentler and more boyish, but it was an obvious struggle, and his eyes, when he opened them, still felt off.
The moment I stepped into the house, Mom jumped off the couch. Valerio was with her and so were my aunts Gianna and Liliana, and my cousins, Isabella, Flavio, Sara, and Inessa. Romero and Growl kept watch like Matteo had said. Mom rushed over to me and Dad finally released me, only for Mom to take his place.
Mom hugged me so tightly I could barely breathe. I winced when her palms brushed the fresh tattoo on my upper back. She pulled back with tear-filled eyes full of worry. Her gaze flitted over my ruined ear before she forced it back to my eyes. Her palm still lightly rested on the bandage over my back. “What happened to your back?”
I didn’t want to tell her. Not because I was ashamed. I wasn’t. I was furious and scared. Furious because Earl had done this to me and scared that I’d always have to carry his judgment of me on my skin. When I didn’t say anything, she looked to Dad. The man who’d slaughtered several bikers in an act of fury and strength looked tired in that moment. His guilt over what had happened to me was unmistakable in every line of his face, but worst of all in his eyes. Amo made sure to look anywhere but at Mom, which was probably for the best, considering he still had that madman gleam in his eyes.
I didn’t want to put the burden of telling Mom about the tattoo on Dad. She didn’t look at him as if she blamed him for what happened, but I still worried that their relationship had suffered because of my kidnapping. My parents were absolute relationship goals in my mind and the thought that something might change that was almost worse than what had happened to me in the last few weeks.
“They tattooed me,” I said, trying to sound blasé.
The color drained from Mom’s face and Dad’s lips tightened in an effort to restrain his fury for the men who’d done this to me.
Mom glanced at Dad questioningly, but she didn’t ask what the tattoo was.
“We’ll have it removed as soon as you feel up to it,” Dad said firmly. “I told the doc to make all necessary arrangements.”
“Thanks, Dad.”
Valerio came up to me and hugged me too. “Next time I’ll kick biker ass too when they kidnap you.”
I choked on laughter. “I sure hope this was the last kidnapping, and you aren’t supposed to curse.”
He rolled his eyes and I tousled his blond mane before he could duck away. After more hugging from Gianna and Isabella, Aunt Liliana, Romero, and my cousins, I finally went upstairs, bone tired. I quickly excused myself, overwhelmed by the wave of emotions I felt.
Alone in my bedroom after the first shower in what felt like days, I peeled the bandage off my back and turned toward the long mirror. I sucked in a sharp breath. Maddox had told me what the tattoo said but seeing it with my own eyes still felt like a punch in the stomach.
The black letters looked almost smudged and were thin. They reminded me of tattoos that prisoners got behind bars. The words Vitello whore glared back at me. They sat right between my shoulder blades below my neck. A whore stamp how Earl had called it. I swallowed once, then I turned away from the mirror. Once people found out about what went on between Maddox and me, I would hear the insult often.
By Fate I Conquer Cora Reilly Read Online PDF Free Download Bookmark this site “www.NovelKoo.Com” for Daily Updates.