— San Diego / 8 pm —

~ Nico

One of our men has been on the duty to follow Ellie since we figured out that Martinez knew about the connection between her and Nathan and it would be bad if they got their hands on her.

Antonio wanted to straight up interrogate her about Nathan, but I had the feeling that it wouldn't work and she just wouldn't trust us if we were too insolent.

"You can call me all names you want, but you damn well know I'm right." I said on the phone and immediately I heard a growl on the other side of the line. He wasn't happy about the decision of going slow with Ellie.

But let's be real. If Martinez knew where Nathan was, she wouldn't be missing now and I wouldn't be out to search her.

It's not like she was a girl with enemies jumping every corner. I doubted that even Antonio disliked her as much as he would want to. So that left us only one option: she was kidnapped while our person was knocked out so he wouldn't interfere.

"Sei un idiota. Just bring her to me. We've waited long enough and it's going to go my way now." I rolled my eyes at his bossy tone and just hung up.

I swear, he needed someone to shaken him up so hard that all this grumpy attitude fell from a cliff or something.

I threw the phone down on the seat besides me and continued driving through the streets of San Diego. It's not that bad of a town. But I still missed Rome.

Hopefully we catch that son of a bitch soon, so we could clear up the misunderstandings and go back home.

By clearing it up I meant to kill him. He's a traitor and we still didn't know on which side he was. But since Martinez were also hunting him down, they wanted answers too, so that meant none of us had a clue who he worked for.

I had to admit it, he was smart and played his role well until someone ratted him out. Jesse was undercover to get him that night in Martinez's club so we could deal with him, but then Ellie appeared in the picture and distracted him. On top of that, she was the one that took Nathan out of the club before he could catch him.

This girl didn't even realise what she messed into. Once Martinez were out hunting her, there's no backing out until she's dead. We could at least keep her safe, that's if she decided to talk with us.

I parked the car close to the building where my sources told me she was going to be brought and I waited, getting ready my gun.

Let's get you out of this mess, Ellie.

***

~ Ellie

I woke up in complete darkness.

I could hear the engine of a working car and felt that we were moving. The gaps in my mind started filling in and I remembered talking to a guy who was acting strange. Then he knocked me out with something and now I was being taken to god knows where.

Just great.

How long have I been unconscious? Maybe I was even in another city for all I knew.

Panic started rising up inside of me and I tried to get my hands free from something keeping them together behind my back. But it immediately started to cut in my skin when I moved. Stupid cable tie.

The car stopped abruptly and I rolled over and hit something that seemed like cold metal. When I tried to lift up my legs and feel around, I realised I was in a car trunk.

Before I could make a plan, the trunk opened and light sneaked underneath the blindfold, then some pair of rough hands wrapped around me and I was pulled out, my legs never touching the ground as I hung from the shoulder of my abductor that was now carrying me somewhere.

"Let me go, asshole! I did nothing wrong." I shouted and shuffled in his arms. His grip tightened and he didn't say a word, but I somehow managed to take off the blindfold from one of my eye while moving.

I tilted my head on the side to look at the surroundings, but it was unfamiliar to me. I was definitely far away from home.

But I wasn't giving up without a fight. Just when I was about to make my next attempt to escape, I noticed someone familiar behind a wall. Nico.

He noticed me too and gave me a reassuring smile. I watched him as he came out of his hiding position and run towards us.

"Stop where you are, DeSantis!" He man with the harsh voice said and slowed his pace.

My sight lowered and I gulped at the sight of a weapon between the belt and pants of the unknown man and he was now reaching for it.

No no no.

A gunshot filled the thick air and made me shut my eyes closed as a scream escaped my lips. I didn't know who shot who. It all happened for seconds.

Suddenly, the hands of the man started loosening around my legs and he lost his balance. He fell forwards straight on his face and I was pulled with him with no choice, but to hit the pavement with full force since I couldn't even suppress it with my hands while they were still tied behind my back. Was this the moment when I get smashed by a huge guy and die?

Then two hands grabbed me and prevented my fall. I was sitting down when the blindfold was removed and I acknowledged Nico's gaze on me while he was bent down too.

"Are you okay, princesa? I had to shoot him before he did it first." Nico started explaining himself, but I grimaced from the pain in my wrists as it felt like the cable tie was growing into my skin.

"Cut these off before I'm left with no hands." I cried out from pain and he took a pocket knife out. When I was finally free, I could see dark red bruises on my wrists. But this wasn't the worst.

My eyes widened as I noticed blood plastered over the pavement next to the unknown man. "You killed him!?"

Nico's attention went back to the man laying on the ground face-first.

"Non e'ancora morto." (He's not dead yet.) He said something in a quiet murmur, but I didn't catch any of it.

"I have no idea what you just said." I admitted and he laughed at it. How was it funny now? I didn't see anything amusing in this situation.

"Don't you worry, tesoro."

I opened my mouth to speak, but I was cut off when he grabbed my forearms and forced my hands up so he could examine the bruises.

"I will be fine." I said with shrug even though I knew that this would hurt like a bitch the following days. Plus it's twice worse, because I tend to bruise up easily.

"You threw quite a fit, didn't you?" He said teasingly and made me pull my hands back, realising we were still standing besides a person that could be dying if he's not dead already.

"Who is he? What did he want from me?" I didn't wait a minute before asking questions. It's connected directly to me now and I needed to know. Right?

"I can't tell you. For you own safety." He tried to put his hands on my shoulders, but I pushed them off with a frown.

"Safety? I was kidnapped on the street! Do you think safety is still something that I believe in?"

His mouth opened, but he closed it again as it seemed like he couldn't find the right words to answer me. Then a loud noise was heard from inside the old building in front of us.

"We need to go now."

"No."

I knew that might be stupid of me, but I demanded to get answers. I crossed my arms over my chest and he sighed in irritation.

"Fine. He's a guy that Martinez sent after you."

Here's that name again. What's the deal with him?

"I'm pretty sure I know no Martinez that wants to kill me."

He rolled his eyes and continued.

"He doesn't want to kill you..not until you tell him where Nathan is."

"Oh..well that's very calming." I said sarcastically as I fiddled with my fingers behind my back, being nervous at the same time from the fact that a man was out to hunt me and kill me for information.

They saw me...as some kind of resource.

Another sound was heard from the inside of the building that took me out of my thoughts.

"Are you coming or I need to carry you to the car?" Nico said while his attention was on the surroundings and the entrance of the building.

"We are just going to leave him?" I pointed the man and Nico waved with his hand.

"It's too late for him."

Then the entrance door barged open and I flinched in surprise. A man took out his gun and pointed it at us, but his eyes widened at the sight of Nico.

"DeSantis?"

That bought Nico some time and he took his own gun out and shot him in the shoulder, which caused the man to fall on the ground.

"Come on, princesa. More people will come out and I won't be able to take them down so easily."

He convinced me with that since I didn't plan on dying today and he led us back to his car. We drove off and he let out a sigh of relief when we were far enough from that building.

I was still in shock. My sight lowered to my lap and I stared blankly at my legs.

"What's wrong?" Nico spoke up again and I blinked couple of times before looking up again.

"You just shot two men and one of them is most likely dead."

I knew I've been bragging about that, but I've never seen a murder with my own eyes even in Basque which was supposed to be in the dangerous part of town.

"So what? People get killed on daily basis."

He said it so lightly like it wasn't anything important. Maybe it's how he's used to living. I decided to not talk further in the next ten minutes.

"Where are you taking me?" I murmured while rubbing my eyes in attempt to banish the sleepiness. Now I feel like I'm going to pass out any minute.

"You're not going to like this, but..."

His voice faded along with the lights as I dozed off before I could hear the rest.

***

— Rome / Italy —

Irene was desperately searching for her father in the huge mansion so she could ask him to go out. Such a simple task and yet it seemed impossible.

The mansion had the total of four levels and every floor was big enough to contain at least five master bedrooms, smaller bedrooms, a main living room, kitchen, guest rooms and couple of bathrooms.

Irene wasn't lost. She's lived here for five years and she knew the mansion like the back of her hand. But she must have missed her father on his way out.

She sighed in defeat and sat down on a couch.

"What's wrong, dolcezza?"

Maria entered the room and caressed Irene's brown hair that was straightened to perfection for the shopping day she was supposed to have with a friend of hers.

"Seems like I can't find father."

"Dario went out, darling. He will be back late."

Maria's words made Irene sigh again and she bit her quivering lip.

Irene was only seventeen and wanted to distract herself while her brother was away at San Diego. She's been missing him so much and Antonio has been too busy to reach her on the phone at a proper time due to the time difference.

"I wanted to go out with Donna to do some shopping..I've been feeling lonely in here."

Maria knew how much Irene missed her beloved brother and she wanted to make her feel better while he wasn't here. Irene has been clingy towards her brother after their mother passed away by unfortunate circumstances.

She's been emotionally unstable for the past weeks without Antonio by her side.

"You can go out, darling. Don't wait for your father. Here, take this and tell Bronte. He will drive you wherever you want." She took out one credit card and Irene took it with wide smile.

"Grazie, zia Maria."

Maria gave her a peck on the cheek and waved her goodbye as Irene made her way downstairs with much happier spark in her eyes.

"Ah, bambini."