FEDERICO 

"Who the hell are you?" The piece of shit, who threw Elenora into the van like a sack of potatoes, questions.

"Trust me. You don't want to know who I am," I state, maintaining a deadly calm. Elenora struggles to sit up, and all she manages to do is jerk her body. She angles her head to look at me, her eyes scrunch, appearing to focus on what she's seeing.

"Look, we don't want any trouble, these girls got hammered and we were just going to take them back to their homes," Douche number two states.

"Please." A hoarse whisper from Elenora has the men looking into the van.

"Is that right?" I focus my attention back on the fucking assholes. "Because that sounded a lot like a cry for help."

"They're fine. They just need to sleep it off."

"Sleep what off exactly?" I cock my gun, before I hold it down at my side.

"Whoa, whoa, look, it's just a Xanax cocktail. No big deal," Douche number one informs me.

"Boss, we found the driver tied up. The other girl is okay, but she's panicking not knowing where her sisters are," Mostro reports.

We all focus back on the girls in the van when the girl next to Elenora stirs and moans. "Cl-cla-clara." Elenora struggles to speak.

Clara groans again then her eyes flicker open and she blinks. Her eyes widen as she moves her head around and then she sits up with a start. "Nora! Nora! Can you hear me?" Her hands move up to Elenora's face, tapping her. I try not to get worried at the blank, despondent look in Elenora's eyes.

Clara turns over and tries to shake Jackie awake, too, but she's completely out.

"Nora," Clara focuses on Elenora again. The dim light enhances the tears brimming in her eyes. "Can you talk to me, Nora, please? Are you okay?"

Elenora attempts to move her arms but only small jerking movements follow then she whimpers. Whatever they gave her has completely incapacitated her. The two men in front of me eye one another before making a run for it.

I grab the one closest to me before he escapes and duck when he swings a punch back at me. Mostro goes after the one who ran in the opposite direction and tackles him to the ground. Grunts and groans follow as Mostro punches the asshole.

I grab the guy I have by the collar and pistol whip him. He staggers back and I holster my gun to punch him, but he blocks one of my punches and hits me in the stomach. We trade blows before I pull my gun again and his eyes widen. "Oh, god, please don't kill me, please!"

I lean down. "I'm not your god."

I pull the trigger hitting him in between the eyes. Elenora's phone case is sticking out of his front pocket and I take it out.

"It's okay, Nora. We're okay, we're safe now. Rico's here," Clara explains, trying to reassure her friend.

Next, Jackie groans and moans. It doesn't look like she can move either as she stares up at the ceiling of the van and begins whimpering. Clara moves over to her and tells her everything is fine.

"Nora! Jackie!" The other sister rushes over to the van and skids to a stop. Her eyes widen at the sight of the dead man on the ground and then she watches Mostro knock out the other asshole before she looks back in the van.

"Clara, what happened?" Her chest rises and falls; the fear in her voice is palpable.

Clara snaps out of the dazed look on her face, tearing her eyes away from the men on the ground before she glances at Luna then focuses on the men again. "Those assholes drugged them. I tried to stop them from taking Nora, but one of them must have knocked me out and when I woke up we were in here. Rico stopped them though. Where's Carlo?"

"He was knocked out and tied up in a back room. He's okay now, but he told dad what happened," Luna says and then she turns to me, her eyes pleading. "Rico, we can't go home. My parents and especially our nonno will lose their shit."

"Won't they lose their shit more if you don't go home?" I'm not understanding her logic. "I'll have someone take you home, but these three need to be looked at. I have a doctor on call. I'll call your father and let him know what's going on so they don't worry more than they are."

"Can you sit up, Nora?" Jackie asks Elenora.

"No."

"The drug they gave them is designed to paralyze them. They're conscious but they can't move until it wears off," I inform them.

"How long will that take?" Clara asks me as she looks over Elenora.

"It varies on the dosage, and on the person."

"Boss, everything is taken care of inside," Ciccio tells me.

"Good. Mostro, take these pieces of shit outta here. You know what to do." He begins to pick one up over his shoulder. I turn to the other men. "Tommy, you and Reggie take this one home."

"Luna, my name's Luna," She tells me, clearly offended that I didn't know her name.

"Forgive me, Ms. Luna." I give her a charming smile. I turn to my men. "Tommy?"

"You got it boss." Tommy nods. He gestures for Luna to follow him. She looks back at her sisters, but Clara assures her they'll be fine.

"Can you walk?"

"Yeah, I think so." Clara scoots to the edge of the van and I give her my hand to help her stand. "Thanks. How did you know where we were?"

"Their father was worried. I texted Elenora but she was too shitfaced to tell me the name of the club. I had my tech guy ping her phone and then he narrowed it down by triangulating the signal and found the nearest club to her location."

"So you tracked it," She deadpans.

I narrow my eyes back at her. "Yes."

"Well, despite this knight in shining armor move, I'm still not forgiving you for the fucked up things you said about my best friend."

"I don't believe I've asked for forgiveness from you or her. Nor will I." We both turn when we hear Elenora whimpering.

I hop in and lift Jaqueline up and carry her out, handing her over to Ciccio, then I get in again and lift Elenora out of the van, too. She groans from the movement.

"Get the van out of here, strip it down then burn it," I order the remaining men and they get to work.

"One thing I can't figure out is why you'd offer to help the Borelli's?" Clara questions as she walks alongside me. "I mean, you don't know them and you clearly dislike my friend here, so why?"

"I don't have to explain myself to you."

"Fuck, what's up your ass? I'll tell you one thing, if you do anything to hurt them, especially Nora, you're going to wish you could crawl back inside your mother."

I clench my jaw. "Don't fucking talk about my mother."

"That explains it." She clicks her tongue. "You have mommy issues."

I stop walking and turn to face her. "You don't know shit. Instead of trying to play psychotherapist, reflect on the fact that I just saved you and your sloppy ass drunk friends here, from ending up on missing person posters posted in break rooms of local grocery stores."

Nora's body tenses in my arms and then she convulses before she fucking vomits all over me. "Merda!" (Shit!)

Clara chuckles. "Even in her unconscious state, she's giving you a piece of her mind, that's my best friend."

I mutter a string of curses as we walk up to the car and both my driver and Mickey, my tech guy, look at me covered in vomit. "Do you want to lay her down on the floor?" It's clear he doesn't want to touch her and get his suit dirty.

"No, I don't want this shit all over the car." I climb in and continue holding her. "Take us back to the hotel, Rafael."

I look down at Elenora when I feel her start to tremble and shiver. She's muttering something indecipherable. Clara looks over at her, concerned. "Why is she shaking like that?"

"The drug is wearing off." Elenora gags and I prepare for another onslaught of vomit to hit me but only a little dribbles out of her mouth. I grab my handkerchief and wipe her mouth. Her fingers clutch the lapels of my jacket as she buries her face into me. She must be getting her muscle functionality back.

Once we arrive at the hotel, I have the staff help clean Elenora off before the Doctor arrives and take the time to clean up myself.

"Signor Rico, she is clean and resting in the bedroom," One of the maids informs me. I nod and wave her away when the family Dr, Pia, arrives; she looks over Nora first and assesses her.

"Her vitals are fine, but keep an eye on her. Also, make sure she sleeps on her side, if she vomits during her sleep she could aspirate. If you notice a fever or uncontrollable vomiting, bring her to the hospital immediately."

"I'll stay with her," Clara informs us.

"Let me check over your injuries first, cara." Pia moves over to Clara who's also changed out of her dress and into a T-shirt and sweats the staff provided. (dear)

"Hmm, one of your pupils is blown out while the other is not. It could be nothing, but with head injuries it's better safe than sorry. I'll need to run a Catscan to make sure you don't have any internal bleeding going on and have you stay overnight for observation."

Clara shakes her head. "No, I want to stay with Nora."

"I'll watch over her, go with the Dr."

Clara scoffs, but I give her a glare. She rolls her eyes. "Fine, but if something happens you better call me."

"I don't have to do anything."

"You're such an asshole."

I shrug as I escort them out of the hotel suite.

I turn off most of the lights, leaving a lamp in the corner of the room on and sit at the desk, looking over the latest information I received from some of my people.

Nora starts moaning and whimpering and I move over to the bed. I roll her over to her side and put a couple of pillows along her back to keep her in place.

She keeps making small sounds and I sit down next to her. There's a faint line in between her eyes like she's in pain and I find my hand stroking her face softly. Her facial muscles soften and relax under my fingers and then I stroke over her long, curly hair.

I furrow my eyebrows after a moment and pull my hand away. I stand and begin walking away but then I hear her groaning again.

I sigh and lay down behind her, moving the pillows and scoot up close to her to keep her on her side. She quiets down and I lay there thinking about how tonight went to shit...again, yet, I still played the role of hero, unexpectedly.

I didn't recognize or particularly like the feeling that came over me when I was useless on the other end of the phone when that asshole was talking to her knowing she was completely wasted. I also didn't like when I saw her motionless in that old, abduction looking van. Had we gotten there a few minutes later, this entire plan would have been over.

Elenora leans back against me muttering in her sleep. I tense when her hand comes over mine, before I relax again.

I'm not going to get any sleep. I have never shared my bed with anyone and I know this is going to fuck with my head. I stop my hand movement when I realize I'm running my fingers through her soft curly hair.

The scent of her hair seems familiar but I can't place it and lean away not wanting my head to be clouded as I start thinking about the next step in this plan while tracing patterns on Elenora's back.

****