Chapter 17

“f**k!” I screamed out.

“Ssshhhh. It’s just me Amore. Your safe” he k****s my head as I try to focus on his face, which is a losing battle.

“It’s time to get out of the bath” he coos at me as he tries to help me up.

“No, its better here. You can’t be here.”

“Why not?”

“I get people killed” as the tears start to spill out again. I thought there was no way I could cry any more.

He cups my face in his hands. “No Amore. I should not have left you! It was my fault! I f****d up! I have never been so scared in my life!”

“You scared! Ha! You’re the DOM, the head of the Italian Mafia who lied about where he lived, by the way! I know that! You come from Sicily, not Malta, you brat!”

He chuckles “I forgot about that. But yes, I was scared as my heart was in danger. My one and only was…” his jaw clenches and his eyes turn cold and murderous.

If I wasn’t so drunk and if I didn’t know it wasn’t directed at me, I would be scared right now.

I touch his hand with mine trying to give him as much comfort as a drunk person can. A drunk person who seriously just wants to sleep now, sleep would be great if the room wasn’t spinning so much. I hope that calms down a bit.

He takes my hand, looking at it. “How long have you been in the bath?” he shakes his head.

I just shrug and start to get comfortable again.

“Come, time to hop out”. This time I don’t argue, as he helps my fumbling wobbly drunk a*s out. I can hardly stand and standing is not good right now. The room spins so much more when you’re standing. Not good!

He wraps me in a towel and carries me out into the bedroom, laying me on the bed and that is the last thing I remember as I let the darkness take over.

Landon POV

I looked at my broken angel passed out on the bed.

I walked over to the walk in robe and pull out her pyjama shorts and top and slowly dress her being careful not to wake her although with the amount of Baileys she drank I think it would take a bit.

She needs to sleep it off.

Once finished, I put her to bed properly before walking back out to the Living Room.

The last 5 hours have been the most stressful of my life. As I said to her, I have never been so f*****g scared in my life.

It was Ma who texted me, then Enzo to tell me what was going on. The f*****g Vietnamese are going to pay. They have never been an issue in the past, but their new fuckwit leader had a death wish!

Normally we have our own lanes but this fucker decided to try and take us out. It was bad enough he had Leo shot. We took out his brother for that!

Then to go after Kate! We thought we had done well in keeping her under wraps. f**k!

Once the plane took off, Lou and I had Ma, Tom and Enzo on loud speaker keeping us updated.

I always knew Enzo was loyal. He was one of my father’s men. Now he has my gratitude for the rest of his life. I will make sure he and his family are well compensated.

“Is she OK?” Gio looked at me in concern. He was so freaked out she was going to drown he had almost sat at the door for over 3 hours listening to every movement. He had just earned himself a pay rise as well!

“I put her to bed” he nods and rubs his face with his hands “What did you see?”

“When we entered the house and fanned out, I was given level 1. I heard the kicking of the door just as we entered. The team took out 2 on the ground floor and cleared it as I sprinted up the stairs.” He rubbed his face again, shaking his head. “She was in the corner up the back. There were 2 of them, one had a gun to her head. We took them both out quickly, they didn’t even hear us luckily. She… she wasn’t hurt physically.”

I nodded as I knew this was going to take a lot for her to get over. Those f***s will pay and I will make sure of it. We just can’t retaliate straight away, we need to be smart.

“Good work, you all did good work!”

“She has organised to speak to your mum about arrangements for Nico and Max tomorrow and wanted updates on Tim and Gab.” Of course she does! Always thinking of everyone else!

“You should know she was too quiet after. I think she blames herself”. He looks at me with a concern I have never seen from him before.

Gio has been with me for the last 10 years at least. The man has no problems skinning someone alive and thinks people crying is funny. He had a f****d up childhood so it takes a lot to get through his thick skin.

But like all of them, Amore has him wrapped around her finger!

“Of course she does! f**k!” I should have seen this coming!

“I can have a quack here tomorrow. Someone I trust if you need?”

I shook my head “she won’t talk to anyone yet. Send me the details and when I think she’s ready. I’ll let you know, but I think it’s time to get home.”

“Ma will definitely know what to do” Lou pipes in, squeezing my shoulder.

As if she could hear us, my phone started buzzing, that woman is unbelievable. I know I have to answer it.

“Call me if you need anything” Enzo nods and leaves with Lee behind him.

“Ma!”

She goes off explaining what she wants us to do with the fuckers to blame for tonight.

“I know Ma. We will handle them the smart way though.”

“Of course. She will blame herself and try to break up with you in the morning.”

Yep, she can read minds too! “I know! I think we will just fly back in the morning.”

“No. She needs her family and friends. Get her friends over tomorrow and say you had a fight. Say she needs support. One day off work, you stick to her like glue until she is at work. She will want something normal, work is normal. Check she is ready though, but listen to her! I will take my spoon to you if you don’t listen to her. She will tell you what she wants. Just don’t listen when she says she doesn’t want you. Don’t f**k this up. I need my daughter!” Ma was obsessed with Kate after that first call. She got it straight away. I didn’t think she would, but she did.

Now I think she is more in love with Kate than me! Although it makes me happy, Kate makes me happy. The way she has everyone and I mean everyone, wrapped around her little finger makes me happy. She is the perfect Queen for our f****d up world!

“Yeah I got it.” And I would follow her advice to the letter. I was not losing Kate. She is mine!

“Gio, before I go. Good work! I have prepared a thank you package. You will receive it when you return.”

“You don’t…”

“No, you will take it and say thank you Ma.”

He nods and smiles “Thank you Ma.”

“Good! Look after my daughter” and she hangs up.

Gio looks at me. “Kate said you have to sell the house.”

I nodded “Lou, clean it up and get it done. She can choose the new one. Put some lists together anywhere she wants. You know the requirements.”

“Consider it done” he nodded, his brows still furrowed. He was not looking forward to the next 2 days. We know it will take a while for Kate to get over this but the first 2 days are the hardest.

We started working on our revenge. It was best if Kate was out of the country when it happened, so we had time to make it perfect.

I woke Kate up to give her some pain killers and water before letting her get back to sleep. This always works and she didn’t need a hangover on top of everything in the morning.

Once I was finally in bed, I held her close. Her beautiful curves fit into me perfectly.

f*****g Perfect!

KATE POV

I didn’t want to get out of bed the next day. I didn’t want to see anyone, talk to anyone, all I wanted to do was stare out the windows.

Landon brought me lunch in bed as I slept well past breakfast.

He sat with me quietly as we ate.

I was building up all my courage because I needed it. I needed to do this.

“No!” He said out of the blue as I finished my food. He knew it was coming.

“Yes! It’s…”

“No! I let my guard down. This was my fault. I won’t let you blame yourself and I won’t let you go. Do you want to know why?” I don’t think there is anything he could say to make me change my mind.

“Why?” I looked into his eyes.

“Do you know why everyone calls you sunshine?”

“Because I try to always be cheerful with a smile on my face?”

“Yes, and because you are pure sunshine, you are nothing but light.” He grabbed both sides of my face. “You have woken up a part of me I didn’t even know existed or never thought would. Logically, I should let you go and not let you get twisted in the dark but I can’t. I won’t let you go, I can’t! I f****d up by leaving you alone. I will never do that again. Never! I mean it when I say I love you, I f*****g love you with everything that I am” he pulled me in for a bone crushing hug “I can’t let you go.”

I melted into him as the tears started to flow again. How do I say no to that even though I am broken-hearted about Nico and Max.

He just held me as I cried and cried again. And I mean ugly cry, a disgustingly ugly cry. He never once told me to stop, or told me I was embarrassing myself, which I was, just held me tight and kissed my head.

Finally, when the tears stopped… just for the moment, I am sure they will definitely be back again, he pulled back a bit and kissed my puffy eyes.

“Come, let’s have a shower, your friends will be here at 2. I told them you were feeling down about leaving.” He what?

“And what about us being here and not at the house?”

“Gas leak.”

I nodded and let him lead me to the bathroom. “Thank you.”

“No, don’t thank me. I f****d up and I will make it up to you.”

I shook my head but before I could say anything he put a finger to my lips, “I did. No arguing!”

I took a deep breath as I looked into his serious face.

Would this happen again? Of course it would, although the way he kept saying he f****d up means either he didn’t think it would or he is just trying to make me feel better.

My brain was still struggling!

I just let him shower me and scrub me from head to toe, then himself. He then dried me and walked me into the walk-in robe which was fully set up. They must have done it while I was in the bath.

I let him dress us both and then led me into the living room.

Louie was sitting there and came over giving me a massive hug that lifted me up off the floor.

“Careful a*****e”, Landon warned, making me chuckle.

“Come, I will show you what we have set up!” Louie took my hand and dragged me over to the couches. “We have menus of what we can order but have popcorn, an array of chocolates and drinks for starters. Here is the list of new movies just out. We have people coming to do manicures, pedicures and light massages. And if you’re up to it, here are a few listings of new houses since the old ones will be sold. I also thought we could look at other areas you might be interested in as well. The afternoon is all yours!”

I took a deep breath and gave him another hug. “Thank you!” Then I walked over to Landan and gave him a quick k**s and hug “Thank you!”

He still held me tight as he kissed my forehead. “Anything for you!”

I pulled back a little. “Anything?” I let my smile grow.

He raised an eyebrow, “Yes within reason…”

“So what about telling Louie to stop f*****g all the maids in the laundry when I’m home, especially the blonde, she is a real screamer.”

“Hey! No fair!”

Landon looked at him and shook his head. “You heard your Queen.”

Louie huffed and poked out his tongue at me. “c**k blocker!”

I laughed “I only said when I’m home.”

“I didn’t think she was that loud”, he sat down and put a bit of popcorn in his mouth.

“Seriously? You could hear her from the city! I’m surprised she had any vocal cords left!”

He smirked “I just know how to look after the ladies, that’s all.”

I rolled my eyes and sat on the couch with Landon, cuddling into his side. I just needed his touch and reassurance today, especially if he isn’t letting me break up with him.

He curled his arm around me and held me close, kissing my forehead.

Mia and Kylie came over bringing grog and a mixer book. They decided the best way to cheer me up was to do cocktails with movies.

It was what I needed!

Louie and Landon ordered us a lot more alcohol and snacks of every type.

Staying in a hotel had a lot of perks!

Landon told the girls, since the gas leak, he didn’t feel the house was safe, so he was selling it and they needed to help me find a new holiday house when we come back.

Well, of course you say holiday house and we ended up in Mornington, down to Flinders, then over to Torquay, Anglesea and Lorne. Everywhere with beach, room and views, nothing in the city but Landon seemed not to mind saying it was my choice. Anything I wanted.

After many many cocktails, snacks, bad movies, and good company, the girls finally left at about 8, I think. They had work tomorrow, whereas Landon said I was taking the day off. I didn’t argue, I really needed another day.

“I feel guilty”

“Don’t, it will eat you alive. Never feel guilty”, he tipped my chin up and looked into my eyes.

“They died the way they wanted to, with respect and honour. Ask any of the men how they would want to die. Ask them.”

I shook my head. “I believe you. Doesn’t make me feel any better though.”

He pulled me in tight, putting my head against his chest as he kissed the top of my head “for someone as beautiful as you, it won’t. I would take it away if I could.”

“I know.”

“Come. Lets have another bath but not half a day’s worth this time.”

“Spoil sport” he chuckled, and led me to the bath.

“Did you want ice cream and baileys again?”

“You read my mind. Make it 2 so you can have some as well.”

He smiled and quickly texted through the order.

He undressed me but not in a s****l way, in a caring way, kissing my skin as he went, then undressed himself.

Lying in the bath with my back to his front, the alcohol had my brain going again.

“Do you think we are forever?”

“Yes!”

“No doubt at all?”

“No! I will give you time but you will see it too soon enough”, he kissed my shoulder.

“Do you get upset when I don’t say I love you back?”

“No. It will happen. I can wait.”

“How are you so sure of everything?”

He doesn’t even hesitate. “I feel it. I know it deep inside.”

“For someone that’s supposed to be a monster, you can be quite romantic and… deep.”

He chuckled “only for you amore”. He kissed my shoulder long and slow as I could feel his e******n growing behind me.

“Oh, you think so do you?”

“Hmmmm” was the only reply I got as the k****s continued up my neck. I rolled my head to the side, giving him more access.

I just closed my eyes and enjoyed his magical touch!