CHRISTIANO

Sixteen

Christiano

"I need money to buy a few things for myself and the baby" Zelda says. I look up at her wondering where she got the audacity to ask me for money. She's not even my w***e. Why do I need to take care of her? I'm doing more than enough by letting her stay in my house.

"What kind of things do you want to buy for an unborn child?"

"When they get here what will they wear?"

"We'll go shopping then. Right now take your ass back upstairs and do whatever it is you always do" we don't even know if it's a boy or a girl or even mine but she wants me to take care of them.

"All the girls at the club used to brag about how generous you were. Damn them, I knew they were lying"

"Is that the reason you forced your way in here? Because you heard I'm generous?"

"At least give me some pocket money"

Lord give me patience. This b***h only wants money so she can go out there and brag to her friends how great her life is. If I liked her or if she was my woman, there would be no problem with that. But she's just a w***e who is staying here only because she's pregnant. When will she get that through her thick head? Getting up I motion her to come closer with my finger. When she's within my reach, I grab her hand and apply some pressure until she winces

"Zelda, maybe I haven't made myself clear so listen up. Once that baby is out, you're also out. Do you understand what I mean?"

"I don't care as long as you pay me enough money to keep my mouth shut"

"How about I bury you? Coffins are cheaper these days" the color drains from her face and I know she understands that I won't hesitate to kill her "Let me tell you how easy it'll be to get rid of you. I pay the doctors and they'll say you died during childbirth. It's common and even if it isn't, who's going to care about your ass? Do you have another man out there that is powerful enough to go against me? Or your family, do you have one? Do they even care?"

"I'm the child's mother. You can't kill me"

"That child doesn't need someone like you as its mother. If I were you, I'd live here quietly without bothering me"

"I can still have an abortion you know"

Of course she can and I will bury her together with that fetus. Why doesn't she understand that? "Are you plain stupid? Didn't you hear anything I just said?"

"Let go of me. I won't allow you to treat me like a nobody"

"But that's exactly what you are"

"Oh yeah? Well at least this nobody will go down in history as the mother of your child. How about that?"

"I have this urge to strangle you and it keeps growing by the second Zelda. Keep trying my patience" huffing, she yanks her hand away from my hold and leaves. At the door she bumps into Nev. Great, another person with a sour attitude

"You two are made for each other" he says dropping his ass on the edge of my desk.

"Thank you, I'll take that as a compliment"

"You're welcome bro"

"Are you here to tell me why you were in a shitty mood last night or what?"

"I saw Violetta. She wanted to see Tommaso"

"I hope you told her to go choke on a d**k or something"

"I gave her until the end of today. Then I swear to God I'll kill her if she's still here"

"Have you found an accountant?" I change the subject because I don't even want to give that b***h the time of day.

"No, sorry. You have to keep doing the books"

"f**k, I hate that s**t"

"At least you're good at it. I can't even tell the difference between two zeros"

"I should have found an educated person as my second. You're of no use"

"Tough luck. What time is it?"

"You can't even read a watch you dumbass. It's a little past mid-day"

"She should have gotten here already. Did she change her mind?"

"You have some new whores coming over or what?"

"No, it's Carina. She found out she was married to you and had a miscarriage. Paulo told me to keep an eye out for her"

My stomach sinks at the mention of her name. Nev says that so carelessly as if it's nothing. I just managed to get my life back on track and I was hoping for a little more time before I had to face her. Now is not a good time, especially with that b***h Zelda around "Did she get her memories back?"

"No. Do you finally want her to remember you?"

Yes and no. I want her to remember me and our relationship, only the good part, so she won't fall for someone else. If she knows she's married she won't look at Schiavone. I also don't want her to recover her memories since I know how hurt she'll be. If I put my anger aside and be reasonable, I'll say I never want her to go through that kind of pain. We might not have been ready to be parents but we wanted that baby. We had already gotten used to the idea of being parents. Having another one with someone else doesn't diminish the pain I feel from losing my first child. It's something that will remain with me forever. If I could, I would do anything to shield her from the amount of hurt she'll go through once she gets her memories back.

"Paulo, did you find her?" Nev's question pulls me from my thoughts "No she didn't come here.... What do you mean she never made it home? Where did she go?.... f**k, how long has it been... Two hours? Did you check if she actually came back? Yeah, okay, keep me posted" he hangs up turning to me "Where do you think she could have gone?"

"How the f**k should I know?"

"She's your wife. Isn't she?"

Knowing Carina, she would have come here to have it out with me. Her fiery temper wouldn't let her go anywhere else. But she didn't come here which means she either changed or something happened. People don't change overnight so it's definitely the latter. It's as if Nev can read my mind because he calls some of our men and tell them to go out looking for her. Since she did come back, their first stop should be the airport. Where could she have gone? She didn't lose all her memories so I can't say she got lost.

"Could someone have grabbed her?"

"Yeah. That's a possibility too"

Who would do that? Marino and Russo were pretty pissed about her stopping the human trafficking business. But that was months ago and I'm sure Giovanni must have done something to calm them down. I wouldn't be surprised if he started his own side business with them. However, those men are known to be petty. They might want to teach her a lesson if they felt Carina had disrespected them. Although, knowing that she's Giovanni's daughter and my wife, they wouldn't be so stupid. That man wasn't just a lapdog to Lombardi. He was also the one who took their enemies out. Unless it's absolutely necessary, I wouldn't pick a fight with him. No one knows about her and Marco so it's safe to say that if anyone took her, it was one of my enemies and not his. There's only one person who's been trying to get a rise out of me lately.

"Balloteli" I say not realizing I'm already moving until Nev stops me.

"He wouldn't be so stupid"

"Yes he would. If he lays a hand on her, I will kill everyone related to him. Innocent or not"

"I thought you were done with her. Remember? She hid the truth from you. You're still angry and don't care what happens to her"

He's trying to placate me by reminding me that I already left her "That doesn't mean anyone can use her to get back at me"

"Chris, we just..... Let's not start a war over..."

"My wife?"

"So now you remember she's your wife?"

"She never stopped being my wife" and never will. I was so angry with her but I didn't even raise my voice at her. Who says anyone else can touch her? Images of when she first came here float to the forefront of my mind. I remember the marks Lombardi had left on her. How hurt she was and how angry I was that that bastard had done that to her. If I find even a scratch on her, I will burn Balloteli and his entire organization to the ground "Call the men you just sent to the airport back and tell them to meet us at Balloteli's house"

"I don't know if I should be pissed or proud of you Chris"

"Be ready to fight" is all I say before storming out of my office.

Anyone in my situation will be frantic, anxious or angry. But I'm calm because I need to think straight. When people like us kidnap our enemies wives and daughters, the chance of them getting out unharmed is low. Since the purpose of taking them is to hurt our opponent, we resort to either killing them or doing the most damage, physically and mentally. I'm talking about rape and torture. Now if Balloteli knew what was good for him, he wouldn't have taken her in the first place. Getting in my car, I decide he's the perfect person to take all my anger out on. That asshole is going to have a very slow and painful death.

"What if he didn't take her?" Nev asks getting in beside me.

"Then he gets to live longer"

"So we agree that if Balloteli didn't take Carina, we'll turn around and come back home. No useless fights"

"Yes" I answer because I know I'm not wrong. That man's business hasn't gotten anywhere and it's thanks to his stupidity. He's free to blame his failure on me, I don't care. If he wants to fight them I'm ready, anytime. But Carina? She's out of bounds. Tapping my foot on the floor, I look outside at the scenery. Everyone is going about their own way. They have no clue about us or what's about to happen. Please be okay baby. That's all I'm asking for. Wait for me.

"Any chance we can go talk about this before you storm in there?"

I understand why Nev is nervous. I would be if I was in his shoes. He knows when I'm this quiet, something bad will happen. Normally, I try to reign in my anger but sometimes I can't help it. The world we grew up in forced us to be monsters in order to survive. I think I've kept mine locked up for so long that he's ready to come out and play. Forty minutes later, we pull up outside Balloteli's house. Stupid man. He fixed it up so quickly without knowing I'd be back so soon. He should have put that money somewhere else, like in his children's trust fund.

Fabian doesn't wait for them to open the gate. As usual he barged right in, taking one part of the metal doors off its hinges. There's a reason he has worked for me for so long. He knows how to match my mood perfectly. Balloteli is standing at the door with at least twenty men around him. Sighing, I get out of the car.

"Where is she?"

"My, my De Luca, back for more gossip?"

"I won't ask again Balloteli"

"Some animals are probably feeding on her carcass" he says confirming my suspicions. He did take Carina. I throw Nev a glance over my shoulder before turning back to the soon to be deceased.

"I plan on burning this place to the ground. Not even a tree will be left standing. You can come work for me, or die with this i***t. Your choice" I tell his men. Anyone with brains will switch over to my side without a second thought. I'm stronger than this asshole will ever be. There's a minute of silence before one of them walks over to me. Smart man. Since the rest have chosen death, they get just that, courtesy of my snipers. The thing with people like Balloteli is that they act without thinking. The last time I was here, we did a bit of damage to his men. He could have rebuild his organization then try to take me out later but his impatient ass couldn't wait that long. He just had to go and provoke me.

"If you do anything to me, I will kill her"

"You just said animals were feeding on her carcass" I reply putting on my knuckle rings. They have tiny spear like spikes meant to dig out skin and inflict unmeasurable pain "Where is she?" I ask the guy who came over to us.

"She was in the basement but some guys dressed in all black came and took her"

"Find out who they are" I tell Nev then turn to my prey. The last time I put Carina in the basement, she shot me. It's only fair that this man pays for putting her there too. Don't you think? "Let's play, shall we"

*****************************************

Sometimes, I don't know what to do with Chris.

Is this turning out the way you expected or did I go off rails?