Chapter 4

Marcus

Today I have to travel more than a thousand kilometers. He did not remember that he had a meeting with two brothers who are dedicated to opening brothels. I have no problem with it, everything that involves implementing security so that girls do not work on the street and are in danger is fine with me.

Before accepting this deal, I have to be absolutely sure that these brothers are not your typical sons of bitches who kidnap or force women to work for them. It would not be the first time they tried to fool me into believing that everything is consensual, but once I discover the deception, it is the last time for them.

At night we come to a seedy bar that wants to pass itself off as glamorous, but the reality is that it sucks. Lights at medium intensity, walls painted in black and gold tones, the waitresses are half-naked women who walk in front of us moving their asses exaggeratedly.

- Marcus - greets Fento, the older brother sitting across from Dante and me - I'm glad you came.

I purse my lips. Just hearing his voice pissed me off.

- Let's get to the point where is your brother?

- In the bar. Ordering some drinks - he explains - How I said in the mail everything is spoiled, you have our word.

I click my tongue. There is no way to know if they are lying or not, but when someone tells me "You have my word" I instantly hesitate.

I turn on my shoulder to look for Fento's brother. I don't know why the hell he hasn't come back yet if he has seen that the meeting has already started.

What I see leaves me frozen. The sensation of throwing yourself into the void from the top of a cliff, when you feel the pressure in your stomach, that overturn, I feel it when I see it at the bar, grabbing a girl by the arm who, if she is not Mía, is her double.

I get up in unstoppable fury, I forcefully throw the chair down. It's certainly her and this guy is dead from the moment his fingers have touched her.

I walk taking great strides. When I get to him, I listen to part of the conversation and several things are clear to me.

- No sir, I don't have any hearing problems, but I only serve drinks, I'm a waitress - She says with a slight tremor in that voice that I thought I would never hear again.

- You will be what I want.

I grab his head and slam it against the bar. I want to hurt him, I want to kill him slowly and painfully, so I detach him from the bar and smash him against her again without taking my eyes off Mia.

It takes a few seconds to react. His gaze goes up from my hands to my shoulders, to end on my face. After so many days I see his huge green eyes again. His breath catches and before he can react and ask for an explanation, he jumps over the bar and runs towards a door.

This time he will not escape. I thought she had died and I died with her, but now everything has changed, I have a second chance and I am not going to waste it.

Dante comes to my side seeing the same thing as me.

- Get out there and cut him off.

I jump the bar and follow the same path as Mia a moment ago.

I push open the door that leads to an alley with no lights, but I see her halfway between me and the main street. I run as if my life depended on it. After feeling her loss in a brutal way like never before, I think it is literal that if she disappears, I will go back into the lethargy of feelings.

Dante appears at the end and runs towards her. I finally see a little light. She is Mía and she will never be separated from me again. When Dante reaches out to hold her, she grabs his arm, does a jog and with the outside of her hip pulls him until he knocks him to the ground, but what the hell just happened?

She is short and skinny and has just knocked down a guy who is over six feet tall. I run with all my might. He cannot escape. FUCK.

I get to her. I enclose her in my arms and lift her up. Knowing that he has learned to defend himself, I do not want him to play the little game and lay me down too.

- Let go! - Yells kicking in all directions - MARCUS! LET GO!

A car led by one of my men cuts our way. Without thinking too much about it, we open the trunk and close it with it inside.

I shit the bitch. I'm short of breath and I'm sweating like when I do an hour and a half of sports, but for the first time in more than a month, I breathe without the weight that was oppressing my chest.

- We return to Verona - I inform the driver.

Dante got into the car behind us. He drives it with the face of few friends. Not even the best men have ever managed to knock him down, Mia arrives and in a moment she has been able to with him. I shake my head with a condescending smile.

Half an hour later a thud catches my attention. We have been very calm, I thought that Mia would go all the way screaming and crying, but no, she has been silent. When I see in the rear-view mirror how the trunk opens and his body falls in the middle of the road I understand everything suddenly. He has been silent because he was working on escaping. Where is my Angel? My innocent and sweet Mia ...

- Brake, fuck - I threaten the driver.

It stops dry just like the car behind us.

One of my men gets to her first. He lifts her off the ground and smashes her hard onto the cold road. It takes me a second to get there, but it's too late.

I kick him in the side and he flies off a couple of meters.

- Do not touch her again in your fucking life - I hiss approaching - No matter what I do or say - I turn on my feet so that others see and hear me - there is a bullet waiting for the next one who dares to touch it!

That said, I walk to Mia who is still struggling to stand up, but it is clear that she is dizzy and cannot get up.

- How are you? - I place my hands on his cheeks.

She lifts her head to meet my eyes. It does not push them away. He does not fear me like everyone who knows me.

- My head hurts - she whispers running her fingers through her hair - Marcus, let me go, please.

- I can't do that and you know it.

And even if she could, she wouldn't, but that doesn't need her to know.

- Where you take me?

- Home - His eyes widen understanding what I mean - to Verona.

He pushes me with his small hands, without force and with erratic movements.

- No, no, I can't go back. If I come back I'm dead, please.

His voice is losing strength little by little along with the shoves that he gives me. Suddenly her body collapses, but before she hits the ground I manage to hold her in my arms.

I don't have the heart to put it back in the trunk. I sit in the back of the car with Mia on my lap. That panic that has been reflected in his eyes can only be for his father or for me. If I had wanted to hurt her, I would have done it in the bar where I saw her. If the intention to harm Mía is from the father, then we are at the gates of a war, because I will not allow it.

After our private flight in which we managed to get a doctor to fly with us at the last minute to check Mía's condition, we finally arrived at my house.

- Dante, take care of everything - I inform - call Fento and tell him that we will not do business with them.

- Very well sir.

I open the door to my room and walk slowly, listening to Mia's rhythmic breathing. I lay her down carefully on the bed.

Realizing my feelings hasn't made me an asshole, so I take off the handcuffs and close one end around Mía's wrist and the other end on the headboard.

I can't allow it to escape. We have a pending conversation and she has to give me a lot of explanations. He is the first person who manages to fool me and escape my radar. If the subject spreads, others may see me as weak. Now he's going to meet the professional Marcus, the mobster.