Yeah, I already had and looked how that worked out. "Naturally." I lifted my chin and spat in Alfonso's face. "He's ten times the man you'll ever be."

"So now you challenge my manhood?" Alfonso grinned. "How about I take you up on the offer then?"

"Offer?" I squinted as the light above Alfonso's head flickered in my line of vision.

"To save your love..." Alfonso tilted his head and reached out, cupping my chin with his fingers, his thumb caressed my lower lip. "What will you give me?"

"h.e.l.l no!" Tex shouted, his voice filled with gravel. "I'd rather die than see her breathe the same air as you."

"That-" Alfonso dropped my chin and sneered at Tex. "-can be arranged."

"Boss!" One of the men was talking on his phone in hushed tones. "Boss!"

"What!" Alfonso roared.

The guard held up the phone.

"Problem."

Cursing, Alfonso wiped his hands on the rag from the metal table. "Fine, it will give the couple time to say goodbye."

With a laugh he followed the guard out the door. I slumped against Tex's chair. "What do you need?"

"Well since you're taking orders, a hamburger and fries would be killer."

Tex sighed. "Or maybe a milkshake?

Yeah I'm changing my order, chocolate milkshake, stat."

"Tex." My voice shook. "I can't joke right now. I can't, not when you're bleeding, not when you could almost die, not-"

"I'm not blood," he said in a hollow voice. "Does it matter to the Abandonato princess what happens to me?"

I awkwardly staggered to my feet and grabbed the rag from the table, wiping his face as I answered, "The same could be said of me, I wiped across his lips, the blood had already started to dry, I'm not blood, what does it matter to the Campisi heir?"

Tex's eyes fluttered closed for a brief second before opening, nailing me to the spot, consuming my very heartbeat, making my pulse do nothing but scream his name. "It matters."

I nodded, touching the rag to the corner of his mouth. "It matters."

I wasn't sure if untying him would get us in more trouble, so I did the next best thing. I leaned down and kissed him.

Our mouths met in a frenzy.

He tasted like blood.

Which meant he was alive.

My Tex was alive.

And he was mine.

CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX.

When all h.e.l.l breaks loose all you can really do is hold on and maybe close your eyes.

Sergio "START AT THE BEGINNING." Nixon paced in front of me, waving his gun wildly in the air. You know, the gun that he didn't even have a safety on. When it pointed to my face I sighed and leaned back in my chair. We'd been over it for the past hour. Each detail.

And we still had nothing.

"Clearly I was taken from behind,"

I mumbled, embarra.s.sed that I had been taken at all and horrified that someone was able to even sneak by our men, which made me wonder what the h.e.l.l type of people the Campisis actually were.

Nixon sat the gun at the table and sat in the chair next to me. "Where would he take them? He wouldn't be stupid enough to kill them."

Luca and Frank remained silent as they stared at the table. Yeah the table wasn't going to help us folks. Then again, maybe they were just getting too old for this s.h.i.t.

I ran my hands through my hair.

"Mo they'll let live."

The room fell silent except for the hum of the fridge and the ticking of the Grandfather clock in the hallway.

Chase drummed his fingertips against the table and pulled out his phone. "Does she have her cell?"

"Given my specific skill set, don't you think I've already gone down every possible avenue of her rescue?" I tried to keep my voice even. "She doesn't have her phone, Tex doesn't have his phone, they're gone and the only way we're getting them back is if we wait."

"We are not waiting." Nixon growled.

Trace put her hand on his back and started rubbing. Nixon flexed and unflexed his fist.

"There is no way to track her." I sighed. "I'm sorry, Nixon. We wait. We have to."

"We wait when I say we wait,"

Nixon yelled.

I held up my hands in surrender.

"Fine, you're the boss."

Luca stood abruptly and marched out of the room, cell phone in hand.

"Wayta p.i.s.s everyone off, Sergio,"

Chase murmured.

"This isn't my fault!" I shouted. "I was taken from behind!"

"You should have been paying attention!" Nixon roared. "What the h.e.l.l were you doing! Watching a d.a.m.n sitcom!"

"She was with Tex!" I jumped up from my chair. "She was safe!"

"She is never safe with Tex." Nixon jabbed his finger in my chest pushing my legs back against the wooden chair.

"Never, do you understand? From here on out, you're her freaking shadow. I want to know how many times she tosses in her sleep, I want to know how many eye lashes she loses per hour. When we get her back, not if, but when we get her back, her life is more important than yours. Do we have an understanding?"

Rolling my eyes wouldn't be effective, but that's exactly what I wanted to do. And this was why I hated working for the family. I bit my tongue, allowing myself a few moments of sanity before speaking.

"We have an understanding."

"Good."

Nixon popped his knuckles and picked up his gun again.

"Put that down before you hurt yourself," Chase whispered then gripped Mil's hand and whispered into her ear, "They'll be fine, Tex is an animal."

"That's the problem,"

Nixon interjected. "He's an animal I can no longer control."

"You don't know that," Frank piped up. "You know nothing of what happened."

It was true, even the camera system had somehow been overridden so we were literally blind on all fronts. How the h.e.l.l had they infiltrated so quickly, the thought that it was planned entered my head probably the same time Nixon's cold gaze met mine.

"No." I shook my head. "Tex wouldn't do that."

"Would he?" Nixon whispered.

"How else would they be able to infiltrate the house? It's a fortress."

"Nixon-" Trace held out her hands in front of her. "No, we're talking about Tex, your best friend Tex!"

"The world is an ugly place,"

Nixon spat. "You of all people should know that, Trace. After all, Phoenix was my best friend too, and look how that turned out."

"Enough." Frank entered the room again sliding his phone back into his pocket. "They're fifteen miles south of here."

"What?" We all said in unison.

My eyes narrowed to tiny slits.

"How do you know that?"

Luca met Frank's gaze. It was tired; h.e.l.l they both looked like they needed a vacation. "Oh, Sergio, I know a great many secrets. This one, I just hoped to keep a little longer."

"All good things,"

Frank whispered.

"They must end," Luca agreed.

"Let's go."

CHAPTER TWENTY-SEVEN.

The kiss of death-what a way to go.

Tex KISSING MO WAS EASING the pain. Had I been dying, this was exactly how I wanted to go. With her tight body pressed against mine, with her hot breath tickling my lips, with her tongue teasing every inch of mine until I was ready to go insane.

I wanted to wrap my hands around her, but they were still tied behind me and it wasn't some crazy BDSM s.h.i.t that had them tied. Nope, just my crazy family. h.e.l.l, I'd always envied Nixon and his family. I fought against the zip tie. Yeah, envy officially gone.

"Tex."

Mo pressed another lingering kiss to my lips. "I have to tell you something, it doesn't matter anymore because-"

Shots started firing from the outside.

"Get behind me, Mo."

"No!" She crossed her arms. "I'm not using you as a shield!" Her eyes widened in horror.

"I said. Get. Behind. Me. Now."

She looked between me and the door. "Look, if I pull the knife from your thigh you may bleed like a b.i.t.c.h but at least I can get you loose and-"

"Mo!" I wasn't above begging.

"Please, for the love of G.o.d, just let me do my job, let me protect you, this is all I have, my body as your freaking shield, alright? My soul for yours. That's what I have right now. That's what I'd give to keep you safe, so I'm not asking you, I'm telling you, I'm demanding you get behind me before I He-Man my way out of this binding and rip off my d.a.m.n hands in the process."

With a stunned expression she hobbled behind me.