“Lorenzo.” She stood, ignoring everyone at the table as she moved toward me. She was within arm's reach, just centimeters from me, when a blast outside shook the house. I flew out of my seat, grabbing her around the waist and shoving her behind me.
Christian did the same, pushing Sofia toward Aida, and Mateo flung himself in front of Ma. Then together, we moved toward the dining-room door, but we weren’t fast enough. Hordes of uniformed agents barreled inside, their guns raised, shouting for us to put our hands in the air.
Ma started shouting in Italian, and Sofia cried out as one of the officers pushed her to the ground and onto her knees. My hands were raised, just like Christian’s and Mateo’s. We knew how to handle raids like this, but more importantly, we knew they’d never find anything, so we cooperated because the sooner we did, the quicker they would be gone.
“Get off of me!” Aida shouted, and I turned just in time to see her pushing back against a woman wearing a bulletproof vest with the letters FBI written in white on the front.
“Get down, Lorenzo Beretta,” a male agent barked at me. This wasn’t anything new to me, and because I knew there was no way they had anything against me, I got down to my knees, keeping my attention focused on Aida. Look at me, I silently told her, but she was too busy staring the female agent down. Her hands were in the air, but she refused to get down on her knees. I smirked, thinking back to two nights ago when she’d done just that for me.
The butt of a gun slammed into the side of my face, and my world spun for a fraction of a second before my head dropped down. “Fuck,” I gritted out, trying to hold my anger in.
“You were resisting,” the agent said, and when I looked up at him, he winked at me. “That’ll leave a bruise.”
“You piece of shit!” Aida shouted, diving for me, but the woman caught her, shoving her to the ground on her stomach and slapping a pair of cuffs on her. Only then did Aida look at me, eyes wide, her face pale.
“You’re under arrest,” the female agent told her, reading her rights. I cursed silently, both at the throbbing pain in my face and the fact that Aida hadn’t done what they told her to do. I should have explained what to do when being faced with any kind of law enforcement, but I doubt it would have made a difference. She was sweet, kind, sexy, but my favorite was feisty as fuck.
“We have a warrant to search the premises,” the agent who’d jammed the butt of his gun into my face said, throwing a piece of paper on the floor in front of me.
I didn’t even acknowledge it as I stared up at him. “Go right ahead.” I paused, my lips lifting into a smirk. “You won’t find anything.”
“I’ll be the judge of that.” He looked at the agent who held Aida pinned to the ground. “Take her down to headquarters.”
“No,” I growled, starting to stand. “You’re not taking her anywhere.”
“Yeah?” the male agent asked, stepping closer to me. His vest was the same as the woman’s, but it had an extra name badge. Agent Morgan. I stowed that name away, knowing I’d be finding out exactly who he was when they were done here.
“Go ahead, asshole. Resist her arrest and see where it lands you.”
The sound of clattering came from the kitchen, and I pulled in a deep breath, knowing they would go through every inch of the house with a fine-tooth comb—the places they could see anyway.
I turned my head, just enough to spot the agent lifting Aida from the floor, and silently tried to tell her it would be okay. However much I’d tried to keep business away from her, she knew things that could go against me. Time would tell whose side she’d be on, but deep down, I already knew she wouldn’t betray me. She was in this with me. Right?
CHAPTER 16
AIDA
The farther away from the house we drove, the more my fight drained away. The buzzing in my ears got louder, my breaths coming faster, and my hands started to tingle—the latter because of the cuffs.
The blacked-out SUV—not too dissimilar to the one Mateo drove—whizzed through the streets and toward the city. I had no idea where they were taking me, but I was relieved it was somewhere I knew. At least then I’d be able to find my way back if they ever let me go. I groaned as I looked down at my lap. I was only dressed in a pair of leggings, some slides, and one of Lorenzo’s T-shirts, sans my bra. I knew that not wearing a bra inside the house would bite me in the ass.
Tires screeched to a halt as we took a turn too fast, and the SUV wobbled. Whoever was driving was acting as though they were being chased, and maybe they were. Lorenzo said he had eyes everywhere, but somehow, deep down, I knew he’d have no idea where they were taking me either.
Part of me wished I would have done as the rest of the family had—stayed relatively quiet and did what the FBI told us to do—but my instincts when I’d seen that asshole slam his gun into Lorenzo’s face had kicked in. And now, here I was, in the back of an SUV with my wrists cuffed.
The car slammed to a stop, and my body flung forward, my face colliding with the back of the passenger seat. I felt the trickle of blood on my lip a second before I tasted it. I winced, howling as I snapped my mouth open, causing the tooth that had gone into my bottom lip to tear the sensitive skin. The trickle turned into a burst of blood, but neither of the agents said anything as they got out of the car and hauled me with them.
I could feel the warmth of it running down my neck, and each small tic of my muscles felt like it was tearing it apart even more. “I need a tissue,” I groaned out. I was ignored, yet again, and dragged into a building that looked like a tower of offices. Was this where the headquarters was? Hiding in plain sight. Or was this somewhere different, somewhere that no one knew about?
Several people stood around, earpieces in their ears, their faces forward, not making a single move as we walked by them. The female agent who had tackled me to the floor back at the mansion gripped my arm harder, veering me to the left and into an open elevator.
The doors pinged shut, and then we were going up, the numbers above the doors flashing by at lightning speed. Everything was a blur as the doors opened back up. We traveled through several hallways, into a room, and then another hallway. Finally, I was pushed into a room, and they slammed the door behind me.
“Fuck you very much,” I groaned, wishing I hadn’t spoken as my lip burned and more blood trickled out of the cut.
I spun around in a circle, taking stock of the room. Three concrete walls surrounded me along with one mirrored one. I rolled my eyes. They couldn’t have been more predictable if they tried. A lone table sat in the middle of the room, bolted to the floor. I moved toward it, sitting on one of the two chairs. I was debating going to the mirror and seeing how bad my lip was, but there was no way I was going to give them the satisfaction. They were probably watching me.
I smirked. What would Lorenzo do in this situation? I’d been asking myself that a lot lately. I was who I was, and there was no changing that. I hated hard, but I loved harder. I stood up for what I believed in, and I surrendered when I knew it was the right time. And maybe back at the mansion should have been one of those times, but my gut told me it wasn’t.
The door clicked open, and I snapped my head to face it. I wasn’t prepared for a new agent to enter, so when a tall, good-looking man strode in, I raised a brow. He had that bad-boy vibe, the kind Lorenzo had, only Lorenzo’s wasn’t an act—it was just who he was. This guy…this guy was playing make-believe.