Bought by The Mafia Boss

Chapter 40

**RENZO POV**

Shaking with rage was not something I had truly and personally understood before now. My body seemed to physically ache with the overwhelming roar of emotions. Tomasso took her, in plain daylight. He took the one girl that he shouldn't have dared to lay a finger on. I doubt he even realized how much of a mistake that was. Mercy was no longer a word in my vocabulary as James drove us towards the mall she'd been shopping at.

"Renzo." James said beside me. "You realize this will accelerate our timeline. It could get us into problems."

I nodded, but didn't care. If this made it so I couldn't return to the United States, so be it. Aedlin would not die because of the likes of me. That sweet, innocent, bull headed woman would not have her life cut short because of some dumb a** thing I did. Part of me hoped that she would find the strength, the boldness that I'd seen a few times to survive long enough for me to burn down the world for her.

Part of me hoped that she wouldn't lose that innocence in doing so. It kept me grounded, kept me from slipping too far. She reminded me that I was worth something. She made me feel alive again. For the first time in years, I was also terrified to tell someone the truth. Terrified to explain to her the secrets that I held. But so far, every one that had come to light had not scared her off.

Yet.

"She will be alright, Boss." James spoke again, whizzing us through a yellow light that may have turned red before we'd actually entered the intersection.

"And if she's not?" I asked him, watching his face become tight. "Is this what it's like for you and Mia? Because I feel like I am going crazy."

He chuckled. "Welcome to being in love, brother. Although my girl hasn't ever been kidnapped so I'm not sure what that feels like." 

"And mine has been kidnapped now twice. I must be f****** up somewhere to have it happen more than once." I gave him a half hearted smile.

"It's good growth for her."

"I doubt this is the kind of growth she wants." I was grateful for the lighthearted banter between us. It felt real, like we were kids again, like there wasn't the explosion that was about to occur when I laid my hands on Tomasso.

James ran a hand through his hair. "Except now you get to ride in, guns blazing and rescue the damsel in distress." He grinned at me.

I shook my head, but couldn't help chuckling. He wasn't wrong, although there was a side of Aedlin only I saw that had me guessing that she may already have taken Tomasso down a peg or two before I'd even arrive. Maybe she wasn't in as much distress as I feared. I was hopeful, but not expectant. As long as she was alive, as long as I was able to hold her in my arms one more time, I could live the rest of my life with no regrets. Even if she chose to leave me after this, even if she never wanted to see me again, I could live with that.

James steered the vehicle into the parking lot and squealed across the hot asphalt. This would be fine. This would work not just for growth in the business but for getting Aedlin back. And then I would never let her out of my sight again.

I rushed out of the car before James had even made it to a complete stop. There her roommates and Lily were, standing in a circle around someone. Slamming between two of them, I saw Brick sitting on the curb holding ice to his eye. Blood spattered, dried against the curb where he sat. His blood. It coated the collar to his shirt as he slowly looked at me. Sweat dripped down my face as I breathed rapidly, deeply.

"I'm sorry Boss." He muttered. "Four of them came after me and I couldn't stop them."

I clenched my jaw. Anger. I was angry, filled with rage and he flinched at my reaction. Except it wasn't directed towards him. "I Draghi Bianchi?" I asked and he nodded once as Lily gasped. Shoving out of the group, I wandered around the parking lot for a moment, scanning the tar below me. Her phone had to be around here somewhere.

Sun reflecting from something to my right caught my eye, and there it was. Her silly rainbow case with the dark blue background wrapped around her phone that wasn't broken despite being dropped. James jogged over in my direction and raised his eyebrows at me.

It shouldn't have happened this fast. Tomasso said we had a week, but maybe that smart mouth of Aedlin had irked him. Man, I loved that woman. "James, how quickly do you think we could pull it off?"

He shrugged his shoulders. "Honestly, it would only take maybe two hours to get everyone together."

"There can't be a single mistake. Camera's have to be erased, deleted, disabled, destroyed. Evidence cannot be left behind. It has to look like an accident."

James grinned, a wicked grin. "Good thing that his mansion is known to host many parties. Parties that typically carry a lot of liquor. And liquor is flammable." I gave him a subtle nod and I tossed him my flip phone before returning to Brick's side.

"Aedlin was never taken. Brick was never knocked out and if any of you speak of this to anyone outside of this group or even within this group again, you will find yourself no longer capable of speaking. Do you understand me?" I sneered at them. Bewilderment flashed through everyone's face except for Lily. She knew I was being serious.

I tilted my head and looked at Aedlin's roommates. They snorted and then shook their heads. "Right. I'm going to call the cops so they can start looking for her." The one I believed was named Marissa pulled her phone out of her pocket.

"You don't want to test me." I snarled and snatched it out of her grip. Fracturing her phone in half with my bare hands, I tossed it back at her. It bounced off of her chest and the pieces clattered to the ground. "I will do so much more than just cut your tongue out and feed it to you if you so much as attempt to cross me."

I had never felt so much searing rage before. Maybe once before this when I learned of Aedlin's first kidnapping, but this was different. This one felt final, as if I wouldn't ever be fast enough in retrieving her. I feared she would be dead by the time I managed to pull this off without getting caught.

Marissa blinked at me and then laughed again. The others joined in, a little more nervously but I remained cold, stoic. Brick spoke from the curb. "He really isn't joking. Normally he would've just done so without warning, but Aedlin wouldn't forgive him for doing that to you guys since you're her friends."

That cut the laughter off immediately and they all swung to stare at me. "Find yourselves a way home." I stated and helped Brick up from the cement he was sitting on. We had to go now, I had to get everyone geared up; now. Aedlin's life depended on it, and right now she was all I cared about. It didn't matter to me how many stood in my way, it didn't matter what happened to me.

What did matter was Aedlin.

"Boss, slow down. Be rational about this." Brick reprimanded me.

"I am. Everything planned for Friday is just going to happen today." I replied and a hand wrapped around my arm. Spinning around, ready to defend myself, I came face to face with a very angry and very concerned Liliana.

"I'm coming with." She seethed out.

"No." I whipped back forward and continued to carry Brick back towards the car that James was waiting in.

"Yes I am." She stomped after us. Normally I would've fought it, protested it, and eventually won, but at this point time was of the essence so I let her follow. Let her choose to throw herself into the lion's den. Which was where we were headed.

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It was time. Everything had been set in place. My men were ready, I was ready and there would be no traces of us left behind. James signaled and we moved. Straight into Tomasso's mansion.

The very place that I had met Aedlin and where she was being held now.