Run

C H A P T E R F I F T E E N

Vincent's POV

I was was peacefully sleeping, enjoying the feeling of holding Leah in my arms, when the door suddenly flew open and Leonardo rushed into the room.

"Boss," He says, slightly out of breath. "the Tallios, they're here." I immediately jump out of bed and run into my office, where Andreas is waiting, a phone pushed to his ear.

"I know, I know. Just secure the grounds, no more of them come, none of them leave." He abruptly ends the call and stands up when he sees me. He looks slightly confused as he looks at me, and that's when I remember that I'm still in my suit from last night. I guess I was so preoccupied with Leah, I didn't even realize being in the slightest state of discomfort.

"Go, alert the staff and the rest of the men. I need to go check on Leah. But make sure to bring their boss up to my office." Andreas nods before standing up and immediately leaving the room without another word.

I silently curse the Tallios and their boss as I make my back to my bedroom.

Damn bastards, can't even give me a minute's peace.

My mind runs wild with the thought of what they could possibly want now. I already told them I'm not paying them shit until their actual boss comes and confronts me.

"Leah?" I ask quietly as I open the door. She was still sleeping when I left, and I don't want to wake her if she still is. It's been a stressful couple of days, she deserves some rest.

I silently creep into the room and see the bed empty.

"Leah?" I call again, louder this time. But again, there's no answer. I search the entire bedroom, the closet, the bathroom, but she's gone.

A million thoughts run through my head. What if she ran away? What if she decided she didn't want to be a part of this so she left? She couldn't have left, I need her here. I just got her back, I can't bare her leaving again, I can't-

"Boss?" Leonardo sticks his head in the room. He looks confused as he watches me pace the length of the room, but I don't care.

"Leah's gone. Secure the house. I want every single nook and cranny of this house searched. No one stops until we find her."

His eyes widen slightly, but he just nods and walks away; leaving me alone once again. And for the first time today, I finally notice how uncomfortable I am in this suit. I take a few minutes to change, but also to collect myself.

Stay calm. You'll find her. You've done it before, you can do it again.

The second I step out of the room I immediately go up to one of the security guards at the end of the hall and inform him of the situation.

"We'll do everything we can to find her, boss."

"And how is the situation with the Tallios going?" I hate to admit it, but I'm starting to get nervous. The Tallios being here is definitely not a good thing, especially with Leah missing. Who knows what they would do if they found her before I did.

"We've managed to close off the property and have the group surrounded. There are about one hundred in the front off the house who are being searched as we speak."

I nod my head and make my way back to my office, where Leonardo instructed the Tallios 'boss' is currently seated. I slam open the door and everyone in the room jumps. The so called leader, is sitting in a chair in front of my desk. He's short, stocky, and definitely not intimidating enough to make me believe whatever he says.

"Mr. Esposito," He says with a little too much confidence. "allow me to introduce myself, I'm Anthony Grey, leader of the Tallios."

"Bullshit." I didn't believe him. I didn't believe one word that came out of his mouth. There's no way, there's no way that's their leader. I'm sure of it.

"Excuse me?" He says, slightly surprised. "Who exactly do you think you're talking to?"

"Definitely not the leader of the Tallios, that's for sure." He's getting irritated, I can tell. His fists are clenching, his eyes are narrowing. An actual leader would know not to show any emotion. An actual leader would just fire back.

"I-I don't know what you're talking about." He starts to squirm under my gaze and I smirk. I've got him right where I want him.

"Okay, Fine. So tell me, what are you doing here."

"We're here to collect our money."

"Your money? Yeah, right. You're the ones who stole from me. I'm not paying you guys shit."

"Well," He says. "We won't be leaving until we get what we came here for." He crosses his arms over his chest and gives me what I assume is supposed to be an intimidating look.

"Forget it. You either leave willingly, or I force you. It's your choice."

He laughs now, why, I don't know. He looks me dead in the eye and raises his eyebrows.

"But Vincent, why would we leave when we have your beautiful girl in our possession?" His eyes now gleam with mischief and he laughs again.

"What? What do you-"

"Bring her in, boys."

Two tall, bulky men then barge through the door, and in their arms they carry a tied up, screaming Leah.

She kicks and thrashes in their hold, but they refuse to let her go.

"You bastard! Let her go." You can hear the panic and desperation in my voice, but I don't care. I just want my girl back.

"You see Vincent, I would love to just hand her over to you, but unfortunately I can't. Our boss, the real leader of the Tallios, refuses to take no for an answer. And he knew that the only way to get through to you, was through the person you care about most. And if you don't pay up, we will be forced to take her away. Do you understand?"

His words hit me like a truck. We will be forced to take her away. I can't let that happen. For thirteen years I searched for her. Sometimes I went without sleep for days, I just wanted to find her. And now that I have there's absolutely no way I'm giving her up.

"You won't take her, I won't let you." My voice no longer shakes as I speak and I can feel my fists clenching with anger. All the worry and fear I had been feeling just moments ago has been replaced with rage.

"I'm sorry Vincent, but I'm afraid you don't have a choice."

And right as I was about to retort back, he pulls a gun out of his jacket and pulls the trigger.

*******

Hiiiii

Oh my gosh I haven't updated in so long and I feel so bad but school has finally ended so hopefully I'll have some more time to write. And one more thing...

CAN WE JUST ACKNOWLEDGE THE FACT THAT RUN NOW HAS OVER 14 THOUSAND READS AND IS RANKED 154 IN THE ROMANCE TAG. THANK YOU GUYS SO MUCH I GENUINELY LOVE AND APPRECIATE EVERY SINGLE ONE OF MY READERS AND HOPE YOU CONTINUE WITH THIS BOOK.