His Tesoro: An Arranged Marriage Age Gap Mafia Romance (Empire of Royals Book 1)
His Tesoro: Chapter 66

I stared at Sofiya’s unmoving dot on the tracker app. She’d been inside the warehouse for forty-five minutes. Every second of the wait had been agony, but we didn’t know how many of the Irish were inside, and we had to be strategic.

At least, that’s what Romeo kept telling me.

The warehouse was in the middle of nowhere. A long gravel driveway cut through open fields to reach the entrance of a gray building. There was an abandoned outbuilding within sight of the warehouse, and that was where we waited for Rustik. He had landed at the same small airport we used and was on his way.

A call came up on my phone. My finger hovered over the answer button, but it was an unknown number so I sent it to voicemail.

“Rustik is three minutes out,” Romeo said.

“Let’s get into position.” We’d planned with Rustik while he was on the plane. My men and I would take the east side of the warehouse and he would take the west. We would work our way to the middle to free Sofiya and destroy the Irish and Albanians.

The warehouse was quiet as we approached. I met Romeo’s equally confused gaze at the lack of guards. Hopefully, that meant they weren’t expecting us and we wouldn’t face much opposition.

“Rustik is in position,” Romeo whispered.

I nodded at my men. Twenty of them had come with us and I looked each of them in the eye now. These were men who had been loyal to me and, for the older ones, loyal to my father. The Mafia, these men, were Family, but my family would never be complete without Sofiya.

“Thank you for standing with me,” I said. A few expressions of shock flashed across the faces before me. “There’s no one else I would trust with my wife’s safety.” Their faces turned serious and their chests puffed up with pride. I turned back to Romeo. “Let’s go.”

The inside of the warehouse was dark. Shadows from the small, barred windows played across the concrete walls. I led the way through a small, quiet room until we came to another door. Romeo tested it and it creaked open, and we all moved into a pitch black windowless space. There was a soft thud as the door shut behind us. Before I could reach for my phone to turn on the flashlight, the room flooded with lights—blinding, bright lights that illuminated a massive room with endless pallets of stacked boxes.

And a line of uniformed, armed men facing us.

At the front of the line stood Domenico.

A very alive, sneering Domenico.

A moment of confusion was followed by a lightning bolt of rage. I raised my gun. “Give me one reason I shouldn’t kill you.”

Domenico’s smile was something sick and twisted. “My very good friend is with your wife right now. Anything that happens to me will happen to her.”

The puzzle pieces fell into place, each one highlighting what an absolute fool I’d been. I’d been trying to figure out who the Albanians had allied with, and all along it was Rustik fucking Ivanov. Who had worked with my enforcer. And framed the Irish to distract me.

“I see you’ve finally figured it out.” Domenico stretched his arms, looking completely at ease, knowing that I couldn’t do anything to him and risk Sofiya. “It’s been exhausting having to bow and scrape to you all this time. I supported you all those years ago, but you’ve grown weak. You’re nothing compared to Arben and Rustik.”

Romeo snarled beside me, and I pressed my hand to his chest. My heart was pounding. I had no idea how we were going to get out of this.

“Now, time to use your pitiful brain cells and surrender. You, of course, will have to die, but I promise to be gentle,” Domenico said.

I clenched my jaw, resisting the temptation to shoot him in the mouth.

“But if your men surrender, I’m sure we can replace them a place in Arben’s new empire.”

“If you think we would ever serve you—” one of my men growled.

“Fuck, the idiocy runs deep in the Family,” Domenico said. The man next to him snorted.

I flicked my eyes to Romeo, trying to weigh the odds.

We could shoot at them. There was no way they would allow any of us to live, so we might as well take as many of them down with us.

But then, what would happen to Sofiya? I wasn’t convinced Rustik would kill his daughter, but I wasn’t willing to take that risk, especially knowing he had no reservations when it came to hurting her. Or selling her off to be married.

Motherfucker.

Another piece of the puzzle fell into place. He was going to marry her to Arben.

“How do I know you actually have Sofiya?” I needed to buy us time.

Domenico shrugged. “That’s just a risk you’ll have to⁠—”

A gunshot rang out from across the room. Blood trickled from Domenico’s mouth before he fell forward.

Mayhem broke out. “Open-fire!” I screamed. My men fired on the line of Bratva and Albanian soldiers, who continued to be struck from behind by some unknown shooter. Bullets pinged past me as I crouched down and shot at the swiftly falling men. The concrete floor and walls kicked up dust, and then the lights went off, drenching us in darkness as shouts and bullets filled the air.

And then an eerie silence fell. The flashlight on my phone highlighted Domenico’s body, surrounded by dead soldiers. I turned the light on my men, who looked mostly unharmed thanks to whoever had shot at the enemy soldiers from behind. The shooter must still be in this room, but it was impossible to spot him with stacks of crates creating a perfect hiding place.

“Francesco’s been shot,” Romeo said. “Seems like a flesh wound, but Ajello is going to bring him back to the car to check on him.”

“Good.” I addressed the rest of the men. “Spread out across the warehouse and replace Sofiya.”

I turned to Romeo and lowered my voice. “I’m going to see if there’s another door this way.” I jerked my head at the other side of the large warehouse space.

Romeo lifted his chin and the rest of my men spread out to check the rest of the rooms in the building.

I felt along the wall for a light switch but couldn’t replace it.

I made my way through the room, my eyes skimming across the walls and moving around the pallets, my gun raised in my arms in case I ran into the shooter. Whoever they were, they didn’t seem to be my enemy, but I didn’t trust anyone who hid in the shadows.

A loud scraping noise and shouts sounded from outside. My heart pounded faster as I made my way along the wall to the other side of the room, feeling for a door. My fingers hit a bump, and I realized it was a light switch.

I flipped it. My eyes raked across the room, and then I saw her.

Sofiya. My love.

Her eyes were wild and she was crawling towards a door not far from where I stood.

Relief like I’d never experienced before stole my breath away.

She was here.

She was alive.

I called out her name and ran toward her. She turned, the expression on her face was one of confusion and relief. Her lips moved, forming my name.

Then an explosion hit the side of the room and I was thrown back.