To Be Yours Again-Chapter 207 Behind your back

*LORENZO*

“Lie down, both of you. On your front. Hands behind your back.”

Julio gives Ratface a quick look. Is he going to try something? I step forward and lower the barrel, aiming for his head.

“Hello!” A voice from downstairs calls up.

It’s Mona. Already? That makes no sense.

“Upstairs, Mona!” I shout, not taking my eyes off the two lowlifes. I motion with the gun. Fucking lie down. They comply, and I approach the two prone figures on the bedroom floor.

“Don’t move a muscle.” I press the muzzle of the gun into Julio’s back. “Try me. The shot will break your spine and enter your stomach, and you’ll die a slow, agonizing death, which is more than you deserve, you fucking animal.”

“No. No. Please,” he whimpers like a beaten dog in his thick accent.

“Shut up and keep still. Do you understand? Nod if you do.”

Both men give me quick, furious nods, and I chance a glance at Danica who is wide-eyed, pale, and hugging herself in the doorway. Behind her, Mona appears, and Jenkins behind Danny.

“Oh, my God.” Mona’s hand goes to her mouth. “What’s happening here?”

“Did Dante reach you?”

“No, sir. We followed you after you leapt up from the breakfast table. We knew something was wrong....”

Jenkins hovers in the background.

“These two kidnappers broke into the house. They were after Danica.” I press the barrel into Julio’s back.

“Do you have anything I can restrain them with?” I ask Jenkins, keeping my eyes trained on the men on the floor.

“I’ve some baling twine in the back of the Land Rover.” He turns and hurries back down the stairs.

“Mona, take Danica back to the great Mansion, please.”

“No,” Danica protests.

“Go. I’ll be with you as soon as I can. You’ll be safe with Mona.”

“Come on, child,” Mona says.

“I need a change of clothes,” Danica mumbles. I frown. Why?

Danica dashes into the walk-in wardrobe and comes out a few moments later carrying one of the bags from our shopping the other day.

With one unreadable glance at me, she follows Mona down the stairs.

******************

Danica stares, unseeing, out the windshield, her hands wrapped around her body as the old woman named Mona drives the large, rattling car down a country lane.

Where are we going?

Her head aches, her scalp and face are throbbing. It also hurts her side when she takes a breath. She tries to keep her breathing shallow.

Mona has wrapped her in a blanket that she took from the sofa in the holiday house.

“We don’t want you catching cold, dear,” she’d said.

She has a kind, gentle voice with an accent that Danica cannot place. She must be a good friend to Lorenzo to take such care of her

Lorenzo.

She would never forget how he looked when he saved her, in his long coat, brandishing a shotgun like a hero from an old American movie.

And she had thought he would be at their mercy. Her stomach roils.

She’s going to be sick.

“Please stop the car.”

Mona pulls to a stop, and Danica almost falls out of the vehicle. She doubles over, retching on the side of the road, losing her breakfast.

Mona comes to her aid, holding her hair back as Danica heaves and heaves until her stomach’s empty. Finally she straightens up, trembling.

“Oh, child.” Mona offers her a handkerchief. “Let’s get you back to the Mansion.”

As they continue on their journey, Danica hears sirens in the distance and imagines that the police are arriving at the Hideout.

She trembles, knotting the handkerchief in her fingers.

“It’s okay, child,” the old woman says.

“You’re safe now.”

Danica shakes her head, trying to process all that has just happened.

He’s saved her. Again.

How could she ever thank him?

*************

*LORENZO*

Jenkins makes short work of tying the two thugs’ hands behind their backs. He lashes their ankles together for good measure.

“Don Lorenzo,” he says, and points to where Ratface’s parka has ridden up to reveal a pistol butt in the waistband of his trousers.

“Armed breaking and entering. This gets better and better.” I’m grateful he didn’t try to use the weapon on me or Danica. I pass Jenkins the shotgun, and after a moment’s hesitation, because he deserves it, I give Julio a fast, forceful kick in his ribs. “That’s for Danica, you fucking scumbag.” He grunts in pain as Jenkins looks on, and I kick him again, harder this time. “And all the other women you’ve taken advantage of.”

Jenkins gasps. “Sex offenders?”

“Yes. Him, too! After Danica.” I nod toward Ratface, who’s glaring at me with hatred.

Jenkins gives him a swift kick.

I kneel beside Julio and grab his ear, wrenching his head back. “You are a blight on humanity. You’re going to rot in jail, and I’ll make sure they throw away the fucking key.”

He puckers his lips and tries to spit in my face, but he misses, his spit drizzling down his chin. I slam his head onto the floor with a loud thud. Hopefully he’ll have a cracking headache. I stand up, fighting the renewed urge to kick him to a pulp.

“We could finish them off and dispose of the bodies, sir,” Jenkins offers, placing the barrel of the gun against Ratface’s head.

“No one would ever find them on the estate.” For a moment I’m not sure if Jenkins is joking or not but Ratface believes him, screwing his eyes up, his expression riddled with dread.

Good. Now you know how Danica felt, you piece of shit.

“Tempting though that idea is, it would make an awful mess in here, and I don’t think the cleaning crew would thank us.”

We all look up when we hear the sirens.

“And there’s the small matter of the law,” I add.

**********

Mona turns into a smaller lane, by a charming old-fashioned house, and the antiquated car shakes as they go over some metal rods in the road. The land here is green and lush even though it’s winter.

They drive through an open and rolling pasture. It looks...groomed, not wild like the countryside she’s seen since she got here. It’s dotted with well-fed sheep. As the car rattles down the road, a large gray house looms before them. It’s imposing. The biggest house Danica has ever seen. She recognizes the chimney. It’s the one she saw from the road when she was walking with Lorenzo. He said it belonged to someone, but she can’t remember who. Perhaps this is where Mona lives.

Why is she cooking for Lorenzo when she lives here?

Mona drives around to the rear of the house and pulls up by the back door.