The Don's Bride 5

Lyanna stepped into her son’s bedroom to hear the constant sounds of machines ‘beeping’ over and over and an odd stillness in the air.

And then she saw him lying there in his bed, lifelessly and unmoving with his eyes closed.

She fought back tears as she crossed the bedroom to come and sit down on the edge of the bed beside him.

Her hand slowly reached out to gently run her fingers over the top of his head in a mother’s affection.

“Oh sweetheart… why did you go in there?” she spoke her words softly and with evident sadness.

“You’re smarter than this… why would you do something so dangerous? Why?”

She began to cry, closing her eyes and allowing her concern to take her over.

And hearing her crying there beside him, Vincenzo slowly opened his amber eyes, then noticing his mother seated there beside him and knowing what she needed; reassurance.

His right hand moved across the mattress and came to rest over the top of her hand, alerting her to his awakening.

“Vincenzo… oh, you’re awake.” she spoke with a smile.

“How are you feeling, dear?”

“I’ve been better.” he admitted with a smirk.

She frowned, shaking her head at him, “You had me so worried. For a minute there I thought I might lose you as well.”

Vincenzo frowned, squeezing her hand with his.

“I’m not going anywhere, mother. I promise.” he declared.

Tears now filled her eyes as she forced a smile and nodded her head.

“I’m sorry to hear about Natalia… I had no idea what she was going through. It sickens me to think that monster has his hands on her even now...” Lyanna admitted, sniffing.

Vincenzo’s expression was stern now as he lay there staring directly ahead of himself, deep in thought.

It too pained him to know that Armando was forcing himself on Natalia, and frequently.

It killed him deep inside.

At the café that morning Vincenzo had asked her if she had been hurt and she told him no; she lied to him.

Why?

Why not tell him the truth; that she was being viciously raped?

The more he thought about it the more his heartrate had increased and the monitor’s beeps sped up substantially, alerting even Lyanna as she looked to Vincenzo in question.

“Vincenzo, you need your rest.” she declared, moving to stand up beside the bed.

“Get some more sleep. Try not to think about things too much if you can. You can’t help her until you are properly healed, son. Remember that.”

With one last smile, she turned and headed for the door to exit the bedroom.

Vincenzo called out after her, “Mother… I have to get her back.”

Lyanna turned around to face him with a warm smile, “And you will. When you’ve recovered.”

She then turned back around and exited the bedroom, closing the door behind herself to allow her son the chance he needed to rest and heal.

After seeing off Mrs. Moretti, Maxwell, Carlo and Hunter were at that moment walking on their way towards their boss’ bedroom to check in with him.

Even with the Don resting, they still needed their orders from him.

They needed to know what their next move was.

“How do you think he’s going to react when he finds out about Natalia being taken again?” Carlo asked.

“How would you react?” Maxwell countered.

“He’ll be fucking furious. Knowing Vince, it’ll be hard to keep him in bed. He’ll want to get out there and find her.”

Carlo sighed.

“You’re right… so what now?” he asked.

“We have to do something. We need to find her. Who knows what she’s going through with that bastard.”

“I agree.” Maxwell proclaimed, nodding his head.

“We need to do something… the only question is… what?”

“Hey, I’ve been meaning to ask… do the De Luca’s know about their daughter’s kidnapping yet?” Hunter enquired.

“They’re aware of that, yes. But we have yet to inform them of what happened this morning.” Maxwell explained.

“They too wish to launch an attack as soon as we have confirmation of where Natalia’s being held.” Carlo added.

“I’ve got a strong suspicion that Armando’s keeping Natalia at that mansion. The one where Oliver was killed.” Maxwell declared.

“Armando’s smarter than he looks. He’ll want to keep her as close to him as possible. It makes sense if she’s there hidden away in the mansion somewhere.”

“Yeah, but we need proof before we can launch any sort of an attack.” Carlo pointed out.

“So, how do we prove it then?” Maxwell enquired, looking between the others as they came to stop just outside of Vincenzo’s bedroom door.

Both Hunter and Carlo shrugged and Maxwell sighed.

The sad truth was, they had nothing.

Maxwell then reached out and grabbed the door handle, turning it and pushing the door open to allow them entry.

And as soon as all three men made their way inside, they froze in disbelief and horror.

“Boss! What the hell are you doing?” Maxwell demanded.

Vincenzo was up out of bed, wearing his silken robe and sitting behind a desk with his laptop open in front of him.

He was working only hours after a severe surgery had been performed on him!

“Get your ass back into that bed right now! I’m not kidding, man.” Carlo ordered him while pointing towards the bed.

“I’ll pretend I didn’t hear you ordering me about just now.” Vincenzo spoke softer than he usually did as he continued browsing on the laptop.

“Boss, please… if your mother were to see you like this-” Maxwell tried to point out.

“-She’s gone home. Problem solved.” Vincenzo cut in, still browsing.

“Seriously, can’t you at least browse while sitting in bed?” Hunter pleaded.

“Please boss. Do it for us.”

Vincenzo took a moment to consider Hunter’s request; it made sense.

He could rest while doing his research.

“Fine.” he finally declared, then closing his laptop and moving to stand.

But the moment he tried he let out a pained grunt, closing his eyes as he collapsed back into the chair, “AH!”

“Fuck…” Maxwell cursed as all three of them came running to assist their Don to return to the bed where he should have remained in the first place.

With Maxwell holding underneath his left arm and Carlo his right, Hunter cleared the path and propped up pillows as the other two supported Vincenzo to walk across the room and gently sit back down in bed.

When he was comfortable enough, Maxwell pulled the covers up to rest over half his body while Vincenco placed his laptop back down onto his lap and reopened it to commence his research.

“How the hell did you even get all the way over there anyway?” Hunter enquired.

“These painkillers are great.” Vincenzo spoke with a smirk.

It was obvious that he was high on them at that moment.

All three henchmen sighed, shaking their heads at their Don.

“What’s so important that it needs to be done only hours after you’ve had serious surgery?” Maxwell questioned his Don.

“When you’re meant to be resting?” Carlo added.

“I think I’m onto something.” Vincenzo declared.

“I had some of my spies working for Armando keep a close eye on anything unusual coming in or out of the mansion in the past couple of days. And just recently they informed me that Armando had an entire wardrobe delivered to the mansion.”

All three henchmen frowned.

“So?” Hunter urged him to continue.

“What does that mean?” Carlo chimed in.

Vincenzo lifted his head up to meet their gazes.

“It was a woman’s wardrobe.” the Don proclaimed with a confident smirk.

And now their expressions changed.

“There’s our proof!” Maxwell declared happily.

“We can make our move now.” Hunter agreed.

“So, what are you doing then?” Carlo enquired.

“I’ve been looking into ways for us to get inside the mansion without a full on shoot out.” Vincenzo explained as he continued typing away at the screen.

“And?” Maxwell urged.

“What have you come up with, boss?”

“An idea that’s just crazy enough to work.” the Don declared.

“We’re listening…” Maxwell urged him to continue.