"It's rude to eavesdrop Nora."

It was like a bucket of ice water had been dumped on me. My blood ran cold at the sound of his voice. I wasted no time tearing myself from his grip and taking off down the hallway, back the way I came. I looked over my shoulder in time to see Raffaelo vault over the staircase railing.

I ran faster than I thought possible. Just thinking of what my life used to be pushed me to run harder than I ever had before. I had to get back to Enzo. He kept me safe. If I could just get back to Enzo, everything would be fine again.

I could hear Raffaelo's dress shoes slapping against the linoleum floors. I could tell his footsteps were getting closer until he was right on my heels. I was about to round the next corner when he grabbed a fistful of my hair.

I cried out in pain when he yanked me down to the floor and began dragging me by my hair back towards the stairs.

We didn't get far before a mass of growling fur launched himself at my assailant. Raffaelo's grip on me loosened enough for me to pull myself from his clutches. I heard strands of my hair being ripped from my scalp and I grimaced in pain.

Raffaelo's shouts of pain echoed through the halls. Tank had the man's arm between his teeth in a vice like grip. I saw blood dripping down his fingertips, and he was doing his damnedest to pry the dog from his person, but Tank wasn't letting up.

I got to my feet and stumbled forward.

Get back to Enzo.

The sound of a gunshot stopped me in my tracks. I turned to see Tank slumping to the floor. He let out a single whine in pain and then was silent.

No. No. NO!

Raffaelo was standing above the dog, holding a gun in his non-injured hand.

I could see a pool of blood slowly growing around Tank's form and I was frozen to the spot.

Tank, who I had shared snacks with, who always shadowed me, who laid in my bed to keep away the nightmares; my Tank had gotten shot because of me.

Time seemed to be moving slower. The gunshot had left my ears ringing. I could faintly hear screams of fear from adjacent halls, and a woman on the overhead speaker said something I couldn't quite make out. The sound of Raffaelo's footsteps cut through all of this as he approached.

"Now I have someone who's been dying to see you again." He smirked before grabbing my arm and yanking me towards the main entrance.

Varlam.

Coming back to my senses, I pulled and thrashed trying to get free, but it seemed Raffaelo's fury had given him a surge of strength.

"Enzo!" I screamed in one last attempt to get back to him.

Please hear me. I need you.

Raffaelo spun me around and slapped me across the face so hard, clouds of black rolled in across my vision.

"Shut up you stupid bitch." He snarled, dragging me towards the exit.

My head was spinning from his attack and I could feel myself becoming nauseous at the reality of what was happening. I was getting kidnapped by a man I trusted and I was being taken back to Varlam. Worst of all, I was getting taken away from my Enzo.

A car was waiting for us in the parking lot. Raffaelo took another fistful of my hair and threw me into the back seat before climbing in himself. I yanked at the door handle, but they had thought ahead and put the child safety locks on, so I couldn't open them from the inside. The black SUV peeled out of the parking lot, leaving a dust trail in our wake.

"Why are you doing this?" I sobbed, curling myself into the smallest ball I could.

"Lorenzo has been mismanaging the family for some time now. I really should thank you. You made him just weak enough for me to make my move." He sneered. "You're never going to see him again."

I could feel my heart sink at his words. The only thing giving me hope was the gun tucked safely in my waistband.

"What else are we supposed to do about this rat, close down the restaurant?" Fiero asked anxiously running his hands through his hair. He was probably the most worried about this problem, since it was his girl that got hurt. Whoever the rat was, they were close enough to us to know Fiero had ordered the food and that I would be there. This problem was getting out of hand.

"I don't think we can afford that. So much of our business goes through that place. If we shut down, the Russians would take over our territory anyways." Gino said, shaking his head.

"I'm glad you called Gino and Raff to come. There's strength in numbers." Fiero said to me.

I furrowed my brows in confusion. "I didn't call them. I thought you must have called them after you got off of the phone with me."

"How did you know we were at the hospital?" I demanded from Gino.

Gino's eyes went wide. "Oh no."

Before he could elaborate, we heard the unmistakable sound of gun shots.

Nora.

We tore off in the direction of the shots, ignoring the screams of patients and nurses. Anyone else who was in the hallways ran into patient rooms and slammed the doors shut. I could hear them moving furniture to try and blockade the doors, but I couldn't worry about them now.

"Your attention please. There's a code gray, tower three, floor four, unit four north west. I repeat, code gray, tower three, floor four, unit four north west." A woman's voice announced on the overhead speakers.

"Shit." I muttered. "We're going to have to deal with security now."

We slammed through the door to exit the unit and ran into a staircase.

"TANK!" my German Shepard was whining, laying in a puddle of his own blood. I dropped down to my knees to examine him. He tried to stand but his shot leg gave out underneath him. That son of a bitch shot my fucking dog.

"Enzo!" Nora's screams echoes through the empty halls.

I threw the injured German Shepard over my shoulders and sprinted after my girl's cries for help.

Just hold on baby. I'm coming for you.

We sprinted through the lobby and burst through the main entrance doors only to see Raffaelo throw my girl into the back seat of a waiting SUV. They peeled out of the parking lot before we could get close.

"FUCK!" I screamed and Tank whined on my shoulders.

Gino pulled his gun out of its holster on his hip, but I shook my head at him. "You might hit Nora."

"I can't believe he would do this to us." Gino had his head tilted back and was looking up at the night sky. I was sure he was feeling the same betrayal I was. "He doesn't even have a woman or children we can hold over his head. All he had was us; his brothers." My chest tightened at his words.

"Fiero, go back to the waiting room. Go hide in a bathroom or something and say you hid there when you heard the gunshots." I ordered.

"I'm not letting you two go after them without me." He argued.

"You need to stay with Rosalinda. They might come back for her to distract us. She needs you here to protect her." I insisted. He nodded and walked back towards the entrance, but he didn't look happy about it.

"Come on. Let's get in your car." I motioned over to Gino. I placed Tank on the back seat gently and hopped in the passenger's seat. I pulled me phone out of my pocket and began tapping away on the screen.

"Where are we going boss?" Gino asked, climbing in behind the wheel.

"Give me a second." I muttered while studying my screen. "I gave Nora a necklace for her birthday and I put a tracker in it. I knew something like this would happen. I shouldn't have fucking let her go by herself." I slammed my fist down on the dashboard in anger. I didn't feel good letting her go off on her own and I should have known better. Now she'd been taken and I didn't know if was going to be able to get her back.

The map pulled up on my screen and it showed her location moving along the streets of the city. "Start driving. I'll give you directions. We also need to call our men. I'm done with the rats and the fucking Russians. This all ends tonight."