Signed To The Mafia King - Chapter 54: Chapter 54

LUCA
I stepped inside, barely taking in the mess of the room before my eyes locked on Alina.
She stood in the center rigidly, looking shocked to see me.
Behind her, a woman was sitting on a couch, clutching a child so tightly it looked like she was afraid someone would rip her away.
Ethan was sitting, looking too damn comfortable for someone with bandages wrapped around his side.
Blood stained the floor, and the air was thick enough to cut with a blunt butter knife.
My eyes snapped back to Alina. “What the hell are you doing here?”
She looked away and shrugged. She wasn't holding my eyes so she was definitely hiding something from me. “Handling something.”
My patience was already worn thin. Pietro had called me about thirty minutes ago but I definitely didn't expect to meet such mess. What the hell was going on?
I bent over her desk. “Handling something? You walked straight into a damn war zone.”
She crossed her arms. “I had it under control.”
I wanted to jerk her up, and help her understand that she was in trouble. Didn't she know about the Alvarado? “Yeah? Is that what you call this?”
I gestured at the room, at the blood, the crying woman, Ethan. “This is you having it under control?”
Alina’s eyes narrowed. “Oh, I’m sorry, Luca. Should I have sat at home, waiting for you to show up and fix everything?”
My jaw clenched. “That’s not what I’m saying.”
“Then what are you saying?”
“That you don’t think.” I tapped my finger against my skull because I knew it would piss her off. She looked too calm for how much trouble we could be in. “You act, and you expect to survive just because you always have.”
Her lips parted slightly, but before she could speak, movement from the corner of my eye made me turn.
Ethan was sitting up, watching us, looking too pleased with the argument between us.
My mood became even worse. I wanted to punch him right in whatever wound he had.
I forced my attention back to Alina. “What the hell is he doing here?” I gritted out of a tight jaw.
She looked away, then answered nonchalantly. “He saved us from Riot.”
The words hit like a hammer. He saved them from Riot? Ethan fucking saved them from Riot?
I swore under my breath. “Do you know who the fuck Riot is? Do you know nothing, Alina? You have to let him go. Right now.”
“He shot at a child.” She shouted back suddenly, sitting up and glowering at me. “He shot at me. He slapped his wife. Should I have sat back and watched him doing all that?”
I inhaled sharply. Riot shot at his own child? Not just that, he shot at my wife? That dumb ass. Still, Alina was too angry, too restless. “Alina…”
“Oh fuck you, Luca. I’m not letting him go.”
I stared at her. “You don’t get it. If we don’t let him go, his family will retaliate.”
She pushed her chair back and walked around me. “He shot at me.” Alina repeated.
“Which is exactly why we need to be smart about this.”
Her jaw tightened. “I am being smart.”
“No, you’re being reckless. You can't make decisions based on how you feel right now.” How would I make her understand that she just couldn't hold Riot?
She had to let him go.
She tilted her head slightly. “And you? You’re scared of them?”
I exhaled hard. “That’s not what this is.”
She ignored me, turning to Mikhail. “Take me to where he’s being held.”
Mikhail nodded, but his eyes still held mine. He knew what could happen if Alina hurt Riot. He waited for an order to override hers.
I clenched my fists. I could stop her.
But I knew her. Knew that if I forced her hand, she’d only push harder.
I dragged a hand down my face as she turned to Pietro. “Bring me a small ax from the armory,” she said.
My patience snapped. “Do you have to be so damn stubborn all the time?”
She didn’t even look back. “Yes.”
And then she walked out.
I'd seen a lot of things in my life. But this? This was a new level of recklessness.
After the day I'd just had, this wasn't supposed to be how the rest of the night went. It was getting to midnight for goodness sake.
By the time I caught up to Alina, she was already in the basement, standing in front of Riot.
The man sat tied to a chair, his face bruised but his eyes burning with anger.
“Valerie says you have her son, you’re going to return her son,” Alina said, voice flat.
Riot laughed like she had said something funny. “That’s my son.”
Alina tilted her head slightly, unconcerned. “Then I guess you should’ve treated his mother better.”
“You can call yourself dead the second I get out of here,” Riot sneered. “I swear on my fucking name, I’ll be the one to put a bullet in your dumb skull.”
Alina laughed quietly, amused. “If you get out of here.”
She was going to aggravate him even more. I was getting angrier at the moment as I watched his smug face. He had hit his wife, what the fuck else did he want?
He deserved to be shot in the head and thrown in the ocean for the fishes to feed on.
Before I could say anything, the door opened, and Pietro walked in, carrying a small ax.
I watched Alina take it from him, holding the ax firmly like she had held a weapon like this before.
For a second, I just stared, because I knew for damn sure she hadn't.
Was she really going to kill Riot Alvarado? Right here? In her club?
If she did, the Alvarado family wouldn’t just retaliate. They would burn down the entire city and declare war on both the Costas and the Marinos.
It wasn't that I was scared of war, no, I knew we would win. I just needed Alina to understand the consequences of what she was about to do.
I knew Alina, she didn't have the stomach to stand the bloodshed and waste that would come with war.
I cursed under my breath, crossing the room in two strides. I grabbed her wrist and dragged her out with me, stopping just outside the door before she could fight me off.
“Alina, I know you’re angry…”
She frowned. “I’m more than angry.”
“Okay,” I exhaled. “I know. But you can’t kill him here. You can’t kill him, period.”
She shrugged. “I didn’t want to kill him. But yes, I could if I damned well please.”
I studied her. I wasn’t sure if that was the truth or if she’d just changed her mind in the last three seconds.
Before I could push further, she turned and walked back inside.
I followed, with every muscle in my body tight with frustration.
Alina stopped in front of Riot again. “You’re going to let the child go,” she said, voice smooth, calm. “I’m sending your wife home to get her son. You? You’ll be locked up here until she decides she’s okay with you being out in the world.”
Riot bared his teeth. “You’re dead by tomorrow evening if you don’t let me go.”
Alina smiled. “That’s if you make it through the night.”
I watched her closely.
How had I never seen this part of her before?
She looked like she wanted to tear Riot apart with her bare hands.
And maybe she was right, maybe the bastard deserved it, but why couldn’t she be rational about it?
Alina turned to Mikhail. “Drop him to the floor and hold his wrist down.”
My pulse kicked up. “Alina.”
She didn’t look at me.
Mikhail grabbed Riot by the back of his shirt and yanked him to the ground. Riot fought, struggling hard, but Mikhail was stronger. He pinned him easily, pressing his wrist flat against the cold floor.
“Don’t kill him,” I said.
Alina turned and winked at me. “Oh, I want him alive.”
She knelt, one knee on the ground beside Riot, her fingers tightening on the ax.
“I want him to see his wife and kids free from him.”
Then she brought the ax down on Riot's right wrist.
The sound was wet and sickening. I felt almost excited as I watched Riot's blood shoot across the floor.
I hadn't really expected her to cut off his wrist.
I was The Monster.
But it seemed I had married a beast.