I Won't Give Up (20 page)

I felt blood trickle down my nose and realized that Garrett must’ve gotten a punch in.

“What the fuck are you doing here?” He
yelled.

“Let her go!” I demanded. Looking at her naked tied up and bound like that was making me sick to my stomach.
Focus!

“You have
nothing
to do with this.” He emphasized the word nothing.

“This has everything to do with me.” I spat.

“Really? How so? You’re out remember?
You’re not getting a piece of this, this was my idea!
”

“How could I forget
I’m out
!
I’m here for
her and you are not doing this, not now, not ever!
And what the fuck are you talking about, piece of what?
”
I was trying to act like I had no idea about the ransom.
I wanted
nothing more than
to untie her, wrap her in blanket and get her out of here
. T
here was no way that was happening yet.

“
She’s my ransom check. Isn’t that right puddin’ pop?” He sneered. I stepped towards him. “Y
ou’re going to try and stop me I assume?”

I was feeling my blood pressure pick up
.
I was getting to the point that I was going to have to show a lot
of restraint not to kill him.
He was waking up the devil inside me, when he gets out we’re one hell of a team.
I took another step
forward raising my left fist like I was about to punch him but really I
just faked
him out and landed my
right hand right in between his
sternum causing me to knock the wind out of him. I laughed to myself; I always did enjoy the element of surprise. I knew he was going to
be
disoriented so I landed a few more punches before grabbing a tie from a bathrobe that was lying on the floor
. I rolled
him on his stomach to hog-tie him securing his legs and hands together. As soon as I was done
I gave him a swift kick to the ribs
making him groan in pain
.
I ran over to Fiona who was shaking, I tried to calm her down as I
tried as
quickly
as possible to undo
the restraints
.

“How did you find me?” She cried.

“
Shhh.
We’ll talk about it later, we need to go.” I wrapped her up in the robe that was on the floor and scooped her up in my arms. I was starting down the hallway when I walked right into Giovanni.
Double Shit!

“What the hell are you doing here?” He demanded.
Giovanni was a mean son of a bitch when he wanted to be. He was as broad as his was tall, his hair slicked back wearing a custom grey three piece suit.

“You’re son and his friend we
re holding her hostage.”
I said hopi
ng that he would just let us go chances are from what I’d heard so far he had no idea what was going on.

“What!?!” He roared.
“ELI!” I heard footsteps and saw Eli come into view, his face went ghost white. “Why is she here?” Eli looked at his father, stupefied. “Well?” He walked over to him and lifted him up by his polo shirt to the wall and slapped him hard in the face. “I asked you a
fucking
question!”
I was praying this would end in our favor.

“It was all Garrett’s idea.” Eli said.

“What was?” Giovanni said slapping him again.

“To kidnap her.”

“Why would you do such a thing you moron?”

“She’s Fiona Prescott.” I saw the look in his eyes change and I knew we were in trouble.

“The Fiona Prescott?” Eli just nodded. “Well that does change things. What’s the logistics?”
Knowing that there was money involved I knew we were fucked.

“Ten-mil by ten tomorrow.”

“Interesting.” He said as he put Eli to his feet and rubbed his chin
deep in thought
. He put his fingers to his mouth and made a whistle. Next I knew there were five very large men blocking our path. “Take the girl, I need to have a conversation with Mr. Kinley.”

“Not happening.” I said tightening my grip on Fiona. Mob or not I wasn’t letting them have her; they’d have to kill me first.
He seemed to be considering.

“Fine. Bring her too.”
Giovanni said.

O
ne
of the guys I didn’t recognize
tried to take her f
rom me and I just looked at him
daring him to take one more step towards me. Giovanni just waved his hand for us to proceed. I followed h
im downstairs and the other
’s followed behind us until we got to his office.
I’d been in here before.

“Please take a seat.”
He gestured towards one of the leather seats in front of his desk.
I sat, keeping Fiona
firmly
attached to me
.

“Okay, where do we begin?” He looked at Eli.

“
I already said i
t was all Garrett’s idea.
I just went along with it.
” He said again.

“
Yes we’ve already determined that.
Where is Garrett?
And how did this plan come about?”

“
I don’t know where he is, he was with Fiona. W
e m
et her a month ago,
we didn’t know who she was
at the time
but then h
e put two and two together then Garrett saw it as a perfect opportunity to pull some weight for the ‘family’.”

“I see. Why wasn’t I made aware?”

“We just wanted to do it on our own.” Eli looked like he was going to have to change his underwear. Giovanni had that menacing presence about him.

“
How does Cooper come into this? You brought him in to help
?”

“No.
I don’t know why he’s here.
”

“Well then why are you here
Cooper
?”

“
As you know we moved after my mom died. We moved to
Prescott. Fiona and I a
re friends.”

“
Friends?” He seemed to be
toying with the word
. “
I don’t think a friend would go to such lengths to save another friend.
”
I inwardly rolled my eyes at his assumption.

“I love her.” I said
as if it weren’t already blatantly obvious
.

“I see and what are you willing to do to keep her safe?”
He purred.
I didn’t like where this was headed.

“Anything.” I said hold
ing
her
closer to my chest
.
I looked down at her face;
s
he looked terrified
.
I saw her robe had opened slightly when I sat so I pulled it a little tighter
around her,
she met my eyes and I tried to keep my calm
.

“Would you
happen to
have anything to do with the fire down at my factory?”

“Maybe.” I said.

“Why would you do that?”
At least he was smiling.

“I never said I did.”
I retorted.

“Well let’s say in a hypothetical situation why would you do it?”

“To empty the house.”

“Well I have to give you credit, it worked didn’t it?” I gave a slight nod.
He turned to speak to o
ne of his goon’s.
When I looked to see who it was I saw it was Carl. H
e was a couple years older than me. We always got on well with each other
he used to work a lot of the same fights that I did.

“
W
e need to have a discussion please take Mr. Kinley and Ms. Prescott to the sitting room.”
He motioned for me to stand.
I stood and followed.

Once we were in the sitting room I sat and brushed the hair out of Fiona’s face.

“Are you okay?” I whispered. She shook her head no.

“Di
d Garrett, you know?”
I didn’t think he had the opportunity but if he did
I was going to kill him with my bare hands. Again, she shook her head no and I felt a slight wave of relief wash over me.

“I love you.” I said. She tightened her arms around my neck pulling my face to hers and gave me a quick kiss.

“
Cooper,
I love you too
you know
.” She managed to say, tears starting to stream down her beautiful face.

“It’s going to be okay. I promise.” I vowed to do whatever I had to keep her safe.

“Pst…” Carl said grabbing my attention.

“Hey Carl.”

“Listen Coop this shit ain’t right. The fights, everything else…well they ain’t really right either but kidnapping this is a whole new low even for Giovanni.”

“Not much we can do about it now is there.”

“Nah not really but I’ll make sure you’re safe while you’re here. ‘Kay kid.”

“Thanks Carl.”

I was wondering if he was baiting me but he was always the one that had my back while I was here
so I doubted it
.

We waited
for what seemed like an eternity, I was wondering what was taking so long and growing more anxious as each moment passed.

Finally
we were summoned back to the office.

“We’ve reached a decision.” He looked around the room.
“
I’ll let
you stay with your little girl
friend but y
ou’re going to fight for me Cooper. Tonight.”

A lump formed in my throat. I didn’t want to leave Fiona alone n
ot even for five minutes
and a fight would
leave her vulnerable for at least ten. I
hadn’t been training for months not th
at my skills were that rusty
since I’ve gotten in three
fistfights
since I’ve met Fiona. There was Hunter, the asshole from the bar and Garrett. But depending
on the opponent it could be big trouble.
But right now
I was so angry right now I think I could take out the whole house in the blink of an eye.

“Do we have a deal?”

I looked at Fiona who looked horrified. She didn’t know this part of my past and I’d hoped that I’d be able to shelter her from it except for the bare basics.
She knew that I used to get into a lot of fights but not that I did it for the mafia in their underground ring. I didn’t see what other choice I had but to agree.
I couldn’t say no if I meant I could stay with her.
Reluctantly I nodded.

“But only on one condition.” I hated what I was about to do and hoped that my intuition was right.

“Name it.” Giovanni said.

“Fiona stays with Carl during the fight.” I said firmly.

“
Done.
We’re going to hold the both of you until we receive the ransom. Until then
you’re staying here
. I think it would be best if Ms. Prescott calls her father to light a fire under his ass and let him know who he’s messing with here.” He handed me his cell phone and I dialed the number that Fiona gave me. She held the phone to her ear.

“Hello.” Levi answered.

“Dad.”
She said. “Yes.
I’m okay, I don’t know where I am.” Giovanni put his hand out
and put the phone on speaker
.

“Mr. Prescott do you have the demanded ransom?”

“I’m working on it, it’s hard being that it’s the weekend.”

“Well work a little harder, especially if you’d like to see your daughter again.” Then he hung up the phone.

“Take them to
the loft and hold them there until I say.” He demanded
to Carl
.

I followed them to the loft
back
on the third floor.

“Don’t try anything we’ll be right outside the door.”
Carl said with a wink
closing the door
behind him
.
I knew he was putting on a show for the other guys.
I locked
it
as soon as it was shut.
Hopefully this nightmare would
be over soon
.
I
walked over and placed
Fiona on the bed, s
he curled up into a little ball. I bent down and
I kissed her forehead; I could tell she was tired
both physically and emotionally
. Then it hit me, they weren’t as smart as they thought
they were
since they never thought to frisk me and I still had my cell. I pulled it out and texted
Luke what was going on, I
turned it off and put it back in my pocket. I
climbed into
bed
next to Fiona
. I
turned her towards me
cradling
my arms tightly around her
,
savoring
every inch of her beautiful face.