Chapter Twenty-Three

Will should be shaking. Fear should cause a sheen of sweat to coat his brow and yet his gaze remains confident and amused.

As if he knew Jay would appear.

What the hell is Will planning?

“The filthy gangster has arrived. Nice of you to make an appearance,” Will states with amusement as he straightens himself up. The effects of getting punched in the nuts are no longer affecting him. Blood still dribbles down his face, adding a sadistic twinge to his appearance.

“You forget that she’s my wife. My fucking property!” Will hisses and at the mention of me being his wife, Jay seethes with a rage that only I can tell is there.

Probably from being his captive so long but I see it lurking within his gaze.

Will better tread lightly.

He will push Jay over the edge.

I stumble to stand, wanting to reach out to him but knowing it’ll be the dumbest thing right now, I don’t move.

How the hell are we going to get out of this situation?

Will probably has something up his sleeve.

Jay shouldn’t have followed.

I swallow nervously. My scalp stings from where Will grabbed my hair. I inhale a sharp breath and watch as Jay actually pulls out a cigarette and lights it.

“Come here, Akira,” Jay commands.

“Akira, don’t fucking move,” Will hisses while shooting me a deadly glare. I’m frozen to my spot, all the learned behaviors triggered by Will’s abuse returning with a vengeance.

How can Jay be so calm?

Jay takes a drag of the cig and puffs out a cloud of noxious smoke that agitates Will who’s clenching his hands tightly into fists.

“I’ll give you one fucking chance to leave. But that’s it,” Will directs to Jay who rolls his eyes. I feel that ominous stirring in the air until I can’t breathe. My chest begins to feel tight as both of them wage war with their eyes on one another.

I move to go to Jay and Will grabs a fistful of my hair and whistles. Jay keeps his expression amused but I can see the concern in his eyes as they narrow slightly.

“Ah, ah, ah. You aren’t his. You are mine. Fucking obey me, little bitch.”

“Let go!” I scream at Will. I attempt to yank myself out of his grasp. Will whistles as I manage to free myself from his grasp and that’s when a man appears from deep within the apartment like he’d been waiting there.

“What the—” I frown. “Mit—” Jay interrupts me as Mitch emerges from within the apartment.

“Brought back up because you’re too much of a bitch to fight your own battles, huh?” Jay goads and Will chuckles as he runs a hand over his face. My confusion is evident as Mitch trails down the hallway toward me with a gun in his hand.

“You thought that you could play me? That you could take my fucking property?” Will nods at me as he hisses venomously at Jay who isn’t showing much emotion. I don’t understand what’s going on.

Mitch was a rat the whole time.

The whole fucking time.

Jay must be fucking sick with disappointment.

That’s why that fucker let me leave.

My nostrils flare with anger but Will just laughs at the pissed expression on my face.

“You loved fucking him didn’t you, you filthy fucking whore! Loved riding him like the sick cunt you are!”

I quake with anger so potent that black spots fill my vision as Will spews vulgar words at me.

“Letting another man inside of you like a common whore. Well, you’ll get what the fuck’s coming to you. I’ll be the last man that enters you and your death will be pinned on this pathetic gangster,” Will spits at Jay who steps forward and Will nods to Mitch who lifts his gun and points it at Jay.

“Not so fucking fast. One more step and he’ll put a bullet in that thick fucking skull of yours. Where’s Dominico, huh? Where is that big man? He sends his little boy scout in his fucking place?”

Will laughs, pressing his hand to his stomach dramatically for emphasis as he mocks Jay.

“Wants to belittle me as a man but won’t show me his fucking face,” Will continues while widening his arms as he peers around the room.

“I’m really getting sick and tired of being controlled by people that are beneath me. You aren’t even fucking human. You are all less than that. Probably some disgusting drug addicts who piss away my own money and that’s why you want politicians holding your pockets.” Will snarls.

“You might want to watch what comes out of that fucking mouth of yours,” Jay warns and it’s the first time I’ve heard him talk in what feels like forever. Will’s eyes widen as his brows shoot up and he scoffs.

“Shut the fuck up when I’m speaking, understand?” Jay begins to laugh. The sound makes all the hairs stand along my body as if I’m being threatened. Will swallows and tries to play it off without appearing nervous but I can see that Jay’s reaction is unsettling to him.

“Stop it, Will. You have no one to blame but yourself,” I hiss. He reaches for me again, grabbing the back of my neck before he screams loud enough that he’s spitting in my face.

“Shut the fuck up!” Will booms.

“No!” He slaps me and that’s when Jay decides he’s had enough.

“Enough!” Jay shouts. Jay lunges, arms wrapping around Will’s throat as he yanks him into his chest and begins to choke Will. Will growls, face turning red with anger as he fights to breathe. He desperately looks at Mitch who moves towards me and yanks me by the arm into him before I feel the end of the gun pressed to my temple.

“You kill me… he kills her,” Will hisses while struggling to breathe. Jay loosens his arm on Will’s throat and Will uses that to his advantage to shove an elbow into Jay’s stomach. It doesn’t phase Jay as much as Will assumes it will. Jay pulls out a knife that makes me gasp.

He’s been subject to abuse I can’t even fathom. An elbow to the stomach is nothing.

When Will lurches forward unevenly thinking Jay’s out of commission, Jay swoops his leg past Will’s and Will is knocked onto the ground where a knife is placed against his throat.

“Is this really how you want her to die? Why are you so persistent on saving your captive? You can find a wet hole from any other girl. Why her?”

I feel Mitch press the gun harder into my temple as Jay and I make eye contact, and the emotion that passes within his gaze is so profound it takes my breath away.

He truly loves me.

He does.

“Because she isn’t yours. She’s mine,” Jay growls, licking his lips and winking at me which makes me furrow my brows with confusion.

What the hell is going on?

“I knew you’d want her back from the moment I fucking took her. I knew this day would come and I calculated every step you took. Did you really think you could outsmart me?” Jay jeers as he presses the blade hard enough to draw some blood from Will’s throat.

“W-what?” Will stutters, the first time he’s appeared fearful.

“You truly believed you’d get the best of a DeLuca?”

“You can kill me, but not before he kills her. Unless you let me get up,” Will says through clenched teeth. Jay glances at me once again and my lips part as I feel Mitch leaning until his mouth is near my ear.

“Gotcha,” He whispers.