She nodded. “I told her this morning.”
Matteo released a shaky breath. Not that he could blame Carla for trying to protect her friend from someone like him; he would just rather Grace didn’t know quite what degree of bastard he was. It was going to make persuading her into being a permanent part of his life so much harder.
Once he had secured her release from Leon Brunelli.
If Grace was still alive…
He straightened. “I believe he’s the one who has Grace, yes.”
Carla stood up. “Then I’m coming with you.”
“No—”
“I respect the hell out of you, Mr. Zalotti, but I’m coming with you. I have to see Grace and know that she’s okay.”
Matteo couldn’t argue against her concern.
And once Matteo had voiced his displeasure and informed Leon of his choice not to marry Natalia, he doubted there could ever be unity between the Brunelli and Zalotti families.
A pity, but Matteo had absolutely no doubt that his heart belonged to Grace. That it always would.
Now he had to stop Leon from disposing of “the problem.”
“You have become something of a nuisance to both my men and me, Miss Morrissey,” she was told as the gag was removed from over her mouth. The bag it had been secured over, and preventing her from seeing her captor, remained in place. As did the plastic tie securing her arms behind her back.
In other circumstances, Grace might have been tempted to laugh at the understatement of that comment she recognized was spoken in a New York accent. She wouldn’t be here at all if she hadn’t pissed off this man, and she had screamed for so long and so loudly that the men who had abducted her had been forced to park at the side of the road while one of them got out and put a gag on her over the hood that prevented her from seeing the men or her surroundings.
The hood and gag and the tie about her wrists had remained in place after the vehicle parked again and she was carried, again kicking, if not screaming. Once inside, and after being unceremoniously dumped onto a hard wooden chair, she quickly realized she was in a cavernous building when even the softness of her captor’s voice echoed around the empty space.
Considering they had only driven for fifteen minutes or so, this building still had to be in London. Maybe one of the derelict warehouses near the docks?
Wherever they were, Grace knew she was in great danger. No matter how pleasantly her captor spoke to her, if this was the same man who was to be Matteo’s father-in-law, the powerful don from New York Carla had spoken of, then she was seriously in trouble. If this man knew of her relationship with Matteo, then Grace had not only crossed him, she had, however inadvertently, endangered his daughter’s future happiness.
But if she were presented with the same circumstances, Grace knew she would do the same thing all over again. Meeting Matteo might have shaken up her ordered and calm life, but she also knew the degree of passion and desire they’d shared was special and rare. Even now, knowing he was going to marry someone else, she ached to be with him again. She doubted that would ever change, whether or not they ever saw each other again.
“Go to hell,” she told her abductor pleasantly.
He gave a throaty chuckle. “You have coglioni, I’ll give you that,” he murmured approvingly.
Grace recognized the Italian word for the compliment it was coming from such a powerful man. “Thank you. Apparently, so do you for having ordered my abduction in the middle of London in broad daylight.”
“Matteo will get over it.”
Grace knew he meant Matteo would get over losing her. Because this man intended removing the problem of her from Matteo’s life.
Well, she wasn’t going down without a fight.
“Do you think you could you take this hood off now, and the ties about my wrists?” she requested lightly.
“No.”
She shrugged. “I think you might regret that decision.”
“Tell me, Miss Morrissey, how long have you and Matteo Zalotti been lovers?”
“Long enough for me to know I won’t tolerate you taking her away from me!”
“Matteo?” Grace turned in the direction she believed that voice was coming from. It was a little difficult to tell with that echo.
“It’s going to be okay, Grace.” The voice was much closer now.
“What the hell have you done with my men?” the American demanded.
“They’ll maybe have a headache when they wake up, but otherwise, they’re fine,” Matteo assured coldly. “What isn’t fine is your treatment of Grace.” Gentle fingers loosened and then removed the tie from about Grace’s wrists.
She flexed her aching shoulders as she gratefully moved her arms forward from the unnatural position they’d been in for too long before she raised one of her hands toward her head.
“For your own future safety, I advise you leave the hood exactly where it is,” that New York voice rasped.
Grace’s hands froze in the act of lifting the hood, having no doubt that this was one of those occasions where, if she could identify the American, he literally believed he would have to kill her.
“I’ve made my decision, Leon,” Matteo bit out tersely.
“Oh yes?”
Matteo was only holding on to his temper by a very thin thread, a thread that would break if Leon continued to challenge him in his own city. “I’m in love with Grace.” He heard Grace gasp but kept his gaze fixed on the other man. “I can’t marry your daughter when I’m in love with someone else.”
“Even knowing such a choice will break the agreement between our two families?” the other man demanded.
“Yes.” It was a choice Matteo knew would affect everyone else in his organization, and it weighed heavily on his conscience.
But there was still the agreement with the Russians, and Matteo had already lived in an
