SWNOVELS Chapter 13 Chapter 13
The boat was quite peaceful after Max had finally shut up and stopped threatening to throw me in the canal. And only then, when I actually had a moment to pause and relax, did I realise how beautiful Venice really is.
"Here is as far as I can go," the man said after about an hour of gliding along the emerald coloured water.
He began tying the wooden canal boat to a mooring bank by a stone bridge. There was a small gap between it and the buildings that had been lining the canal for miles where you could step off the boat and back onto the streets.
"There they are!" I heard a voice shout as we docked which shattered the peace.
"Fuck," I cursed as I saw the three men from earlier race towards us. Max shoved some extra euros into the boat man's hand and I breathed a word of thanks before jumping onto dry land and in the opposite direction of the men,
We pushed our way through the mid-afternoon crowd with our pursuers close behind.
A few minutes later, Max took my hand and pulled me into a quieter alleyway.
"What are you doing?”
"Going on a detour. We'll never lose them in that crowd,” he replied taking a left turn and then a right.
"How do you know where you are going?"
"What makes you think I do?"
I rolled my eyes but had little choice. I was better off running aimlessly with Max than turning back right into the Mafia's grasp. As far as I could tell, they hadn't followed us into the alleyway. Max's map was of no use so instead, we just ran in the vague direction of South, where Max knew the airport was situated.
"Hey look," I said spotting a set of street signs. "Airport half a mile," I read aloud.
"Thank the Lord," Max said with a relieved smile. "Come on."
We ran for another two minutes before finally reaching a large building with taxis queued up outside and people dragging suitcases and various other forms of luggage.
I hurried inside and beelined to the ticket desk where a young woman was sat doing not much at all.
"We need two tickets on the next plane to Seattle," I said. "Please." "There's a plane leaving in three hours but I'm afraid a man came around half an hour ago and bought up all the 25 remaining tickets,” she answered in a bored tone. "Sorry."
"25? Who buys 25 tickets for the same plane? That would cost like $10,000. Who has that much money?"
"Somebody with a particular desire to stop anyone from leaving Venice for Seattle tonight,” Max replied. "What did this man look like?"
"Tall, dark hair, dark eyes. A lot like you actually,” the woman replied.
I exchanged nervous looks with Max.
It was Luciano. Of course.
"What about Portland? Do you have two tickets available for Portland?" "The next flight isn't for three days.”
"San Francisco?" I questioned.
"He bought up that too," she answered.
"Anywhere in America?" I asked getting desperate.
"He bought all the leftover seats for all the flights to America for the next 18 hours. Florida, New York, Boston. He took them all. And Canada for that matter. Most of South America too."
"Most of? So not all of? We are desperate to get out of this city. I don't care where to," I pleaded.
The lady eyed us suspiciously by putting a “why do I care?’ face on and looking down at her screen.
"There is one. We just had a cancellation for a flight to Valencia leaving in two hours. There are two tickets available,” she replied looking at the computer screen.
"Perfect. We'll take it," I said.
"Oh. It looks like we just took an online booking for that flight. It is no longer available.”
"Shit."
"I'm sorry but there is nothing I can do for you.”
"Okay, thank you," I said before marching away from the desk. "Now what? Luciano has us trapped here.”
"The train station. We may not be able to get out the country but we can leave Venice at least.”
"And where is the train station?"
"On the other side of the city,” Max replied.
"Let's go then," I said.
"Not so fast, my cousins," a voice said from behind us.
"This is a busy airport. You have no power here, Luciano," I snapped as I folded my arms across my chest.
"Very busy indeed. Lots of people closely packed together. It would be awful if let's say there was an explosion, wouldn't it?" he said deviously. "You haven't," Max whispered looking around at the innocent families and children.
His lips curled into a malicious smile.
"Oh I have," he replied. "And it will go off in less than a minute if the two of you don't follow me immediately.”
He then left us and strode towards the doors.
It was hard to tell whether there really was a bomb but either way, his threat worked. Max and I were not willing to risk the lives of so many innocent people.
We followed Luciano's lead as he walked away from the airport and into a small alleyway on the edge of the city.
"You two are a pair of morons to fall for that. Why go to the effort of planting a bomb when just the concept of one is enough?" he said amused. "I am almost ashamed to share blood with you."
I narrowed my eyes and turned on my heel.
"Fuck you, Luciano,” I growled grabbing Max's wrist and beginning to march away from him.
We turned out of the alleyway only to be faced by a squadron of Mafia guards. We paused and I turned back the other way straight into Luciano's arms.
"You just don't get it, do you?" he teased with his lips millimetres away from my ear so that I could feel his warm breath on my skin. "You can't escape me."
"Let me go, Luciano,” I demanded as he held me tightly.
"I expected this of the Luna but you, Maximus? I have to say, you have surprised me," Luciano said refusing to release me. "I feel betrayed by my own cousin."
I looked over at Max who was currently battling two of Luciano’s men. "I mean I am not surprised that Ella would do this. She has never had any loyalty to me and never will, but we were friends Maximus and I trusted you. I thought that we were allies and I thought that we were like-minded. Guess I was wrong."
"That was beautiful,” I remarked sarcastically.
"Shut up,” he growled putting his hand over my mouth before looking back to Max.
"Why? I gave you the amulet to help your sister with, I forgave you for stealing from me, I offered you a permanent job in the mafia, I called Leonardo and he is on his way to take his mate back himself. So I'll ask you again, why? Why would you try to escape me and ruin your future for no gain?"
"I wasn't going to allow you to simply hand her back to Leonardo like some kind of lost puppy,” Max hissed.
"Am I talking to the same guy that tried to get her murdered three years ago?”
Max shot Luciano a deadly glare.
"Or maybe I am not the only one wanting Leonardo's trust back,” he teased before stroking my hair.
Max watched as Luciano touched me and clenched his jaw. Luciano noticed Max's reaction and began to gather my hair together in his hand before giving it a little tug.
"I just want to see my sister again,” Max said. "And I care for Ella a darn sight more than you."
"What about your Megestanis title? Do you want that back?"
"No," Max replied. "And I don't want anything to do with your fucking Mafia either.”
He was obviously telling the truth which seemed to infuriate Luciano. He couldn't fault Max in any way.
"You are a bad man, Luciano. And It may not be my pack anymore but I still don't want you in it," he hissed.
Luciano’s grip tightened around me and he let out a low grumbly growl.
"Poor Luciano, getting angry because he can't find a way to drag Max down to his level," I said managing to prize his hand off my mouth for a split second.
"I am beginning to lose my patience with you, sweetheart,” he growled gripping my wrists tighter. "Are you forgetting what I am capable of? You can fight me but you won't win."
"Perhaps not but do you know who can't beat you though?" I said. "Leonardo. He has done it before and he will do it again the second he gets here and sees that you have harmed me."
Luciano let out a low growl before withdrawing a rag from his pocket and holding it over my mouth. The repulsive, sickening smell hit
my nose seconds before I held my breath started frantically fighting Luciano.
But it was too late. I had already inhaled some of the ghastly fumes and could begin to feel my body falling into unconsciousness.
Max was shouting at Luciano but I couldn't really make out his words and all I could see was his blurred silhouette fighting against his restrainers.
Luciano carelessly threw me over his shoulder seconds before everything went black.