As the door opens the first thing you hear out of Ella's mouth is "Omg!! Luca you gotta snap a few pictures of us and you're next!" Everyone gets out as Ella 'forces' everyone to take all kinds of pictures, when she's finally done she shrugs her shoulders and says "What I'm a memory hoarder!"
Noone bats an eye we know she's obsessed with this kinda stuff. The four of us walk hand in hand to the doors as Luca leads us inside an elegant atmosphere filled with scent of food. We are greeted and taken to the back bayside patio, to a large squared table with a glacette already there. We're seated and there's a lot of champagne and laughter as the time passes.
We spend the next hour eating and talking taking in the beautiful scenery. Luca places his hand on your upper thigh before gripping it a few times causing your breath to get rigid. At this point you're on your third glass of bubbly and it's kicking in, you feel your phone go off as you see there's a new text.
"Where are you?" It's from mom... no it's Sofia, that bitch is not your mother. You have no idea what to say, you hear Luca ask you what's wrong. Something you've never been too good at, hiding your emotions, A rbf if you must. You bite your lip before telling the table Sofia is asking where you are.
Having to get out of this atmosphere for a minute you tell them you need some fresh air. El goes to stand up but you tell her you need to be alone for a sec, you don't even say anything to Luca you just grab your purse and go. You look at the message again as you exit and go to the side on the sidewalk, not that there's too much foot traffic right now.
Regrettably you dig in your bag and pull out your hidden antique cigarette case (something you got from your grandmother a lifetime ago) and you light up a cigarette. There's nine months down the drain! You can feel your eyes shifting, you're fighting the disassociation. You take a long drag as memories race through your mind when you hear footsteps coming towards you.
"Honey where have you been? I went to the address you gave me and the place was empty! What the fuck Natalia? I don't have time for your pity games.."
You hear Sofia say in her classic condescending tone. 'My fucking games' you think. You take another drag before responding to her. You ask her "How'd you find me?" She rolls her eyes telling you she has her ways. Annoyed you stomp the cigarette with your heels and you say "Who Antonio?" You watch as her eyes widen for a quick moment.
"Is that a problem girl?" You hear Antonio say slowly approaching from the shadows. Your heart stops drops and rolls as you are now in fight or flight. Not that it's too different, you spend majority of your time like this, ptsd is not something you'd wish on anyone.
In a shaky voice you ask why they're doing this to you. You're met with a low growl of a chuckle, before an actual answer. "Payback is the the sweetest justice, you are just a piece of the puzzle Darling!" At this point nothing makes sense still, you see a blacked out vehicle slowly making its way towards you.
As you hear the restaurants doors open and begin to shut you hear heels clacking and low voices, it's them. You're hoping they get to you before things go south, it's too late. You feel a thud to the back of your head and the metal case dropping to the cement before everything goes fuzzy then black.
•Luca's POV•
You watch as a dark escalade speeds off, you mumble under your breath, just waiting to see Natalia's face. Turning the little ledge expecting to see her but you don't. 'What the fuck' you mumble again, the three of you stand under the light for just a moment before you hear Ella gasp. You growl out "What?!" As you see her frantically grabbing something off of the ground.
As you take a step closer you see what she's holding as she starts crying. "This is Natty's cigarette case she got from her grandmother... She'd never part from this... somethings wrong Luca we have to find her!" You feel anger and angst building up. This can't be happening again... You see Mark is already on the phone, he hangs up and walks towards you.
Mark grabs Ella's hand and kisses it, the poor sobbing girl, trying to reassure her the best he can. He turns to you and says "KJ is on his way to my place, let's go!" Lost in your head you don't even respond you just follow as you clench you fists and jaw so tight as the three of you get to and in the car. You take the backseat as you get on your phone and make a call. Your eyes sting but from rage not sadness!
You spend a few minutes on the phone with your mother as she's the only one who can give you the reassurance you need, as you're hanging up you notice you're on Marks street. KJ is already there waiting on the trunk of his car smoking a cigarette. As you pull into the drive the three of you greet him as he tosses the butt into the street.
Everyone follows Mark inside and takes a seat, not you though, you go straight for the liquor. A few shots later you join the rest of them, conversations going on and all you hear is ringing. As you sit on the love seat the ringing goes away and you can hear what they're saying. You hear your name and it's shakes you back to reality, "Luca I'm such an idiot!!"
Ella says, you ask her why and she responds with "Well before you came along I was Natalia's safe spot... We share locations!!" You watch as she pulls her cell out and opens up the locator. It shows she's sitting in the same spot, trying to be as rational as you can you head to 'Your room' so you can stock up. Bodies will drop and the city will burn to the ground before you let them take Natalia from you.
You grab so much you have to grab your 10 in one holster and your leg holster, it's going to be a long night but you'll be ready this time around. Antonio, Sofia all of them will pay for this. This has to be quick you know how Tonio is, A dirty, soulless bastard, exactly why the family cut ties. You finish up getting ready and head back out to everyone.
Joining Mark and KJ as they've been mapping out the areas ins and outs, it's parked at an abandoned building. Without hesitation you blurt out "It's a trap!" ... "They're luring us there we can't fall for it!" They agree it does look that way but if we want to get Natalia back risks are going to have to be made. You'd die for her, so there's no second thought is needed.
The thoughts of what she must be going through shoot through your mind, you head to the bottle and take a big chug enough to get you tipsy but not enough to make you useless. KJ grabs your forearm and pulls you in forehead to forehead before pulling back saying "We got this bro, don't worry just be ready cus this is going to be a shit-show!"
Mark walks to Ella and tells her to lock the doors behind us and to wait in the bedroom for updates. He explains where the weapons are if needed. The guys are already strapped up and ready to go we go over the plan one last time, needing a few extra bodies we call Moose and Meech, Twin gym bros! Boys we go way back with, always down for trouble! Tough guys, good to have on your side if shit goes sideways which it absolutely will be.
You grab your blade and put it in its respective holder and head for the Navigator and wait for Mark and KJ. You pull the picture of Flora out, kiss it, say a prayer and put it back. The men get in the front seats and we head to pick up the twins, or doesn't take long before we grab them and head towards the building filling them in on the ride.
Mark parks far away enough to not draw attention to us, Moose and Meech are unknown so they're the ones sent to do a walk by to scope out the scene but not to act like casual passerbys. The time is here, and so it begins.