Stolen from the Hitman: A Bad Boy Mafia Romance(62)

“Liv!” I hiss, alarmed and stepping forward towards the building.

But she’s already up at a balcony, and to my astonishment, she just peeks into the window doors as if she were breaking into her own home. “Nothing,” she mouths down to me.

I climb up after her, my old instincts kicking in like riding a bike after a long time, and I land beside her, moving forward to pick the lock to the place. The lock clicks after a moment, giving me pause. I’d have expected unlocked doors and windows if they were expecting to ambush us.

Before I can stop her, Liv slips inside, and I follow after her, pistol out and to the ready.

“Oh my god…” she breathes as she looks out on what she sees, and I frown deeply.

We’re on the second floor of the building, standing on a walkway. The floor ends about five feet into the building, and an ornate metal railing lines the edge that opens out to a full view of the ground floor, which is a stunning sight. There are Italian busts and statues lining the walls, remarkably expensive plants garnishing each one at the base. What seems to be a marble fountain sits in the middle of the room, and I see rose petals scattered throughout the whole place.

“It’s beautiful,” Liv says.

“If you could see what takes place in lavish manors like these,” I say grimly, “you’d change your tone.”

We start to make our way inside, and it doesn’t take long to realize the place seems as empty as the exterior was. There isn’t a sound to be heard nor a light on. We make our way down the stairs, and the sight before us starts to become a little clearer.

There’s a grand piano on display, and I can see empty champagne glasses sitting on it and the edge of the fountain, a bottle left here and there. As I move up to inspect them, I notice that some have red lipstick still on the rim. The black of the piano reveals a fine white powder in very trace amounts near some of the glasses, and to my disgust, I notice a used condom shoved behind the leg of the instrument.

“Hell of a party,” Liv says, but her tone is more somber now, and I know she’s thinking of the same thing I am: where was Maggie for all this?

Further inspection of the room reveals more of the same. There seems to have been some kind of wild, hedonistic revelry here in the recent past, but everyone seems to have cleared out very quickly. The entire time Liv and I look the place over, my pistol is out, and my eyes spend half their time focusing on the doors to other rooms, just waiting for the mob to burst in.

No such thing happens.

I move over to the front door and find it locked. “Whoever left the house really abandoned this place,” I say, unlocking the door for our convenience before moving back to the center of the room with Liv, who’s sitting on the edge of the fountain and gazing down into the waters thoughtfully. “I don’t think Maggie is here any longer, Liv.”

“I want to check the basements and the guest rooms,” she says, looking at me, but her eyes tell me she doesn’t quite have confidence in her own claims.

“We will,” I say, putting a hand on her shoulder as I sit down beside her, and the next moment, she throws her arms around me, pressing her face into my chest and suppressing a sob.

“They could have done anything to her here, Max,” she says, fists clenching in my clothes. “How can people be so evil? She doesn’t know anyone in this country but me. If it weren’t for you, I might have been here too!” She looks up at me, tears in her eyes, and I put my hand against her cheek, leaning forward and kissing her on the lips.

“These men are hardly human,” I say as I break the kiss, looking at her with a stony gaze. “They gave up their right to live when they began this ring under my watch. I said what I meant when I told you I’ll find her. We’ll find her, Liv.” I smile and return her hug, holding her tightly and comfortingly. “You’re a remarkable woman with remarkable talents. Maggie couldn’t ask for a better friend.”

Liv looks up to me, some small reassurance in her eyes now, and she opens her mouth to talk when a sounds snaps our attention to the front door.

It swings open forcefully, and I stand up, my hands gripping my pistol with trained expertise as it moves up to point straight at the figure who bursts into the manor before our eyes.





21





Liv





I shrink back behind Max instinctively, my heart pounding violently in my ribcage. My eyes follow the length of his muscular arms to his fingers wrapped confidently around a gun. I can feel my blood running cold at the sight of the man I adore holding such a horrible weapon. People back home in North Carolina are obsessed with guns, but I’ve never been a fan, myself. Too many things can go wrong.