Cole's POV

I enter Rivera holding Julia's hand, and a smile spreads across my face when I see the waitress, Skyler. Skyler is Luca's wife, and when he asks her to give up working at the restaurant, she gives him hell until he tells her she can keep working there. Whenever she's at the restaurant, Luca is in the office, keeping an eye on the everyday running of his restaurant. He told me a couple of weeks ago that he's doing less work for his family because he needs to keep an eye on Skyler.

Skyler's father owed many people money and even sold her to another family. Luca has done everything to ensure the other family doesn't enter his restaurant and take her from him.

I'm about to take a seat when Skyler says, "Hey, Cole. Those men would like a word with you, Sir."

Four men are standing close by, and I can see they have nine-millimetre guns sticking out of their holsters.

A smile spreads as I remember first encountering these men and Luca. I approach them and ask, "Do you remember the first time we met?"

Dwayne, the leading security guy, laughs. "Of course I do. You were such a cocky little shit. You had longer hair than you do and always had your hand on your gun. I'm pretty sure you were trigger-fingered." I laugh. "You also had your cousin and his right-hand man, Jai, with you. Whatever happened to that guy?"

A smile spreads across my face. "Jai's living in Los Angeles, running a seclusive bar for the rich people of LA. Not everyone knows about the club, and those who know about it pay a fortune for alcohol and entertainment. He recently got married to a beautiful woman. Things worked out well for him."

He looks past me and in Julia's direction. "It looks like you're a lucky guy too. Are there wedding bells in your future?"

I place my hand on his shoulder. "Not yet. I'm working on getting Julia to completely forgive me for the shit I did to her growing up. She left home and hasn't returned until now because of me. She's going through a hard time, and the people she thought she could trust are truly her enemy." Looking back at the girls, I add. "The woman with my girl is supposed to be her best friend, but today, she overheard a conversation about having me distracted. I have a feeling it involves her removing Julia from my side. I need Luca to use his magic and tell me everything I need to know about that girl."

A guy walks through the door. He's built like a tank, with tattoos under his button-up shirt's collar. He looks at me. "You must be the guy Boss hasn't stopped talking about since this morning."

I'm surprised he told his men about me.

I look at the table where Julia's sitting with her friend. "Can you keep an eye on my girl?" he nods. "And I need someone to be on her friends at all times. If she goes to the toilet, someone must stand outside it. Something is going on with that girl, and I can't put my finger on it."

"I will do that, " he tells me. He talks through a microphone, relating the message to someone. "There's a group of men out back as well. So, there's enough eyes on your girl."

"Thank you."

Dwayne leads me to a door and types a code into the keypad. Looking at it, I ask. "Is that connected to the electricity?"

It better not be. If it is and something happens while we're here, I won't be able to get to Julia quickly enough.

He looks at me. "No, it's battery-operated. When the shop first opened, it was, and the boss got stuck inside for a couple of hours. He wasn't happy leaving Skyler in the open for others to take." Dwayne opens the door. As soon as we step into the room, it's dark, except for the light shining where the stairs are. We climb the stairs, and at the top is another door. Opening the door, I step into the office and see Luca sitting behind his desk. "Hey, Luca. It's been a while."
He spins his chair around and faces me. "Cole, I'm glad you came by." He points to the chair opposite him. "You should sit. We have a lot to talk about."

Walking over to the desk, I pull the chair out and sit across from him. "What can I help you with tonight?"

Pointing at Julia's friend, I say, "Can you go through everything on the internet and give me all the details on this woman? Her name is Veronica. She's been acting strangely, and my girl is worried that her life is in danger because of her."

"I can do that." He types stuff onto his computer. "It will take five minutes to gather everything I need on her."

Looking at the CTV footage, I see a group of men walking into the restaurant, and they sit close to my table. "Have you seen those men before, Luca?"

Luca looks closely at them. "No, this is the first time for them. Why?"

I don't have a good feeling about this.

Putting my hand on the gun, I stand up and start moving toward the door. Slowly, I pull it out of the holster.

"Cole," Luca says. "Don't draw that gun out here, or my men will interfere. They'll think you're after me."

"I'm not." I drop my hands and look at the guy beside me. "I wouldn't hurt your boss. It will be like hurting my own family, and I'm not stupid enough to do that."

"Got it," Luca yells. "You have to see this."

I walk over to him, and the restaurant goes dark as soon as I look at the screen. "Fuck," I yell. Pulling my phone out of my pocket, I turn the torch on and go downstairs.

I swing the door open as soon as I reach the bottom of the stairs. "Julia," I don't hear anything. Shining the torch, I see the guy who was supposed to look out for my girl with a gunshot to his head.

It's not good. Someone's declaring war on this family.

I keep walking through the restaurant and find more men with gunshots to the back of their heads.

How did they get in undetected? Is there a mole inside Luca's family?

The door to the woman's bathroom has blood on it, so I open it. Walking into the bathroom, I say, "Julia, are you in here?" She doesn't reply.

Where is she?

I walk out of the bathroom and down the hall until I see another door. It has a sign on it that says, "Staff only."

It might be the kitchen.

"Julia," I yell and open the kitchen door. I don't see anyone. As soon as I step around the island, I see two men with gunshots to the back of the head.

Somebody executed them.

I continued to search the restaurant and came up empty.

She's not here.

Walking over to the wall, I begin to punch it.

I fucking failed her. She trusted me, but I didn't listen.

After a couple more hits, my knuckles were bruised and bleeding.

Luca doesn't look happy, either. "They took Skyler too. Who the fuck were those people?"

I don't know, but I will make them pay for it before the night ends.

His hands form into fists. "Someone just declared war on my family, and they aren't going to make it out alive.

The lights turn back on, and Dwayne enters the room. Looking at Luca, he says. "They turned off the power. Whoever is behind this knows their way around the restaurant. I wouldn't have known where the metre-box was if it wasn't for you, Sir."

"I know," Luca replies. Dwayne, please call Skyler's uncle and tell him his niece has been kidnapped.

I have to call Julia's family.

Luca pulls his phone out of his pocket and calls Skyler's family.

Pulling mine out, I looked through the contacts until I reached Julia's dad's name and pressed the call button.

The phone rings a couple of times before he answers it. "Hey, Cole. How's my daughter?"

Me: Mr Harrison, I'm sorry to tell you this, but while we were out for dinner with Veronica. Somebody took her.

Mr Harrison: You better find my daughter, Cole. She's been through enough this year and doesn't need this. I'm afraid this is going to push her over the edge.

Me: I'll get her back, and when I do, I'll call you.

Mr. Harrison: You better. Now, bring our girl home.

He hangs up on me.

Luca walks through the door, and he looks pissed. "Skyler's Family are on their way here. Shit is going to go down. Do you want to stay for the show or leave, Cole? I'd go with leaving."

Shaking my head, I say, "I'm the one who brought this trouble through the door; I should be the one taking responsibility for it."