STELLA

Don't lose it Stella, you need to focus. 

Focus.

Focus.

I repeat this over and over again as I change quickly, grabbing everything I need. We planned for this, knowing it could happen. Lucy and Marco know we will come for them if something happened. We weren't expecting Charlotte to be the one to do it, but we know she's working with him so he's more than likely the one behind it.

I dash out of the room and rush down the stairs, several men are putting on their kevlar and checking their weapons they will carry. My mom looks up anxiously when she sees me. "Stellina mia, maybe stay, yes?"

I shake my head, "No, Mamma, we talked about this. This needs to end with Jimmy. Please understand."

Tears fill her eyes before she hugs me. "I do understand, I just don't want nothing bad to happen to you." She tells me in Italian. 

I tighten my arms around her for a moment before I kiss her face. "I love you."

"JP, I called Ray," he looks up from strapping on his weapon belt. 

"What did he say?"

"Charlotte's friend, the liaison, confessed she'd been giving information to Charlotte about you and whatever they had on Jimmy, too." I explain.

"Did you tell him what happened tonight?" He walks over to me. 

I shake my head, "Not exactly, I just said I may need him and to keep his phone on him." 

JP nods his head. "Good."

The doors burst open, and Santino rushes in. "I checked in with Marco before going to the movie with Cora, but he stopped responding. Has it happened?" 

"He and Lucy were taken from the school dance," Enzo informs him. "Kai and Miles are on their way back." 

"Cazzo!" Santino runs both hands through his hair. "And we're sure we won't lose their signal?"

"Mateo said they're tracking Lucy's phone, and Tej suggested we put trackers on Lucy's corsage, hers and Marco's earrings, so if they dump their phones we should still be able trace them," I tell him. 

"I've dispatched associates who said they are willing to send reinforcements," Cristian announces as he walks out of the kitchen. 

"Let's go then," Enzo heads for the door.

"No, Enzo." 

He stops to look at me like I'm crazy. "Jimmy likes to use distractions and attack from all angles. I know we have men with Annalisa and Rosaly, but you need to be there." 

Realization crosses his features as he looks around, but still seems torn. "Go," I tell him and he nods as he watches when Topo throws Santino a kevlar vest to put on.

"Keep me posted," He says as he rushes out of the house.

I look around, and see Nicky and Paulie checking their weapons. "I need you two to stay here at the house."

They both begin arguing in Italian with me, nearly shouting at me. I hold my hand up. "I know you swore to protect me, but I need you to protect my family, my mamma, and the kids. Having you here with the others will let me focus on what I need to do." They look at each other and then both take a deep breath, and finally nod in agreement.

David rushes out of the hallway. "We've got a location on Lucy's phone, but Marco is in a different location. They've separated them." 

"Send us everything you got to our phones," JP instructs him. He looks around the room. "Adonis, you and David, take a few men and follow Marco. Tej will be on remotely, tracing Lucy. And Mateo, stay here and alert us if you see anything from the surveillance. Everyone, head out." 

Kai and Miles rush in before we reach the door. They run towards me and both hug me. "Can we come?" Kai asks me. 

I shake my head. "I need you two here at the house, in case anything happens. You know what to do."

"Please mom," Kai begs, he's not one to beg usually. But I stay firm and kiss them both before I turn away to head out. 

<><><><><>

"Everyone is set up, John Paul," Topo says in our ear pieces. 

"Good, knowing Jimmy, he'll be calling us soon thinking he has the upper hand." JP looks at his watch. "Have your group take out the perimeter and work your way in." He then addresses Adonis. They've found the other location he's at. "Donny, have your men breach the perimeter as well." 

My phone rings and I look over at JP. "Just like you said." Lucy's name flashes on my screen, but I know it's Jimmy. 

I answer the call hitting the speaker phone. "Lucy?"

"Nope, guess again..." The voice makes my blood begin to boil. JP informs Donny the phones were swapped.

"Cut the shit, Charlotte. Where the hell are the kids?" I seethe.

"Hmm? Oh, Lucy's just getting acquainted with some new friends of mine. Meanwhile, I'm getting to know this handsome guy over here." She switches the view on the phone and we see Marco strapped to a chair. His mouth is gagged, but we can see the trail of blood running down the side of his face. 

Charlotte runs her hand through Marco's hair and he moves his head away, his words are muffled by the gag in his mouth. 

"Charlotte, you're going to regret doing this." JP tells her. 

"I don't think so, Johnny," Charlotte smiles. "And technically, I'm not doing anything. I mean, I may have been the one who lured Lucy away. She's such a sweetheart by the way, so willing to help a girl out," She chuckles, "But the one you want to talk to is your old pal, James, he's the one you want to plead and beg with."

"I'm only going to give you this one chance to not make things worse for yourself, Charlotte. Let them go and I won't drain the life out of you with my bare hands," I warn her. 

Charlotte cackles, "I don't think you could even get to me if you tried, girl. James is well connected and practically has a militia covering this warehouse. And the man is a genius because, even if you got here in time, there's so many options for us to get out you wouldn't even know where to find us." She runs her hand down Marco's face and then his chest and he shakes violently trying to get her hand off of him, his face is red from his angry screams.

"What do you want Charlotte?" JP questions. 

She moves the camera back to her. "You know what I want, Johnny," She says smiling wickedly back at JP. "Being your physical therapist was one thing, but doing business with you and then having to hire lawyers after you cut me out, drained me. And then I came across James and he's been compensating me well, but not enough to recover what I lost because of you." 

She sighs dramatically, "You'll be getting a message with instructions soon. Transfer money to my accounts, Johnny. Otherwise our young hero here, will soon be joining his parents." She ends the call. 

But instead of getting a message, JP's phone rings. Marco's name flashing on the screen. "Topo, we're coming in from the southeast side. Move in." 

JP orders a few men to go in the building a head of us. Then answers the video call and Jimmy greets cheerily. "Hey bro, how's it hanging?"

"Jimmy, I swear if you touch her---" I begin 

He cuts me off. "I know, I know, I know. You'll kill me, wish I was never born," He chuckles. JP ushers me inside the building once the men ensure it's clear. 

"More reinforcements are headed your way, Stella," Cristian informs me in the comm piece. 

 "Yet, I'm still alive, still breathing," Jimmy exhales loudly. "Still touching what and who I want," He says in a low voice while he trails a finger down her throat and down the middle of her chest; Lucy whimpers. He signals someone and a knife is tossed to him, the blade reflects in the light and my heart drops. "

Tej speaks into my ear, "Stella, something isn't right...the signal from Lucy's phone and from what David sent me on Marco's phone show's they're actually together, same spot." 

I look at JP and he turns away to talk to Adonis through the ear piece. "It's a trap, Donny, get out of there!"

My focus goes back to Jimmy on the phone. He turns to Lucy and bring the knife close to her face and she turns her face. "Did Stella ever tell you about our time together?" He trails the tip of the knife down her throat.

Lucy stays quiet. 

"No? Well, how about I show you how we spent our time together." 

"Jimmy, she's just a kid. Even you have to have limits." JP tries to distract him. 

"Nah, that's the great thing about not having limits. The possibilities of fun are endless." Jimmy responds as he runs a thumb down her lips and she does something that normally I would be proud of but in this case I know it will only make things worse---she bites down hard on his thumb to the point we see blood running down her chin. 

Jimmy yells out in pain dropping the knife and then Lucy kicks him away from her. "You fucking bitch!" He slaps her with the back of his hand; she cries out from the harsh impact. 

He picks up the knife and I watch as he pulls at the front of her dress. "Jimmy don't!" I shout at him, but he takes the knife and tears down the front of her dress, leaving her exposed and vulnerable in her underwear and strapless bra. Lucy begins crying. 

"Mom-mommy," She sobs, her body is trembling.

"Hey, I didn't sign up for this. You said you wouldn't do anything other than rough them up a bit." We now hear Charlotte, sounding panicked. But it confirms what Tej said, they are together. 

"Shut the hell up," Jimmy growls at her. 

Topo breaths heavily into our ear piece. "Perimeter is secured, John Paul," he tells us.

Adonis also speaks into our ear pieces. "The place went up as soon as we drove out. We're fifteen minutes out from your location." He informs us. 

"How's the rest of the fam, JP?" Jimmy taunts as he moves behind Lucy, trailing his hands down and around her waist. "Any explosive new gossip to share?"

I try to encourage Lucy through my blind rage that I'm overcome with. "I'm coming for you, Luce. You're so strong,"

Jimmy turns back to Lucy. "Yes, you are strong just like Stella was when I touched her like this," He places his hands on her hips sliding them up slowly and cupping her breasts. She wails and sobs, trying to move him away from her. "And then like this," He trails his hand down her stomach. 

"Jimmy, please." I beg him and he actually stops. 

"Aw there it is," He moves towards the screen. "It's the most beautiful sound, hearing you beg with my name coming out of your lips, Stella." He closes his eyes enjoying every moment of our nightmare. He opens his eyes. "Tell you what, you do as I say and I promise you I won't kill her or the boy." 

"What do you want?" 

"Wire two hundred million dollars to Charlotte's account. You still have her information, I'm sure. Once I have confirmation that it's received I will send you the address of where you can find these kiddos of yours. You have thirty minutes," He smiles at me. He signals for Charlotte to end the call and JP's phone goes dark. 

"We can get to them before thirty minutes," I tell JP as we make our way toward the building. A few of our men greet us as we approach them. They confirm the perimeter on this side of the building is secure.

"The transfer's done," Tej tells us through the ear pieces and my eyes meet JP's. "And before you get mad, you know I can easily withdraw it, but I'm not willing to take a chance on Lucy's or Marco's lives over money." Tej explains.

"Give us twenty minutes, then remove the money." I tell him. 

"Is that enough time?" Topo questions in our pieces. "I mean for him to confirm it."

"It's more than enough time, especially since he's waiting for it," I respond. 

We reach the end of a corner and I stop to call Jimmy. He answers on the second ring. "I'm impressed, Stella, you came through and with time to spare. Guess it's true what they say, with the right motivation, things get done quickly." His voice sounds muffled for a moment. "And it looks like it's all there, I just received confirmation." 

"So now you hold your end of the bargain." I respond, knowing what's coming. 

"No, I don't think I will. I may need them for some future endeavors, you can never be too certain." 

"You lying piece of shit," I signal for the men who are with us, to break up into four groups and we split. JP's not happy about not staying together, but we have a better chance of finding the kids this way. Santino radios the other men and tells them to begin their approach. 

Gun fire is heard. "You're already here, aren't you Stella?" Jimmy says. "But as always, you're always just a step behind."  

"Maybe; or maybe it's my way of making sure you know I'm coming for you. I'm all about the presentation. See you soon, asshole." JP gives me a quick kiss before he leaves with his group. I look at my group, that includes Santino, Neri, a young new hire named, Petey and Topo who's now joined us. "Let's go."

"Group one and two breeched the North and South side. Group three is engaging right now." David informs us through our comm pieces. He and Adonis checked in once they arrived to the location. They are waiting outside and will engage if and only if they're needed.

"What's the plan?" Topo asks as he leans up against a wall, loading his hand gun, but pulls his automatic weapon first.

"Set explosives at the three main entrances," I respond. "Drive them back toward the center of the building. I don't want any chance for Jimmy to escape."

"You, Petey, and Neri, come in from the sides after the explosions. Santino and I will be the cover and follow you in." They all agree in unison.

We watch as Topo and Neri run towards the center of the building and begin placing explosive devices. They split up while the rest of us aim our guns at the doors, keeping an eye out for anyone that would try to sneak up on us.

I pull my night vision goggles on and then David tell us, Tej has an infrared image on the inside. "There's about fifteen-twenty men on the other side of where you are waiting. The explosion may draw them away from you."

"All set," Topo says and counts down before he triggers the explosives. Topo, Neri and Petey rush in after the domino effect of explosions go off. Santino and I follow closely behind. Bullets start flying at us and we return fire.

As the dust finally settles, we're rushed by several men. Topo, Neri and Petey begin hand to hand combat while Santino and I focus on shooting down the other men who are trickling in.

Tej and David guide us through the layout of the building, but as we push further into the building, the comm pieces start cutting out and I lose signal.

Santino and I begin engaging in hand to hand combat. I pull a few knives throwing them at a couple of men running towards me and then throw a few more towards the men who are running up behind Topo and Neri.

I pull my whip and swing it catching the man's arm who was going to throw a punch on an unsuspecting Santino and pull him down. He pulls the whip from his arm and looks at me with an evil glint in his eye as he stalks towards me.

"The legendary, angello della morte," He grins at me. "I'm going to enjoy this." (Angel of death)

"Not as much as I will." I smile in return.

He unsheathes a large serrated knife from his hip. And we circle each other. I unsheathe two of my remaining knifes and then he moves forward, I roll past him and slash at the back of his thigh and then his side.

He grunts in pain and turns around swinging his knife back, and I narrowly miss getting my face sliced, but he throws a kicks that sends me sprawling back and scramble to get up as he comes at me again, and this time I wait as he gets closer and use the momentum he uses to stab his knife towards my stomach and pull his arm forward and head butt him, stabbing my knife into his side.

I remove it quickly and plunge it into his neck, blood spraying every where from his severed carotid artery.

As I look around, I notice we're still outnumbered and pull my guns and begin shooting at the men who are double teaming our guys.

"Let's go," I order once Neri finishes slicing the neck of the man he was fighting with.

We make our way through the long corridor. "Do any of you have signal?" I ask as we continue walking down the long hallway. Gunfire is still heard somewhere in the building; my thoughts go to JP, but I need to focus on getting to Lucy and Marco.

All the guys test their comm pieces but no one has signal. "We're going to have to split up again. Neri, Petey you guys go right. Santino and I will go left. Call me if you find Marco or Lucy." They nod and head off to the right where the hallway splits.

We trade off checking and looking inside the doors we come across all the while still trying to get in contact with David or Mateo through the comms.

I reach for my phone when it rings as we approach another split in the hallway. I quickly look at it and see it's Neri. I hit the speaker phone. "We got Marco."

"Good, get him out. Call Adonis so he knows where to meet you." I instruct. I hear Marco arguing in the background about wanting to help find Lucy.

"Tell Marco---" I'm cut off as I hear Neri cursing and then I hear gun fire. Santino and I have no choice but to listen as we hear them engage in a gun fight. We decide to turn back and head towards them but as we turn a corner we stop when we're met with a surprised Charlotte. Her eyes widen when she sees me and starts back peddling.

She turns to run and I sprint after her. I launch myself at her tackling her to the ground. We end up rolling, but I maneuver myself to land on top of her and I start raining punches down on her.

She screams and tries to reach for my hair but I shove her hands to the side and hit her on her sides before I go for her face again.

"Basta, Stella! We don't have time to waste on this piece of shit," Santino says as he pulls me off of Charlotte. (Enough)

He bends down and ties her hands and lifts her up to stand. Her mouth is bleeding and she has welts forming on her forehead, cheek and chin. "Where's Jimmy?" He shakes her.

"Hell if I know, the asshole bailed on me. He took the girl when all hell broke loose; he left without me." She spits out angrily.

"Leave her here. If she tries to leave Adonis will grab her." I tell Santino.

"You're not going to find Jimmy and you might as well know, the girl is as good as dead." Charlotte comments. I can't help myself as I hit her with one last time, knocking her ass out.

"Well, now she's really not going anywhere." Santino says. "Come on, we already lost a lot of time."

We start running down the corridor, following the gunfire within the building. I shake my head after my comm piece makes a loud shrill sound in my ear. Santino hisses and pokes at his ear piece too.

"Stella, can you hear me?" JP's voice is in my ear.

"Yes, I hear you." I tell him as we continue running.

"Neri and Petey have Marco. Where are you?"

"We were heading towards them and then we ran into Charlotte. And now we are on our way back towards the northeast side of the building. Have you heard from Adonis if any of other teams have Lucy?"

"No, we were hoping you had her."

I shut my eyes briefly hoping he hasn't gotten away again. "JP, call Ray. They can come grab Charlotte. Otherwise, I'm going to finish her off, myself."

"Hang on, Tej is picking up something from the satellite video...there's a chopper heading towards the train station. Jimmy's got to be up on the roof."

"How the hell do we get up to the roof?" Santino asks what I'm thinking out loud.

"The easiest way, instead of going through the maze inside is the fire escape from the outside." David informs us.

Santino and I both look at the door in front of us with the neon green exit sign above it and we rush towards it and run outside. We look around and don't see a fire escape. "Split up, there's gotta be more than one," I tell him and we run to opposite sides of the building.

My feet slide on the gravel when I turn the corner and look up seeing the fire escape. "I'm going to have to put my phone away, I need to jump up to grab the bottom rung to pull it down. Hoping the damn thing doesn't fall apart, it's all rusted."

"Be careful, Stella," JP tells me before I tuck my phone in my pocket. I get a small running start and jump up grabbing a hold of the rung and it doesn't move. I can hear bullets going off as I swing my body a few times trying to pull it down and it finally releases. I start climbing up quickly and then make my way up as fast as I can. I can hear the helicopter nearing us and it pushes me to go faster.

Once I reach the top, I hop over the ledge of the roof looking around, finding the bodies of men scattered on the roof. I creep up against a wall which I'm sure is the stairwell and hear Santino telling Jimmy to let Lucy go.

"I have a better idea. Why don't you join me?" Jimmy asks as I peek my head around the corner.

"You couldn't afford me." Santino tells him. "And no offense you don't seem to take care of those who are with you. Look around, Stronzo. It's just you. All your men are dead."

"No, not all." The helicopter nears the roof.

Santino cocks his gun. "You're not going anywhere."

Jimmy aims his gun at Santino. "Well, then. Go ahead. Make your move. Take your shot." Lucy whimpers as he holds her in front of him. I move stealthily out of hiding and hope Santino sees me without alerting Jimmy.

"Lucy, no matter what happens, you'll be okay," Santino tells her. "Trust me."

"I wouldn't make promises you can't keep." Jimmy adds.

"I trust you, Tino." Lucy responds.

"Now." Santino says and with that Lucy twists quickly in Jimmy's hold, biting down on his arm, then elbowing him hard on his side. I run at them and when Jimmy catches her foot after she tries to kick him---I tackle Jimmy.

Santino moves in and grabs Lucy and then also kicks Jimmy's gun away out of reach. I throw a couple of punches before Jimmy stops me and hits me back. I block another punch and scramble off of him. He stands chuckling as he wipes his mouth.

"I know you've been looking forward to this as much as I have. No better type of foreplay if you ask me." He grins at me.

"You're fucking delusional."

"Thank you," He smiles before he lunges towards me and we trade punches and kicks. But he catches me with a left hook and I hit the ground hard.

"Oh come on, that was too, easy, Bracco." Jimmy pants as he looks down at me while I try to shake out of the dizziness in my head. A radio cackles and a voice shouts at Jimmy. "Jimmy quit fucking around. Get on or we're leaving your ass!" A rope is swinging down from the helicopter now.

"Well, looks like we're going to have to wait for the grand finale of our saga yet again, Stella." He chuckles as he turns to walk towards the rope ladder but I grit my teeth to push myself up.

"Take the chopper down," I shout at Santino and he begins using his automatic weapon towards the helicopter tail rotor, it starts to move away quickly and Jimmy breaks out in a run. I sprint after him and I use my whip on his ankle, catching him and he falls forward but grabs onto the last rung of the rope ladder.

I jump on him and he tries to push me off. I can hear Lucy screaming for me, as we're being dragged across the roof, but I can't let him get away, not again. I hit him on the side repeatedly and thankfully just before we reach the other end of the roof he lets go, but we crash into the wall of the ledge.

We both groan from the impact and I fight through the fucking starts I'm literally seeing. "You crazy ass bitch!" Jimmy groans as he struggles to stand and sways but I hear him unholster a gun.

"See you in hell," he says as he cocks his gun but then Santino comes in and kicks the gun out his hand and then throws another spinning kick at Jimmy's head. He falls to the ground out cold.

"Dammit Stella, what were you thinking?" Santino tells me as he pushes on my head and I grimace from the pain.

"He couldn't...get away...I wasn't going to let him....get away," I pant and groan as I sit up with his help. I look around fighting through my blurry vision. "Lucy?"

"Mom," She sobs as she falls over me and gives me a crushing hug. "I knew you'd come for us."

I push her hair back and wipe her tears. "Of course, I would, Luce." I bring her in close to me. "I'm so sorry. Are you okay, did he...did he do anything to you?" I ask.

She shakes her head, "No, but he said he was going to make me do things to him." She shudders slightly and I look over at Jimmy on the ground. "It's not your fault mom, I was so naive when I saw Charlotte after I came out of the bathroom. I know we planned that he might do something, but I never thought she'd go this far. She said her phone wasn't working and I stupidly gave her mine to use and then I saw Marco tied up down one of the hallways. Everything went dark after that." She cries. "Is Marco...is he okay?"

I quiet her down. "He's okay, a little roughed up, but he's okay. And this isn't your fault, either, Lucy." I tuck her hair behind her ear.

"Adonis and the others are on their way to grab this motherfucker." Santino tells me as he helps me stand up.

"Come one, let's go home." I hold Lucy as we make our way back down the building. My phone rings and I see it's JP.

"I'm okay, JP. We have Lucy and we're bringing Jimmy back with us."

He sighs. "It's good to hear your voice, princess and to hear Lucy is with you," JP tells me. "I didn't call Ray yet, we'll deliver Charlotte to the Feds though, I just want to clean up the mess, before they start digging and asking questions. We don't need the extra attention as it is."

"Oh goody, so we're bringing Charlotte with us too," I grumble.

"No, Adonis is arranging for her to be taken separately," JP tells me and I can hear the smile on his face. "See you soon, amore."

I smile. "Ti amo, John Paul." ( I love you)

"I love you more, princess."

I look up when I see Neri and he's got Charlotte with him. "Tried to make a run for it." He tells me in Italian.

"Of course she did. She's not the brightest," I state as I look at Charlotte who scowls at me.

"I'm going to bury you and Johnny," she seethes.

"I don't know how likely that is considering you were working for and collaborating the guy the FBI was going after. I don't think anything you have to say has much credibility, not to mention you took some of the money for yourself."

"You can't prove that."

"I don't have to," I smile at her as I step up to her. "And I promise, you're going to be the one who wishes you never met me, if you even think about coming for us again." I lean in a little closer and whisper. "No one would find a trace of you." I step back looking her directly in eyes. "Get her out of my sight."

Neri begins dragging her away. I pull Lucy with me and we walk out and climb into the car where Marco is.

He shrugs off his jacket and covers Lucy as they hug and hold each other. Marco reaches for my hand and squeezes it. "Thank you, Stella." I squeeze his in return and look up when JP jogs over to us. He hugs Marco and Lucy and then me before we all climb into the SUV.

I look at our driver, "Take us home, please." 

****