Chapter 5 - Stealing The Bride

"I still can't believe we are stealing a bride," Nash muttered under his breath. Do not let his none+ interested attitude fool you. He might look all indifferent but he was more enthusiastic than any of the other dark horses.

A rush of Adrenaline sizzled through Santiago's skin like a fire burning brighter and brighter with each passing second he got closer to his goal.

He couldn't even describe what he was feeling right now. He had waited years for this particular moment and fantasized thousands of times in his head how he would punish Lorenzo for his sins.

His crimes were unforgivable and unforgettable. He had taken everything away from Santiago. And fate was sometimes such a bitch that he wished he could control it.

He was kidnapping Persephone Marino from her wedding. What a tragic coincidence!

There was once a Persephone in his life who with her sweet laughter and benevolence brought light to his dark and gloomy world but the only sun of his life was also taken away by his enemy. And how could he forgive that scum?

" Get ready. We will be reaching in five minutes," Killian's voice rang. Always short and curt.

Killian was flying the helicopter. Within the next five minutes, they would be landing on the helipad of a building where their men along with Xin Ryuu's were waiting for them in the cars which would directly take them to the church.

"As ready as I'll ever be for this insanity," Nash said in the headset. The dark horses were always ready for the adrenaline rush.

"Insanity is the ecstasy of intellectualism," Santiago commented as he looked out the window.

No one was born insane or villains. They were the product of their upbringing or experiences. Life has played a game with him and made him a villain from someone's hero and now this villain would play games with life and everyone who made him what he was today.

"And your point is? " Callum inquired.

Callum was slightly reluctant to their grand plan of stealing a bride from the church. It was not that he didn't want revenge but he didn't want a innocent girl to pay price for something she had no hands in.

In these crime families, the virtue of a girl was given great importance especially if she was the best daughter. There were already rumors about Persephone Marino that were circling the streets of New York. And her marriage with Luca Scuderi's son held great importance to both Alessandro Marino and her daughter.

And Santiago knew all of this, he was taking advantage of Alessandro Marino's desperation. He knew he would have him everything in return for his daughter's chastity if there was any left.

"That we have to hurry and accomplish what we have planned," Santiago said dismissing the conversation but Callum was not done here yet.

"Are you sure, Santiago? Stealing a bride is sacrilegious even for a villain like you. The girl doesn't need to be dragged into our mess. She has done nothing wrong to us," Callum said in concern.

"You are annoying with your reason, Cal," Nash said in irritation. " It's kill's forte to impart reason and logic to the rest of the dark horses."

Killian looked at Nash in warning before turning his gaze back to the front.

"Cal, she is a means to an end. She is the only instrument we can use against Alessandro Marino and Lorenzo. Marino might not care about his daughter but he does care about his name," Santiago said locking his age on Callum's face. He paused for a moment and then added, " We have waited years for this moment. We can't back out just because our conscience doesn't allow it. We do not have a conscience. We lost it years ago because of Lorenzo. It is now or never, Cal. "

After few minutes they landed on the top of a building as arranged by Santiago. As expected, their men were waiting for them along with the cars. Once they reached the ground, Killian asked Callum, "Are you in, Cal?"

"Always and forever," came the reply.

They would die together, they would live together and they would fulfill their vow together.

Also, they would steal Persephone Marino together.

_____

Four of them boarded different cars but they were connected to a conference call.

"Why do I think the plan has more to do with you, Kill, than Santiago? " Nash's voice rang in Santiago's ear as he looked at his reflection in the mirror.

"And why will you think so?" came a very bored reply.

"Call it a hunch or an intuition," Nash spoke.

Killian didn't reply to Nash's allegation. He never did. He was reserved and curt and only spoke whenever he wished to. And sometimes he could be as silent as a ghost which was equally frightening and irritating.

"Santiago, remember the girl will pay for something she was not responsible for, " Callum spoke again.

Santiago's hold on his phone tightened. He took a deep breath to curb his growing anger.

"She is a Marino. The dirty Marino. I'm merely abducting her to use as bait to lure the enemy out of his hiding. To get Lorenzo out of his cave," he spoke. " It is her fault she is born to Alessandro Marino and now marrying Nicolas Scuderi. And everyone knows that Scuderi needs Persephone to secure the position of underboss. It's not like I care. She can marry him all she wants once I'm done with her and her father. The sweet and dutiful Persephone will have to pay for her father's mistake."

"Damm, San. You're your own brand of insanity," Nash exclaimed.

"You are no different, Nash. You are the destructor and we will together destroy the one who destroyed us once. Do not forget the oath," Santiago reminded them.

"We won't," the three said simultaneously.

The cars stopped and all of them came out of their respective cars. Nash laid a blueprint on the car top, removed his dark shades, and put it near the chart.

"This is the blueprint for the church. The aisle is on the right side and the only way to enter it is through the main entrance which is quite difficult. So, it's better if we capture her before the aisle. Perhaps, in the bridal room."

Santiago's eyed the blueprint to find any alternative to Nash's proposal but it seemed there was none.

He nodded and asked Nash to go ahead.

"Where is the bridal room?" Callum asked Nash as he didn't understand the drawing on the paper they called blueprint.

"To the right of the chapel. It will certainly be surrounded by more soldiers excluding Persephone's personal bodyguards. It's heard that she is allotted five by Alessandro Marino especially after her scandal, the security around is more strict."

A small huff leaves Santiago, accompanied by a smirk as he answer, " Dumb girl, does she really believed that she can escape her family and elope with whoever he was?"

"Well, a woman can try," Killian said amused. " Even if she had successfully fled, she would have come back sooner or later. Marinos are smart bastards they made their women solely dependent on them. They are not taught how to live a normal life and the sweet Percy will not have been able to live it either."

"Enough of the bride," Santiago spoke. Even though they were not talking about his Persephone but the magnitude of possessiveness he felt for this name, he couldn't himself understand it even though he knew that the similar names were merely an instance of coincidence.

"Why don't we disperse in different directions with our teams and Ryuu is already there. This way it will be easier for us to ambush the wedding easily." Santiago suggested.

"Even better if we made them believe that we are after Scuderi, their attention from bride will be halted and then we can easily nab her." This time Callum spoke.

"True, Nicolas Scuderi killed a Russian soldier from the Bratva a few days ago. Things have been sour with Bratva. It's heard that Bratva and Marinos have yet to reach an agreement. If we made them believe it's Bratva, then the truce is unlikely between them," the well-informed Killian told them.

"Fine, who will go after the bride?" Nash asked.

"I'll," Santiago said.

After driving for five minutes, they reached the church. From a few minutes from now on, they would come back with the bride.

"There are not as many as men I've expected," Santiago commented as he looked around to find Marino soldiers on duty. Though there were many soldiers, but they were nothing in compared to what Santiago had in mind.

"That's because no one in the history of New York mafia has anyone ever ambushed a wedding much less steal a wife from the church," Callum said and rolled his eyes.

"Then, let's make the wedding bloody and memorable for the sweet Persephone. The bloody bride she will be," Santiago wickedly chuckled.

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Thank You everyone for your beautiful comments and reviews. I hope will work harder and you will express your views even harder. I wish you will support me as you did in my previous book. Please tell me comment sections how much you liked the story. Yes, the story has just started, the hero will be stealing the bride soon.. See yaaa soon.