THE RANCH

Dorothy took off at a fast gallop, laughing when she heard Luke yelling that he was going to spank her, might be fun she thought. The wind blew her hair and she felt free and alive, she loved her new horse and loved Luke even more for giving it to her as a birthday gift. Once she reached the woods she slowed down, knowing he would find her soon. As she trotted along she heard a noise, as if someone had stepped on a branch. Looking around she felt the hairs on the back of her neck standing up.

‘Who’s there? Is that you Luke? Stop fooling around, you’re scaring me.’ No, she knew it wasn’t him, he would never scare her this way. She was about to turn back around when two men came out of nowhere, one on either side of her.

‘Well, it’s about time bitch. We’ve been waiting to get you alone.’

The man who spoke was in his late thirties, tall and bulky. The other man was maybe in his twenties, thin and fairly good looking, he seemed really nervous as he shuffled his feet on the ground.

She knew she was in danger and her instincts told her to get out of there. But before she could make a move the older man grabbed her arm and pulled her off Bingo. ‘Get your filthy hands off me,’ she screamed, kicking and trying to pull her arm free from his tight grip.

The older man threw her to the ground and pulling out his gun pointed it at her. ‘You know what kid? I think we should have some fun with her before we kill her.’

The younger one shook his head. ‘No way man. Our orders are just to shoot her, nothing was said about raping her.’ He too had his gun pointed at her, but his hand shook a little.

Seems a shame to let perfectly good “COOCHIE” go to waste. Besides, it will look better this way, a rape that goes wrong and she got killed. Now get over here and hold her hands down,’ he said, going over to Dorothy he pushes her down on her back and got on top.

She started screaming, tears running down her face when the other man came over and held her hands above her head.

‘Please don’t do this,’ she begged, looking up at him. My God, she couldn’t believe this was happening to her again, she’d rather they just kill her.

‘Hurry up already,’ the younger one shouted to the other.

When his hands went to undo her pants she closed her eyes, praying for death. But she opened them when she heard a gunshot and the one holding her arms fell backward onto the ground, blood oozing from his head. As the other one turned his head to the four men standing there he too was shot and fell on top of her, his blood splattered over her and she pushed him off. She crab - crawled backward when one of the shooters came towards her. ‘No, stay away from me,’ she screamed at him but he kept coming. He was another big, husky man, as were the other three.

‘I’m here to help you. You do not have to fear me. Let me help you up.’ As he grabbed her arm the sound of hooves was heard. The man looked over at the figure rushing towards him and felt the impact of a fist on his jaw.

Luke saw the two bodies laying on the ground and knew they were dead. Seeing that man with his hands on Dorothy his rage exploded like a bomb going off, all he could see was red as he jumped off the horse, grabbed the man, swung and hit him as hard as he could. He didn’t care that there were three others with him, he would fight them to the death to save Dorothy. Spotting the gun on the ground picked it up, pushing her behind him waved it at the one he punched. ‘Back off or I swear I’ll shoot.’

All four guys laughed, the one who was helping Dorothy spoke. ‘You really think you could kill all of us?’

‘No,’ Luke said, glaring at him.

‘But I’ll be sure to take you down.’ He felt Dorothy’s hand on his arm as she moved around to stand in front of him.

‘Put the gun down, these guys saved me from those two.’ She pointed to the dead men laying on the ground.

Dropping the weapon he pulled her into his arms, his hand tenderly stroking her cheek.

‘Are you ok? Who are all these men?’ Her head was buried in his chest and he heard her soft sobs. His head moved to the one he figured was in charge, the one he hit. ‘You want to tell me what’s going on here and who the fuck are those men?’

‘My name is Lloyd DeMasi. I work for Mr Calvetti and we were hired to keep an eye on Miss Martino.’

‘It’s Mrs Rogers,’ Luke snapped.

‘My apologies, I Mean Mrs Rogers. We have been watching her, and you for almost a year now. It was our job to protect her.’

‘Protect her from what?’ Luke barked.

‘From Silvio Martino of course.’

He looked at Dorothy. ‘Mr, Martino is not who you think he is, he is dangerous and he had plans to kill you once you turned twenty - one.’

She peeked out Luke’s chest, he still had her tightly wrapped in his arms. ‘Why would he want me dead?’

‘For your trust fund,’ he answered.

‘That sick bastard. He’s already rich, why would he want her money? And who the hell is Mr Calvetti?’ Luke snapped.

‘I am Mr Calvetti.’

They all turned their heads in the direction of where the voice came from. Approaching was an older man in his late seventies. He walked with a cane, medium height, his hair had turned snow white. His clothing was tailored to fit his stout form. He was obviously extremely wealthy and seemed to ignite fear in his men as they moved out of his way, their eyes looked down at the ground, avoiding eye contact.

He walked closer, his eyes glued to Dorothy. ‘Come here girl,’ he ordered.

‘Like hell, she will,’ Luke growled as he held her, but two men pried them apart and held him.

Glancing at Luke she walked up to the older man, stood in front of him and stared into his eyes.

‘It’s you,’ she said. ‘You were the one stroking my head when I had the accident, you got me to the hospital. Who are you?’

Luke was only a couple of feet away and when the man reached out his hand and touched her face he hissed.

‘DON’T YOU HURT HER!’

Dominique Calvetti touched the side of her face, stroked her cheek with his thumb and spoke in broken English. ‘I am your grandfather child. You look just like your mother, but you have your father’s eyes, my son’s.’

Everything started to spin and she felt her knees give out.

Luke knew she was about to pass out and managed to free himself, though he was sure they had let him go as he raced over to her, catching her before she hit the ground. ‘I’m taking her home.’

Dominique snapped his fingers and two men appeared at his side in seconds. ‘Clean this mess up, get rid of the bodies.’

Snapping his fingers again one of the other men appeared by his side. ‘You take the horses back to the ranch.’ He looked at the last man. ‘Bring the jeep here.’

Luke started walking away.

‘Stop,’ Dominique shouted. ‘We will drive you home. There is much we have to discuss.’

‘Luke turned angrily, glaring at him. ‘I don’t know what’s going on but I do thank you for saving Dorothy. But I think it’s best you leave, she has been through enough.’

‘Mr Rogers, you will not speak to me in such a disrespectful way. If it weren’t for the apparent love she has for you I would see you dead. Now you will let us drive you home and we will talk.’ His eyes softened when he saw Dorothy stirring, and saw how she clung to the man who held her.

Luke had no choice but to do what the old man ordered, and it would be too far a walk back to the ranch. Getting into the vehicle he kissed the top of her head. ‘It’s ok sweetheart, we’re going home.’

Dominique again snapped his fingers and a man was by his side in an instant. ‘Bring the horses back to the Roger’s ranch.’

‘Yes sir,’ the man answered.

Dominique watched them out of the corner of his eye. The way he looked at Dorothy, there was great love between them. He had planned on taking her back to Mykonos with him but something told him Luke would die before he let that happen. And if it weren’t for the obvious fact that she loved him he would have him killed. There was another reason why he decided not to take her with him. Back home she would be in constant danger from his enemies. Being one of the biggest and most feared mob bosses, danger surrounded him at all times. Even coming here he had to be smart, to cover his tracks so that no one would know where he was or who he was with. Yes, she would be safe here and loved.

Dorothy kept sneaking looks at the man who was her grandfather, she was curious about him and was glad he said he was coming back to the ranch. She wanted to know all about her father and what had happened between him an her mother. There were so many questions she needed answers to. With Luke’s arm around her, she felt safe, it had turned cold but he kept her warm.

Back at the ranch they went inside and settled in the large living room. Luke went and got them all some drinks, wine for Dorothy, a beer for him and whiskey for Dominique. The two bodyguards stood like statues on either side of their boss, both wearing dark sunglasses refused to drink. Dorothy sat close to Luke who had his arm over her shoulder like he was protecting her from any danger that might pop up.

Dominique looked around the room. ‘Nice little place you got here Mr Rogers.’

‘Thank you, sir,’ he answered back respectfully.

This pleased the mafia boss.

‘I see from the way you are so protective of Dorothy that you love her very much. Tell me, Mr Rogers, would you give your life to save hers?’

‘Without a second thought,’ he said, pulling her closer.

‘I must leave soon so I will tell you how it is that I’ve come to be here. I’ve been searching for Silvio Martino for many years now, his real name is Matteo Albini. He stole a great deal of money from me and killed my son, your father. He changed his name and appearance which made it difficult to find him.’

‘Why did he kill my father?’ Dorothy asked, close to tears.

‘Because my son fell in love with your mother and they were going to run away together.’

‘Fell in love, But Silvio said my mother met a man in a bar one night and had sex, that she didn’t even know his name.’

‘That was a lie. My Son, Federico and your mother met. Silvio was cruel to her and often would beat her. When she met my son they fell in love and had an affair. Their love was so great he was going to leave the business behind and live a normal life with Cassandra. When Silvio found out about their affair he murdered my son, he tied your mother up and forced her to watch as he put three bullets into my son. He then took her and fled to Cape Town. Now he will pay for what he has done to your parents and to you.’

‘My Poor mother, how could he do that to her?’ Dorothy asked, breaking down and crying she buried her head in Luke’s chest and his arms tightened around her, holding her head as he tried to soothe her.