“Knew you’d be calling,” he said with a chuckle. “Don’t know what you did, but Anya is pissed.”
“So you’ve seen Allegra?”
“Seen, no.” What little relief I felt disappeared. “She’s safe. Anya likes my little cousin. She will make sure she is in good hands.”
“Where the fuck is Anya?” I growled low.
“Out.” I heard Cristiano chewing something, then swallow. “She’s been gone for the last hour. All I know is that she’s taking care of Allegra.”
“Find out where she is. I’ll be in New York by nightfall.”
“No can do, fratello.” His voice changed, becoming harder, dangerous. Like this, Cristiano could be unpredictable. I was probably only one of a handful who wasn’t scared of him, though. He could throw his worst at me, but he wasn’t going to stop me from getting back what was mine. “I told you to keep her safe. That includes emotionally as well. I love that girl as much as I love my sisters. Whatever the fuck’s been going on out there, she ran away from you. Her father beat her for years, and she never ran away from him. I can only assume whatever you did to her is worse than Gio’s abuse.”
“I would never harm so much as a hair on Allegra’s head,” I snarled. A couple seated to my left moved away, casting me fearful glances over their shoulders before taking seats on the other side of the gate. I barely glanced at them, unconcerned if they were scared shitless or not. “She overheard something that wasn’t true and made assumptions without talking to me first. I need to find her and set things straight.”
“Good luck with that. If Anya wants you to find Allegra, she will tell you where she took her. If she doesn’t, you’ll never see her again.”
I pinched the bridge of my nose, fighting the feeling of helpless frustration as I attempted to bank my rage. Anya or no Anya, I was going to find Allegra. She was mine, and I’d be damned if I left her safety in the hands of a motherfucking assassin. “I’m going to need a car and a care package waiting for me at the airport.”
“Now that, I can help with. I’ll see you in a few hours, my friend.”
--
The sun was just beginning to set when I walked out of the airport. Pulling my cap down low over my face, I opened the passenger door to the black sedan waiting by the curb and tossed my bag in the back seat.
“Good flight?” Cristiano asked casually as he pulled out behind a line of taxis.
“You got me a gun?” I asked, ignoring his question.
“Glock in the glove box. What’s your plan?”
I shrugged and pulled out the gun. Checking the clip, I told him, “Right now, I’m going to find Allegra.”
“Yeah, that’s not happening. Anya told me what went down. You’re not getting near my cousin for a while.”
I cocked the gun and put it in his face, uncaring that there were twenty cars around us with people in each who could see us. “Where the fuck is she, Cristiano?”
He didn’t even blink at me. “Shoot me, and you definitely won’t ever find her.” He smirked and turned on the radio, as if I wasn’t about to shoot him in the face. The idea held a lot of appeal. Shooting him would take out a hell of a lot of my frustration, but it wouldn’t solve anything. I still wouldn’t know where Allegra was, and then I’d have to look over my shoulder for the rest of my life because Anya would be itching to put a bullet in my skull.
“Motherfucker, I want to know where she is,” I growled at him.
“Relax, fratello. She’s safe. That’s all you need to know for now.” He hit the turn signal to switch lanes, and I slowly lowered the gun. “How about some fun? I’ve got something that will help with all that pent-up frustration.”
“Yeah?” I pressed my head back into the headrest, glaring out the front window. “What’s that?”
“It’s a surprise.”
Muttering a curse, because fuck only knew what kind of surprise he had for me, I shot a text to Jarvis to check on Jenny. She’d been at school when I left, and I wasn’t about to waste time waiting for her to get home so I could say goodbye. Allegra was my first priority now, everyone—even my little sister—took a back seat to her.
The bodyguard told me Jenny was pouting, as was Lauren. Both were in their rooms refusing to eat dinner because I’d left sooner than promised. I was starting to see the chaos my life had turned into because of all the damn promises I’d made to the women in my life. Now that I had a clearer picture of who mattered the most, whom I would fucking kill for to get back, I realized I needed to stop handing out promises so fucking carelessly.
Cristiano drove in silence for nearly an hour, taking us through some of the darker parts of the city before stopping at a run-down old warehouse just outside the city limits. The place looked like a deathtrap. The smell of urine and something rotting was prominent as I climbed out of the car. The windows I could see were broken, graffiti marking the dilapidated building with gang tags.
There wasn’t another car for miles, and not even the distant sound of traffic could be heard from this place. Stuffing the Glock into the waistband of my jeans, I followed Cristiano inside, my guard up as I trained my eyes on the shadows of the dark building.
Cristiano unlocked the back door and stepped inside. “Honey, I’m home,” he called out with a cruel laugh. “Did you miss me, dear one?”
A strangled groan greeted my ears. It took me a second to spot the body laid out on a pool table that looked like rats had made a nest inside of it. The scent of piss and human excrement was nearly overpowering as Cristiano approached the table. “Ah, I see you did miss me. No worries. I’ve returned. And look! I’ve brought you a new friend to play with.”
Reaching the table, I saw who had been stupid enough to fall to the mercy of my sadistic as fuck friend. A sick sense of enjoyment filled me as I stared emotionlessly down at Carlo Santino Jr. He had tear streaks down his face, and the smell of human waste was coming from him, not one of the dank corners of the building. His legs and arms were tied to the four corners of the table with cable ties, so tightly his fingers were turning colors. There were bite marks on the exposed skin of his legs and arms, most likely from the rats I could hear scurrying around the room and inside the pool table. A closer look showed there was something coating his skin, probably something edible to lure the rats to bite the poor sonofabitch.
There was a ball gag stuffed into Junior’s mouth to muffle his screams—and probably to keep him from swallowing his own tongue. Cristiano liked to play with his victims before he killed them, making them beg for their deaths before putting a bullet between their eyes.
This part of the business was something I had always put off on others. I was a better spectator than participant. The job had usually fallen on Ciro, but it was Cristiano who had always enjoyed it a little too much. He might have looked like his father, but it was his mother he got his twistedness from. I barely remembered Aslinn Vitucci, but the stories about her merciless cruelty for her enemies would live on forever.
Junior saw me standing over him and screamed something around the gag. Seeing him so powerless like this made me wonder how helpless Scarlett must have felt when this motherfucker took her and beat her like she was nothing more than a rag doll. The bruises that had marred my friend for weeks had turned my gut, making me burn for vengeance.
“What do you say? Feel like expending some of that bottled-up frustration?” Cristiano tossed a pair of bolt cutters into the air and caught the handle with ease.
Over and over again, he flipped the little tool, and over and over again, Junior followed the action. Sweat beaded on his brow, and the smell of urine only grew stronger as he pissed his pants yet again.
“She’s really safe?”
Cristiano nodded. “I wouldn’t lie to you about that, fratello. She’s safer where she’s at right now than the fucking president at any given minute.”
I chewed that over, glancing from Junior to the bolt cutters. “What other toys you g
ot?”
Chapter 15
Allegra
Groggily, I opened my eyes. Disconcerted, it took me a few moments to remember where I was. Then memories of the last few days hit me, and I rubbed a hand over my eyes, feeling a headache already beginning to throb at my temples.
Anya took great care of me from the second I climbed into the passenger seat of her car. She drove me to her apartment where she pushed a plate of roasted chicken and crispy roasted potatoes into my hands and watched me eat. Even as hungry as I was, I hadn’t been able to eat much of the delicious food, my stomach in knots over the disaster of my life.
As I ate, Anya sat, silently drinking a glass of wine. Her blue gaze felt as if it was penetrating through all the layers of steel I tried to erect around my heart, but she was too much of a predator. She could see all the way to the center of my heart and deeper, and oddly enough, I found myself telling her everything.
Her patience seemed infinite as she sat there, listening to every word as I fought back a new round of tears and quickly lost the fight.
“I don’t like this ghost mommy of yours.” She made a face. “I don’t know, but there’s something off there.”
“I thought I was overreacting,” I muttered, pushing the plate away. “But Dante doesn’t even really care about me, let alone love me.”
“And that, myshka, is utter bullshit.” She stood and took both my plate and her wineglass to the sink. “Dante De Stefano worships you. You’re just upset, and rightly so. Which is why we will let him stew for a little while. Once your mind clears and you’ve made him sweat, you will be ready to go back to him.”
“No,” I whispered, shaking my head. “I don’t want to see him. Ever.”
“Whatever you say.” She rinsed the dishes and placed the plate in the dishwasher. “You are more than welcome to stay here for as long as you like. No one is allowed onto this floor, not that I expect to have company. Adrian is much too busy with work and Victoria to drop in unannounced. As long as you don’t venture out, no one will even know you’re here.”
I fought back a yawn. “Thank you so much, Anya. I don’t know how I’ll ever repay you for helping me.”
She waved that off. “You are family now, and I always take care of my family. Cristiano knows you’re with me, by the way. But not where. I won’t tell him either. Knowing him, he will think I put you in some underground bunker. Which should be amusing if he decides to help your Dante look for you. It has been my experience that hiding right under your enemy’s nose is the perfect way to go undetected.”
“Dante isn’t my enemy. He isn’t my anything anymore.” I couldn’t hold back the next yawn. I couldn’t remember the last time I slept, or more than a few hours, at that. I was dead on my feet now, ready to pass out at any moment.
“Come. I’ve got a guest bedroom that is yours for as long as you want it.”
She showed me to a spacious bedroom with its own connecting bathroom. The bed was a plush queen with thick blankets and the firmest pillows. I was too exhausted to shower, so once Anya was gone, I fell onto the bed and buried myself under the blankets. My head touched the pillow, and I didn’t remember anything else.
Now, as I glanced around the room, unsure of what time or even what day it was, I got a better look at the space. Neutral-colored walls and carpet, a dresser against one wall with a small television on it. There was a bedside table, but no clock to alert me to the time. All I had to go on was the sun shining through the window that told me it was somewhere around midday.
My body felt rested, but the rest of me felt as if I could have slept a hundred years and still been exhausted. Not only was I hurt from finding out Dante didn’t love me, but I was embarrassed too. Everything I’d ever said to him, every action I might have made that showed him I was helplessly in love with him, replayed in my mind on repeat and scalded my cheeks with mortification.
Sitting up in bed, I pushed my hair out of my face and gazed out the window. What happened now? I needed a plan.
There was no force on the planet strong enough to get me to go back to my father willingly. But I needed money to survive and make a new life for myself. I couldn’t live off Anya’s charity. I wanted a new life, one where I wasn’t beholden to anyone but myself. One where I didn’t have to worry about getting hurt either physically or emotionally on a regular basis.
One far away from my current one.
To accomplish that, I needed a job. Unfortunately, my father had made sure I was dependent on him, refusing to let me go to college or even learn a trade. Groaning, I climbed out of bed and took a long, hot shower.
Once my hair was washed and the rest of my body scrubbed until it was pink, I felt like I could think a little clearer. My stomach complaining loudly, I walked into the kitchen wrapped in the towel since I had no clean clothes to change into. I’d left everything back in Chicago, so I really did have nothing at all now.
To my surprise, Anya was in the kitchen pouring herself a cup of coffee. Turning, she gave me a smile as she added flavored creamer to her mug. “You’re looking better already. Are you hungry?”
I nodded, my stomach grumbling loudly. “What time is it?”
“Two something or other in the afternoon. You slept over twenty-four hours.” Going to the fridge, she pulled out a container with salad and a premade sandwich. “I made these about an hour ago for my own lunch. Or there are breakfast items in the pantry. I’m not much of a chef. Cooking was never something I needed to learn.”
“This will definitely do,” I assured her as I lifted the lid on the salad. “But please don’t feel like you have to feed me. I’ve inconvenienced you enough as it is.”
“If you ever inconvenience me, I assure you, you will be the first to know it.” She leaned back against the counter and sipped her coffee. “I kind of like taking care of people, actually. It’s nice to be needed every now and then.”
My shoulders hunched as I stared down at the salad still in the container. “All my life, it seems like everyone has always been taking care of me. Protecting me from the big, bad world. Now I feel lost. I’ve got no idea where to even begin to start building a new life away from my father without Dante.”
“Do you really want a life without him?” Anya asked casually and watched me over the rim of her mug as she took another sip.
“Yes, I really do. I have more pride than to be with a man who doesn’t even care about me. I want…” I grimaced and shook my head. “I want to be more like Scarlett and you.” But mostly, I didn’t think he wanted to be with me. He wanted Lauren.
The other woman frowned at me for a long moment then set her mug on the counter beside me. “You don’t want to be like me, myshka. If anything, I’m the one who wants to be more like you.”
I blinked at her in surprise. “What? You want to be weak and helpless?”
Anya rolled her eyes. “No, idiot. You’re neither weak nor helpless. You are stronger than you realize. Stronger than anyone gives you credit for. You have the capacity to love people with your full heart, despite what your father put you through. You still have this air of innocence and sweetness after having lived the kind of nightmares that would have turned some into a monster just like Gio. Heartless, sociopathic, unfeeling, unable to love or see the beauty in the world. Your ability to love so freely is something I am seriously jealous of.”
“I don’t want to love anymore. It hurts too much to let others have free rein over my heart.”
“You won’t hear me argue with you on that score,” Anya agreed.
Scarlett
The man before me was a broken shell of who he once had been. It broke my heart to see Papa like this, to watch as he withdrew further into himself. But as much as it killed me to see his grief over my brother, I knew better than to tell Papa about the possibility of Cristiano being alive. He wouldn’t handle that rationally right now. If anything, it would turn my father into a live nuke, and the entire city would be i
n danger of the explosion that would erupt.
Still, it was gut-wrenching to see one of the strongest men I had ever known falling apart like Papa was. I prayed I would never experience that kind of pain. If something ever happened to the twins, it would destroy me.
Touching a hand to the little feet that were constantly kicking me these days, I left Papa’s bedroom and carefully made my way down to his office. Ciro and Zio Ben were already there, waiting patiently for me.
As soon as I stepped into the room, the two Donati men stood at attention, their eyes assessing every part of me to make sure I was still holding up under the pressure of all that had transpired. Only these two knew about the note Dante left for me in Allegra’s closet. I was still keeping Victoria out of the loop, despite it going against every instinct I had regarding my twin. But I couldn’t break her heart with the hope our brother was still alive if it turned out he wasn’t. Which meant Adrian was also kept out of the loop, because I knew he would take the news to her in a flash. His loyalty to my sister was something I always wanted for her, and he might not understand my reasons for keeping her in the dark, so I had asked Ciro not to tell him.
I shut and locked the door, not trusting any of the men on the grounds since Gio had brought his own guards with him from Sicily. He’d better pray those men were loyal to him, because when I was done with him, there wasn’t a hole he could hide in where I wouldn’t be able to find him.
Turning back to the two men, I lifted my brows. “What have you found out?”
“Desi has been looking into Gio’s financials. A few days before the wedding, he made a huge withdrawal from his personal accounts. He got the money in cash, so there was no paper trail of what he did with the money,” Ciro told me in a quiet voice.
“How much money are we talking about?”
“Five mil.”
“Sonofabitch,” I muttered and crossed to the desk. Leaning back against it, I pushed my hair back from my face and glared up at the ceiling. “He was putting out a hit.”