“Most likely. She’s one of our capo’s daughters. Which makes her a strong bargaining chip.”
“We can’t negotiate with a man like Lombardi.”
“No, but we need him to believe we’re willing.” Nicco began texting someone.
Just then my cell phone started ringing. I dug it out of my pocket and frowned.
“Who is it?” my father asked.
“It’s an unknown number.”
“Answer it on loudspeaker. Everyone quiet.” Nicco gave me a nod, and I hit answer.
“Hello?”
“Mr. Bellatoni?”
“Yes. Who’s this?”
“I believe I have something that belongs to you.”
“Is she okay?” I choked out.
“She’s fine. They both are. But their remaining so will depend on your actions over the next hour. I’m going to text you coordinates. You are to come with Niccolò and no one else.”
“How do we know we can trust you?”
“You don’t. One hour. The clock is ticking.” He hung up, and a text message came straight through.
“Forward those to me,” Nicco said, pulling out his cell. “Tommy, yeah, I’m about to forward you some coordinates. Pull everything you can find about the location. I also want to know everything you can find on Dominic Cabrioles.”
“What are you thinking, Nicco?” My father’s brows knitted.
“We need to know what we’re walking into. We also need allies.”
“Cabrioles will never betray his boss.” Lucino huffed as if the idea was preposterous.
“Everyone has a price, Luc. We have less than an hour to find out Dominic’s.”
Chapter 27
Caitlin
“Please, let her go,” I said for the twentieth time. After being dragged into this room and discovering that it wasn’t Zander who had taken us at all, it was the man who had raised me for the best part of eight years, I’d been forced to sit here and talk.
Of course, Massimo Lombardi didn’t talk in the conventional sense. He preferred to gloat. And for thirty minutes, I’d been made to sit here while he filled in the missing pieces about how he found me hiding in Providence.
I should have known she would sell me out. But she was my mother and I’d left her.
I’d left and never looked back.
That kind of guilt, it did something to you. Festered inside of you like poison. In hindsight, I should have used a burner phone or called from a pay phone. But she was my mom. The woman who had given birth to me. Part of me was just a scared child still, desperate for the attention and love of her mother.
And it had cost me dearly.
“So, you see, firefly.” The nickname made me shudder. “This presented itself as an opportunity too good to miss.”
Massimo sat back in his chair, steepling his fingers.
“You need to let her go,” I said again, glancing at Arabella who was curled up on a worn leather couch. She sniffled and I mouthed, “Be strong.”
“Let her go?” Massimo chuckled darkly. “And why, pray tell, would I do that? She is worth more to me than you.”
Ouch.
His words cut deep, but he wasn’t wrong.
“When the Marchetti find out what you’ve done, how do you think they’ll react?”
He leaned forward, palms flat on the desk. There was an entire table between us, yet it still wasn’t enough. Fear raced down my spine, the familiar bitter scent of his breath like a punch to the stomach.
My fingers curled into the arm of the chair, nails gouging the wood as I desperately tried to maintain some semblance of control. If I fell apart, Bella had no one.
And she was the important one here, the one who deserved to walk out of this alive.
I had to be strong—for her.
“I think, firefly.” His lips twisted. “They’ll give me whatever I desire.”
“She’s just a kid.” My voice cracked. “She doesn’t deserve this. I’ll do whatever you want. Please just let her go.”
Massimo’s brow lifted with curiosity, and he dragged a hand down his face. “Was life that hard with me, no? I gave you and your momma everything. I made sure she had her fix, I made sure you had nice things. And all I asked in return was that you helped me keep my associates… happy.”
My eyes shuttered, memories I’d fought hard to contain rushing to the surface.
When they opened again, I locked eyes with him, the man I’d spent four years running from, and inhaled a sharp breath.
“I was just a child and you made… you made me—”
“I remember it well, firefly. So young and supple and pretty.”
Bile washed in my stomach at the affection in his tone, the longing.
“There have been others of course, but none as good as you.”
Massimo Lombardi was a sick man. He treated his girls—his dancers and prostitutes—like dogs. Usually, he got them hooked on meth or crack, and then he made them do his bidding.
I guess I should have been grateful he’d never forced drugs on me. But I was special, he’d said. And besides, he had other leverage to use against me.
“Where is my mom, Massimo?” I changed tack.
“You know Liv.” He waved his hand through the air. “She’ll be out somewhere trying to score her next high.”
She was alive.
Thank God, she was alive.
I’d always suspected that when I fled, she would fall apart, or that Massimo would kill her. It’s why eventually, I’d caved and called her. I’d needed to know she was safe. I’d needed to know she was still alive. When she stopped answering a couple of months ago, I feared the worst.
She’s alive.
I hadn’t realized how much I needed to know that until this moment. She was my family—the only family I had. No matter how hard things had been between us, I didn’t wish her dead.
Massimo checked his wristwatch and tapped the table. “It’s time.”
“Time?” I cried. “Time for what?”
“Secure Erin,” he ordered one of his men.
“No, no!” I yelled, leaping up to my feet. But a rough hand snaked around my neck and clamped down over my mouth. I could hear Bella crying out behind me and then everything went quiet.
Massimo lifted his cell phone to his ear and with his eyes locked on mine he said, “Mr. Bellatoni? I believe I have something that belongs to you.”
Matteo.
My heart almost burst out of my chest. I didn’t want this; I didn’t ever want this.
Oh God.
What had I done?
“She’s fine,” Massimo said. “They both are. But they’re remaining so will depend on your actions over the next hour. I’m going to text you coordinates. You are to come with Niccolò and no one else.”
Another long pause while he listened.
“You don’t. One hour. The clock is ticking.” Massimo hung up, and then typed something out on a text message.
“It’s done. Lock them back up until I say it’s time.”
“I-I don’t understand,” Bella said as we sat huddled in the small room again. It was dark and stuffy, the air heavy with fear.