“What did you mean when you said, how could he let this happen again?”
Massimo is quiet for a second, headed toward the Queens Midtown Tunnel. “He was supposed to be watching my friend Patty Mulligan’s then fiancée, and some guys took him out and kidnapped her.”
I cover my face with my hands. “Great. That’s just great.” I grab my phone and start dialing. “I am definitely calling my uncle.”
“He’s useless. From what you’ve told me and from what I’ve seen, he’d run the other way in the face of any threats.”
“At least he wouldn’t get himself knocked out!” I scream.
Four…five…
I hold the phone up to my ear, taking deep breaths, but the ball of angst in my throat precludes me from taking them in. My lungs feel like they’re being pressed together by sharp, studded chains yanked tight.
Panic attack imminent.
There’s no way I make it to thirteen this time.
My uncle’s phone rings once, twice, three times but there’s no answer.
“Fuck!” I scream. “Call Quinn back. See if the security cameras got anything we can go on.”
Massimo dials Quinn and puts him on speaker.
He answers right away and I don’t give Massimo a second to speak.
“Quinn, did you get any footage? Is there anything you can use to track down my sister?” Panic bubbles in my chest, my fingers numb from being clenched so tight.
“Kristi,” Maria says, her voice tearful. “I saw everything on the camera feed.” Her voice cracks. “We know who took Sofia.”
Chapter Thirty-Two
KRISTINA
“Uncle Frank has her!”
My jaw drops and I turn to stare at Massimo. He stares straight ahead and I know exactly what he’s thinking right now.
I told you so, dammit!
“Maria,” I say, trying in vain to keep my voice steady. “Are you sure you saw him?”
“The pictures were grainy but when they zoomed in, I saw him. He was wearing that stupid Atlanta Braves baseball cap he loves so much.”
“Real slick, wearing something that can out you,” Massimo mutters, pressing his foot on the gas as we zoom down the Long Island Expressway.
“This is really serious,” I say to my sister, ignoring Massimo’s comment. “You’re one-hundred percent positive it was him?”
“It was him. Trust me. I know what I saw.”
“What kind of lunatic would kidnap his own niece?” Quinn mumbles.
“The kind who is a fucking self-absorbed asshole,” Massimo snips. “Q, get Maria home. Call Patty and get some of the guys out there.”
“What are you gonna do?” he asks.
“I’m gonna storm his place and get Sofia. And Q, do me a favor and watch your fucking back.” He clicks to end the call.
“Massimo, what the hell does he want with her? Why would he do this?” I ask, knowing full well it’s going to be a rhetorical question because what the fuck?
“I say we storm his place, beat the shit out of him, and ask him the question.”
I bite down on my lower lip. “I just don’t understand this. He was so focused on making sure he took care of us, that he watched over us. He’d never hurt Sof.”
“If he’s desperate enough, he might. And it sounds like he’s right about there.”
“Well, we have to get her back!” I dial Sofia’s number, letting out a cry of frustration when it goes straight to voicemail. I stab my uncle’s address into Waze. “We’re only about half an hour away from his house.”
“He’s not gonna hurt her,” Massimo says darkly. “Not yet, anyway.”
“What do you mean, not yet?”
He casts a quick glance at me out of the corner of his eye. “Kristina, you said he was looking for something in your father’s office the night of that dinner. He was on edge, yeah?”
“Yes.” Blood rushes between my ears and I clutch the sides of my head.
“It’s because you have something he wants. That’s your bargaining chip.” He pauses. “And his is your sister.”
“What the hell does he want?” I scream, pounding my fists into the thighs.
“Think about it. Your parents are gone and so is his meal ticket, right?”
“He still runs Fire and Ice. I didn’t make any changes. I haven’t even spoken to him about—” I press my lips together, realizing nobody knows what James Borelli told me, including Massimo. I’d been on the verge of telling him when we got the call from Quinn.
“About?”
“About the fact that I inherited everything.”
“Including Fire and Ice?”
“Yes.”
“And what does Savio have to do with that club?”
“I don’t know. It’s not like Savio has been forthcoming about my involvement in the syndicate,” I mutter. “I don’t know what he’s waiting for, to be honest. I need to figure out what the hell my role is going to be.” I gasp. “Do you think he’s going to have me shut it down? Maybe the Leota Commission won’t support it with my dad gone? And that’s what has my uncle strung out?”
“Savio isn’t a big sharer,” he says. “But for what it’s worth, I wouldn’t put anything past him. I bet Frank doesn’t either.”
“There’s no love lost between them.”
“And maybe Frank knows he could be on his way out.”
“I’d never cut him out. I can’t believe he’d do this to us. We’re family.”
“And you betrayed him by bringing me in.”
I gasp. “You know why I did it.”
“I do but Frank definitely didn’t want me underfoot. Me being around is probably what got him to this point.”
“He could have confronted me at home and gotten to the office himself.”
“What makes you think he didn’t try?” Massimo asks. “The guys who broke into your house…didn’t you question his story at all? You’re a smart girl. You know his story was bullshit. He made it seem like they used him as bait, but all along he was commanding the whole fucking thing.”
I cover my face with my hands. “Oh God. I didn’t want to believe it. My own blood, deceiving us like that? I didn’t want it to be true.”
“Family can fuck you harder than a stranger can sometimes,” he seethes. “Evil comes in every shape and size, and it can easily mask itself behind the smile of a family member if you have what they need.”
“You sound like you speak from experience.”
He says nothing in reply, only squeezes the steering wheel tight enough that his knuckles turn white.
I press a hand against my chest, saying a silent prayer that I can fix things with my uncle and save my sister.
Before it’s too late.
The next twenty or so minutes drag. My stomach roils as I stare out the window. The Range Rover zips past trees, houses, and strip malls, and my head throbs more and more with each passing second.
“What if he’s not home?” I say as we take a right turn down his street.