“The Braves cap? He wanted you to find out it was him. He’s waiting for you.”
“So we’re just supposed to storm in there?” I rock back and forth in the seat. “I can’t believe this is happening. How can he do this to us?”
“Never for a second think that just because someone is your blood they won’t try to fuck you over.”
“That’s so jaded. I don’t want to think like that.”
“Well, you’d better start because that man has your sister hostage. And he’s proven that he’ll do whatever it takes to get what he wants. Don’t be naïve about this, Kristina. He’s desperate for something and he’ll hurt her if you don’t come through.” He pulls the car off to the side of the road and turns to look at me. “And he’ll hurt you, too. You say you don’t know what you’re supposed to do next and how you’re supposed to take over your father’s legacy? This is where it begins. You have to take control and make the hard choices.”
Seven…eight…nine…
I let his words sink in, nodding quickly. “Okay. So how does this work? We’re just going to ring the bell and ask why he snatched Sofia?”
My phone rings and I jump at the intruding sound. Sofia’s name flashes across the screen and I stab the Accept button.
“Sof! Where are you? Are you hurt?”
But I can’t make out a single word through her sobs.
“Calm down and take a deep breath,’ I say, my pulse slamming against my neck. “Tell me where you are.”
A piercing scream shatters my eardrum like clanging cymbals. “Sof!”
Then, silence.
For too damn long.
“Kristina.” My uncle’s calm voice fills my ear and my spine stiffens. I stab the speaker button so Massimo can hear the crazy for himself. “You really should have called before stopping by.”
“Uncle Frank, what the fuck is going on? And where are you?”
“First question, I’m doing this because I want something. Obviously. Second question, I’m not stupid enough to be at my house.” He pauses. “Your father had a warehouse near Cold Spring Harbor. It’s in an industrial area on Underhill Boulevard. You want a chance to save your sister? Meet me there. Alone.”
Click.
My jaw hangs on the floor and I look at Massimo, my eyes so wide, they might just pop out of my skull at any second. With a trembling finger I change course in the navigation system, inputting the warehouse location to see how far away we are.
“Did you know about this warehouse?” Massimo asks.
“It’s pretty damn clear I knew nothing.” I stare out the window as Massimo does a three-hundred-and-sixty-degree turn out of Uncle Frank’s neighborhood.
Massimo doesn’t offer a comment or reply, and I turn to glare at him.
“You can say it, you know. That you warned me about him.”
He shrugs. “Does it matter right now? It’s not gonna help you or Sofia. And for the record, I get why you were so resistant. You never expect family to stab you in the back. I didn’t want it to be the case, but I’ve experienced enough of it myself to know you can’t be too careful.” He lets out a frustrated sigh. “And I’m not perfect. I’ve let my own guard slip. Learn from my mistakes.”
“I just keep thinking about what my father was going to tell me the day of the party. I wanted to make things right with him but never got the chance. He’d pulled me aside with a serious look on his face, and just as he was going to tell me, all hell broke loose in the kitchen and then the explosion went off. My uncle was in the house that afternoon.”
“I remember,” he muses.
“I feel like maybe it had something to do with my uncle. Maybe it was about Fire and Ice? Maybe about changing the executor of his will from my uncle to his lawyer?”
“He did that?”
“Yes.”
“Did the terms of the will change? Is he looking for an inheritance?”
I bite down on my lower lip. “Nobody knows the terms except me. I get everything. The syndicate seat, all of the businesses, the money.” I pause. “And I’ve never spoken to anyone about this, Massimo. But I trust you.”
His jaw tightens, eyes focused on the road in front of him. It’s a long minute before he actually acknowledges my words. But when he finally speaks, a pang in my chest makes me cringe when he doesn’t react to the whole trust thing. “Frank gets nothing, then.”
“Not a cent.” I swallow hard but the lump in my throat makes it near impossible. Conflict shatters my sanity as the seconds pass, so many tortured thoughts racing through my mind. His non-reaction makes my gut clench, but under the circumstances, I can’t let it break my focus.
And that’s to protect my sisters from the crazy that evidently is my uncle.
“So he wants money.”
“But why go through all of this for money? I’d have given him money and taken care of him. I’d have never just cast him aside.”
“Unless you had a reason to,” Massimo muses. “Maybe that’s what he’s trying to prevent from happening.”
“Are you saying he had a hand in killing my parents?”
“I’m saying that he’s a fucking slimeball with an ulterior motive. And if he wants to take ownership of the castle, he needs to take out the royal family.”
A chill zips through me as the blood ices over in my veins. “You think he wants to kill me and my sisters?”
“I think there’s a good possibility of that.”
“But Maria…”
My phone bleeps with a notification and I grab it, staring down at the screen.
“No!” I scream. “Maria! Oh my God, no!”
Chapter Thirty-Three
MASSIMO
“He’s not at the warehouse!” Kristina cries out. “Go to my house, instead! He’s outside!”
That fucking scumbag.
He’s trying to get into Anton’s office.
He staged that home invasion, which was supposed to clear a path to get him whatever the hell he’s so intent to find.
And now he’s back, but this time he thinks he’ll only have Quinn to deal with.
Quinn, who really hasn’t proven himself to be reliable at all.
I grit my teeth, pressing my foot on the gas. Houses and trees whip past as I blow through lights to get back to Kristina’s house.
Kristina punches numbers into the screen of her phone, shaking in the seat next to me. “No answer!” she shrieks, fisting the phone like she’s gonna hurl it into the windshield.
“Hey, he’s not gonna hurt them,” I say with ninety-five percent certainty. The most likely scenario is that he’ll tie up the girls and steal whatever he thinks he can find in that office. They’ll be scared shitless but he won’t kill them.
I say this to myself but the little inkling of doubt eats at me.
We still don’t know his endgame…
Kristina sucks in a deep, shuddering breath, rubbing her hands up and down her arms. “If he hurts them…if he harms one hair on their heads…” she mumbles, more to herself than to me. “I will kill him.”