Page 55

Chapter Twenty-Eight
Jaxson
“What do you mean, you only got one girl out? We gave you enough money to pay for both Ariella and Hazel.”
This could not be happening!
The room spun, and I pinched my eyes shut.
While I was relieved Hazel was safe and reuniting with Mason any minute now, I was sick to my stomach thinking about what would happen to Ariella.
I shouldn’t have gone home. Aiden and Declan talked me into taking Izzie home.
I should never have left Jayden to handle the operation.
“Capo Sergio, the bastard who runs the auction, he kept Jade, I mean Ariella, for himself. It didn’t matter how much money I threw at him. He intended to keep her.”
“Damnit!” I slammed my fist on the kitchen table.
Izzie was asleep upstairs, tucked into bed.
I winced. Hopefully, I didn’t just wake her up.
I listened, but didn’t hear any noises coming from upstairs.
Good. I exhaled a heavy sigh. “I need everything on Capo Sergio. Does he live at the place this auction occurred?” We needed to know where he would take Ariella.
“No, he’s got a house on a lot of land, just outside of town.” Jayden paused as if he was holding his tongue, keeping something from me.
“If you know where he lives, then we go tonight.” I wasn’t going to wait for daylight to rescue her.
“No.”
“What do you mean no?” I asked.
This had been all his fault.
Jayden didn’t have to come. Hell, if he wanted to stay home and play house with Skylar or whatever, he could do that. I just needed to know where Sergio lived so that I could plan a rescue mission to retrieve Ariella.
“Sergio is sick,” Jayden said and stalled for a minute.
“I don’t have all day.” I was growing impatient with Jayden.
“He makes what happened to the off-gridders look like a picnic.”
Most of the off-gridders had been murdered in cold blood by the Russian mafia months ago. Jayden and Emma were the only two survivors, as far as I knew.
Last I heard, Emma had been hauled off in handcuffs and plead guilty to a half dozen charges.
I was surprised Jayden hadn’t been behind bars with her. After all, he’d been one of the gunmen at the hostage takeover at Blue Sky Resort. Emma had been the brains behind the operation, but Jayden wasn’t so innocent either.
He had a dark past, but I was beginning to understand and unravel it because it all led back to his family finding his niece Lexa.
“What are you suggesting?” I asked.
I valued Jayden’s opinion, especially in regard to Sergio and the DeLuca family. He had far more knowledge about the mafia than I ever did. I’d done all that I could to avoid them.
“Sergio isn’t going to touch your girl tonight. He always comes home after one of these parties, gets drunk, and passes out.”
“And you know this because?”
Could I trust that he wouldn’t lay a hand on Ariella? How confident was Jayden? I couldn’t stare him in the eyes over the phone. I had to trust him, and my gut said he was honest.
“I’ve been invited over after a party or two,” Jayden confessed. “Ariella isn’t the first girl who he’s brought home. I should have realized that he might pick her. She’s definitely his type. But I assure you, he won’t touch her until tomorrow, and by the end of the week, it’ll all be over.”
My stomach dropped.
“Why’s that?”
“He sends them on a hunt before the next auction. I’ve never known a girl to escape.”