Page 23 of Blood and Penance (The Puglisi Crime Family #1)
Chapter Twenty-Two
Phoenix
By the time we reach the home I purchased to hide from Lio, I already know something’s terribly wrong.
I’ve tried calling Seraphina dozens of times and there’s no way she wouldn’t answer my calls.
She knows how paranoid I am anytime I’m away from my son.
I always keep in constant contact with her so I can check on Giancarlo.
She never complains, and she always answers no matter what she’s doing.
Gianni squeezes my hand, his grip tight and reassuring, but as we pull up to the imposing wrought iron gates of my home, a cold dread washes over me, confirming my worst fears.
Blood and bodies are everywhere.
Absolute terror races through me.
“Giancarlo!” I scream as I struggle, trying to get out of the car but the doors are locked. “Fuck!”
“Wait, Phoenix!” Gianni shouts as I get the door unlocked and push it open.
I jump out of the car and race toward my home, but strong arms wrap around me, stopping me from racing through the open gates.
“Phoenix, you can’t go in there,” he says. “We haven’t checked to make sure it’s clear.”
“I don’t care!” I scream at the top of my lungs. “Let me go!”
I debated on what would be the best course of action when I decided to kill Lio when it came to what kind of home to purchase and where.
I felt it best to do something extravagant because it would come with top-notch security measures without me having to renovate to fit my needs like the twelve-foot-tall iron gate that surrounded the entire property.
I also chose upstate New York, where I thought it would be the last place Lio would look. I couldn’t have been more wrong.
I hired a private security company who were also ex-military to keep watch over the gated, secluded home, but by the bodies laying out front, none of it done any good.
It looks like a total war zone.
“Let me go!” I continue to scream, clawing and kicking. “My son! Giancarlo!”
“I’ve got her, Lorenzo,” Gianni says, wrapping me in his warm embrace when Lorenzo lets me go.
I bury my head into his chest, as gut-wrenching sobs wrack my entire body. “Oh God, he’s got him, Gianni.”
He sighs, but he doesn’t say anything. However, his body trembles with fury coiled beneath his skin as rage vibrates off him in waves of heat.
“We don’t know that yet, sweetheart.”
I know he’s trying to be reassuring but we both know the truth. There’s no way Lio D’Amico would do all this and not come for my son.
My question is how did he find us?
“My team is breaching the door now,” Lorenzo says, his voice somber. “They’ll send word when it’s safe to enter.”
I haven’t even noticed anyone else except for all the bodies of the security team I hired.
“We don’t have time!” I shout as I try to get out of Gianni’s arms. “Lio has him. Please, Gianni. Let me go.”
“We have to make sure it’s not a trap, Phoenix. Give Lorenzo a few minutes, then we’ll go in, I promise.”
I look into his eyes. I understand his words are logical, but the thought of my son being in the hands of that monster sends a fear I’ve never experienced throughout my entire body. I don’t put it past Lio to hurt Giancarlo just to get back at me.
“He won't hurt him, Phoenix,” Gianni continues. His voice is tight with anger even though he’s trying to reassure me, Giancarlo is okay. “He wants you. He’ll use him to get to you, and he can’t do that if he’s dead. You need to calm down.”
After a moment of silence, I let out a breath. He’s right. If Lio wanted to hurt Giancarlo, I hate to say it, he’ll want me to witness it firsthand. This isn’t about Giancarlo. It’s about me. He’ll want me to experience that pain and suffering in person.
Sick bastard.
I frantically nod as Lorenzo’s phone rings. He answers it, then listens to the voice on the other end.
“We’re headed in,” Lorenzo says. “Find him.”
Lorenzo cuts the call and looks at me and Gianni.
“He’s not in there.”
“Oh my God!” My hands cover my mouth and fall to my knees. Gianni squats beside me and wraps his arms around me. “He’s gone!”
“I’ve got men searching for him, Phoenix,” Lorenzo says. “We’ll find him and when we do, everyone involved will pay. I promise you that. No one fucks with the Puglisi’s and gets away with it.”
“What about, Seraphina?” Gianni asks because I can’t even form the words to ask about anyone when my son is gone. Not even my sister. “Is she alright?”
Lio hates my sister because she isn’t a fan of his.
She calls him out on his bullshit and never gives him any of the respect he thinks he deserves because he’s Lio D’Amico.
For a long time, I tried to keep the peace between the two, but it got to the point where I would visit her instead of her coming to visit Giancarlo and me.
While my sister had been right about Lio, I knew it would put a target on her back.
I just believed I had taken the necessary precautions to keep her and Giancarlo safe.
“She’s alive,” Lorenzo says. “We're going to transport her."
“I want to see my sister.”
Gianni helps me stand and we make our way toward the house. As soon as we make it through the iron gate, which is only a short distance from the house, a black Mercedes barrels toward us.
Gianni pulls a gun from the back of his waistband and pushes me behind him, so his body is shielding me. Lorenzo and his men also pull their guns, aiming them at the black Mercedes slamming on brakes just in front of the gate.
Gianni’s shoulders sag in relief and he lowers the gun when Sergio jumps out of the car. “Where is she!” Sergio shouts as he tries to get by Lorenzo’s men who stop him. “You have one second to take your fucking hands off me.”
Lorenzo nods to his men, and they let go of him. “Where is she?” Sergio repeats.
Gianni and Lorenzo look at one another with their brows drawn together in confusion.
“Where’s who?” Gianni asks.
“Seraphina,” Sergio says. His voice is no longer calm, but frantic. “I’ve been calling her, and she’s not picking up.”
“Why the fuck are you calling my sister, Sergio?”
He glares at me. “Because she’s fucking mine!” he shouts.
“What the hell did you do?” Gianni asks.