Page 8

8

MARCO

“ S omething’s wrong,” I tell Aurelio after bursting into his office.

The Boss looks up from his desk, his brows furrowed as his eyes search mine. I’m a disheveled mess from head to toe. The last three days have been absolute torture without my Imogine. It killed me to leave her curled up in my bed, knowing I was about to break her heart. Each minute, each fucking second, has been worse than the last since I walked away.

Aurelio leans back in his seat, stoic and unflappable as ever. Without a word, he motions for me to sit before crossing his arms over his chest. How can he be so calm when I’m crawling out of my goddamn skin? I suppose he’s never been in love before.

Holy shit. Love?

“Explain,” the Boss says, his tone deep and filled with impatience.

I tuck that giant revelation away, needing to get down to business before unpacking exactly what it means to be in love with Imogine.

“She’s gone,” I start. My mind races with a million thoughts, but I try to pick the relevant ones to convince Aurelio to gather some men and help me find her.

“Imogine?” he guesses. I nod. “Didn’t I tell you to distance yourself for her safety? What did you do?”

“Nothing!” I shout as I throw my hands up in the air. Aurelio raises an eyebrow at my outburst. “I did what you said. I didn’t call, didn’t visit, and tried to distract myself from thinking about her.”

“But?”

I exhale and rest my elbows on my knees, holding my head in my hands. Aurelio knows me all too well. “But I broke down and stopped by the diner she works at earlier today,” I admit. “I wasn’t going to talk to her, I just… I had to see her. She was supposed to be at work until five, but she wasn’t there.” Lifting my head, I look at the Boss, who has his eyes trained right on me. He nods once, silently telling me to continue. “I went into the diner and asked about her,” I finally confess. “They said she left work early, and no one has heard from her.”

Aurelio absorbs this information, though his expression is completely unreadable. I have no idea if I’m getting through to him, but I’m about to storm out and go on a one-man crusade across the city to find Imogine. He must sense how desperate I am, how obsessed I am with this woman and her safety. Staying away is no longer an option.

“When was this?” he finally asks after a long moment of silence.

“Two and a half hours ago. I drove by her shitty motel and even snuck into her father’s place of work to see if she was visiting him. Nothing. She’s vanished.”

“Is it possible she’s avoiding you like I told you to avoid her?”

“She can be pissed and ignore me all she wants, but that’s different than disappearing,” I counter. My leg bounces up and down so hard that I rattle the cup full of pens on the desk.

Aurelio glances at the shaking pens before focusing back on me. “Enrico called thirty minutes ago. He’s been tracking the detectives while they track us, trying to stay one step ahead of them. All four policemen went off the grid—no cell signals, no movement on the GPS devices placed on their cars, no sight of them following us or working at the station. Like Imogine, they seem to have vanished.”

“Fuck!” I roar, standing from my chair. I run my fingers through my hair, trying to keep my racing thoughts contained. I need a clear head right now to come up with a plan.

“Enrico is already on it, but you should join him. He’s in the basement, still trying to triangulate their cell phones and cycle through the CCTV footage from our family-owned businesses. Go give him Imogine’s number and see if that brings up anything.”

I’m out the door in the next second, not waiting for the Boss to dismiss me. I leap down the stairs to our tech room, taking them three at a time. Enrico jumps out of his chair when I swing the door open with a bang.

“What the hell, Marco?”

“We need to find Imogine,” I blurt out. I know I sound crazy and on edge. Probably because I am fucking crazy and on edge. “Detectives missing. She’s missing. They have her,” I try to explain.

Enrico nods slowly, though I can tell he’s not sure what to do with me. His phone rings, and he answers, giving a few words of confirmation before hanging up. “Boss said your woman was possibly kidnapped by those fuckers, and you have her cell number for me?”

I nod and rattle off the phone number, thankful that Aurelio thought to call him and explain. Like I said, the man knows me all too well.

“Shit,” Enrico says under his breath. He types something into the computer and turns to face a different screen, one of at least ten lining the wall. His face scrunches in concentration as he leans forward.

“What? What is it?”

Enrico points to the screen, where a small red dot is flashing. “Is that her phone?”

He nods. “It’s in the middle of the fucking desert,” he says, anger lacing his voice.

My heart drops to the floor, and I lean against the wall to keep my knees from giving out. “We have to go,” I breathe. “We have to go right the fuck now.”

Fifteen minutes later, Enrico and Lorenzo, our top enforcer, are in one vehicle while I’m in another. We race toward the location of Imogine’s phone, though we’re still not going fast enough. I press on the gas, urging the damn car to reach its top speed of one hundred and fifty miles per hour.

Enrico’s car stops on the side of the old highway we’ve been driving down. It led to a casino and resort a decade ago, but that place shut down, leaving the highway empty most days.

I hop out of my vehicle, noticing the brick of a phone lying in the dirt, the screen broken as if it was tossed out of a car window. Rage boils up from the pit of my stomach as the scene plays out in my mind.

Imogine must have been taken from her job. I don’t know how, but that’s when she went missing. The bastards threw her in an unmarked, untraced police car and got rid of any devices that could be tracked.

“The casino,” Lorenzo says, echoing my earlier thought. “It’s the only thing down this highway other than tumbleweeds and rattlesnakes.”

“Let’s go,” I grit out, sprinting back to my car.

“Hold up,” Enrico calls out. “We need more of a plan than bursting into an abandoned building with guns blazing.”

“Sounds like a solid plan to me,” I grunt. I don’t just want to save my precious Imogine; I want to destroy the men who dared to touch a single hair on her head.

“Marco,” comes Enrico’s stern voice.

He approaches, his eyes trained on mine. Enrico rarely pulls rank, even though he’s the Underboss and the second in command of the Caparellis. Right now, he’s letting me know he’s in control of this situation, and I need to listen to him. I’m twitchy, my trigger finger itching to put a few bullets in the heads of the fuckers who kidnapped my woman.

“I won’t pretend to understand what you’re going through. Fuck if I can remember the last time I had any interest in a relationship. But I sense your urgency and panic. Take a breath and trust that I want Imogine to be safe. That means not pissing off the cops who have her in their custody, yeah?”

I grunt in acknowledgment, but that’s not good enough for Enrico. I trust and respect the Underboss and know he has objectivity right now when I don’t. “Yes, you’re right,” I admit.

Enrico gives me a small nod before rattling off his plan. “We park the cars before we get to the casino entrance so we don’t draw attention. Lorenzo and I will go in first and secure the perimeter. I have a feeling these guys are cocky and overconfident in their secret interrogation spot and won’t have guards, but we can’t take any chances. On our signal, you rush in, and we’ll cover you. Four cops, three of us, but we have the element of surprise.”

Lorenzo nods, and both men look at me.

“Fine. We’re wasting time,” I snap.

“On our signal, remember,” Enrico repeats. “Not a second before. Breathe, Marco. We’re going to get your girl.”

The plan unfolds as the three of us make our way to our destination. As per Enrico’s instructions, I hang back while he and Lorenzo circle the building to ensure there are no guards. As expected, the officers are all too comfortable in what they assume is a secret spot everyone forgot about.

Enrico motions for me to rush the entrance, and I take off, one gun in my hand and another tucked into my waistband. I also have a dagger strapped to my ankle and a switchblade in my pocket.

The double doors have a chain wrapped around the handles, secured by a padlock. Good thing they’re made of glass. I shoot the door frame, watching the glass splinter. With a final stomp-kick, the entire sheet of protective glass crumples and breaks into a million pieces.

A bullet whizzes past my head, and I duck out of the way. Lorenzo and Enrico are right behind me, one of them cracking off a shot at the fucker who fired at me. They go down with a yelp and a thud. I scan the large room, my chest aching while adrenaline and pure, righteous anger course through my veins.

Imogine is tied to a chair with duct tape covering her mouth. She squirms in her seat, her eyes widening when she sees me. I’m completely gutted by the tears streaming down her face, my rage boiling over at the men who did this to her.

“Now, now,” one of the officers says, holding his hands up. “No need to incite violence, right, boys?”

“Fuck you,” I snarl, walking forward with my gun drawn. With one of their detectives down, it’s three against three.

“This is perfect, actually,” the man who has been following me for weeks says. Detective Shilton, though I refer to him as Detective Shithead. “I was just getting tired of questioning your fake cow of a girlfriend, and now you show up.”

“Motherfucker,” I shout as I lunge forward.

Shots ring out in the dilapidated building, but my gaze is narrowed on Shithead. He reaches for his gun, but I’m quicker. As much as I’d like to blow his brains out, I know Aurelio doesn’t want to deal with a dead cop right now. Instead of ending his life the way I so desperately want, I aim for his kneecap.

“Jesus Christ!” he screams as he falls to the ground.

I stand over him, pistol-whipping him until his nose cracks and blood pours down his face. The reprehensible piece of shit rolls around on the floor. I kick him in the stomach over and over until something pulls me out of my red haze.

I realize it’s Imogine trying to get my attention. Everything else falls right out of my head, my sole purpose switching from retribution to saving my woman.

“I’m so sorry,” I say, carefully cutting the zip ties from her wrists and ankles. “I’m sorry,” I repeat as my fingers curl around the edge of the duct tape covering her mouth.

She nods once and squeezes her eyes shut as I rip it off, trying to make it as quick as possible.

Imogine gasps for air and falls forward into my waiting arms. I scoop her up, cradling her against my chest and covering her with my body as I run toward a side door leading to the parking lot.

“I’ve got you,” I whisper, tightening my hold on her. “I’m never letting you go again.”

Imogine curls into me, burying her head between my neck and shoulder. She’s trembling, her breaths coming in short bursts.

We finally reach the car, where I place her inside and buckle her seatbelt. Looking over my shoulder, I see Lorenzo and Enrico following behind. The Underboss is on his phone, undoubtedly reporting back to Aurelio.

While none of the cops are dead, they’re all incapacitated to some degree. They won’t strike back right away, but I just moved up the timeline for taking them down significantly. I don’t regret it. Enrico’s level-headed plan brought my Imogine to safety, and I’m confident he has something more in mind to tie up loose ends, possibly for good.

I know I’ve created a mess for Aurelio and Enrico to clean up, but right now, my focus is on getting Imogine to safety. Then I need to apologize and grovel, do everything in my power to let her know how sorry I am and how I’ll never abandon her again.