Page 14 of Capone (Sinful Warriors MC #6)

Chapter Eleven

CAPONE

I lied to Giovanna. I wasn’t going out of town on business. I was leaving because the girls had gotten a lead on Gabrielle’s kidnapping. They didn’t know where she was, but that was the reason we were on our way to question Asha’s friend Tony.

I didn’t know how friendly they were, but after the girls hacked into Asha’s email, it was clear this friendship was not built on loyalty. Her last message to him said keep my secret and I’ll keep yours. That was the day Gabi went missing.

I knew Giovanna might be a little angry if she found out I lied to her, but I did what I thought was best for her. Mentally, she’d been through enough. I didn’t want to add to that by getting her hopes up just to kill her spirits if this trip ended up a dud.

I was currently sitting outside Tony’s home, waiting for him to go to bed.

Gunner, Armor, Tech, Torch, and Bear were along for the ride.

We had been parked outside his home for two hours, and I was beginning to get impatient.

Just as I was about to say fuck it and kick his door down, the lights in the home were cut off.

“It’s showtime.” Bear grinned evilly. I specifically brought him along in case Tony needed a little help talking. Bear would surely loosen his lips if he tried lying.

We all got out of the van and made quick steps to his backyard gate.

Tech had already disabled his alarm when we first arrived.

Now, all we had to do was let Armor pick the locks on his back door.

It took him all of three seconds to have the door open.

I knew he said he could pick locks easily, but that was a little too easy.

Armor turned around and saw the frowns on our faces and shrugged. “My foster parents used to put locks on the fridge. After constantly being starved, I learned how to get the padlocks off myself.”

Damn.

That was the first time he’d ever shared something about his past with us.

We knew he had a rough life. Viper found him on the streets, damn near skin and bones.

When Viper brought him into the club, you could tell he had a story just by the way he carried himself.

He wasn’t the same kid he was when he first came to us.

The brotherhood and his girlfriend, Sofia, changed him for the better.

Silently, we followed him inside. I grabbed my phone, turning on the flashlight, as we made our way through the house. It wasn’t hard locating which room belonged to Tony. I could hear him snoring from the living room.

Tech noticed a laptop on his coffee table and snatched it up. “You all go ahead and question him. I’m going to see what I can find on here.”

I nodded and made my way to his room. Once I was standing over him, I slapped his cheek a few times. “Rise and shine, shithead.”

Tony’s eyes popped open in fear. It was dark in his room, but you could still see the silhouette of our bodies. I knew that had to make him almost shit his pants. Every last one of us was well over six feet tall and built like Mack trucks.

“I d-don’t have any money,” he stuttered.

“We don’t want money. Where is Asha?” I questioned, getting right to the point.

He tried to sit up, but Bear pulled out his pistol and aimed it right at Tony. The clicking of him cocking his gun made Tony cry out. “I don’t k-know where A-Asha is.”

I sighed in annoyance. I really didn’t want to be here all night torturing this fucker, but I would. Every day that Gabi was gone, I could see a little piece of Giovanna dying on the inside.

“Let me explain something to you. We wouldn’t be here if we didn’t already know you and Asha were up to no good. Keep her secret and she’ll keep yours right,” I said.

I turned on his bedside lamp just in time to watch Tony gulp with fear in his eyes.

He opened his mouth, but I raised my hand, silencing him.

“Now, we can either do this the easy way or the hard way. Trust me when I tell you, you don’t want this to go the hard way.

It will be very painful for you. Now, how are we doing this, Tony? ”

His eyes widened once I used his name. I guess he was starting to realize just how serious this was. I wasn’t here to fuck around. He had two minutes to tell me something, or I would be unleashing Bear on his ass.

“Okay. She started blackmailing me last year. Asha wanted my help to get rid of her ex and I did. Then she started blackmailing me with that as well and asked that I help her take his daughter. I didn’t want to do it, but I didn’t have a choice.

Plus, I knew Asha wouldn’t hurt Gabrielle. Asha loves Gabi likes she’s her ow?—”

“You’re doing a lot of talking but you aren’t telling me anything. Where. Is. Asha? This is my last time asking you,” I growled.

That little speech really pissed me off.

I didn’t give a damn about Asha blackmailing him.

He assisted in taking a man’s life because a woman was scorned.

And if things couldn’t get any worse, he then assisted with kidnapping a child.

Then, to try and justify the kidnapping by saying Asha really loves Gabi was insane.

He handed Gabi over to a crazed lunatic who was clearly spiraling because a married man left her.

“She’s in New Orleans. Her great-grandmother had a home there that she left to Asha’s mother. Asha visits there on a regular basis, so nobody suspected anything when said she was going there for a little while.”

Just as the last word left his mouth, Tech came into the room with the laptop in his hand. He was staring daggers at Tony, whose face had gone white like he’d seen a ghost.

“What is it?” Torch asked the obvious question.

“I know what Asha was blackmailing him with,” he spat. “This sick motherfucker is a swim coach, and he has hundreds of naked pictures of little boys on his laptop.”

Bear reached into his jacket and produced a roll of duct tape, causing Armor to stare at him dumbfounded. “You just keep that shit handy, huh?”

“I’ve never touched any of them. It’s just pictures,” Tony said hastily when Bear started making his way around the bed.

I frowned in disgust. Was that truly supposed to make things better? We were already going to kill his ass for having a hand in snatching Gabi, but now? Now, his ass was going to have a slow death.

When Tony noticed the sinister look in Bear eyes, he began scooting to the opposite side of his bed. “HELP! SOMEBODY HE?—”

Torch quickly silenced him, crashing his fist into Tony’s jaw. He fell back against the bed. Bear made quick work of taping his mouth. Then, Bear reached into another pocket, brandishing rope. I now knew that Bear had torture on his mind regardless of what the rest of us were thinking.

Tony sobbed through the tape, trying his best to plead his way out of this. Bear tied Tony to the bed spread-eagle and smirked. “I’ll be right back. I need to get my tools out of the van.”

“Oh, you don’t just keep that on you?” Torch asked sarcastically.

Bear rolled his eyes, leaving the room. He returned three minutes later with a duffle bag holstered over his shoulder. Bear sat the bag down on the dresser, opened it, and started pulling out his tools. Once he had everything out, he produced a pair of gloves.

When Bear turned around, he was holding pliers in his hand. He walked over to Tony and began removing Tony’s nails one by one. He screamed in agony as tears fell from his eyes. He didn’t know, Bear was just getting started.

Twenty minutes later, Tony had been beaten to a bloody pulp by Bear.

He was missing several limbs and was barely hanging on by a thread.

Bear had used a machete, a hunting knife, and a saw.

I could barely stomach the scene before me and opted to look away several times.

Torch and Tech decided to leave the room all together.

“Bear, lets hurry this up. The longer we’re here, the longer Gabi is still missing,” I told him.

Bear nodded, grabbed his gun and screwed the silencer on. He let one shot off between Tony’s eyes, ending his life. As Bear was putting away his things, Tech returned, making sure to keep his eyes off Tony’s mutilated body.

“Torch and I wiped everything down, but while I was in his office, I found hard copies of the pictures he took.” Tech laid the photos down on the bedside table before spinning on his heels, gagging on his way out the door.

Leaving those pictures behind would work in our favor. The detectives weren’t necessarily going to try and hunt the murderer of a child molester. In their eyes, Tony got exactly what he deserved.

Once we were back in the van, I called Razor, the prez over the Louisiana chapter.

“Razor, I need your help with something.”

When we landed in New Orleans, Cara was calling as soon as my foot hit the pavement. “Yeah?” I answered.

“You’re going to head straight to Asha’s house. Razor and Nick will be meeting you there.”

“Okay. Got it.” I hung up.

Nick was Razor’s brother and the chief of police.

Despite them taking very opposite directions in life, Nick and Razor were very close.

It wasn’t always that way though. Back when the club was into illegal stuff, Nick distanced himself from his brother.

He didn’t want to put his job on the line because he couldn’t see himself arresting his own brother.

Once the club went legit, they eventually got close again.

By the time we reached the home, it was a little after six in the morning. We parked down the block, away from the house. The sun was just peeking beyond the horizon. I hopped out of the van, making a beeline for Nick and Razor.

“What’s the plan?”

Nick furrowed his brows, staring at me blankly. “There is no plan. My deputies and I are going to go in there, retrieve the child, and arrest Asha. I already have a warrant to search the home.”

“How in the hell did you get a warrant so fast? And you can forget that whole plan of leaving me out of going in there and getting Gabrielle myself.”

I wasn’t playing any games with him. I wasn’t putting Gabi’s safety in the hands of anyone other than myself. It was crazy how I already felt connected to her. I'd spent so many hours listening to Giovanna talk about Gabi, I felt like I’d known her since the day she was born.

“This isn’t up for discussion, Capone. This is official police business, and I won’t have you or the club jeopardizing this case,” Nick remarked.

“You wouldn’t have a case without the club!

” I snapped. “The man who is over this case and holds a very important title within the government handed the reins over to Viper’s Ol’ Lady Cara.

She trusted me to see this thing through.

Now, like I said before, I will be going inside that house.

The only way you’ll be stopping me is by putting a bullet in my head. ”

Nick gritted his teeth, staring at me with fire in his eyes. He opened his mouth to say something, but Razor cut him off. “Just let him go, Nick. The branch Cara worked for is higher than the damn FBI so, if they’re okay with Capone helping with the case, then you shouldn’t have a problem.”

Nick muttered, “Fine,” and began telling me the plan. He didn’t get that far before I shook my head furiously.

“Hell no. We’re not knocking on the fuckin’ door. The second she sees the cops on her porch, she is going to know what we’re here for. You’re risking Gabi’s life. Who’s to say she won't kill herself and take Gabi with her?” I asked.

“That’s the point of the warrant. If she doesn’t open, we can go in by force.”

“Again, you’re assuming you can get to her before she does anything to Gabi. That’s a risk I’m not taking.”

“Then what do you suggest, Capone?” he growled in frustration.

Just then, Armor walked up to the group, pocketing the same tool he used to pick the locks at Tony’s. “You could always go through the back door. People always have a bad habit of not locking them.” He shrugged before propping himself against the van.

“What did you do?” Nick questioned him with narrowed eyes.

“Nothing. It was merely a suggestion.” He smirked.

“Let's go.” I walked off, not waiting for Nick. He could either tag along or I would go alone. It really didn’t matter to me.

Nick and his three deputies moved swiftly behind me. When I made it to the rear door, I turned the knob, and sure enough, it was open. I didn’t know how Armor managed to sneak away to do this, but I would make sure the next time we went out that his drinks were on me.

The house was eerily quiet, so we had to tip-toe through the home.

When we made it to a hallway, there were six different doors but only two were open.

The first door I peeked into, I spotted Gabi resting peacefully in a room that was clearly designed for her.

There were princess and unicorn themed decorations throughout the room.

I sighed in relief, knowing I had found her. I eyed the other open door down the hall and was willing to bet that’s where Asha was. I had to move, and I had to move fast.

I turned to Nick who was right behind me. “I’m going to get Gabi out of here. I don’t want her to hear anything that might happen,” I whispered.

“I agree. We’ll stand outside Asha’s door just in case she wakes up while you’re trying to get Gabi out.”

I nodded and made my way into the room.

Once I made it to the bed, I bent down and scooped her up.

She stirred in her sleep before resting her head on my shoulder with a content sigh.

My heart beat wildly in my chest. The same urge of protectiveness I had for her mother washed over me.

As I made it down the steps of the porch, I could hear Asha screaming.

“Get off me! Where is she? You can’t take her! She’s my baby! She’s mine!”

I tried to get away from the noise so it wouldn’t wake Gabi, but it was too late. Her little head popped up as she looked up at me with confusion and a bit of fear. I was a stranger, so I understood. I needed to ease her mind quickly.

“Don’t be scared, Lil Bit. I’m here to take you to your mommy.”

Her hazel eyes, that were identical to Giovanna’s, brightened as she smiled. “Mommy?” she questioned excitedly.

“Yeah. She’s been missing you.”

“I miss Mommy.” She nodded in agreement.

“Well, let’s get back to her. You okay with that?”

“Yes!” she cheered, clapping her hands.

This moment was surreal. From the moment I laid eyes on Gabi’s photo, all I thought about was bringing her back to her mother unharmed, and I was. Despite Asha clearly being off her rocker, she didn’t want to bring any harm to Gabi. Hopefully, now, she could get the help she needed.

I knew things were far from over, but at least Gabi would be back with her mother, where she belonged. As we loaded up in the van, all I could think about was watching the weight lift off Giovanna’s shoulder. I would give her time to relish having Gabi back, and then I would be making my move.

I told Giovanna she was mine and now it was time to show her I meant business.