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ARCHER

C arlotta’s brothers, their wives and I have done our best to talk out the situation and come up with a tentative game plan while I wait for some kind of a lead to come in from one of my contacts. I’ve received a few calls, but nothing useful. The vague, very general leads—like someone saw a black SUV—isn’t going to help us find Lottie. Good to know, sure, but I’m still pacing like a lunatic because I’ve never felt so damned helpless in my entire life.

Meanwhile, Miceli touched base with the other four mafia families. They’ve vowed to help and are ready to move the moment we call. And that makes me feel good. I’m surprised at how easily they came together and how ready they are to go to war for one another. But the group who sits at the table has evolved over the past year. All of the troublemakers are gone and the ones who currently rule are loyal as hell. And that’s a great thing for us right now. The last thing I want is for anyone to stall or drag their feet. All hands are on deck and I couldn’t be more grateful.

But, time seems to be dragging by and I can’t stop pacing, my phone is radio silent, and I’m on the verge of losing my shit. The urge to move fills me and if we don’t do something soon, I’m going to implode.

Hell, I’ll burn this city to the ground if that’s what it takes to find Carlotta.

Suddenly, everyone’s phone seems to ding or buzz with a text at once. We all open up our messages at the same time and I see it’s from an unknown caller.

“All from unknown?” Miceli asks, and Vin, Enzo, Angelo and I confirm yes.

“It’s a video,” Vin states, and the women gather round to see their husband’s screens.

“Yeah, I have a bad feeling about this,” Angelo says. Blake wraps an arm around his waist, her attention on his phone.

I hit play and an extremely close-up image of Carlotta fills my screen. Her pretty brown eyes shine with tears and my stomach twists.

“What the fuck is this?” I hiss, hating the fear I see in her brown gaze. I swear to God, I am one step away from losing my shit. I wish I could jump through my phone’s screen and save her from whatever has her in an icy grip of fear. Because I would kill whoever made her cry. I’d kill them with my bare hands and then empty my entire gun in them for good measure.

As if on cue, the camera slowly pulls back and I get my first look at the noose around her neck. My stomach sinks and my grip tightens so hard around my phone’s case, I hear it crack.

“Oh, my God,” Alessia whispers. Hannah gasps and Gabriella and Blake grimace.

“As you can all see, your sister is in a world of trouble,” a voice says and I want to punch my fist through the screen. “You might say she’s hanging on by a thread…or a rope.”

“Fucking Gallo,” Miceli growls.

Gallo laughs and a chill runs down my spine. Carmine Gallo has lost his fucking mind. And poor Carlotta is at the receiving end of his insane bullshit.

How could I have let this happen? I never should’ve taken her back to her apartment. A little voice in my head had warned me, but I ignored it. I figured we’d be in and out in under ten minutes. Well, I guess that’s all it fucking took to lose the woman who was quickly becoming so damn important to me.

I don’t care what anyone else says, this is all my fault. I should’ve listened to my gut. Feeling sick, I watch the rest of the video play out and it only gets worse.

“I’m not sure if you can see,” Gallo continues smugly, “but right below your dear sister’s feet are standing on a trap door.” He uses his foot to brush the hay away, revealing a door in the loft’s floor.

Several curses fill the air. I swallow down the vomit creeping up the back of my throat.

No. Carlotta is so innocent, so good, so sweet. Gallo is a fucking monster for doing this to her and I’m going to fucking kill him. If it’s the last thing I do, I’m going to put him in the ground.

“I’ve rigged the door to drop in exactly one hour. Oh, no wait. Maybe I only set it for forty-five minutes.” He laughs again and my skin crawls. “No matter. Either way, when the trap door opens, Carlotta drops and the rope will tighten. I doubt that you have enough time to prevent that, but I wanted to prepare you for what you’ll find—your baby sister’s corpse swinging from the rafters.”

“That sick sonofabitch,” Angelo grates out.

“Where the fuck is she?” Vin asks, raking a hand through his air.

“I have a funny feeling he’s about to tell us,” Enzo says, his dark eyes glued to his screen.

Miceli’s nostrils flare. “And then we kill him.”

I lock eyes with Miceli and nod. “I’m going to rip his fucking heart out,” I growl. “Then string him up.”

I can’t get my hands around Gallo’s throat fast enough. Maybe I’ll wring the life out of him before I hang him. There are so many ways I could kill him, but none of them seem good enough. Whatever I do, though, I’m going to do it with a smile on my face.

White-hot anger floods through me as Gallo continues to taunt us and waste precious time. After what feels like forever, but has probably only been about a minute, he finally starts getting to the point.

“I want you to come here, so I can continue destroying your family, one by one. I’m not scared of you—not one of you—and I’m ready.”

“What the fuck did we ever do to this guy?” Enzo asks, completely bewildered like the rest of us.

As if in answer, Gallo looks directly into the camera and says, “You took something from me and now I’m going to take everything from you. Starting with your baby sister.”

Click. The video ends and, a few seconds later, all of our phones receive a text from him, revealing his location.

Bingo! He’s so overly-confident and believes he can beat us. No way. Yes, he’s luring us into a trap, but we’re not stupid. I used to do this kind of shit all the time. I’ve snuck into enemy war zones and rescued hostages without ever having been seen. I was a damn good Delta operator. So good that my middle fucking name may as well be stealth.

So if Carmine Gallo thinks he has any kind of a chance against me, he’s sorely mistaken. He’s just taunted the wrong fucking man because I am going to take him out before he even knows what hit him. Just like my team used to do. Operation: Sagittarius is a go and fucking heads are about to roll.

The five of us bolt into action. Words are rapid-fire exchanged, and the women step back after quickly kissing their respective men. Without a second to spare, I race over to the elevator and slam my palm on the down button, Carlotta’s brothers right on my heels. This is it and we all know it. Failure is not an option.

Carlotta’s life literally hangs in the balance.

We’d already talked over what we’d do the moment we discovered Carlotta’s location and as soon as the elevator reaches the garage and opens, I’m running over to Miceli’s SUV along with Leo Amato, while Enzo, Vin and Angelo make their way to Blake’s Jeep. It’s good for off-road driving and we figured it might be better than driving one of their more sporty cars. It’s best to be prepared because who knows what kind of terrain we might encounter.

The three of us are barely situated in Miceli’s SUV before he’s backing it up and zooming toward the exit. I pull up the GPS on my phone and plug in the location that Gallo gave us, waiting impatiently for the directions to pop up.

We’re all under the assumption that this is a trap, that he’s trying to lure us to our own destruction like he said, so we have every intention of being careful. The only reason Gallo revealed his location is because he’s waiting and he’s ready.

But, so are we. Enzo should’ve placed the call to the other four mafia families by now. They are on stand-by, waiting to hear from him, and now they should be moving. We have backup and I gotta say, I have full confidence in the dangerous men coming to our aid.

We just need to make sure we get there in time. If we don’t…

Fuck. I can’t even think about it. There’s no choice but to save Carlotta and defeat Gallo.

“ETA?” Miceli barks, all business, eyes glued to the road. He drives like a bat out of hell, and I lay a hand against the dashboard as he expertly maneuvers the vehicle around other traffic and through intersections.

“Thirty minutes,” I reply grimly.

“I’ll get us there in fifteen,” he states confidently and floors it. The Range Rover squeals around a bus and I realize I’m holding my breath. Not because of Miceli’s driving, but because I can’t stop picturing Carlotta’s face in that goddamn video. I could tell she was trying to be incredibly brave, but I saw the fear in her pretty brown eyes.

And the tears. Even though the video was slightly grainy, I couldn’t miss the bright tears glistening in her dark eyes and it makes my heart break. I’m not sure when my heart became capable of loving again, not exactly aware of the exact moment it flooded with warmth and life again, but I have an idea.

It was the moment Carlotta Rossi swept into my life dressed up like the Queen of Hearts. She’s truly the loveliest creature I’ve ever met, and it’s so much more than her beauty. More than the sex, too. As good as that was, it’s Carlotta’s warmth and smile and goodness that draws me to her, that makes me want to lose myself in her and absorb some of the amazing light she radiates.

The truth is I’m falling so hard for her, it feels like I’ve been run over by a semi truck. Getting to her in time, saving her before the trap door drops, is going to happen. We’re going to beat Gallo at his own game because there’s no other alternative.

I plan to ride off into the sunset with my woman. I just hope Gallo, or her brothers, don’t murder me beforehand.

Glancing over at Miceli, his jaw set and determined, I wonder if he’d approve of me with his sister. Shit. I honestly don’t know what he’s going to do when he finds out. But, one thing at a time. First, we have to save Lottie.

Then I face her brothers and tell them the truth—I love their little sister.

My phone vibrates and I look down to see a text from Enzo. I read it fast then look over at Miceli and then over the backseat at Leo. “The other families all confirmed. Our plan is moving forward and all the players know what to do.”

Miceli gives me a sharp nod and then yanks the wheel, careening off the expressway. He said he’d get us there in fifteen minutes, but I think it’s going to be even less than that. The man is driving like he’s in the Daytona 500 and that’s just fine with me.

“Alright, we’re going to try this the easy way first,” Miceli says and stabs a finger against his cell phone. He’s calling Gallo and with each ring of the phone, my heart beats a little harder.

Right before the call drops into voicemail, Gallo picks up. “Did you get my video?” he asks coolly. I can hear the smile in his voice and it makes me want to throttle him to within an inch of his life…and then put a bullet between his beady eyes. Forcing myself to keep it together, I look over at Miceli who is trying equally hard to remain calm and not explode.

But we know we have to keep it together right now…for Carlotta. So the best thing to do is not take the bait.

“The Five Families have reconsidered and would like to discuss you becoming a member of the table…if you return Carlotta safely.”

If Gallo agrees then this all ends now. That seems far too easy and his next words prove exactly what I’m thinking—that Carmine Gallo wants more than just a seat at the table. He wants to destroy the Five Families completely.

“Too little, too late. That time has passed and I’m no longer interested. But thank you for the generous offer.” His voice oozes with sarcasm.

Well, so much for the easy way.

“Why don’t you think about it before dismissing it so easily,” Miceli says, trying to buy us more time.

“There’s nothing to think about!” Gallo snaps. “I’d rather kill you all.”

The hatred in his voice is pure evil and there has to be something deeper going on here. I just have no idea what. Before Miceli can even respond, Gallo hangs up.

“So much for that,” Leo grumbles from the back seat.

“He’s dead,” Miceli growls.

“There has to be more to this than simply wanting a seat at the table,” I muse, thinking out loud. “Gallo is filled with such vicious hate and he’s so hellbent on destroying your entire family…”

My voice trails off as they contemplate my words.

“I agree,” Leo says. “This has to run deeper.”

Miceli lets out a frustrated sound. “If it does—and I agree with you—I have no idea what it could possibly be. But, yeah, it definitely feels personal and I don’t know why.”

“Whatever it is, it doesn’t matter. The only thing that matters is rescuing Lottie,” I say, sounding more passionate than I intend.

Miceli slants me a side glance. “When did you start calling her Lottie?”

Even though his voice is merely filled with curiosity, I feel my entire body tense. “At the cabin,” I tell him carefully, shifting uneasily in my seat.

I glance back at Leo and see his smirk. Bastard. He always was extremely perceptive.

Instead of commenting further, Miceli checks the GPS then hits the brakes.

“We’re here,” he states. “Everyone ready?”

I lay my hand over the gun in my holster and nod. “Let’s go get Carlotta.”

Time to go in guns blazing.