Page 64 of Kidnapped By the Boss
Chapter Twenty-Three: Vincent
I couldn’t figure out if this Antonio guy was just the luckiest son of a bitch I’d ever had the displeasure of crossing paths with, or if he had always just been toying with me from the beginning. Every time I thought we had the upper hand, I turned around to find that it had just been another cog in his master scheme. I still didn’t know what his endgame was, assuming of course that it wasn’t to just steal Katya away from me. He’d left so few clues, and been so elusive, that every time he popped back up I felt like I was fighting a new enemy.
Part of me wished that I’d had Devrick chop up his body to make sure he was dead, which was what I was inclined to ask him to do when we saw him on the ground. I was already overworking my crew, though, and he looked pretty fucking dead to me. An irritating thought settled across my brain as I made my way towards my office.
Nick Costello would have chopped that man up months ago.
As much as I couldn’t stand my dad, there was something that could be said about the bastard, rest his soul—no one could get one over on him. He was the most paranoid man this side of the Mason-Dixon line, and was always prepared for whatever the world threw at him. If I were thinking about it realistically, he was actually a lot like Antonio in that way. He wasn’t called Slick Nick for nothing. Every time someonethoughtthey knew he was going left, he’d trick them and turn right, then when they were chasing him to the right, they’d find that they were actually chasing a scarecrow that looked like him so that he could go left, which was what he wanted all along. Ol’ Nicky planned stuff down to the most miniscule detail, and then he planned it two or three steps beyond that.
It pissed me off like no one’s business.
I just assumed it was an old-fashioned way of thinking. He always used to tell me to trust no one and that being feared was better than being respected, but I thought he was full of shit. There was one thing for certain, if he were in my shoes, things would not have transpired the way they did. Devrick tried to warn me that I was starting to act like my dad, but maybe I needed to take it more like advice. I didn’t want to be like Nick, the-would-be-son-killer, Costello in any way, shape, or form, but maybe I needed to start thinking just ahairmore like him if I was going to protect my family from this new threat and any that may come my way in the future.
“Boss, I’m sorry!” Annie screeched when I walked into the lobby of my office. “I should have been watching the unit, but I was dealing with Taylor and—”
I held up my hand. “I was the one who told you I didn’t give a shit about it. You were only doing what I told you to do. This is on me.”
She frowned. “Still. I should have been more diligent and none of this would have happened.”
“I don’t necessarily know how true that is,” I replied as I unlocked the doors to my office. “I’m beginning to think that every single step we’ve taken for the past four months was planned and carefully executed by Antonio. The only thing we know about him for sure is that, whatever he’s after, he hasn’t gotten it yet.”
The four of us—me, Annie, Devrick, and Mario—walked into my office and each took a seat around my big meeting table.
“It’s Kat, right?” Mario said as he sat. “He’s been saying this whole time that he wants her as his Queen and she’s perfect and won’t settle for anything else or whatever.”
“You guys know that I think my wife is the single most beautiful woman on this planet, and on top of that she’s intelligent, funny, and kind. Not to mention that shit she pulled off yesterday—she’s also the strongest person I know. But I simply can’t believe that he did all this just to make her his. That doesn’t make any sense to me.”
“It does if he’s off his rocker,” Devrick said. “Which I think it’s safe to say that he is.”
“There’s no question that he’s nuts, but no one goes tothislevel of deep planning just to get some woman he thinks is beautiful. I’d bet my entire estate on it, there’s something else Antonio is after. I just don’t know what it could be,” I explained. “There’s more to this story and more to this person, but I’ll admit, I’m totally stumped on how to go about learning anything else about him.”
“You know, I was thinking about that. Have we even just done a simple background check on the guy? We’ve been so consumed with trying to predict what he’s going to do next, have we done the simplest thing?” Annie asked.
Devrick rolled his eyes. “Please don’t insult my intelligence.”
“Sorry,” Annie said.
“Dev had Mitzy do all that shit immediately after we got a name from Lyn originally, but we came up empty,” Mario said. “Either her story is fake, which would be why we couldn’t find anything, or it’s true, which would also make sense because he wouldn’t have a record here in the states if he just moved here from Spain a few years ago.”
“Hey, doesn’t that friend of yours in Russia work for their FBI-type agency?” Annie asked. “Chloe?”
“Oh shit.” I looked at her wide-eyed. “You’re right. I hate that it never crossed my mind. She’d easily be able to get information about him if he did live there with some crime family. I’m gonna text Mitzy to look into it immediately.”
“Let me,” Devrick said. “You look tired.”
I laughed. “Imayhave slept on the floor of Sascha’s room last night. It’s fine though, we need to deal with this. My family is at stake.”
“I hate to be the bearer of bad news, but there isn’t much any of us can do right now. Annie’s idea is amazing and could get us a good lead. I’ll follow that thread, Annie and Mario can continue leading the hunt for Antonio and Mario. You need to get some rest. Be with your family. We don’t know how long we have until we’ll be thrown into the thick of it again,” Devrick said.
“Are you guys sure?” I asked. “It feels like I’m asking so much of you without doing anything myself.”
“Not to sound a lot like your dad,” Mario said. “But youdoknow that’s supposed to be the boss’ shtick right? That’s why you got an underboss, and capos.”
“Oh, speaking of which, Katya is no longer a capo. We both decided it’s safer for her, and the rest of our family honestly, if she takes control of what’s going on around here. She’ll feel better being close to Sascha and her mom, and I’ll feel better knowing she’s not out there being reckless and getting hurt,” I said. Annie gave me a narrowed gaze and I said, “I promise, it was her decision.”
“Damn,” Mario said. “I kinda liked working with her, but I get it.”
“It’s not like she’s going anywhere,” I said. “Besides, Kat’s not the stay-at-home-mom type. This new path for her is going to end up taking some kind of shape, I just don’t think either of us knows what that’s going to look like yet.”