Page 34 of One Savage Union (Crimson Bonds #1)

ROCCO

“ H ow the hell did you miss this? Aren’t you supposed to be the boy genius? The aloof fucker that keeps us safe?!”

The feel of bone breaking beneath my fist is music to my ears.

It replaces the endless buzzing that’s plagued me since the moment I allowed Lucia to step off the Santa Anna.

I know breaking Enzo’s nose won’t carry me to Lucia any quicker, but it sure as hell makes me feel better.

It’s something to do until our contact give us the clear to fuck up Matteo Ricci and Leo’s entire world.

“What the fuck is wrong with you Rocco! You broke my nose! You’re paying to get it fixed!”

Enzo holds his crooked nose between his thumb and index finger as the blood continues to pour from his nostrils. The scene of his crushed flesh and flowing blood is like a red flag to a bull, and I’m ready to charge.

I can’t believe he dares to tell me I’m paying for his crushed cartilage; when my wife is God knows where with a madman because of his fuck up!

I’ll kill him.

I lunge, but I’m pulled back with a harsh jerk. I turn to punch whoever has the gall to touch me, but pause when I see it’s Mario in his fighter’s stance. He’s ready for battle, and although I can take him, I won’t walk away unscathed like I would with Enzo.

Enzo can hold his own, but he doesn't spend enough time in the gym or the ring, so he’s a lightweight compared to me. Besides that, Enzo is the weird type who thrives on pain and doesn’t mind taking a punch. He wouldn’t even think of hitting me back.

Mario, on the other hand, is as dedicated to boxing and Krav Maga as I am. We're an even match, and if it comes to it, he won’t pull any punches. I can't afford to nurse an injury while planning the most important rescue mission of my life.

“Mario, I know that’s your brother, but I’m his boss. If he needs to be fucked up then that’s what’s going to happen. He gave us valuable information thirty minutes too late, and now my wife is in the clutches of Matteo Ricci and my sadistic cousin. That can’t go unpunished.”

Mario exhales and crosses his arms. “Rocco, this is as much your fault as it is Enzo’s. Even more so. It’s your pride that got your wife stolen from under your nose.”

I see red.

I punch Mario across the jaw. His head turns with the impact, but his hands are quick as lightning. He returns a heavy punch to my face and two to the gut. When I wrap my arms around him, we both tumble to the ground.

“Get up!” I hear a hoarse but strong voice through my violent haze. “Both of you, get the fuck up!”

Iglance towards the door as I fight Mario off and see my uncle pointing at us.

I give Mario a stiff elbow to the side, and he looks towards the door.

When he sees the don, he lets me go with a curse and scrambles to his feet.

When he reaches his hand down to help me, I shoot a glare in his direction as we lock hands.

My uncle has made quite the recovery. Four days ago, his home was blown up with him inside it.

He sustained a head injury and some shrapnel in his leg.

The fact that the man is talking to us as he leans on his cane is a testament to his strength.

I see the pain edging at the corners of his eyes, but he ignores it.

He remains the leader of our family, and he will rule with an iron fist until the day he dies.

He falls into a nearby chair and eyes us with disgust. “There’s no time for this. According to my sources, Lucia is on the east side of Manhattan at one of Matteo’s residences.”

I shoot a look at Enzo, and he nods. He knows he has about as much time as my uncle’s lecture to map out that home so that we can go.

“By now, I’m sure she’s met my ruthless son and is scared shitless. It won’t take very long for Matteo to get your marriage annulled and her tied to Leo or someone worse. You kidnapped her, and neither the commission, the church, or the law will respect it if that is brought to light.”

I shake my head. “She'll never agree to that. Lucia won’t sign another marriage certificate or submit her body to another man. She’d die first.”

Uncle Thomasso slowly shakes his head. “That’s what I’m afraid of. She’s headstrong, and those two stronzos will break her. Time is not on your side. What’s the plan? Why aren’t you already in your cars?”

“We’re leaving as soon as Enzo maps out Matteo’s Oak Park home and his two southside clubs,” Mario says. “He’s remotely disarming security at all three locations just in case he moves her. Matteo cut off all communication with us, and we can’t seem to track Lucia’s phone.”

My uncle snorts. “He probably confiscated and destroyed it the moment he got her off that boat.”

I nod. “Mario, Enzo, and I will divide and lead three strike teams. It should be a quick and bloody hit. We’re leaving no prisoners.”

Uncle Thomasso pulls a cigar from his pocket, and Mario immediately steps in to light it. After a few puffs, he speaks.

“Sounds straightforward enough, but he knows you’re coming. You need to move quickly and reach him before he sells Lucia to the highest bidder. That’s all she is to him now, a payday, and a tarnished one at that. Honestly, that’s all she ever was to him.”

I narrow my eyes at my uncle; he’s talking in riddles. What bidder is he talking about? According to our intel, he’s given her to Leo, choosing to align himself with that fool instead of the actual head of our family. However, now my uncle talks of something else entirely. He’s hiding something.”

I move closer to him. “What aren’t you telling me, Uncle?”

Casually, he takes a puff from his cigar, and it takes an act of God for me not to snatch it out of his mouth and shake the same sense of urgency he says we need into him.

He must not know that I’m two seconds from losing my mind and not giving a damn who he or anyone else is in this organization.

My beautiful, innocent wife is somewhere scared and in danger, all because of me.

This would never have happened if I had just told her the truth from the beginning.

Truth would have been the best protection from all of this, even if that protection extended to me.

I'd rather not have her and have her be safe than live through the hell of our current situation.

I tried to keep her for myself, and now she's with the devil.

My uncle chokes on a puff of smoke and continues. “That night, when you brought me the pictures of Lucia and her mother, I was shocked. Not because I didn't know that Matteo had a daughter. I was surprised because no one was ever able to figure out who or where she was.”

“Wait!” I jab my finger at my uncle’s face. When he glares at me, I stand my ground. “What do you mean you knew he had a daughter? How? And why did you act like you didn’t know that day I came to your office?”

My uncle chuckles and shrugs, between his nonchalance and the constant clicking of keys from Enzo at my desk. I swear I’m having a nervous breakdown.

“You young boys think you're so smart with your smartphones and tracking systems. Your video cameras and GPS devices watch you as much as you watch them.

What good has it gotten you in this situation?

Your wife is in the clutches of two of the most despicable men ever to walk the earth.

You obsessively tracked her and lost her.

Back in my day, everything was about relationships.

It's people, stupid! The best surveillance you can ever have is the person who feeds your subject and washes his shit-stained drawers.”

I rub my face, sigh, and fall into the chair across from him. “Uncle, please just tell us what you know.”

“That's what I was doing before you interrupted me, now may I finish?”

St. Peter, St. Linus, St. Anacletus, St. Clement I…

My uncle smirks as I whisper the Pope’s in order. He wanted this rise out of me. But why?

“As I was saying, Matteo’s cook is a plant.

His celebrated chef is my third cousin from the old country, and he has no idea.

She's cooked for that man for over twenty years and fed me information when I needed it.

She knew he had the daughter, but she never could get any Intel on who she was.

So, when you came to me, I thought it was the perfect opportunity.

We could get that bastard's daughter and marry her off to you. Then she would forever be under our control.”

I knew the plans he had for her. He never wanted to marry her to Leo, well, not specifically.

It’s about her being pawned off to whichever family will pay the most to have her.

Matteo has no other heirs, so upon his death, everything will pass to her.

But the selfish, controlling bastard wanted to make the match something that benefited him.

He sent her that money monthly to keep her until he was ready to take her himself.

He doesn’t care if she goes to an Armenian or Russian; he wants more money and a way to take us down. ”

“Your uncle's right.” Enzo rushes over, out of breath and wheezing. “I finally tapped into all the security cameras and placed dummy feeds into all of them. I was also able to listen to one of the bugs the cook planted in the kitchen for us a few years ago.”

“The fuck! You knew about the cook and Matteo's house! Why didn’t you tell me?”

Enzo cuts his eyes at my uncle to get permission to speak. My uncle nods.

“Yes, I always knew. Your uncle wouldn't let me tell you because he said the fewer people who knew about her, the safer she would be. He wouldn’t even let me tell you tonight.”

My uncle pipes up, taking the cigar out of his mouth for a blessed minute.

“That’s because I wanted to make sure you loved the lamb. Lucia is a good girl, and I’d rescue her and keep her safe from you if I thought you’d hurt her. But seeing how crazy you are over her, I know you need to be the one to go and get her.”

Enzo shakes his head. “None of that matters now. What matters is they're planning an auction to sell Lucia off within the next three hours. Matteo set the auction in his basement. His cook tells me he's drugged her and chained her in some cage.”

I let out a roar of anguish as Ipunched a few holes into a nearby wall. I’m unleashed, and I know I won’t be satisfied until every drop of blood from any man who touched my wife is pooling around their dead bodies.

“What else?” I yell.

Enzo continues. “According to the guest list I was able to wrestle from a friend, the Armenians, Russians, and even the Irish are coming to bid on her. It seems instead of keeping her bride price high for virginity, he's driving up the price by letting all our enemies know she was once your wife. A wife that you loved. He’s promised they can do anything to her once they have her.”

I nod. “We must go right now. There’s not a moment to lose.”

Mario stops me as I charge towards the door. “Wait, Rocco, we can't go in there half-cocked. We need more manpower to stop an auction with that many heads of families and their guards. It will take more than the three of us and our soldiers.”

I shake my head. “I don't care what you think, Mario. I’m not waiting any longer. My wife is in danger and none of those motherfuckers are laying a finger on her. Do you hear me, not one.” I growl.

Mario looks me in the eye and squeezes my shoulders. “I know, brother, she's important to me too. Aria thinks the world of her. I've never seen you at peace until she came into your life, and we're going to get her back. But we’ll do it in a way that keeps her and all of us alive. Capiche?

My breaths come hard, but they finally slow down. “OK, what's the plan?”

Mario laughs. Oh, it's the same plan. We're going to crash their party, smash some heads, and grab your wife. We need a few more men to help. Give me two minutes and we're on our way.”

I stomp away. “Fine, meet me in the armored G wagon. You have 119 seconds or I’m leaving without you.”