Page 49

“ Any more data?” He hit the air horn as he sped onto the Belt Parkway .

“ Negative .”

Dammit . He pounded on the air horn, scattering cars in front of him. “ Detective , I need you to send patrol cars to search the area of that vehicle’s last known location. The woman driving it is in danger.”

“ Copy that,” Salazar said. “ What can you tell me?”

Not much . All he had was a gut feeling something bad was about to go down. “ Just tell patrol to find the driver and keep her safe until I get there. Have them call me when they locate the vehicle.” He gave Salazar his cell number. “ And ping me if you get any new LPRs .”

He hung up and hastily made another call. Mobilizing the entire NYPD on nothing more than a hunch was a bad idea, but he couldn’t stand by and do nothing. “ Kyle ,” he said when his brother answered. “ I need your help. Gina’s in trouble.”

* * *

Gina pulled over just inside Willow Swamp Park . The park was located in one of the most secluded and rural neighborhoods in New York City . No other cars were visible, and the nearest house was a good quarter mile behind her. She pressed the home button on her phone.

9:05 and still no Maria .

Her phone dinged for the second time in the last ten minutes.

Jack . He’d left two messages, neither of which she’d listened to.

A sensation of emptiness surrounded her.

Whatever he wanted, she no longer cared.

Liar . He was out of her life for good, and that was the way things had to be.

If only she could forget him that easily.

She looked behind her at the empty road. When she turned back, a lone figure stood in the tree line not twenty feet away.

Maria Falzone .

Gina stepped out of the Cayenne . Despite the frantic phone call, part of her hadn’t thought the woman would show.

A gust of wind nearly tugged the car door from her hand before she could close it.

She pulled the collar of her wool coat tighter around her neck.

Todt Hill was the highest elevation on the Atlantic seaboard south of Maine , and the wind was brutal this time of year.

As she neared the other woman, Gina’s blood boiled. Maria’s right eye was nearly swollen shut. An ugly purple bruise took up half her face. The bastard must have beaten her for what happened at the shore house.

Maria tugged a phone from her pocket, tapping something into it before putting it back in her coat.

What is she doing?

Gina’s scalp tingled. She twisted her neck to look behind her. The road was still empty. The only sound she heard was the wind roaring through the trees.

When she turned back, Maria had stepped a few feet closer. “ I’m sorry,” she said, her lips trembling.

“ Sorry for what?” Had Maria shown up only to back out at the last minute?

Screeching tires cut through the howling wind. A car blew over the top of the rise, bearing down fast. Gina barely had time to jump out of the way as the car skidded to a stop.

“ Please , forgive me,” Maria cried.

She spun to face the car again. Her blood went as cold as ice.

The vehicle was a cream-colored Cadillac sedan. Tino’s car.

“ No ,” Gina whispered. I’ve been set up. Stupid didn’t begin to describe how she felt.

The car doors opened. Instinctively , she backed up. Tino stood by the driver’s door. A lecherous grin curled his upper lip. Two of the largest, bulkiest men she’d ever seen got out of the car. One of them was Rocco . The other man she didn’t recognize.

She took off, running across the road to her car. One of the men lunged, snagging the edge of her coat and jerking her back against his chest. She twisted in his grip, but he was so huge it was like being restrained by King Kong .

“ Got her, boss.”

“ Hang on tight, Psycho .” Tino slammed his door shut and sauntered closer, as if he were in no hurry. “ She’s one slippery little bitch.”

Psycho ? As if Tino wasn’t enough of a sadistic killer. This was the infamous Psycho Fiori .

“ I had to tell him,” Maria cried. “ I had to.” Tears streamed down the woman’s face, and she shook harder than the nearby trees getting hammered by the wind.

“ Shut up and get in the car,” Tino bellowed, pointing to the Caddy .

Maria obeyed like a trained seal, running for the front passenger seat and all but flinging herself inside.

Gina gasped for air, struggling to take in a breath as Psycho tightened his apelike arms. She tried kicking back with her legs until he bit the tip of her ear, holding it between his teeth. “ Knock that shit off,” he said around her ear, “or I’ll chew it off.”

Pain shot from her ear to her scalp and she froze. After seeing the body parts in Tino’s safe, she believed him. These two men were cut from the same bloody cloth.

Tino stood directly in front of her, so close she could smell his cloyingly thick musk aftershave. He jerked his head to Rocco . “ Check her pockets.”

Rocco jammed his beefy hands into her coat pockets, coming up with her cell and handing it to Tino who threw it to the pavement and rammed his heel down on the cover. The phone cracked, its cover shattering into tiny pieces.

“ Hold her arms,” Tino ordered. “ I need to check her for a wire.”

Psycho adjusted his grip, pulling her arms behind her back with such force that she cried out.

Tino grabbed the lapels of Gina’s coat and ripped it open. Buttons popped off and flew to the ground. His eyes met hers, a dark, fathomless brown and filled with hatred. Before she could blink, he tore open her blouse. Cold air washed over her skin.

“ Nope .” Tino leered at her breasts. “ No wire. Just a great pair of tits.” He grabbed her breasts, squeezing viciously and twisting her nipples through the lacy fabric of her bra.

She gritted her teeth, squeezing her eyes shut and refusing to give him the satisfaction of letting him know how much it hurt.

“ No wonder Gates kept you all to himself.” He squeezed again. “ You are one fine piece of ass.”

Despite the freezing cold biting at her skin, heat flooded her veins, along with a rage she didn’t know she had in her. She kicked out, missing her intended target— Tino’s balls—and grazing the inside of his thigh.

He jumped back. “ Bitch !” he shouted, then backhanded her across the face. Pain lanced through her skull, and stars danced before her eyes. “ You’ll pay for that.” His gaze traveled down her breasts, then lower as he licked his lips. “ Get her in the car.”

Her belly clenched with absolute fear. There was no mistaking the fate he had in mind for her.

Psycho jerked her off her feet, carrying her to the Caddy and tossing her inside.

She lunged for the opposite door’s handle when the door was flung open and Rocco cut off her escape.

With Psycho on her left and Rocco on her right, she was sandwiched between the two men.

Panic bubbled inside her. She tried tugging the sides of her blouse together to cover herself, but it was no use. The shirt was in tatters.

Tino spun the Caddy in a one-eighty and gunned it back down the hill. His eyes met hers in the rearview mirror. She couldn’t see his lips, but from the way the skin crinkled at the corners of his eyes, she’d bet he was grinning.

He’s going to kill me. She’d been beyond stupid for not letting her friends know where she was going. No , not stupid . If Margo and Annabelle had come with her, they’d only wind up dead too.

As the enormity of her situation slammed home, she swallowed the rising bile in her throat. Tino would kill her and probably dump her body in a remote part of the city.

First , he’d torture and rape her.