Page 80 of Savage Empire

Patting him on the back, I reply quietly. Just for his ears.

“You’re welcome,amico.”

Friend.

Chapter Twenty-Two

Rayna

Ithought I would have at least a few more days before I had to yell at more Moretti men, but apparently, that idea was too good to be true. I only make it two before one of them earns a fierce tongue-lashing.

“What the fuck do you mean I can’t see her?”

Elio gives me a bland look. “Exactly what I just said.”

I recoil from his tone. “Since when are we not on the same side?”

He doesn’t reply. He sits stiffly on my couch, fists tight and clenched, like he’s holding something back. As if he didn’t just drop the bomb of all bombs on me. Yes, Sienna is safe. But no, I can’t see her.

Fucking bullshit.

Elio and Apollo came by specifically to update me about Sienna and this is not what I expected to hear from them. I haven’t heard from my best friend since the Moretti family dinner, and the last message I received from her phone was that she was safe with Elio.

I gave her time to settle into her new situation, even though I had no details about what that situation even was. But after forty-eight hours without an update, I am demanding answers. Answers that Elio apparently doesn’t want to give me.

I was under the impression that we were good friends, but right now he seems like he’d rather be anywhere else but here with me.

“I’ll take it from here, Elio,” Apollo says sternly. “You can go back now. You clearly aren’t in the headspace to be here yet.”

Elio doesn’t argue, standing up quickly. “Fine.”

He storms out of the living room, and eventually the apartment, front door slamming behind him.

“What the hell was that about? Why does he seem livid with me?”

“He saw Sienna’s face, Rayna. He’s still consumed with guilt and anger on her behalf. He’s not livid with you, he’s livid with the world.”

My resolve softens. I should have expected him to be upset. Sienna kept her health and well-being hidden from him. And if she hadn’t, he could have prevented the worst of it. But he couldn’t, and now…

She’s never going to be the same again.

“I can understand that,” I admit quietly. “It’s jarring. Most of the time I was able to see her in person, she was swollen from surgery or fillers or something. So I get it, but why the hell can’t I see her if she’s okay?”

Apollo sighs, long and exhausted.

“You can’t see her, because as far as the mafia world is aware, Sienna Bianchi was kidnapped two nights ago. She’s officially missing and in order for her to stay that way, she can’t have visitors.”

My jaw drops, gut sinking. “Kidnapped?”

“Yes.” He nods once. “This is the story Abramo and I came up with. That we could agree upon without making waves.”

“How on earth does her being fucking kidnapped not make waves?”

“Because her parents won’t make it public,” he replies, jaw ticking. “They’d rather die than face the rumors. It will be kept quiet while they look for her, and since she’s with us, they’ll never find her.”

“They’d rather die than have people think Sienna has been ruined in some way,” I spit out venomously. “It’ll be harder to marry her off to someone of Emilio’s caliber if she’s been kidnapped in the past. They’ll assume the worst happened to her, and that’ll knock hervalue.”

I’m gonna be sick just thinking about it. My stomach churns and the back of my throat constricts with a burn.