Page 55 of Unwritten Vows

Derrick

I’m usually a super laid back guy, but on my way to Liza’s house, I’m violently offered a look into the brain of a person with raging anxiety.

Thoughts pop into my head, one right after the other, with all the possibilities of how this day can go.

I need to find Liza immediately. I can only imagine what Edoardo and his goons are doing to her.

After just sixty seconds of stewing in my car while speeding to get to the Bolyar’s estate, I decide to call the guard I just hung up with again.

I’m sure he can give me more details if I push him hard enough.

I’m their best hope of getting anything done at the moment anyway, with their boss and underboss in police custody.

“Mr. Stepinov, we have a very sensitive situation here.”

“I’m aware,” I say harshly. “I need you to give me everything you know about how and when she disappeared.”

Thank God we’re friends, and he decides to placate me.

“Her guards were found dead by the car, abandoned on the West Side Highway. She was coming back from class. Unmarked black vans. The guards killed one and he was left at the scene. We know him to be one of Edoardo’s men who works closely with his nephew.

He’s second in line for underboss, behind Edoardo’s son, who’s about the same age, so he’s probably trying to jump the line. ”

“His nephew?” I’ve heard of the kid. A 22-year-old with a baby face and something to prove to the mafia world. If she’s with him, I know this is a more dire situation than I thought.

“Yes, Fabrizio.”

“Fuck!” I punch the side of the car so hard the window rattles.

“Boss?” I hear from up front.

“It’s fine!” I yell back, gripping the life out of the phone in my hand. “Why didn’t Edoardo take her himself?”

“He was arrested last night. You didn’t hear?”

No, of course I wouldn’t have heard. I’ve been too busy with my head stuck in my files. I haven’t been keeping up with anything or watching the news. I’ve been so focused on getting Liza back that I let her walk right into the enemy’s hands.

“Okay, so where does Fabrizio usually work out of?” I answer my own question a moment later, thinking back to the one huge contract my father had with Edoardo, which I’m pretty sure was a front for sex trafficking. “Fuck. It’s up where I am. She’s in Rhode Island.”

I press the end button on the call and give my driver one last direction. “Turn the fuck around. We’re going back to Providence.

*****

We’re not speeding fast enough. I end up hopping into the front seat to threaten the driver’s life if he doesn’t go quicker, and of course, we acquire a tail. Unfortunately, it’s a cop, who ends up putting on the sirens and lights pretty quickly.

That’s when it pops into my head. “I need to call the commissioner.”

I’m glad I’m so good with names and charm, because I met the commissioner once with the Bolyar.

She flirted good-naturedly with me and gave me her card.

Especially since she’s in the Bolyar’s pocket, I feel it’s imperative to give her a call right now and discuss both my current situation, as well as the Bolyar’s.

“Hello?” She asks when she picks up the phone, her voice uncertain. She clearly didn’t put my number into my phone like I did with hers.

“Hey, Commissioner Jones! Derrick Stepinov. You don’t remember me? That makes me sad.”

She chuckles. “Oh, of course I remember! Mr. Andreeva’s friend. Especially with all of the news coverage on your family these past couple weeks. I’m so sorry about—”

“It’s fine, sweetie. Now, I have a few favors to ask. First of all, I need you to make sure that your buddy, Yaroslav Andreeva himself, gets out of police custody, since he was taken in unjustly less than an hour ago.”

“W—what?” She sounds completely shocked, which is a good thing for me. That means she didn’t know it was happening and will be pissed that someone went above her head to do it.

“Yeah, up in Rhode Island. Sounds like you didn’t know about it, which probably means they wanted to do it without your knowledge.

But also, I’m up by the George Washington and you need to get this tail off me.

One of your guys is riding my ass and I need to get some place quick.

Andreeva’s daughter is in trouble, and I’m pretty sure he’ll be pissed as fuck if I don’t save her in time because some cop on an ego trip pulled me over for going 70 in a 55 mile an hour zone.

” I’m definitely mischaracterizing my situation—we’re flying a hundred miles an hour down I-95.

“Fuck,” she swears,” I don’t know what they could possibly be thinking.

They must’ve lost their minds. I see the squad car that’s on you; I told him to back the fuck off.

“Looks like there’s a federal hold on Andreeva.

That usually means it’s serious, but I’ve got my workarounds.

I can get him extradited back here and released by tonight. ”

“Yes, please do. And tell him I said hi,” I add quickly, before I hang up the phone.

*****

We make great time to the dock once our tail is gone. I’m as ready as I can be on such short notice; I have a plan, I’ve made my calls, and I’m ready to get my girl back. I don’t feel fear or worry. After all, I’ve lived my entire life as a fake. This should be easy.

My driver pulls up to the gate as I affect my most monotone gaze. I flash my ID at the guard. “Edoardo’s overzealous cousin’s got something that’s mine. I’m sure it’s on Edoardo’s orders. I think there’s been a miscommunication. My father had business with him. I’d like to continue it.”

They look at me suspiciously but let me through after a call inside to Fabrizio.

I look forward in determination. I’m a little nervous for my driver, but there’s no way in hell they’ll hurt me if I’m complying and unarmed.

I’m too valuable. I bring too much to the table.

It’s the one thing my money and title affords me.

I see him just outside the compound, and the sound of the gravel crunching under the tires fades as rage drowns out my hearing. This idiot has no idea what he’s done. He has no idea what’s coming to him. Now he’s ensured that he and his men are going to die today.

“Just here to chat,” I say, allowing his men to pat me down for weapons.

“Derrick Stepinov. Heard so much about you. Seen more than I’ll ever be able to forget, too.”

I chuckle, a smile beaming over my face. “My reputation precedes me!” I hold out my hand. “Good to meet you. I hope that before he ran into some shitty luck and got taken in, Edoardo gave you some good news about me, along with whatever you saw on your iPhone.”

“Not sure that’s how I’d put it.” He gives me a sharky grin that I want to wipe off his stupid fucking face. I can’t wait to kill him.

“He had business with my father. They were in some pretty serious fucking talks. Didn’t he cut you in on it?

I know how close the two of you are.” I know nothing about how close they are, but I figure if he’s at this huge important dock, after kidnapping my girl on Edoardo’s orders, he must have some knowledge of why.

“Well, yeah, of course I know about it. But he didn’t exactly speak highly of you. He thinks your fucking two-timing him, man.”

I hang my head and shake it like a discouraged puppy. “Ugh, no way. I was just busy! Do you even realize how hard it is to deal with the press and bosses up your ass when your father dies and you’re the next in line? The face of an entire operation?”

He looks extremely skeptical, but that’s okay. I don’t need him to believe me completely to let me in. “Well, either way, I guess I understand why you wanted to get my attention. Mission accomplished! I know Liza’s in there.”

“Of course you do,” he says with a shrug, “otherwise you wouldn’t have come.”

“It’s not the enticing proposition you seem to have wanted, though, I think. I want her, but only because of what my father’s plans were.” I narrow my eyes and cock my head. “You sure you know the whole plan?”

He’s starting to get annoyed now. “Yes, I know the whole fucking plan. Edoardo wanted to take her to freak you the fuck out!”

I laugh. “Apparently there was a miscommunication. My father was such an idiot.”

He looks at me like I have two heads. “You gave up Isabella fucking Panicucci for that mousy little Rapunzel in there.”

I have to work extraordinarily hard to turn my sneer of blinding anger into a smirk. “Was Isabella fucking Panicucci going to get us all of New York City?”

He squints his eyes and he finally gets my meaning. “You were using that bitch to get it all?”

I roll my eyes. “My lord, do you actually think I want to get married? I’m not even 30 years old yet!”

He thinks as he gives a little laugh. “I guess that makes sense. Why did Edoardo think you were fucking him over then, though?”

“Because my father got killed, Mara Whitney got free, and then I dropped off the face of the earth for three weeks to clean up the mess. Then when I heard about all this shit—” I wave my arms around, showing him that I know exactly what’s going on here, and the extent of it, “I realized that I had dropped the ball in communications. Our wires must’ve gotten crossed somewhere. ”

He looks a little confused, but I knew he would. It almost makes sense, and I deliver the news with ease, which serves an important purpose. I’ve found that most news, if delivered with enough ego and confidence behind it, will be taken as gospel, even if there is absolutely no logic attached.

“Yeah, fuck. Well, Edoardo seemed pretty fucking unworried about you, and he was definitely planning to kill you and take the Bolyar’s land for himself.

Right now, his plans for the girl are to sell her off so that her father will go crazy trying to find her, hopefully spend his fortune doing it, all while she’s being objected to the most torturous conditions we could find. Her buyer will not go easy on her.”