Page 233 of Massimo

“Keep watching out the window,” Aurelio said with a sinister chuckle. “It’ll be very entertaining.”

After he hung up the phone, he dragged me over to the chair inside the tower and forced me to sit.

“Tie her up,” he snapped at his two thugs.

One zip-tied my hands behind the wooden chair, then did the same with my feet.

Zollner watched them tie me up. “Such pretty bait,” he said with an avuncular smile, then turned back to Aurelio. “I think I’ll probably lie on the balcony floor. Moving positions will be more inefficient, but I don’t want to make myself a target.”

“However you want to do it,” Aurelio said.

“You’re both dead men,” I said between gritted teeth.

“In the end, we all are,” Aurelio said philosophically. “But not today.”

“Unfortunately, the same cannot be said for your fiancé, I fear,” Zollner chuckled.

Then he clack-clacked the bolt on his rifle.

My blood ran cold at the sound.

91

Massimo

After the briefing, Lars ordered the men into the boats.

Before we left, there was one last thing for me to do, no matter how much I was dreading it:

I borrowed Adriano’s phone and called the Widow’s palazzo.

When a man answered, I said, “I need to speak to Signora Fioretti. Tell her it’s Massimo Rosolini.”

Five seconds later, the old lady answered.

“Your cousin has my granddaughter,” she said, her voice furious.

“Aurelio called you, didn’t he,” I said, my stomach twisting nervously.

“Not only that, he SHOWED her to me.”

I frowned. “What?! Where?”

“They’re in the bell tower on the island of San Michele. I can see her from my bedroom window with a pair of binoculars, along with your cousin and some man in a ridiculous hat.”

Zollner.

I gestured to Lars, who came jogging over. “Is she alright?” I asked the Widow.

“She’s ALIVE, no thanks to YOU. What the hell happened?”

“Aurelio hired a professional hunter who found us and kidnapped her early this morning.”

While I spoke, Lars produced the map of the island. I tapped the bell tower.

Lucia? he mouthed silently.

I nodded and mouthed Aurelio and Zollner as I continued to tap the map.

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