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I might hold the power where Lorenzo is concerned, but Dante Moretti is the head of the Cosa Nostra, and he could decide on a whim that Mia is dispensable. Acceptable collateral damage if it means getting rid of the five-foot-four woman who made him and his men look like fools.
“Information?” Lorenzo growls. “What fucking information is so important that it requires kidnapping my pregnant wife?”
“I want the name of the man who coordinated the delivery of women and children. I know there were two of them, and I’ve already dealt with Oscar Lang. I need the other name. And I need to know everything. Where he lives, what he eats for breakfast. Every detail you can find.”
The room is deathly silent. They stare at me like I’ve grown an extra head.
“What women and children? Who the fuck is Oscar Lang?” Dante shakes his head, and if I were a more naive woman, I’d almost believe his act of confusion.
But I’m not naive, and his little game of pretense makes me sick to my stomach. “The women and children you and your father sold into slavery!” I spit. “Oscar Lang was one of the coordinators. He found the buyers. But there was one more, and you’ll tell me who he is if you ever want to see your precious Mia again.”
Lorenzo lurches forward once more, his fist raised like he’s going to punch me in the face. He pulls up short, likely held back by fear of what may happen to his wife and unborn child. “We didn’t sell anyone into slavery.”
I snort. “Yeah, right.”
Lorenzo presses his fist to his mouth and sucks air through his nostrils. “Whatever you think you know, Keres,” he hisses my name like it’s poison on his tongue, “you’re wrong. We had no part in our father’s sick trade. And we killed all the men involved. Every last one.”
My gut says he’s telling the truth, and for the first time in as long as I can remember, I question my instincts. No matter how strongly I rely on my ability to read people, I know what I know. The facts don’t lie. “You’re a liar.” I shake my head. “There’s another man out there. Still alive. He was in charge of transporting your victims. Women and kids as young as ten who were bought and sold to the highest bidder!” Venom pours from my mouth. Over two decades of suppressed bitterness and pain and betrayal threaten to overwhelm me.
“We know nothing about them,” Max says, speaking for the first time. “We—” Dante shoots him a look that has his jaw clamping shut.
Lorenzo steps right in front of me. “Give me my wife back and I’ll find this man for you.” The pleading note in his voice stirs something inside me, but I smother it. I will not back down. These men are monsters. Lying is the least of their sins. And it’s past time they experienced a taste of the helplessness they’ve imposed upon their victims.
Folding my arms across my chest, I give him a bored look. “Find him and I’ll give you your wife back.”
His jaw clenches. “Bring her back to me and I’ll do anything you want. I give you my word.”
Unable to hold back my rage a second longer, I plant my hands on his chest and shove him hard. He stumbles backward. “Your word means nothing to me!”
His roar rattles the stained-glass windows behind me. Shouting obscenities, he storms across the room and launches a chair at the wall. Splintered pieces of wood rain to the ground, and the deafening silence that follows is broken only by Lorenzo’s ragged breaths.
“You don’t need Mia,” Dante says, stepping toward me. “We don’t know the name of the man you’re looking for, but if you bring her back to us unharmed, we will find him.”
Us. That single word threatens to drown me in envy. She belongs to all of them while I continue to belong to no one.
Years of practice allow me to swallow down my raging emotions. I arch an eyebrow, letting him know he doesn’t intimidate me, and bask in the knowledge that I’m safe. None of them will do anything to risk her life. “I’m not stupid. As soon as you have her back, you’ll slit my throat—if I’m lucky.”
Lorenzo stalks back toward me like a panther closing in on its prey. He looks ten years older than he did when I walked into the church. His wild eyes and bared teeth reveal the monster lurking beneath his polished facade. “I’m going to carve your fucking heart from your chest.”
I chuckle. “You can try. But then you’ll never see your precious Mia again. Or meet your unborn child.”
He comes to a sudden stop, like he slammed into an invisible wall. Dante places a hand on his shoulder and murmurs, “We’ll get her back, brother.”
“As long as you get me the information I need,” I say with a smile.
“I need to see her. I need to know she’s safe and unharmed before I do a single fucking thing you ask,” Lorenzo says, but the fight has left him. He’s transformed from a terrifying Mafia Don to a broken shell in a matter of moments.
I could refuse. I want to refuse. But I can’t let my desire to watch them suffer get in the way of my plan. I need them to cooperate until I finish this part of my mission. Then, once I’ve gotten what I need from them, I can move onto phase two—destroying the Moretti empire.
I pretend to think it over for a few more seconds, then let out a reluctant sigh. “I guess I can show a little good faith.” I pull my phone from my pocket and type out a text to Phoenix.
A picture comes through a moment later. Mia is sitting on a bed, and the chains around her wrists and ankles are clear to see. I hold up my phone and show it to the three men.
Lorenzo’s face contorts. “Mia.” The word falls from his lips on a plea.
“See. Safe and sound.”
His eyes go to my face and he snarls. “She’s in fucking chains.”
