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“Wow, even I’m surprised at your coldness. Your brother refused to crack for you and you don’t care if he dies?”
“He understands.”
This was a nightmare that just wouldn’t end. Cane was locked up somewhere and Bones was about to put a bullet in his head. Crow would lose his only family left in the world.
“I’m not just going to kill him, Crow,” Bones warned. “I’m going to torture him until he goes into shock. And then I’m going to keep every single bone and add it to my collection. I’ll give you forty-eight hours to think about it.” He hung up before Crow could say another word.
Crow listened to the line go dead before he tossed the phone on the bed. With his arms resting be his sides he just stood there. His breathing was even and his expression didn’t change. Whatever he was feeling was far below the surface.
I didn’t say anything because I couldn’t breathe. My lungs ached from the pain and my heart was about to give out because it was working at full speed. The adrenaline was killing me. “Crow…” I couldn’t fight against my tears and they came pouring out.
Crow finally looked at me, his expression still cold.
I sat on the bed and pulled my knees to my chest, still sobbing. “No…”
Crow slowly approached me, his eyes darker than ever before. “Button, shh.”
“We have to save him, Crow. What are we going to do?”
He stood at the edge of the bed, his hands still resting by his sides. “I’ll organize a search but I don’t think it’ll help. I’m sure Bones is in an untraceable place.”
“Then you have to trade me. You have to save Cane.” Nothing scared me more than being in Bones’s possession but I couldn’t let Cane suffer. He was Crow’s only living relative. Bones was after me so Cane shouldn’t suffer. It wasn’t fair.
The look Crow gave me was terrifying. “No.”
“Crow, you have to—”
“Pearl, I said no.”
I froze on the spot when I heard what he said. He never called me by my real name—ever. It was a warning—a terrifying one.
“I’m not trading you and Cane would understand. He knows I’m not coming from him. He’s accepted that the moment he was captured. I hate this as much as you do, but I’m not giving you up.”
“He’s your brother…” How could he do this to him?
“And you’re my wife,” he whispered. “You’re my family now. Cane would prefer it this way.”
The tears streaked down my face. “We can’t just accept his. We can’t let him win.”
“I’ll try to get him back, Button. But I don’t think I’ll succeed. Bones knows what he’s doing. He’ll have covered his tracks by now.”
I pulled my knees to my chest and continued to sob. “I’m so sorry…this is my fault.”
“Don’t say that ever again.”
“But it is. If it weren’t for me, none of this would be happening.”
“And I would have been miserable my whole life.” He kneeled in front of me and gripped my arms. “I’m sorry this has happened. It kills me as much as it kills you. But don’t ever say that.”
I sniffed then wiped my tears away. “Crow, find him. Please. I can’t live with myself if we don’t rescue him.”
“Button, I know.” He pulled my forehead to his. “I promise I’ll do everything I can to get him back.”
“Okay.” I gripped his wrists and tried to slow down my breathing. Right now, I was just a mess. As a victim of Bones’s I knew exactly what his torture was like. I would never wish that on anyone else, especially my brother.
“It’ll be alright, Button. We’ll get through this.”
Chapter Twenty-Two
Crow
“What about the catacombs?” I’d been searching for Cane non-stop for twenty-four hours. I didn’t sleep, I hardly ate, and I drank as much caffeine as I could find. I kept up an air of indifference to Bones and Buttons, but honestly I was fucking terrified.
I had to find him.
He pissed me off most of the time, and he got under my skin like no one else. I always had to clean up his messes, and he hurt my woman in an unforgivable way. But that didn’t change the innate feelings deep in my chest.
I loved my brother.
Bones was a man of his word, and if he said he would kill Cane then he would. If Buttons were anyone else, I would hand her over in a heartbeat. But she was off limits. In my heart, I knew Cane would understand that. He would understand I had to protect my wife against everything because she was a part of the Barsetti family now.
At least I hoped he understood.
One of my men responded. “Clean.”
“What about Rome?” I asked. “Any of his headquarters?”
“They’re all clean,” he answered. “We checked everywhere Crow. Wherever he is, it’s below the surface. We can’t get any readings anywhere. No signatures. Nothing.”
