My heart skipped a beat as his clueless, big eyes fell on mine. My tears dropped and a smile stretched my lips at the same time. He captured my soul as if he were my own. “He has your eyes.” I’d always thought if Lina and I had a baby, it’d have her eyes. “He’s so beautiful.”
“His name is Niccolino. I named him after my sister,” she said.
“Yes. She told me,” I sniffled, reaching my arms out. I wanted to hold him.
She stepped away, shaking her head. “Not before I see Nicky.”
I could just jump one of these suckers and take their gun, shoot the fuck out of everybody and take the boy.
What the fuck are you waiting for? Do it. We need some blood in here.
I could easily picture it. Ravenna and I, on the island she’d choose, raising Niccolino as our own. A beautiful dream that could come true with bloodshed I yearned for.
But it was my dream, not his.
When he’d grow up and realize I took him from his parents, killed his own mother and snatched him from her arms… I couldn’t risk it. I filled my eyes with his innocence. I wouldn’t put him in such pain. I wouldn’t destroy him like I was destroyed. “You don’t get to make fucking demands. Not after what you’ve done. Don’t forget that Tino is always one phone call away from killing you.”
“What makes you think he would?” Enzio stood, buttoning his suit jacket. “What makes you think he would believe anythingyousay? After all, you’re a crazy, sick boy, who’s been locked up in a mental institution, which we have proof you were in. You escaped and attacked Dom and his wife at their villa. Hit Dom in the head and kidnapped his wife. Then you threatened you were going to rape and kill her if Angelina didn’t come here and bring you your brother, without mentioning a word to Tino, of course. Angelina had to save her sister, and I had to protect my own. Nicole is a Lanza after all. We had no choice but to give you what you want to save her.”
Motherfucker. “Marvelous story. But didn’t your fucking dog tell him I already left Italy so he could bring Nicky to his house where he’d fuck her mind and her ass every day until she had no choice but to become his?” I smirked at Lina. “I loved listening to their sex torture sessions. He did it in the room next to my cage. You should’ve listened to the way she screamed and cried and broke. Good job, Lina, choosing the right fucker to sell your sister to. Did you know he made her call him Daddy, just like—”
“If you don’t shut the fuck up now, I’ll be the one calling Tino, and you’ll be silenced forever,” Enzio threatened as Lina sobbed. “No matter what you say, he’ll always believe us over you.”
I sat and stretched my leg, making myself comfortable. “Be my guest. I was gonna pay him a visit anyway. You’d save me the trip.”
Snarling, he got his knife out and his fingers curled around my throat. “Listen, you piece of shit, I don’t have the patience for whatever fucking game you think you’re playing. You’re going to tell me where Nicole is now or you can kiss your dick goodbye.”
I gurgled a laugh, spitting all over his face. “Seriously, Enzio? You think torture is gonna get me to speak?” I snapped open my jacket and ripped the buttons of my shirt to show them my body. “Look at me.” My teeth clenched at him and then at her. “Take a good fucking look at whatyouhave done,” I waited until she averted her gaze while her tears flowed and then I stared back at him, “and tell me if a fucking knife is gonna make you win.”
“What do you want, Leo?” Lina cracked. “Whatever you want, just take it and bring me back my sister.”
“What do I want? You can’t give me anything I want. Not anymore.” I zipped my jacket up as Enzio had to let go of my neck. “But if you want your sister, why don’t you put that baby in my lap so you and that Domenico fuck can get on your fucking knees and start begging me to bring you Nicky.” I glanced at Enzio. “You too.”
He grunted, nodding. “Or…” His chin tilted up toward another one of his men, who climbed up the stairs like the one before him. What did they have up there that they thought they could have any power over me?
“Oooh suspense.” I snorted a laugh, following the path the soldier was taking with my gaze.
“Si, si,” Enzio said, so sure of himself. “Angelina, go back to your seat and enjoy the show quietly, would ya?”
I was going to tell him to go fuck himself and tell Lina to stay put becauseIgave the orders here, but I glimpsed the soldier coming out of the master bedroom, and I froze.
A feeling I was basking in for long months hour by hour, minute by minute, second by second, until I was so numb to I forgot what it meant snuck under my skin and settled in my heart.
Fear.
For the first time in what seemed to have been forever, I was afraid. The man coming down the stairs wasn’t alone. He had Ravenna. Bound and gagged.
My fists clenched so hard I felt as if I was breaking my own bones more than they’d already been broken. The screams blared louder than ever, threatening to give me away. I needed to stay calm. I needed to show them I didn’t care. If I made them believe she meant nothing to me, they couldn’t use her against me. They wouldn’t hurt her to make me speak.
But she meant everything to me. Every fucking thing.
Look away. Stay calm. She’s not here. She’s not here.How the fuck did they find her? The phones couldn’t be tracked, and Nicky said she didn’t tell Domenico where she was. Ravenna couldn’t have been that stupid to go back to Taormina. I’d told the fisherman to burn the car and take her himself to Palermo, where I told Nicky we were supposed to stay. How the fuck did the Lanzas get to her?
The Lanzas having Ravenna hostage was the only thing I didn’t anticipate in my plan, and it was about to ruin everything. The one thing that could bring me to my knees and let my enemies win.
I wiped my forehead with the heels of my palms and took deep breaths, my mind spiraling. Boiling, low growls leaked out of my throat. Nothing could contain the roaming chaos inside.
I’m fucked. We’re fucked.
