I grinned, tears still streaming down my face. “Thank you. Thank you so much.”
He removed the transducer. “Anything for Furore’s old lady.”
Except that wasn’t Furore’s baby. “In case you talked, could you do me a favor and not tell him that you did any of that?”
He nodded without argument and pretended to lock his lips and throw the key. “But if he asked, I can’t not tell him that you stopped by.”
“I bet he already knows.” He probably had a tracker in my car. That reminded me of another thing I needed to do. Ditch my car and Uber to the location Michele sent me. Then I’d text my lying husband and boyfriend about Chicago only a few minutes before departure and turn my phone off. They didn’t deserve it, but I didn’t want them to worry. At the same time, though, I didn’t want them to come down here and stop me from leaving. “Thank you so much for everything.”
CHAPTER 22
Tirone
My temples throbbed when I received Jo’s text. Her phone was switched off immediately after, so I rode my bike to the clubhouse to find Furore. He was calling me midway. He must have received the same text.
“She was in Austin right before she turned off her phone. If we move now, we can be there in ninety minutes,” I said as I entered the compound. He was already straddling his bike.
“I don’t think she’s still there. She’s smart. She would have waited last minute to text. She’s probably already on the plane.”
“Did you call Michele?”
“He’s not picking up.”
“Then we’ll go to Chicago and get her the fuck back. I’m not gonna let my—” I managed to shut up because the brothers and the prospects were listening. I didn’t give a shit if they knew. I wanted them to know, and fuck me if they didn’t already find out on their own but were only quiet out of respect and fear. “We have to get your old lady back.”
“Prez, Doc, Rex, did any of you call Owl first to confirm?” Hook asked calmly; the only possible reason Jo was in Austin was to visit Cameron.
“I did. He said she left thirty minutes ago,” Furore said. “It’s enough time to—” His phone buzzed. “It’s Michele.”
“Give it to me.”Her father figure or not, no one gets to take my girl without my permission.
Furore glared at me as he picked up. “Where the fuck is my wife?” Pause. “What do you mean I tell you? Where the fuck did you take Jo?”
My heart thrashed. “The fuck? Put him on speaker.”
Furore tapped the screen and put the phone out for all of us to listen. “She’s not at the pickup location I sent her. She was supposed to be here a few minutes ago. Her phone is off. No sign of her car around. What the fuck did you do to my daughter?” Michele’s agitated voice set my blood ablaze.
“Michele, there’s no time for games,” I said. “She was in Austin visiting a friend and left, and then a few minutes ago she texted saying she was leaving to Chicago with you. If you have her—”
“So you have no fucking clue where she is.” He swore in Italian. “I leave my daughter with you to protect her not to lose her, Lazzarinis.”
“We’ll find her, Michele,” Furore said.
“No. I will.” Michele ended the call.
My head spun as I glanced around the faces surrounding me, seeing nothing but fire and blood and mayhem. Who the fuck took the mother of my baby? Could Jo be right about the hold the Lanzas might have had on Dusty and Cameron? Did they tell the Lanzas Jo was alone and unprotected to swoop down on the opportunity and take my girl?
But why? Could the Lanzas and the Larvins be working together again? Did the old vendetta to retaliate for the death of Jo’s father and his wife lead us to another Mafia war?
In single file, we raced to Austin and paid the Moores a visit. Dusty swore he hadn’t heard from the Lanzas since he faked his death. Logically, if they were traitors or blackmailed, they would have been a pawn in last year’s war. It wouldn’t make sense if the Lanzas decided to use them just now.
“I don’t blame you for not trusting me, but your old lady is pregnant,” Dusty told Furore. “Do you really think I can have a hand in giving her to them, knowing damn well what they’d do, after what happened to mine because of an even less vicious vendetta?”
Cameron shook her head. “I shouldn’t have let her leave alone. She was upset when she first came to me, but…she was fine, even happy when she left. I thought she was going home.”
Owl held a black and white piece of paper. “She told me not to tell you, but…” He gave it to Furore.
Prez swallowed and glanced at me. I snatched the piece of paper from his hand. That was the first ultrasound photo of my baby.
