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Sonny hit the ignition button and punched the gas pedal, the wheels screeching on the gravel as he pulled out of the parking lot. “At least we can cross it off the list. There’s no way Enzo, or whoever took me, was keeping me in that church with those kids around as witnesses.”
“The basement you were in could be anywhere. This was a long shot. We both knew that.”
He turned to the right and gave the gas more juice once we hit an open clearing in the woods. No one was in sight, not a single car or house. We were isolated from the outside world. I was almost bummed that we found kids instead of Enzo and his men. At least if we’d found Wiseguys, we would’ve had a lead on where Gia was being detained.
“Let’s start with Dom and his guys,” Sonny said, whipping down the road at a faster pace. “One of them must know where Gia’s being held.”
“All of them will suffer,” I growled. “Carlo’s death was painless compared to what I have in mind for the rest of them. Especially Dom. He deserves a slow and painful death for setting us up to almost get killed by Enzo’s men.”
“One good thing came out of the meeting at Vitale’s,” Sonny said, matter-of-fact.
I smirked. “You mean the part where I had a gun held to my head, and you had a knife to your throat?”
“Yeah, but consider what they said to us for a second. They told us the councilman is not as innocent as we think. Gia’s dad has something to do with all this.”
“Of course he does. He’s my dad’s oldest friend and another pawn in my father’s games.”
“What if Lorenzo isn’t the man we think? What if he has been pulling the strings all along?”
A shiver ran through me. Gia’s dad wasn’t a good man, but he wasn’t as bad as my father. Or was he? I was losing faith in everyone by that point. I couldn’t trust anyone. No one was safe from my wrath. Not even Lorenzo Carlini.
“Let’s start with Dom and work our way to Lorenzo.”
A Joker-like grin touched his lips. Sonny drove through the suburbs and back to Philadelphia with the same creepy smile that gave me the chills all over again.
Chapter Nine
Gia
Hot water was a luxury I’d taken for granted. I never knew how lucky I was to have running water and dry clothes until I was taken from my home. Being a Mafia family’s prisoner had zero perks. They treated me like a slave, starved me half to death, and let me rot in my own filth. I was strong enough to handle whatever they threw at me. Because of Angelo, I would survive.
I ran my head under the showerhead, sighing with relief from the warmth raining down on me. My faith in Angelo had kept me going on the worst days. He would save me from this wicked punishment. I wanted to believe he wasn’t the one who sentenced me to this miserable life. I also wanted to believe Sonny had nothing to do with my kidnapping.
“Hurry up in there,” the stripper yelled to me through the curtain. “You don’t have much time. If not for your curly hair, I would have to send you out there looking like a wet rat, and we can’t have that. So, get a move on. I need enough time to slap some gel in your hair and style it.”
“Go out where?” I was almost afraid to ask.
“On stage, of course.”
“To do what?”
“Oh, sweetie, you’re adorable.” She laughed. “To dance for Dante.”
“What happened to someone buying me?”
She peeled back the plastic curtain and stuck her head in the tiny shower, invading my personal space. Her eyes scanned my entire body with a wicked smile. “No one is buying you. At least not tonight. The boss wants to see what you’ve got before he makes a decision about you.”
“What’s that supposed to mean?”
“If you give him a show, maybe you will get to stay here with the girls and me. Bossman likes to collect things. You could be part of his harem. But if you do anything stupid, like try to run, then you might be going home with someone even more sick and twisted than Dante.”
I covered my body with my hands, but all that did was make it even more noticeable that I was trying to hide from her. “Who’s Dante?”
“Dante DiSalvo, the boss of the underworld in Atlantic City. He controls everyone and everything in this town.”
I knew of the DiSalvo family because of their casino rackets and brothels, but until that night, I had no idea who was in charge. Angelo had taken meetings with the family in the past, even did a few jobs for them.
Why was I here? I had no idea why Dante would want me. Was it to get to Angelo? To get to my father? There were so many sins from my past haunting me like ghosts. They weren’t even my sins. But someone had to pay for them.
