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I stepped out of the car and brushed off my suit like I still had all the power in the situation. “What now? Dinner? Movie?”
Damien chuckled. “You know what’s next—and you aren’t going to like it.”
I was returned to Florence and their headquarters. I kept looking out the window hoping my men would show up and take me back, but they never managed to intercept me. I knew my brother was doing everything possible to get me back, but once I was inside their fortress, it would be impossible to get me out.
Unless he used nuclear weapons.
That would just defeat the purpose.
Their fortress was new on the outside, but ancient below. It went deep under the surface, making them impenetrable by invasion. Once they got me under the hatch and deep underground, I knew I would stay there until I became a corpse.
I wasn’t scared of death.
I was scared of what would happen to my girls.
Bates would take care of them, I believed that.
But I wanted to be the one to take care of them.
I was taken underground and into a cell made entirely of concrete. There was a small bed in the corner, a chair, and a toilet, so they obviously expected me to last through their interrogation for a few days.
Fuck, how did this happen?
They’d had to wire the cars somehow. That couldn’t have been easy. It was genius—and that pissed me off.
“Sit.” Damien nodded to the metal chair in the corner.
I took off my jacket and placed it over the chair, retaining as much power as I could. Showing fear would only make it worse. Regardless of what they did to me, I wouldn’t cave. I wouldn’t give them any satisfaction. “I should have some time.”
“Yeah?” Damien asked. “How thoughtful of you.”
“I won’t give you what you want. You’ll torture me until I crack, but I won’t crack. You’ll contact Bates next and offer my freedom in exchange for his cooperation. He won’t give you what you want either. So I suggest you kill me.”
“Or maybe I need to crank up my torturing methods right from the beginning.” He stood in front of me, his arms crossed over his chest. “When a man hasn’t felt a needle in his eye or a hot iron in his ass, he thinks he can handle anything. But once it really gets rough, he breaks. Trust me, they all break. You’ll be no different.”
12
Siena
Every time I called, it went straight to voice mail.
Something wasn’t right.
He should have been home an hour ago.
My heart was beating so hard.
Giovanni came into my room without knocking. “Bates is outside. He’s gathering all the men. Something’s wrong.”
I almost ran out of the room, but then I remembered I had a daughter I couldn’t leave unattended. “Giovanni—”
“I’ll take care of her. Go.”
I ran down the stairs then made my way outside. The last car left the roundabout as every single man under Cato’s payroll took off—and left the house unprotected. “What’s going on?” I found Bates standing there on the phone, talking to someone about his mom. He hung up and turned to me. “Damien has Cato. He called me when it happened. They ambushed him, and there’s nothing he could have done about it.”
“Oh my god…” I covered my mouth with my hands as the tears emerged. “No. No. No.”
“I sent the rest of the men to intercept him, but I have a feeling they’ve already made it to their headquarters by now.”
I paced in a circle, my hands digging into my hair. “So what? Break down the front door and get in there.”
“It’s not that simple—”
“I don’t care if it’s simple! Get in there and get him out.”
“Listen to me.” He grabbed both of my shoulders and shook me. “I want my brother back as much as you do, but their headquarters is underneath the building, deep underground. I can crash the building down, but that would only trap Cato underneath it. We could storm inside, but the hatch can’t be broken.”
“So we do nothing?” I shrieked.
“No…I just have to figure something out.”
“What do they want from Cato?”
“Everything.”
“What does that mean?” she hissed.
“They want access to all his bank accounts, all of his assets, all of his billions.”
“Then give it to them.”
Bates gave me a disappointed look. “We agreed we would never give any of that up.”
“So you’d rather die for money?” I asked incredulously. “Is it really more important than your life? Your brother’s life?”
“It’s not just about money. It’s about power. It’s about not handing over everything we worked for to some assholes. We don’t negotiate with assholes. Cato and I both agreed that if either one of us were captured, we wouldn’t negotiate.”
“He must feel differently now. He didn’t have us when he said that.”
Bates shook his head. “Trust me, he won’t change his mind. He would rather die than let them win.”
