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Tori shakes her. “He didn’t say. He just told me to stay here, not to go out anywhere because it’s dangerous.”
I nod. “Okay… Okay.”
“Go to Alessandro,” she says suddenly.
Yes, Shirley is like a sister to him. He must know by now she’s taken. He’s the next best person to help me, even if I’m acting erratic.
I get to the house, and a guard comes out of it as I walk quickly toward it. “Evgenii, calm down.”
“Is he here?”
He steps aside, and something tells me Alessandro is expecting me. I vaguely recall where his office is, and my attention is quickly caught by the sound of Ivan speaking to someone. I walk in that direction and into his study.
Alessandro and Ivan both look at me, calm and collected.
This pisses me off, so I storm forward. “Have you any idea what’s happening? Shirley’s been taken! A dozen of our finest men have been slaughtered. My house looks like a horror film. Give me men, give me the best soldiers from both families, and I’ll go find Mikhail and ring his fucking neck until he tells me where she is.”
Ivan gives me a harsh look. “Remember your place, Evgenii.”
I clench my fists, but I don’t respond.
I watch as Alessandro gets up from his table and walks to a small table to his left. He pours some expensive-looking whiskey into a glass and comes to me. “Come sit down.”
I know they’re trying to keep me calm, but I don’t want to be calm. The woman I love has been kidnapped. I can’t step out of line, though, so I take the glass and take a huge gulp.
Alessandro doesn’t seem surprised and sits back down, crossing his legs. “We’ve already got our best men on the street scouring for any clue. Shirley isn’t like my sister. She is my sister, as much as Arianna is, and I will do whatever is necessary to find her and bring her home where we can keep her safe.”
I look at Ivan as he sips his own drink, nodding while Alessandro speaks. “We also need to manage damage control for the mass shooting at your property. I suggest we sell it and move you somewhere safer. Your days of anonymity at that address are clearly over.”
I look at Ivan incredulously. He’s worried about damage control. “Mikhail is instigating this. The truces with our two families are just a ruse. I would stake my life on it.”
Ivan looks at Alessandro as the younger man speaks. “I also think Mikhail is running this. The man is just… too present at the moment. Especially where Shirley is involved, but…” he pauses as I down the rest of my drink, “I think he’s doing this against his father's wishes. Rumor is that his father is back as Don because Mikhail was basically bankrupting the family with parties, drugs, and prostitutes.”
I turn back to Ivan, feeling like I’m the tennis ball between two players looking back and forth. “Personally, I don’t think Mikhail would have the balls to betray his father. The man’s love for puncture wounds, salt, and lemon juice are legendary is his fondness for slowly burning the skin off with acid.” He says it so casually, and I’m not surprised because I’ve heard the same thing. “But Alessandro believes he is cunning enough to work through others to achieve what he wants.”
Alessandro gets up and collects our glasses for a refill. “If you’re wondering why we’re calm, Dominic and Carmine are tracking down the little asshole right now. Once they know where the little rat has holed up, they will pick him up. We can then extract what information we need from him and return him to his family to be dealt with.”
I put my head in my hands. “If they hurt her…”
“Evgenii, I give my word, I will find Shirley before any harm comes to her or the baby.”
I almost get whiplash from looking up so quickly. “Baby? Shirle’s pregnant?”
“So many pregnant women, sometimes I mistake who’s pregnant and who's not,” Alessandro tries to backtrack as casually as he can, but I see Ivan doesn’t buy it either and looks at his business partner knowingly.
Alessandro sighs. “I promised Shirley that I wouldn’t tell you she’s pregnant. She wants to tell you herself.”
I’m flabbergasted. Of all the surprises that have been sprung on me over my forty years of life, I never thought of myself as a father.
But that just cements that I need to be the one to save her.
I put my glass down with a thunk and practically leap from the armchair I’m sitting in, but before I can even consider raising my voice, Ivan snaps, “Sit down, Evgenii, you’re no good riled up, and you won’t solve any problems going in half-cocked.”
“I need to do something,” I plead with him. “Waiting for something to happen will drive me mad. You know this, Ivan. You have a wife and children you adore.”
Before Ivan can respond, there’s a loud knock on the open door, and we all look at Carmine standing there with Dominic.
“We have CCTV footage that proves Mikhail was the last person to speak to Shirley. She went for an appointment with a Dr. Green, then she spoke to him in the lobby, and finally she got into the car and was followed to the house,” he explains. “We got the plates of the car that followed them, and you won’t believe this power move, but it belongs to the Pacheco family.”
