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“I was home on leave when Cara died. She was joining me in a couple of days, but she was on a training course, and she got killed in a live-fire exercise. Three days later I found out my youngest sister and her partner had died in a four-car collision. Emily was in the back of the car, and it was a miracle she was unhurt. It was like the hits all kept coming. I left and didn’t know what to do with myself. I even considered going back, but my mom was struggling because she has a heart condition and while my oldest sister said she’d take Em, Kate never wanted to be a mom. She’s a neurosurgeon and it’s her life.” He shrugged.
“So I left the marines and took Emily home. I always wanted a family, we both did.” He gazed at me. “This job is like a miracle to me. I have skills I can never use, and it strips me of my self-respect. I would never resent the time I spend with Em and I’m happy to give up everything for her, but when Dario reached out, you have no idea how much I wanted this.”
Did I believe him? “Will you teach me how to shoot?”
The question even shocked me. I had no idea I was going to ask him before the words came tumbling from my lips.
He grinned. “Absolutely.”
“I didn’t know I wanted to, but I think I do.”
“Are they going all cavemen on you?” He arched his brow. “Lucio is worse than Dario. He seems to think I need saving.”
Interest flickered in me. I had a feeling him noticing Lucio’s mannerisms wasn’t a simple colleague acknowledging skills.
“Do you know where they are?”
He nodded. “I made it clear to Dario if you ever asked me a direct question, I wouldn’t lie.” And he proceeded to fill me in on everything he knew.
Dario
I didn’t worry that Rocco would be here. I did worry, however, that I would be recognized if any of Rocco’s men were here. Lucio and I had gone through the manifest, and we didn’t know any of the crew. The problem might be the security that allowed us on the boat. I kept my head down and we all got on board okay. It was still an hour away from sailing but there was plenty of entertainment. Girls, boys, drugs. Nothing major to attract attention. Not until we sailed. The real party wouldn’t start until we got far enough away from curious eyes. Lucio had a girl wrapped around him but was barely taking any notice of her. My other men were the same. Alvize had just turned down his third drink offered by a young boy in black shorts and a white tank who looked no older than fourteen, and for a moment, I felt guilty about putting him in this situation with all the available liquor. An older woman named Maxine introduced herself to me and told me she was the entertainment director.
This wasn’t summer camp. She was explicit in her promises and for the first time since being a teenager I struggled to keep the emotion off my face. She brought me a girl to ‘keep me company’ while we sailed. I feigned interest and quietly wondered if she was older than sixteen. Knowing we had limited time, and that we had a pre-arranged signal, I excused myself, looking for the bathroom. In order, we were all going to makesimilar trips until we found what we were looking for. Then we would call Lucio’s detective. Our phones were working until we set sail. We’d all had to agree to a signal jammer after that to protect privacy. No one was going to object, though. As much as the owners of the boat wanted to protect their anonymity, the patrons would want that even more so. I was pretty sure I’d recognized a tech company billionaire as we boarded.
I headed to the restroom but as the corridor was empty, I didn’t go in, simply carried silently on. When I heard voices, I ducked into what I discovered was a storage closet until they passed, then carried on until I found a locked and coded door. Prepared, I waited until a man approached it, then quickly rendered him unconscious as soon as he entered the code and pulled it open.
We might have been allowed phones before we set sail, but we were searched for weapons. Luckily, all I needed was my hands. I wedged the door open with a fire extinguisher, then deposited the man in the storage closet. I quickly went through the door, making sure from this side you didn’t need a code, and carried on. I knew I had to be quick.
It took me another two minutes to find the teenagers, and teenager was an optimistic guess. I’d only seen a glimpse of a room with naked kids huddled together as some asshole barked orders to them as he entered, but that was all I needed. I turned around quickly, texting Lucio as I moved in the direction I had come when I heard a noise behind me. I swung around, and attacked the man holding the gun before he could fire, but the voice behind me and the click of another three guns all arming drew me up short.
“Well, well.”
I turned back. knowing exactly who I would see. Rocco was flanked by three men I didn’t recognize. It wasn’t the men thatmade me pause, though. It was the semi-automatic Glock 17s that were all pointed at me that did it.
21
Dario
“Ithought you were more intelligent,” Rocco commented. “We could have had it good. Honored your father’s legacy.”
“My father’s legacy didn’t include entertaining pedophiles,” I bit out. Rocco simply laughed.
“Your father’s legacy was outdated and insecure. The only thing he had going for him was his name.”
“Unlike you,” I taunted, knowing Rocco was going to try and kill me anyway. “The only thing you have is the ability to stick your dick in places where it isn’t wanted.”
His eyes flashed once, but he quickly smoothed his expression over. He jerked his chin to one of his goons. “Take him down next to the engine room, chain him, and have as much fun as you like, but he isn’t fish-food until I say. I want the others that came with him guarded. They won’t pull anything while we have Dario, but don’t let them leave the salon. Tell the captain we set sail immediately.”
“What’s the matter, Uncle, Don Amato not paying you enough?”
I’d had years to study every facial expression on Rocco Martino’s face, and I knew, absolutely knew, that the brief shock in his eyes wasn’t because I’d found the connection, but because there wasn’t one. He had nothing to do with Amato. My heart thudded and I barely took notice of the idiots restraining me and dragging me away.
Bitterness clawed at my throat. If Rocco wasn’t behind this, it had to be Alessandro. My lovely, innocent husband had played me all along. If by some miracle I did get out of here, it would be Alessandro who would feed the fishes eventually, but not until I’d taught him the true meaning of betrayal, and especially what it meant to cross a Banetti.
I was glad of the first punch Goon One gave me, because it finally got my head out of my ass and made me think. I could take the hits. Terry’s dad had taught me how, and Goon One had clearly never gone to a gym in his life. Goon Two was better, but only because he was bigger and had more weight behind his arm. He still didn’t know how to throw with his full fist, so hard you split your knuckles.
I spat the blood out, which was nothing, and listened for the engines revving up in the main room next door. Eventually, the two got bored and just left me hanging. I waited while the door snicked shut and then straightened. They thought my knees had gone, but it would take more than that. My shoulders hurt like a motherfucker, but I ignored it. I knew if you gave the impression of hanging, no one usually checked if you were tall enough to stand on your own two feet.
