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"He's gone," she bawled. "He's really gone."
My gaze drifted upward to see Draven reliving his own demons that were all too similar to this moment. Gritting my teeth, I had to concentrate. "I know this is a lot to ask of you right now, Kasey, but we need your help finding Emilia. We need your help to bring her back, to bring her home."
"Home..." Kasey's hand slowly settled over Rocco's heart before lifting to touch hers. The symbolic reasoning hadn't been lost on me, but I felt my insides twist together in pure devastation. Shaking her head, her lip wobbled as she tried to keep her composure. "I don't know. He just mentioned a special plan for her, but he said something about Costas too. Like he'd be using him to do whatever they have planned."
"He wanted Costas to prove who he's loyal to," Draven murmured. "They're going to use Millie as his acceptance into their new fold."
"He'd never do that!" Kasey scoffed, but then worry took over her expression. "Right? Costas wouldn't hurt Millie, right?"
After Emilia asked me to let her have her secrets with Costas, I did some digging from still having access to her phone. I knew who they met in town that day, and if I knew, someone else did too. Someone who knew her identity all along. Bile rose in my throat as trepidation hung in the air. "Aside from Mario most likely being his father, I have a feeling Mario might've taken someone else Costas loves to goad him into it."
"What do we do?" Kasey finally understood the severity of our predicament. "What the fuck do we do?"
"We try to track them by reversing our beacons to the locators." Marching to the office, I nearly ran there because Emilia's life sat in the balance. My woman, my world... I couldn't lose her. If anything, I'd burn the world to the ground to make sure she returned safely to me. Everyone who stood between me and that course of action would forfeit their lives.
seventy-two
Costas
Nothing could've prepared me for what I was about to walk into. The only indication I had that something sat amiss came from the lack of reception my phone had upon arrival. I'd tried sending a dozen texts to Tony and Draven but not a single one went through. Someone had a blocker placed nearby, just like I had done the night I kidnapped Millie.
Sitting in the driver seat of my car for an extra second, I waited on the side of the industrial building that had been selected for a meeting. What did Mario need me for in a dump like this? The place had been clearly abandoned. Some of the stone gave way, creating ruins along the edges with holes. No one appeared to be here either, so I sat until I saw headlights driving in from the road across from me. I parked behind some brush and tucked back a bit. A skilled eye would see me, but an untrained one would overlook me.
When three flashes came my way, I knew who pinpointed my position because he taught me to find them. The car itself pulled onto the loose dirt ahead of the double door entrance for delivery trucks. A remote of some kind allowed them to part for the car to pull in, staying open to wait for me to find whatever sat inside. Everything within me shutdown because I knew my torpefied monster had to come out in order for there to be any ending worth surviving after this.
Sending a silent prayer to the heavens above, I knew no redemption would ever find me, but if any God listened, he'd know Millie's genuine heart deserved nothing but the best. I didn't know if she'd be here, but this incalculable sense of dread lined my veins to prepare for the worst. That's how this always worked. If someone wanted to hit us where it mattered most, Millie sat in the heart of it all. I just didn't know if Mario played a part in the problem or if he fell victim too. My heart longed for the second option.
Steadying my steps as I entered the lighted front, the headlights blinded me as I strutted in. Without being shot yet, I took that as a good sign we could make a deal. Once I stopped several feet away, I noticed two bodies in front of the black vehicle. Using a remote, the car turned off and the lights dimmed with it, leaving only the overhead ones in the factory. Some didn't work while others flickered, but I could see who I needed to perfectly before me.
Mario held Millie to his front, revealing her anesthetized state. She tried to lull her head upward, but she couldn't fight off whatever he had given her. Keeping my cool, I knew better than to reveal my own hand when it came to my affection for the girl.
"What is the meaning of this?" I asked him. "I was with Tony and Draven, and you're supposed to be back at the manor."
"Don't be daft, boy!" Mario growled before letting out a low chuckle. "And don't play me a fool either. We both know you've caught on. I taught you to be deceptive in the reception."
"You still haven't answered my question, Mario." Taking a step closer, Mario rushed to whip out a gun and placed it next her bruised temple. Someone had put their hands on Millie, leaving a pattern of bruising along her face where the gun sat.
"That's far enough, Costas," he warned. "I know it's your job to protect her for Tony, but you know you were mine before you were ever his."
My heart let out a flutter of relief he didn't know about my own feelings for the girl in his hold. "Why is she being used to weaponize against Tony?"
"Because, daddy dearest has other plans in motion. Plans he really needs to weaken his son to commit to. If Tony's weak, he'll be easier to take out." Mario let the gun drift down Millie's front in her sleep dress and panties. She'd been relaxing in the library like she did most nights if she wasn't with her two men already. "You're going to kill her as I watch. You're going to prove you're the perfect replacement for me when the new empire rises."
"My loyalty has always been expressed to side with Tony," I reminded the man who taught me.
"Oh, knock it off, Costas! We both know you came to the Russi doorstep in search of your father! Your loyalty is to him, not his son!" When Mario raised his voice, Millie's eyes fluttered open more in shock. While she hadn't come to all the way, she regained enough consciousness to know I stood across from her.
"Costas?" she pled my name to give her uncertain answers.
Mario forced her groggy head to turn his way, sealing his disrespect for Tony with an unwanted kiss against her refusing lips. Millie tried pushing away from him, but her limbs were too weak even without the drugs flooding her system. This would be harder for her to come down from because chloroform was an inhalant that didn't attack within. Street drugs and sleeping pills could trigger an addictive game to begin.
His hands began grabbing over her lithe frame, squeezing her bare breasts through her thin dress. She whimpered in rejection, but she didn't know that only turned Mario on even more. He used the gun to drag down her sternum letting it guide him to her panties. Red blinded my vision as he did this, wanting to strangle him then and there, but he held onto the most precious being in the world. Clearing my throat, I played it cool by looking at my clock.
"You couldn't have done this part before I came?" Keeping my voice even, I could see a flash of hurt over Millie's stare, believing the bad person I had to be in this world. Hating her reaction to me, maybe one day she'd see the ploy I needed to put on in order to get her out.
"Always one to just finish your job," he tsked. "Your old man could learn something from you. He can't keep up on the new whores he makes me purchase him. I wondered if Tony would be like him, but that boy got whipped by this little, gangly thing."
Letting his freehand into her bottoms, I had to watch him touch her between the legs. Millie revolted against his touch, but she couldn't change his course of action. Drawing the attention back to me, he kept playing with her while staring into my eyes. "My job is to protect the heir. I cannot go against my first order, even if yours have changed for me."
