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Musicfrom the party blares through the trees as Gio and I race to find Sophia. Per the estate’s surveillance cameras, she was last seen entering the woods at the southeast corner of the property with a man whom I don’t know. Maybe she does. Why else would she leave with him? She was raised to be cautious and trained to prepare for threats. Even more so now she knows the importance of being careful. But, if everything was alright, her guards wouldn’t be MIA nor the men patrolling the southeast corner of the property, the same corner that fronts Lake Pontchartrain. I push myself to run faster, knowing that if this is an abduction attempt, they could be planning to make their escape by using a boat to cross the lake.
“Boss, I see something,” Gio says from a few steps ahead. “No.” He stops. “No, don’t—” Gio turns and tries to stop me, but I push past him. That is, until I see what he sees.
My legs go numb as Sophia’s dark hair and sparkling dress come into view. I nearly trip at the sight of her lying on the gravel path just up ahead. She isn’t moving. She—
“Sophia!” I yell and sprint the last few steps to her. I drop to my knees and immediately pull her into my arms. Her body is limp. “Sophia! Sophia, wake up. Wake up!” Sophia remains still in my arms, and my heart beats so quickly in my chest it feels as if it might rip out any second now. I shake her, my eyes wide with horror. As I do, I manage to fight through my fear long enough to realize she’s still warm. “Gio, check for a pulse,” I say as he drops down beside me. He brings his fingers to her neck as I hold her, unable to let her go.
Gio exhales in relief before saying, “She’s still with us.”
“Then why isn’t she moving, Gio? Why isn’t she waking up?”
Gio leans down and sniffs around Sophia’s nose and mouth. My brows furrow. “She was drugged. I’m picking up hints of chloroform. Dr. Ramirez is a guest tonight. I can have him check her out once we get her back inside.” As Gio speaks, I pinch my eyes closed and pull Sophia tighter against me as my body adjusts to the news. Everything in me goes from cold to hot, terrified to infuriated. My heartbeat slows and my trembling fingers stiffen with the need to kill, the need to protect. Someone did this. Someoneheredid this. I open my eyes and when I do, I don’t recognize myself. Not the deadly force blazing through my bones nor my tone of voice.
“Whoever did this, I will mount their heads on my wall like the animals they are.” I turn to Gio as more of my men arrive behind us. “Find them.”
Gio nods and motions for the newly arrived guards to take Sophia. They move slowly as they approach me. Smart. They won’t take her from me until I’m ready to let her go. I brush a brunette curl from her face as images of my mother come to me and then of Cara. Sophia is my weakness, and the entire world knows it. Whoever did this won’t stop until she’s dead. Which means, I can’t stop until they are. At that, I loosen my arms and allow the men to take Sophia from me.
“Gentle,” I order as I stand. “Let us know as soon as you get her inside. Move quickly and cautiously. Whoever did this is likely still on the premises.”
“Yes, sir.” I watch as a group of four guards take Sophia back toward the house, unwilling to take my eyes off her.
“Boss, I’ve got something over here. Boss?” Finally, I turn and make my way to where Gio stands just a few feet away from where we found Sophia. Gio kneels and points to the blood splatter on the rocks.
“Sophia wasn’t injured.” I state the obvious while wondering whose blood it could be.
“She also wasn’t wearing angel wings.” Gio hands me a single white feather, now coated in blood. The rest of the wings lay discarded just off the path. At the sight of them, my fists clench.
“I knew it.”
“Sir?”
“There’s a reason why I don’t trust anyone, Gio.” I hold up the feather. “This. That girl, that so-called friend of my sister’s, is part of the team who tried to abduct Sophia. Sophia always has a knife on her. She must’ve cut her before she was chloroformed.”
“Maybe, but we don’t know for sure.”
“Within two hours of her trying to get Sophia away from the party, my sister was almost abducted. I don’t believe in coincidences, Gio. You know that.”
“Yes, sir, I do. But Sophia seemed to know her. Ariana, I think.”
“It wouldn’t be the first time someone close to my sister betrayed her. Besides, how many friends does my sister have, Gio?” He pauses to think. “Not many. A million acquaintances, but not a lot of friends, as is the Amato curse. Now, don’t you find it strange that if those two were so close, Sophia never mentioned her?”
“I’m not following,” Gio says. I shake my head in frustration and use all my restraint to keep from barreling into the nearest tree.
“What I’m saying is, they must’ve been new friends, which means Sophia couldn’t have known the girl that well. What if she, Ariana, was playing her to get an invite to this party? To catch Sophia with her guard down and—”
“Okay,” Gio says. “But, with all due respect, if her plan was to abduct Sophia, why would she draw you and me away from the party too? And again, why not abduct Sophia as soon as we left the forest? It wasn’t until over an hour later that Sophia left the party with a man, not a woman.” Gio shakes his head as he tries to make sense of this mess. But it doesn’t. None of this makes sense.
“I expected a war, Gio. I anticipated attacks like this in response to Cara’s murder, but not tonight. The press conference went live this morning. None of our enemies would’ve been able to make it to New Orleans, infiltrate the party, and execute an abduction plan this thought out in between this morning and now.”
“Whoever did this had time to plan,” Gio says.
“Enough time to place someone like Ariana into my sister’s life.”
Gio turns away from me, examining the area again. I know he doesn’t fully buy into my theory. Hell, maybe I don’t either. But, right now, it’s all I’ve got.
“If she wasn’t a part of it, then why else would she be here, Gio? And where is she now? We know Sophia didn’t leave the party with her. So, she would’ve had no other reason for being here, at the site of my sister’s abduction. And, even if she was an innocent bystander in the wrong place at the wrong time, there’s no way the men would’ve abandoned their mission because of her.”
Gio nods. The more I think about it, the more my theory starts to make sense. “Well, whatever happened, you’ll know soon enough. The blood on that feather is fresh. With most of our men redirected to this area, she couldn’t have gotten far.” At that, Gio lifts his finger to his earpiece. I take a step closer to him, knowing my other men haven’t had enough time to get Sophia back to Laroux House.
