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Lorenzo didn’t say a word as he followed Mateo out of the dining room with us on their heels. Lorenzo had been boss of the Beretta Mafia for just over two years now. In that time, a hell of a lot of shit had gone down, but the most important thing was him bringing us all together. The kids of the captains and soldiers had been forgotten, left to their own devices, but he’d joined us all together and made us a real family again.
For once, I felt like I was part of something; I had backup.
I ground my teeth together as I halted in the entryway, my gaze laser focusing on Mr. Blue. He was always so put together, his suit and shirt always pressed to perfection. Tracking his body, I spotted his shirt that was buttoned up wrong, half in and half out of his pants. There were stains on his clothes, and a stench coming off him that told me he hadn’t showered in a while.
He grabbed at his hair, pulling on it, and it was then that I noticed the dark circles under his eyes. When was the last time he’d slept?
Shaking my head, I couldn’t believe what I was seeing. This was the man who found us every piece of intel possible. He’d worked for so many agencies—FBI, CIA, ATF naming just a few—too many to count. He was reliable, efficient, but…he’d been missing for a while.
Lorenzo didn’t take his attention off him as he moved closer to the main stairs where Navy and Dante were standing. I hadn’t even noticed them, but I met Dante’s gaze as Lorenzo asked, “Mr. Blue? What are you doing here?” He halted, as did we, and looked up at Dante who then stepped down to be at Lorenzo’s side. As the underboss, he was second-in-command. “And where the hell have you been?”
“I need your help,” Mr. Blue panted, looking desperate as he tried to catch his breath.
“Youneedourhelp?” Lorenzo asked, shuttering all of his emotions down. I knew that expression well.
The man drew in a breath, his gaze flicking above Lorenzo and to Navy. He blinked, frowning. “You’re…you’re her.” His voice was a mere whisper, but we all heard the confusion.
I made an unconscious move past Christian and closer to Navy. I didn’t like the way he was looking at her, but more than that, my gut was screaming at me that something was wrong.
“I’m sorry?” Navy murmured, a catch in her tone. “Do I know you?”
Mr. Blue pushed his shoulders back, his attention moving back to Lorenzo, ignoring what Navy had asked him. It rubbed me the wrong way.
“They have my niece. They have her captive and there’s no way for me to get to her.” He rubbed his hand down his face, clearly distraught. “She’s the only family I have left. And…if they hurt her.” He growled. “Who the hell am I kidding? Of course they’ve hurt her.Fuck.”
“Who? Who has her?”
My stomach rolled, nerves shooting through me like never before.
“The same people who had Navy,” he said, so matter of fact. “The same people who have been trafficking people for the last six months.” He paused, a muscle in his jaw clenching. “The same people you sit around the table with.” He blinked, staring at each of us in turn but it was Lorenzo who he focused his attention fully on. “The Pozzi family.”
It was so quiet, you could have heard a pin drop. I wasn’t sure a single one of us was breathing, all holding our breaths as we processed what he said. I was trying to figure it all out, trying to piece the puzzle together, but I was sure we were missing some crucial pieces.
I glanced over at Dante, but he was staring down at Navy, trapped inside a silent conversation, meanwhile, Lorenzo looked like he was about to commit murder at any second.
Everyone was silent, so I stepped forward and told him, “I think we should take this into the office.”
At my words, everyone jaunted forward, going into motion and heading toward Lorenzo’s office. This wasn’t something that should have been discussed out in the open. We needed privacy, and to figure out exactly what the hell was happening.
“Go and sit with Ma,” I heard Dante tell Navy. I didn’t catch what she replied because I was halfway down the hallway. Everyone else was moving into Lorenzo’s office, but I stayed by the door, waiting for Dante.
Navy was like a little sister to me. I’d seen parts of her and witnessed her do things that no one else ever would. I’d delivered her baby boy, and I was protective over them. Dante knew that, so when he came to me, he gave me a nod and said, “She’s good.”
I nodded back, then followed him inside and shut the door behind me. I pressed my back against the wooden surface, taking the lay of the land.
Lorenzo was stood behind his desk, the huge piece of furniture separating him and Mr. Blue who was standing on the opposite side. Dante moved near the desk, but Rafael, Christian, and Mateo took seats on the sofas. I should have probably joined them, but there was something telling me to stand here, to watch it all, to take it all in and retain it like I never had before.
I blinked and darted my attention to Lorenzo who stared right at me with a small frown. He was probably wondering why I was still standing here, but even if I wanted to explain, I couldn’t because I had no idea what it was keeping my feet glued to the floor other than instinct.
“Explain,” Lorenzo demanded, standing as still as a statue as he looked back at Mr. Blue.
“My niece, she was taken.”
“You said that,” Dante commented, his tone rough. It was getting to him that Mr. Blue knew who Navy was. I hadn’t missed that part of the conversation back in the entryway. There was something else going on here, something that didn’t make sense.
“She’s only seventeen.” Mr. Blue started to pace back and forth. “She’s the only family I’ve got.I’mthe only family she has. Fuck. They took her. They took her from right under my nose.” He spun around and punched the wall, so hard some of the plaster cracked off.
What the…
