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“I told him to,” Dad interrupted, stepping forward. “I outrank him and I told him to do the intel.”
“Uncle Antonio,” Lorenzo warned.
We all knew the truth. This was all my doing, and although my dad was trying to protect me, he couldn’t, not this time. “I’d do it again,” I said, shrugging. “I love her.”
Lorenzo laughed, practically spitting venom as he stepped toward me. “You love her?” He shook his head, his dark eyes focusing solely on me. “Loyalty and blood, Rafael. Do those two things mean nothing to you?”
I blinked, staring right back at him, knowing that this was probably the wrong answer, but I refused to say anything but the truth. “She—” The buzzing of my cell in my pocket gained my attention, but it wasn’t that that had me stopping mid-sentence, no, it was the distinct sound of a video call coming through. I never video called anyone.
Then I saw her name.
Peyton.
“What the fuck?” I whipped out, causing all of their attention to come to me, but I was too busy clicking the answer call and— “Peyton? Mama?” I swallowed, my mouth going instantly dry at the image of her on my screen. The conversation around me didn’t matter anymore, not now, not now that I could see her beautiful face that was goddamn destroyed. “What the fuck has he done to you?” I fumed.
I felt someone press at my back, then someone at my side, but I couldn’t tear my eyes away from the screen. I couldn’t stop staring at the nightmare before me.
“Peyton! Answer me.” I shook the cell, almost as if she could feel it, but she couldn’t. Her eyes fluttered closed, blood covering her face, bruises already marring her skin.
“Fuck,” Dad murmured. “We didn’t get to her in time.”
We didn’t. I’d been biding my time, trying to find what I needed to so that we could do this right, but I shouldn’t have. I should have gone straight to Ace andmadehim listen to me. Made him see the truth. But I wasn’t sure it would have worked. What was that saying? You could lead a horse to water, but you can’t make him drink.
“I love you, too,” she croaked, then a second later, the cell tumbled to the floor, showing more of her body and the blood surrounding her.
“She’s going to die,” I gritted out, feeling a lump building in my throat so much that I could barely breath. “Peyton!” I screamed, so loud it echoed outside. “Fuck!” The screen went black, the call dropping and I…I didn’t know what the hell to do.
I spun around, already running toward the mansion, not taking any notice of the people around me, not until I got to the main doors and Mateo was standing there, blocking me.
“Raf,” he started. “Turn around. Go to Lorenzo’s office.”
“No,” I growled, my hands clenched at my sides. “Get the fuck out of my way.”
He tilted his head to the side. “For you to do what?” He paused, taking a step away from the doors. “Do you know where you’re going?” He had a point, but I wasn’t willing to answer him. “Let Lorenzo find out where she is. Let him use his connections.”
“He won’t—”
“He will.” Mateo placed his hand on my shoulder, squeezing. “He told me to stop you. This isn’t just ayouthing now. We were lied to.” He nodded as he could see the realization take place. “This is now an us thing, a Beretta Mafia thing.”
My feet felt like they were moving the slowest they ever had as I made my way toward the stairs and then hooked a left to Lorenzo’s office. Everyone was already in there—Dad, Romeo, Lorenzo, Dante, Christian, and now me and Mateo.
“Does someone want to explain what the fuck is going on?” Lorenzo demanded, stopping in the middle of his office and clearly wanting answers right then and there.
“Ace was lied to,” I blurted out. I didn’t have time to explain everything, not right then, so I had to do the quickest and most condensed version. He wanted answers, I’d give him answers. “Peyton was being abused by her ex. It’s why she ran away with her sons. She was never ill, she was running. He found her and I think he lied to Ace who then came here and got her. Now she’s hurt and we need to get to her…now!” The more I spoke, the louder I got. I couldn’t help it. I was also hyperaware that I’d just blurted out so much information, but I wanted to say more.
Lorenzo was silent for half a minute, clearly processing everything I’d just said. “You’re certain of this, Raf? Because if I put my neck on the line and you’re wrong…”
“Did her bruised and bloodied face on that call not give you enough goddamn evidence?” I fumed.
Lorenzo stepped forward, pointing his finger at me. “Emotions are high right now, Rafael, so I will have some leniency, but don’t forget who the fuck you’re talking to.” He raised a brow, puncturing his point home as he lifted his cell in silence. Seconds later he said, “Ace? Got a problem.” A pause. “Your sister is hurt.”
My ears popped as I listened to Lorenzo talk, hoping like hell he could get through to Ace. Everything sounded like I was standing in a wind tunnel, the room spinning, the need to get to her so intense that it was almost too much to handle.
“You’re closer than we are,” Lorenzo suddenly said, walking around to his desk and writing something down. “It’ll take two hours for us to get there…what hospital will you take her to…she’ll need a hospital, Ace. I only saw her face, but fuck…it’s bad.”
My stomach rolled, anxiety and terror all rolling into one. I had to get to her. I had to make sure she knew that I loved her too.
“We’ll meet you there,” Lorenzo suddenly said, then pushed his cell into his pocket. “Dante, Christian, you stay here.” He stepped toward me. “Rafael, you ride with me and Mateo. Romeo and Uncle Antonio, follow behind.”
