Chapter 37
thirty-seven
Gabriel
Max collected everyone he knows we can rely on. If we can find Nico, we may also find Valentina. And finding her is my priority. I’m not sure I’m going to be able to live with myself if anything happens to her.
My hands shake, and I fist them at the thought of it. I need to stay calm and find her. That is the only way.
“Dante has picked up Naomi,” Marco says on the other side of the phone. “What do you want us to do?”
I think about my options. If I had any bit of sympathy for her, it was gone the moment Marco tracked Valentina’s movement, and the last place she had been was the same hotel I had woken up in. “Whatever he needs to do to get the truth out of her,” I say. “Any luck with Nico’s phone?”
“That was easy and strange.”
“Explain.” I run a hand over my face.
“Patience. I sent you an address. He’s in an apartment, and I managed to enter his camera. He’s playing with a five-year-old.”
“What?”
“Maybe he’s a father and we didn’t know.” I doubt that. The man has been out of the country for years.
“Thanks. Let me know when you find out more.”
I end the call, pull up the address he sent me, and send it to Max.
He looks at me, confused. “This is the address pinging Nico’s whereabouts. According to Marco, he is playing with a five-year-old.”Mack crosses his arms in front of him. “How does he know that?”
“He hacked into his phone, didn’t he?”
Max smirks. “Nice. Now we’re getting somewhere.”
“So, what’s the plan? Are we just going to barge in there?” Mack asks.
“No,” I say. “Max, take Mick with you and go inspect the area so we know what we’re dealing with. I will follow Mack and the other men. I can’t just sit here and do nothing.”
“You heard the man. Let’s go,” Max announces.
We round the block, looking for anything that could draw our attention, and none of us comes up with a solution. I’m starting to get more frustrated when Nico exits the building, followed by Max and Mick.
“Drive to them,” I say to Mack, who has been driving me around. As soon as the car stops in front of Nico and I open the door, exiting the vehicle, the smirk on his face disappears.
“What are you doing here?” He looks at me.
I lean on the car. “What am I doing? You weren’t kidnapped?”
He shrugs. “Well, not really.”
I narrow my eyes at him. “How does that work?”
“If you mean being knocked down by a five-foot-two second-grade teacher, I could say I was.”
I shake my head. I don't want to know. “Valentina is missing. I thought she came to you, but then you were missing, and we thought it could be connected.”
Rage washes over his face. “What are you talking about?”
“Come.” I motion to the car. “Let’s talk on our way.”
I tell him everything from the fight to how I ended up here.
“So, you mean to tell me that you don’t have any clues where she might be? Are you even sure she wrote this message?” he questions.
I pin him with a questioning look. “You tell me. You're her brother. If she wanted to leave me, could she have come here?”
“Of course. What kind of question is that?” His voice hardens.
“There, you’ve got your answer. And I know she would never accept defeat against any woman.”
His eyes narrow, his jaw ticking. “You sure about that?”
“Yes, I’m sure.”
We stare at each other until my phone breaks us up.
I turn from Nico and close my eyes, silently begging for Marco to have the answers I need. “Tell me you’ve got good news for me.”
“We have something; she doesn’t know much, though. Dante didn’t even lift a finger before she broke.”
“Tell me!”
“Victor is in some deep shit with the Russians and needs money desperately. According to Naomi, the fight the other night was supposed to bring him profit. Only, Valentina messed up their plans. Victor thought she was easy prey and messed with the fighters’ lineup.
You know what happened that night. And the day after, we assumed she was taken from the same hotel room you were in. “
“Get to the point,” I say. The anticipation is killing me.
“I am. Now comes the good stuff. Victor was involved in some shady business in Chicago. Working for none other than Gianni Savoini.”
“He’s dead. I killed him.”
“Yes, but his son is alive. Even behind bars, he has connections.”
“Who is his connection?” I clench the phone in my hand.
“That’s all she knows. Victor didn’t talk business with her.”
“Fuck!” I end the call. This is Camorra territory. But Valentina is my wife, and I will do anything to find her. I turn to Nico. “We may have a lead, but I don’t know where it will take us. The guy who took her, Victor Marku, Albanian bastard, was working for Savioni before I killed him.
He glares. “You made a mess I need to clean.”
“No, I just did what Valentina wanted, and I would do it all over again. The point is, his son has contacts outside, and they helped Victor. We just don’t know who.”
“That’s easy to find out. We just need to make them talk.”
“Who are they?” I question.
“Come, let me show you. I just needed a reason to kill the rest of the crew.”
We take all the men who are in the mansion, all of them ready for battle. By the time we reach our destination, it’s dark outside and easy to blend into the night. Will it be helpful? I’m not sure.
Nico pulls some weapons from the backpack in his car.
He passes me a machine gun before he takes one, and I follow him inside the strip club.
The place is half empty, but upon seeing us all, the men stand, reaching for their weapons.
Nico raises his gun in the air before bullets fly, making everyone stop in their tracks.
“If any one of you moves, you’ll end with a bullet between his eyes.” He looks at everyone in the room. “Good. Now that we have your attention, which of you has contact with Mario? I need some answers, and if that person shows themself, I will reward them properly.”
I wait for anyone to move, but they’re like trained dogs until one of the men in the back starts to fidget and look for a way to escape. In the blink of an eye, the man sprints away. I ignore the commotion and run after him, gunfire exploding behind me.
He’s quick, but I’m quicker. I reach him just before he’s about to exit onto the street. I grab his shirt and throw him against the wall. He whimpers as he falls onto the floor, and I pick him up and get him into one of the cars waiting in front of the club.
A few minutes later, Nico exits, followed by his men. “You got him?”
I signal to the car. “Ready for questioning.”
“Where to, boss?” Mack asks.
He smirks. “To purgatory.”
I raise my eyebrows. “What now?”
He smiles. “How do you think I manage to keep all of them in line?”
I raise my eyebrows. “By cleansing them of their sins?”
He opens the door and turns to me. “You should try it sometime; the results are unpredictable.”
I shake my head. If whatever he says works, I’ll be glad to help. Every minute that passes and Valentina isn't safe, I’m ready to hurt anyone if that will help me find her.
I fear that she's lying somewhere hurt, looking for a way out without success. I want her in my arms so I can tell her how I feel. I promise I will make our marriage work better than before as soon as I have her back.
The car stops in front of an old warehouse in an abandoned industrial area. We exit the car, and Mack grabs the whimpering guy we picked up.
“I want him stripped and hanging,” Nico orders before stepping before me, and Mack nods in agreement. He turns toward me. “He is our only lead. Both of us are too involved. I suggest we let Max handle the questioning.”
I clench my jaw. This isn’t how I expected things to go, but knowing he’s right, I nod before I follow him inside.
“Make him talk, but make it quick. We don’t have time for this shit,” Nico orders and leans against the wall. I do the same, and we watch Max in his element. I would do it better. I would have lost it for not getting information out of him at the first try.
It takes Max close to an hour before the bastard spills the information we need. “And how many of you are involved?” Nico asks.
“Maybe eight more men,” he stutters, blood spilling from his mouth. “Other than the men in the club.”
“Who is Mario’s connection outside?” He shakes his head. “You’d better talk, or I swear I’m going to make you die a thousand times before I end you, and you will find out why this place is called purgatory.”
“They never told me what their plans were. I’m just a messenger,” he pleads.
“Talk!”
He looks at me, his bloodied eyes barely open, then at Nico. “I was never supposed to know who he was, but I waited until I saw him. It was Federico Sabatini. We all know because there is a ten-million-dollar bounty on his head.”
My blood runs ice cold. After all this time, he’s here, hiding, waiting, and planning our demise. How the hell did we miss this? We missed it because we were too comfortable; we thought we could have it all and no one would touch us.
“He was working with an Albanian guy. He has a place rented two blocks from the strip club.”
Anger rises inside my chest. “What else?” Nico roars and moves toward him.
He shakes his head. “I swear that’s it. I don't know anything else. Please let me go. I will not tell anyone…” He doesn’t get to finish before Nico slices his throat.
“You shouldn’t have killed him. He might have known something else. Like the address.” I shake my head.
“I know the address. Let’s move.”
“I need to call Salvatore. He will want to know that Sabatini is around.”
He assesses me. “You can do that on the road.”
After talking to Salvatore, he assured me he’s sending men to help us so we can catch the bastard. We’re now split all over the street, waiting for him to show up.
Waiting isn't one of Nico’s qualities, and in this situation, neither is it mine. I avoid thinking about regrets and focus on what I want to do when I get Valentina back. Neither of us has slept in more than twenty-four hours, and now, with morning in full swing, we need to focus.
My eyes catch a figure dressed in black, a cap covering his face. “That’s him,” I say to Nico. “Let’s move.”
We follow Victor for hours until he finally meets with Sabatini in a secluded alley in an Escalade.
“We got him.” Nico smirks.
“Not quite yet. They are up to something,” I say as they drive away. We follow them, changing cars and routes until they stop before the graveyard in the city’s underbelly. Victor exits the car and enters the building, while Sabatini stays in the car.
It would be easy, entering his car and ending this. But first, I need to see Valentina.
Heat pulls at my chest when I see her leaving the building. Victor has her in his grip, gun pointed at her side. Rage rises inside me, and I reach for my gun, ready to aim at him.
I don’t get to do anything because she gets into the car, Victor following her. I clench my jaw. Waiting for them to move, when the gun is fired, and Victor is thrown out of the car before they take off.
We follow the car until a gun is fired from inside their car.
“Fuck! They saw us!” Nico says and pulls out his gun, firing back.
“No!” I shout at Nico when he fires. “Valentina is in that car. You do not shoot.”
“We need to fire back at them,” Nico argues.
“You concentrate on driving, and I’ll shoot,” I say as Nico swerves to the left and a bullet hits the windshield.
With Nico focused on driving, I aim at the tires. The car in front of us weaves to the side, and the driver loses control and collides with a wall.
Before Nico can stop the car, I’m out and running. Gun in my hand, I open the door, planning to kill anyone who is in there who has my wife. Only I’m the one who gets shot at.
The bullet passes my head by only an inch, thanks to the body that fell out when I opened the door and distracted me. Wide green eyes stare at me. The gun falls from her hands, her eyes roll back, and she's out.
“Valentina!” I pull the body that’s half out of the car and reach for her. “Valentina!” I cradle her in my arms and gently slap her face to wake her up. Nothing.
“Is she alive?” Nico comes running.
“Yes, but she's too pale. She needs a doctor.”
“Mack will go with you. I’ll take care of this.”
I look at the bastard who has started to move. “That one is ours,” I say to him.
“Of course he is.” Nico smirks.
I pick up my wife and cradle her in my arms as I look at the chaos surrounding us, and I know everything will be all right.