Chapter 23
Milo
When we returned from our meeting with Juan, Lucas informed us that the three cities gave in to our demands. As expected, they couldn’t afford to have the Accetti family as an enemy.
The first part of our plan had fallen into place. Now we needed to dismantle Medina and remove him from our territory before he caused any more destruction. With those cities no longer interfering, getting rid of him should be easier.
But we had to be prepared for anything.
“I want to pull any protection we’re providing for those cities.” My father took a seat at his desk. “From now on, they no longer have the support of our elected officials. They’re on their own when it comes to the Feds.”
“Understood,” Marchello said. “There has to be a consequence for siding with Medina. I’ll take care of it.”
“We’re in a better position than we were last night.” I removed my suit jacket and draped it over the back of the chair. “We have to keep the momentum going. I want that piece of shit out of our lives.”
“It won’t be long now.” My dad removed his gun from the holster inside his jacket and set it on his desk. “We can’t rush something like this. It has to be right the first time.”
As Marchello and my dad strategized, I took out my phone so I could place the order for Franchi’s. I’d have one of the guys pick it up in about an hour. I wanted it to be hot when Sable got home.
Lissia blew into the room and unbuttoned her coat. “Sorry to interrupt.”
“I thought you were going to the boutique,” Chello said as he greeted her with a kiss. “I didn’t think you’d be back this soon.”
“The roads were too icy.” She wiggled out of her coat. “Dom decided it wasn’t safe.”
“That was a good call.” Chello smoothed out her windblown hair. “It’s supposed to get worse tonight.”
I glanced at my phone, checking for a message from Ax. “Weren’t you supposed to go with Sable?”
“I went to my mom’s house first and then I was going to meet her there.” She held up her phone. “I texted her and called and left a message, but she hasn’t responded. Have you heard from her?”
“Maybe she’s trying on clothes and doesn’t have her phone nearby,” I said. “I’ll try calling her.”
When I called, it went straight to voicemail. I tried again with no luck, so I dialed Camila. No answer.
“Did you get her?” My father got up from his desk.
“She’s not answering, but I can check the tracker.” I opened the app and found her location. “According to this she’s at the boutique.”
“Call there,” Lissia said.
I scrolled on my phone until I found the contact for the boutique, but no one answered the landline. I shook my head as I called Ax. He picked up on the first ring. Finally!
“Hey, Milo,” he answered. “What’s up?”
“Are you with Sable?” I asked, feeling more anxious than I would have liked. “I want to talk to her."
“She’s upstairs.”
“She isn’t answering her phone,” I said, but I was relieved that he knew where she was. “Were you with her the whole time?”
“I saw her go into the boutique and I had her text me once she got upstairs.”
“Why didn’t you walk her in?” I glanced at Marchello. “I told you not to leave her.”
“I had a little trouble with the police. They had a warrant to search the car,” he said. “I called Lucas and he said to cooperate. I didn’t want Sable to stand out in the cold.”
“You did the right thing.” The relief faded away, leaving me with an uncertainty that nagged at my soul. “Do me a favor?”
“What do you need?”
“Go up to the boutique and make sure she’s okay. Put her on the phone with me once you have her in front of you.”
If I heard her voice, I would know she was okay. I’d tell her to come home immediately.
“Sure,” Ax said. “I’m getting on the elevator now, so I’ll probably lose you. I’ll call you back as soon as I’m with her. I’m sure she’s fine.”
“Just humor me.” I ended the call. “Ax is checking on her.”
“I’m going to call the guard you have on the boutique.” Chello took out his phone. “Make sure nothing unusual happened today as a precaution.”
“That’s a good idea.” I gripped my phone, waiting for Ax to get back to me. “Has she texted you?” I asked Lissia.
“Not yet, but I’ll try again.” She sat on the window seat and sent a message. “I should have gone with her. I didn’t expect the weather to get bad so fast.”
As soon as my phone buzzed, I answered. “Ax, do you have her?”
“Milo, I don’t know what happened but—”
“But what?” My heart pounded inside my chest. I swore I would protect her. “Where is she?”
“No one is here.”
“What the fuck does that mean?” I shouted into the phone. “Are you sure? My tracker says she’s there.”
“Her bracelet is on the counter.”
“What? No! That can’t be.” I kicked the chair by the desk. “Where is she?”
“Let me have the phone.” My father took it from me. “Ax, it’s Nico. Walk me through it.”
“She’s probably upstairs.” I didn’t believe that, but I had to do something to make myself useful. “She wasn’t feeling well. Maybe she’s sleeping.”
Marchello and Lissia followed me down the foyer and to the stairs.
“Milo, it’s just a misunderstanding.” Marchello kept pace with me as I hurried up the steps. “I’m sure she’s fine.”
“Are you?” I shook my head. “Ax wasn’t with her the whole time. I fucking knew Medina was a threat. How could I have let this happen?”
“You had every measure in place,” Chello said. “She was with Ax. You had someone on the boutique.”
“What did he say when you called him?” I had been so focused on my call with Ax I didn’t pay attention to Marchello when he spoke to the guard. “Did he see anyone go in?”
“The call went to voicemail, but I sent two guys to the boutique to find him and look around.”
“I’m supposed to believe everything is okay?” I stormed into the room and headed for the bedroom. “Sable!”
I screamed into the void because in my gut I knew she wouldn’t be here.
“Find the guard who was at the boutique.” I gripped the doorframe. “I want to know who was there today. I want to know where the hell he is.”
“Where was Camila?” Lissia asked. “Shouldn’t she be there?”
“Maybe she closed early because of the weather,” Marchello said.
“Then where would Sable have gone?” I called her phone again. “Why won’t she answer? She wouldn’t intentionally leave Ax.”
My father came into the room and stared at Marchello.
“What is it?” I didn’t like the ominous glance he threw in Chello’s direction. “Did you find her?”
“Medina has Sable,” he said.
“What? No! How do you know that?” That couldn’t be. I did everything I could… “This could still be a misunderstanding. Maybe she went to the dealership or her old apartment? We should send men to both of those locations.”
“Milo.” My father placed his hand on my shoulder. “I had the security footage pulled from the boutique. Josh just sent it to me.”
“What are we looking at?” Marchello asked. “What was on the cameras?”
“Medina and Bello entered the boutique before Sable arrived. It was most likely an ambush.”
“No, that can’t fucking be.” I held out my hand for his phone. “Let me see the footage.”
“You don’t need to see it.” My father gripped his phone, but I didn’t need him to protect me. I needed him to help me get Sable back. “They took her out the back door, which is why Ax didn’t see them. There’s a fire escape that leads to a side street.”
“The guard assigned to the boutique should have seen that,” I yelled. “Where the hell was he?”
“I’ll find him,” Marchello said. “We’ll worry about him later.”
“I’m having our best people find the car they put her in, but the plates are probably not the real ones.”
My dad had accomplished more in the five minutes we couldn’t find Sable than I could have even attempted. If it were anyone other than Sable, I would be able to think more clearly, but not when it was her life on the line. As each second passed the more unstable I became.
“Let me see the footage.” I had to see for myself what we were up against.
“I told you that wasn’t necessary. There isn’t anything you can do about what happened,” he said. “We have to concentrate on bringing her home.”
“Dad!”
“Fine.” He handed me his phone. “When you’re done wasting time, we’ll formulate a plan.”
My father stood next to Marchello, but I couldn’t bring myself to look at the pity in their eyes. So instead, I pushed play on the video. I ran my hand over the top of my head as I watched Sable struggle as Medina forced her into the back of an SUV.
My father was right. I didn’t need to see that.
“Where did he take her?” I handed my father his phone. “What does he want with her?”
I know the answer! I paced the room. I knew the fucking answer because he told her what he would do to her if I didn’t give in to his demands.
“We’re not going to assume the worst,” my dad said. “We’re going to think this through and get it right the first time. We don’t have any room for error.”
“Listen to Dad.” Chello grabbed my arm and stopped me from racing around the room like an unhinged man who couldn’t get it together. “We need to put a plan in place so that when he calls we’ll be ready.”
“How do we know he’ll call?” I threw my hands in the air. “This is my fault. I should never have let her leave this house. We went after Medina. We crippled his business. I should have anticipated he would retaliate by…”
“Stop.” Chello gripped my shoulders and held me steady. “He’s going to call because he’s going to have demands. It’s our job to figure out how to best negotiate. If we’re ready from the start, we’ll get her back faster.”
“We come from a position of strength,” my father said. “We always do.”
“We have plenty of resources. We have the backing of the cartels.” My brother let go of me. “We’ll call in favors and we’ll sell our souls if we fucking have to, but we will get her back.”
I wanted more than anything to believe them, but right now all I could think about was how helpless and afraid Sable must be. She told me she trusted me over and over again. She wouldn’t leave when the best thing for her to do was to go into hiding.
“She trusted me,” I mumbled. “She shouldn’t have.”
Lissia came out of the bathroom holding a box. “Milo, um…”
“What is that?” I asked.
“Sable was going to tell you tonight.” She moved across the room to stand close to me. “She’s not sure, but she wanted you to be with her when she…”
“What did she want to tell me?”
“I’m sorry.” She held up the pregnancy test box. “Sable might not be the only one they took.”
Medina’s words from Valentine’s Day hit me harder than the night he had spoken them. I should have paid better attention.
“Maybe you don’t need something from me tonight. But eventually you will.”
The end for now…