Chapter 12 #2
Without another word he races to the porch, bolts silently up the steps, and stands beside the front door. He tries the knob and the door swings open. Dim light filters from inside. He looks at us over his shoulder, nods, and then enters the house.
“Shit,” Dante swears, quickly re-creating our brother’s approach to the house.
A few seconds later, he disappears inside, leaving me out in the dark alone. I count to ten and then follow after my brothers, too on-edge to wait this out for the full minute we discussed.
The second I step through the doorway, the scent of dust fills my nose.
I catch a musty smell, like the place has been locked up for a long time.
That could be either good or bad. I can’t get a visual on Armani or Dante thanks to the dim light coming from what looks like the adjoining kitchen, but there are shapes everywhere.
It’s probably just furniture, but it makes it hard to determine if someone is hiding in plain sight.
Suddenly, there’s a crash and a shout—a male voice—followed by another crash.
A dark shape appears in the far end of the room right before a light flicks on and an overhead bulb floods the space with harsh light.
Armani is standing in the hallway, holding a bulky man by the base of the neck.
“That didn’t take long,” I huff as I cross the room to my brother.
Dante, looming in the kitchen doorway, keeps his weapon pointed on the man as Armani flings the man onto the cracked leather couch and holsters his Walther. He pulls out his cell phone and brings up a photo of Livvie, then shoves it in the man’s face.
“Where is she?”
The guy glowers. “Look, dude, the chicks just left. Okay? It’s just me here.”
“I’m only interested in this girl,” Armani says.
As my brother pulls his gun again, the man cowers and starts babbling, “I don’t know, man, I don’t know. You’d have to call the place and ask if she’s available. A face like that? She’s probably booked out for a while, know what I mean? I’ve never seen her before.”
Armani’s fist connects with the man’s face as he growls, “She’s not a sex worker, asshole. Where is she?”
Blood spurts from the man’s mouth. “I told you, I don’t fucking know who she is!”
“You’re lying.”
The man shakes his head, trying to block Armani’s punches, his eyes wide with fear. “No, I swear. I don’t know her!”
“Does Bruno know you’re having a fuck-fest in his hideout? Maybe he sent you here to guard the girl and told you to have a little fun while you were at it?” Armani pushes. “Or maybe not. Maybe he has no idea you’re here and he won’t be too happy to find out. You tell me.”
Armani releases the safety on his gun.
“Please, man,” the man starts blubbering, sweat rolling down his face.
“Come on, he said he doesn’t know anything—” I start, but Armani cuts me off with a look.
“You and Dante canvas this place,” he says. “Look behind every door, check every closet or cupboard are crawl space you see. Every possible place someone could be. I need a few minutes alone with our new friend.”
I don’t like the sound of that, but I’m sure as hell not sticking around to watch. Dante motions for me to go with him. The sound of knuckles hitting meat follows us out.
As we scour every room in the old cabin, including the creepy as fuck basement, I keep a close eye and ear out for any rustle of movement or whisper of speech.
The basement is the stuff of nightmares.
Old chains hang limp from wooden support poles draped in cobwebs.
Handcuffs, rusty tools, and a couple of hammers lay scattered on the floor along with plastic wrap and zip ties.
I don’t let myself look too closely at the details.
It doesn’t take a genius to know what used to go on down here.
We cover every inch of the basement to no avail.
We go back upstairs, then up to the small second floor, then up a rickety drop ladder to the tiny, dry-rotted attic. There’s nothing. No clues, no sign of Livvie anywhere.
The man Armani was working over is a bloody lump on the couch when we return.
“Place is empty,” Dante says as he averts his eyes from the wheezing man.
“He confessed to working for Bruno but that’s it,” Armani says. “He doesn’t know where Livvie is. But let’s not waste this opportunity to let the Brunos know we mean business.”
Dante glances at me. I don’t like the look in his eyes. “What do you have in mind?”
Armani gestures at the room. “I’m burning this bitch to the ground. They’ll see the flames from Napa.” He flicks his eyes to the whimpering man on the couch and then back to Dante. “Get me some rope.”
I step forward. “Hey, just—wait a sec, this wasn’t part of the pl—”
My words are cut off when my brother turns his blood-spattered body my way. “No, it wasn’t. Finding Livvie was the plan, but here we are on a wild goose chase thanks to your wife.”
“We weren’t sure she’d be here,” Dante reminds him.
Armani scoffs. “Pretty convenient, isn’t it?
” He looks squarely at me. “That Karina just suddenly remembered that Livvie’s bodyguard was one of her uncle’s men.
And this cabin that she suddenly thinks of after you’ve asked her…
how many times? It’s no coincidence that she had sudden clarity about this place.
She sent us here on purpose. This was a fucking setup. ”
Squaring up to my brother, I put a hand on his blood-soaked chest. “I told you before, and I won’t say it again. Stay away from my wife.”
Armani doesn’t budge. “She’s a fucking mole. When will you wake the fuck up?”
I don’t know what to believe anymore, but I know one thing: my wife is no mole.
I lift my chin, not backing down. “Leave her alone, Armani.”
His voice drops deadly, low. “Make me.”
Dante wedges himself between us. “Enough. We’re done here. I’ll get the fuel.”
I storm to the car and lean against the back bumper before I completely lose my temper. Dante and Armani come out sometime later, striding like villains from a movie as the house goes up in flames behind them.