Chapter 18
LUCY
I feel a lot more nervous than I did at breakfast. My heart pounds as I take in the room full of men, all with varying expressions.
Some smile, others have no expression at all, and Nico Armani looks downright pissed off.
Uh oh. That’s not good. My hand goes instinctively to the back of Soren’s head, protectively, and I move just to the side of the door.
Massimo stops beside me, and I find myself moving a little closer to him, needing a bit of reassurance.
For whatever reason, I feel this pull to him. Like, he’s the only one that I can trust. Or like he can protect me if this all goes badly. I should be running the other way, staying so far away from him, from them, that they never touch or talk to me until we can get out of here.
Still, I find myself leaning into him even more as all eyes turn to me. Intimidating? That’s an understatement. There are so many powerful, big, men in this room. Kida moves swiftly to my other side, a silent support, even as she looks around with suspicion. At least she’s not being openly hostile.
I can feel eyes on me, and I glance quickly to see Nico watching me closely. He doesn’t look as angry and hostile as at breakfast, but that distrust is still there. I doubt that will ever go away. The only person that Nico seems to trust is Gia.
“Ah, Ms. Delgado, welcome,” Pietro says as he smiles warmly at Kida. Kida inclines her head, but doesn’t smile. Thankfully, the Don doesn’t take offence. Instead, he looks at me, his eyes softening when he takes in Soren. “How is the bambino, Lucy?”
“He’s a bit upset to be in the sling again so soon, but he should go to sleep soon,” I reply with a shy smile. I still don’t know how to take any of this. To take him. Them.
Pietro lets out a low chuckle. “Sounds much like my boys that didn’t want to be away from the action, even when they were that small.” He gives Massimo a pointed look. Massimo rolls his eyes, but I see his lips twitching out of the corner of my eye.
“Enough chit chat,” Nico growls impatiently. “We don’t have time to waste.” I wince at his words, and I see Gia glare at him. He ignores her, but I do notice that he no longer glares at me and instead focuses his glare on Pietro.
Pietro gives him a look I can’t quite decipher, but must decide that there isn’t much point in arguing, so he looks back at me and gives me a gentle smile. “Lucy, we’re hoping that you can help us by telling us what you remember when Leonardo had you. Anything is helpful, no matter how small.”
I glance around and see everyone watching me expectantly.
I swallow hard. Shit. Nothing like being put on the spot.
“Ah, well, they kept me drugged a lot of the time, but I’ll tell you what I can remember.
” I start talking, trying to fill in the blanks in my memory, but most of it is so fuzzy other than that one last conversation.
That one is far more fresh in my mind. I trip over a few of my words nervously, and I feel Massimo splay his hand on my lower back rubbing with small circles of his fingers, trying to soothe me.
And I lean into it, needing it. It grounds me enough to continue.
When I finally finish, I say, “I’m sorry, that’s all I can remember.”
“That is far more than we had before, cara mia,” Pietro assures me. “I am sorry to make you relive it.”
“And you heard nothing else about the buyer? Anything that might give us a clue on who he is?” Nico asks bluntly, watching me with eyes so dark I’m not sure he has a soul.
I tremble. “They only said the buyer and I would be useful. Nothing else. I’m sorry.”
“She already told you she was drugged,” Kida reminds him sharply.
“Do you really think she was paying attention so she could tell you more?” She’s watching Nico with a cold expression, but I feel the slight tremble in her hand when I snatch it and give it a warning squeeze.
Not that she listens. Kida has never been one to play it safe.
Nico’s eyes narrow at her in warning. I shift slightly, putting myself just in front of my sister enough that I draw his gaze to me.
I lift my chin, pulling on every ounce of courage I have to hold his stare and let him know that if he tries to hurt her, he’ll have to go through me and Soren.
And I have to hope that he won’t hurt my son.
Nico’s eyes flash with irritation, and then he glances at Gia, who also gives him a warning look.
“Fine,” he huffs, going silent once more.
“When they took you, Lucy, did you notice anyone following you at the time? Or did they come out of nowhere?” Aurelio asks me.
Happy to focus on someone else, I shake my head.
“No, they just appeared out of nowhere. They came from the other side of the street and just zoomed across the lanes. I thought someone lost control of their car and tried to jump back and out of the way, but then the men rushed out of the SUV and rushed at me. I honestly had no idea what the hell was going on. They waited until later in the day to do it too, so there wasn’t as many people out. ”
“Were you planning on going out that night?” Alessio asks me.
I shake my head. “I actually was supposed to go earlier in the day, but Soren was so fussy I couldn’t leave.”
“It’s possible they were watching the apartment and saw it as an opportunity to grab you,” Lazaro muses.
“It was a rushed event. Either that was at Leonardo’s direction to make sure he got to you first before the others, or they had only just figured out who you were and they were sent to grab you and since you left the apartment, it meant they were able to grab you without having to try and break in. ”
“I think it’s the latter,” Massimo remarks. “I mean, if they knew about Soren or Kida, I doubt they would have just left them there.”
There’s a murmur of agreement around the room.
“We need to figure out who their buyer is,” Zeno reminds everyone. “From the sound of things, they aren’t local. Otherwise, he’d have had them there far sooner, and he’d never have told us he had her.”
“Oh my God, is this how you guys talk?” Kida demands incredulously. “Like women are fucking cattle to buy and sell?”
“You don’t hear us fucking talking about doing it,” Zeno snaps back at her sharply.
“Them? Any of the other other families out there, that is exactly how they fucking talk.” Kida skewers him with a look that could kill, which he promptly ignores.
“You’ve been sheltered your entire life, but this is how the world works.
Criminal organizations in this world do not care about your comfortable life or what you want.
They see you as a commodity. There are a few of us who don’t think that way, but count your lucky stars that you’re here and not with them.
Leonardo would have sold or killed you in a heartbeat. ”
“No one here is going to be sold or ever talked about that way,” Sienna jumps in firmly.
“When these statements are being made, we’re talking about the people who want to do that to you, but especially to us.
Me, Gia, Amara, and Lucy. All because we’re related to them.
They don’t care who we are. Hell, Dario, one of the brothers who hurt you, Lucy, he almost killed me trying to take me.
He and his men. They do not care about us.
Whoever this buyer is, they could be someone just as bad, or far worse.
The reason we need this information is to prepare.
And while you don’t like it, you’re in this now.
You’re here, your sister is the one who is being taken, sold like cattle, as you said, and your personal feelings on anything mafia need to be put aside.
Survival for all of us, including your nephew, is the only thing that matters.
After this is over, then you can rage at everyone in here, and some of us might join you in that, but for now, you need to set it aside. ”
No one says anything, but I can see Alessio looking at her with a sharp pride.
“Spoken like a future Don’s wife,” Aurelio states with an approving grin of his own. Sienna flushes slightly, but her gaze never leaves Kida and me.
Even Rori looks like she’s rethinking a few things. I see her gaze quickly slide over to Alonzo, who is watching her with a dark expression, before it slides back to me.
Kida finally nods stiffly. “Fine.” It’s the only concession she’s willing to give, but I know it’s costing her. To agree to any of this is being culpable in whatever is about to happen. I’m not comfortable either, but I’m understanding Sienna’s point.
Even if I really don’t want to.
Thankfully, everyone silently agrees to move on. Instead, they ask me a few more questions, although I don’t have much more information to provide. Dante suddenly asks, “Who told you about the buyer? The brothers or Leonardo?”
I think back. “Ah, they mentioned it first, then the older man, Leonardo, did. The brothers were talking when I was coming to. They said something about Esposito’s buyer better come through. I think. Yeah, I think that was the name.”
“You heard them use the name Esposito?” Dante presses, his blue eyes intense. I slowly nod. He looks back at Nico and says, “I need to make some calls.” Then he leaves the room, phone to his ear.
“So it’s not Leonardo finding the buyer, it’s Esposito?” Lazaro asks slowly.
“Wouldn’t that have alerted us?” Alessio asks, looking at Zeno and Urso.
“We’ve run all known associates of any family here and in neighboring states,” Urso answers with a frown. “None of them has been in known communication with any of them. Including Esposito. Unless they’re using Morse code or something, but there’s no digital trace that has alerted us.”
“My uncle is clever enough to manage it without us knowing,” Nico says tightly. “I wouldn’t be surprised if he was instrumental in helping my mother with her pipelines. Which means he could have contacts all over this country and back in Italy to help him.”
“It also could have been him that arranged the initial meeting with Nico’s mother and Leonardo or possibly Seamus too when they were getting things set up,” Aurelio muses.
Wait, what? Pipelines? Meet-ups? And Nico’s uncle and mother are involved in this? My head is spinning trying to keep up.
“I’ll explain everything later,” Massimo promises with a whisper in my ear.
I shiver slightly at the feel of his warm breath.
I’m instantly reminded of when Joey used to do things like that early in our relationship, but the things he used to whisper were so dirty that I used to squirm instantly.
He did it on purpose a lot of the time, and always at the worst times.
Even now, I have to fight not to shift away from Massimo.
Damn it. Now is not the time for memories like that.
I force myself to tune back into the conversation, but I glance up at Massimo and see him watching me with a secret little smile like he knows exactly what I was thinking. Feeling. I look away quickly, fighting not to blush.
Damn hormones.
“Dante probably knows some of his father’s contacts since he worked with him for so long,” I hear Lazaro suddenly agree.
“His father never let him know that much about how he ran his business,” Nico corrects. “However, Dante has gotten a lot of information anyway, so he might. Whoever he’s calling, there’s a reason for it.”
“How is it that you don’t know what’s happening with your uncle?
” Kida suddenly asks. When everyone looks at her, she holds up her hands in a placating gesture.
“I’m just asking. It would stand to reason that you’re both in the same…
business, right? Wouldn’t the two of you keep tabs on each other?
And you’re younger, so it would stand to reason he’d want to take you under his wing, right?
Or is that not something families do around here?
” Rori and Sienna both snort, and Kida glares at them.
“Fine, the De Lucas excluded. I’m just saying, in a normal family life, you watch out for each other.
Even if you’re not close, wouldn’t you want to know what he was doing in case it started to creep into what you do or your territory?
That’s what you call it, right? Or is it some weird name or something? ”
“Territory is correct,” Gia replies, her lips twitching.
“She has a point,” Urso says, smiling at Kida. “Beauty and brains, a very attractive package.” He winks at her, making Kida smirk, but she just watches Nico expectantly.
“I have been keeping tabs on him, but my Uncle is small time,” Nico finally answers, though his jaw is clenched.
He doesn’t like it when someone questions him.
“Dante is my main connection there, but we are not a close family. He also is not a fan of mine.” He holds Kida’s stare as he finishes, “I was the one who killed his sister after all. And if what we’re thinking is true, then I also was instrumental in cutting off his routes and money supply. ”
Kida’s eyes widen at his words, and even I jolt a little bit. He murdered his parents?
“Nico, you idiot,” Massimo hisses at him.
“You already told them I kidnapped Gia, I’m just adding to the story,” Nico returns cruelly. He looks at me as if gauging my reaction. I look away, fear and horror filling me. A man who kills his mother can’t be a good man. I don’t care what any of them say. I don’t fucking trust Nico Armani.
If he can kill his mother, then what chance do I or my son have? What chance does Gia, his wife, have?