CHAPTER XVI
“ I ’m sorry about Davina,” Alphonse stated.
“None of this should’ve happened,” I replied.
“I agree, but death is inevitable in our world. We were born in this life and will never escape death, Nico.”
I shot him a sidelong glance. “What kind of bullshit are you spinning?”
He let out a chuckle. “It was something my father used to say to me whenever we lost a soldier.”
“Davina wasn’t a solider.”
“No, but she was one of your people.”
We drove in silence. The winding road was lined with overgrown trees blanketed in snow. We approached the old, abandoned church, its crumbling stone walls coming into view. The steeple without a bell tilted at an awkward angle.
“How do you want to play this, Nico?” Matteo asked.
“Check the perimeter for any guards.”
“On it,” Luca said.
“What are you doing?” Lo raised an eyebrow at Luca.
“I’m finally putting the drone to good use. It’s better than the heat vision lenses. At least this way the drone will pick up everything.” Luca said, typing away on the laptop until the drone was active.
“Alright, open the window and let the fucker fly,” Luca instructed.
Lo rolled down the window and sent the drone into the cold air.
Minutes ticked by in silence until the drone’s video feed popped up.
“Wait, go back.” I pointed at the screen when something caught my eye near the dumpster.
“What the hell is that?” Luca squinted at the screen.
“See if you can get in closer,” I ordered.
“If I get too close, someone could spot it,” Luca warned.
“Doesn’t look like anyone’s around,” Alphonse chimed in, scanning the area with narrowed eyes.
The drone flew closer to the dumpster, and then the image became clearer.
“Holy shit,” Luca gasped.
“What do you see?” Matteo and Lo asked at the same time.
“It’s a head,” I said.
“Jesus,” Alphonse grimaced.
“Radio the guards. Have them do a perimeter check around the church,” I said to no one in particular. “Miguel, stay with the car and be ready to deploy the missile if necessary.”
“Understood, sir,” Miguel replied.
“I’ll have my guards positioned by the vehicle as well. They’ll keep an eye out for any unexpected threats,” Alphonse added.
I nodded.
We climbed out of the car, the cold air biting at our skin as we gathered our weapons.
Once we neared the dumpster, we strategically separated. Lo, Luca, and Matteo, moved toward the rear, while Alphonse and I approached from the front.
“Do you smell that?” Alphonse whispered, one black glove already covering his nose.
“Death,” I replied grimly.
We ventured deeper into the church and came across what appeared to be a mutilated torso with a missing head and limbs.
“It looks like whoever did this was unforgiving,” Alphonse stated, stepping closer to the body. He knelt and pointed to the bottom of her torso. “See these ridges? She was alive when they cut her up.”
I glanced around and saw that the chairs where they had kept Davina and Lana were still secured with ropes. Fewer pews than would normally be found in a church were present, creating additional space in the nave. I looked upward to check for cameras but couldn’t determine if any were present.
The radio crackled in my ear. “Boss, you need to see this,” Luca said, his voice taut with urgency.
Alphonse and I stepped through the door and walked outside. We rushed around the side of the building and spotted the guys huddling in front of the dumpster. They had their backs turned to us, their shoulders tense and squared aggressively.
“What’s going on?” Unease settled like a weight in my stomach.
Luca moved aside, and that’s when I saw what appeared to be Lana’s head, legs, hands, and arms. But what caught my attention next was the phone, ringing incessantly inside a plastic bag near her limbs.
Lo reached for it, but I shot out a hand to stop him. “Wait!”
He paused, confusion flickering across his face. “Why?”
“It could be a fucking bomb,” Matteo hissed.
“Everyone, take a step back and get to the car,” I ordered, my heart pounding as I glanced around, assessing our surroundings. But just as we began to retreat, my phone buzzed in my pocket.
I hesitated for a moment, then slowly pulled it out. A blocked number. A knot tightened in my stomach as I realized exactly who was calling.
I answered the call.
“I see you found Lana.” The voice slithered through the speaker, cold and mocking.
“You want my thanks?” I said sarcastically.
He laughed, a dark, empty sound. “Be thankful it’s not your precious Angel’s body parts, though that could change with the snap of my fingers.”
His threat struck me like a punch to the gut, leaving me momentarily paralyzed.
“Put me on speaker, Nico,” he commanded, his tone leaving no room for argument.
“I don’t take orders from you,” I sneered.
“Is that right? Well, you will if you don’t want what happened to Lana to happen to Gigi,” he countered.
His words struck like a bolt of lightning as the reality of his threat hit home. I couldn’t bear the thought of Gigi ending up like Lana.
I pressed the button with a frustrated sigh and submitted to his demand. “Speak.”
I was going to enjoy gutting this motherfucker like a fish once I found him.
“We’re at the finish line, Nico,” he said with disdain.
“What was the point in all this?” I said as Luca tried to track the call. “Why kill Davina and Lana?”
“They were a liability. Casualty in a war. Our war.”
“Get to the point,” Alphonse snapped. “What the fuck do you want? Where is my daughter?”
“I want to restore the balance as it once was. As for Gigi, that will depend entirely on you.”
Dread pooled in my stomach, and the look on Alphonse’s face said he felt the same way.
My heart thundered in my chest as I braced for the worst.
“The cellphone in the bag in front of you will give you the coordinates to where she is,” he said.
Matteo grabbed the cell phone and removed it from the bag. He stared down at the screen, his expression turning to stone.
The asshole on the phone laughed like a deranged lunatic. “Did you honestly think I was going to make it easy for you? What would be the fun in that? I’d say you have twelve hours before your Angel runs out of air. Oh, and Nico,” he added with a sinister glee, “you’ll need a shovel.”
The line went dead.