Chapter Thirty-Six Callum
My wife was gone.
The mother of my child was gone.
My life was gone.
I shook my head as I tried shaking myself out of the nightmare I currently found myself in. Her scream echoed through my ears, piercing my heart. Someone had taken my wife. They’d stolen her right in front of my eyes.
Turning on my heels, I raced back to the club’s door. Shouting at the bouncer, I called, “Get my brothers! Now!”
He nodded and spoke into the radio on his shoulder. Before I could even process trying to get her back, I had to know who took her. It was for emergencies like these that I had injected a tracker in her upper arm. Since I knew she would lose her mind that I was tracking her, I’d done it while she was asleep. The negative in the situation was if it was any clan or any mafia member who had taken her, they would know to examine Caterina for a tracker and then remove it. I knew we had to start tracking her as soon as possible.
Dare appeared on the sidewalk. “What’s wrong?”
“Start following Caterina’s tracker,” I commanded.
His face grew ashen. “Someone took her?”
After I nodded, he took out his phone and began frantically pushing buttons. “Got her.” He furrowed his brows. “Looks like they’re heading towards the North End.”
“Little Italy is out that way,” I murmured. Deep within me, I’d known from the moment Caterina had been taken there was no way it was random. Someone wanted to get to me, and they were using her to do it.
Dare glanced up from his phone. “We haven’t pissed off any local Famiglia have we?”
I shook my head. “There’s only one fucker who would dare to pull this shit.”
At the image forming in my mind, I knew I needed to call Rafe. Just as I reached for my phone in my pocket, it rang. After snatching it out, Rafe’s name flashed across the screen. As soon as I accepted the call, I questioned, “Rafe?”
“Why the fuck didn’t you text me back?”
“Excuse me?”
“I sent you a couple of SOS texts.”
Fuck. I’d ignored the texts earlier in the club thinking that they were from Caterina. “What’s wrong?”
“I was calling to warn you. I just found out from an informant at Logan Airport that my father’s jet landed there about an hour ago.”
“I knew it was him,” I hissed.
Silence echoed back on the line before Rafe sucked in a harsh breath. “What do you mean?”
“Some of his men just grabbed Caterina off the street right outside one of our clubs. I thought it was him, but now there’s not a question in my mind.”
“That fucking bastard!” Rafe growled.
Dare grabbed my shoulder—his face grim. “We just lost the tracker.”
“Lost it because of a bad area or it’s compromised.”
“It’s been obliterated.”
My chest constricted in a volatile mix of fear and frustration. “Fucking hell!” I bellowed.
“What’s happened?” Rafe questioned.
“The tracker I put in Caterina is gone. Before we lost contact, they were heading towards Little Italy. Any idea where he might be taking her?”
“After your shooting, he iced me and the others out of any business dealings. I’m texting Gianni now to hack into his business records to see what he can find in that area.”
“I’d appreciate that.”
“Look, I’m almost to the hanger now, and I’ll be in the air within ten minutes.”
Gripping the phone tighter, I snarled, “I can’t fucking wait for you!”
“What the fuck are you going to do without an address?”
“The North End is a mile long neighborhood. I’ll have my men start branching out from the last ping on the tracker down to the wharf.”
“Already on it,” Dare replied, furiously texting.
“He could be taking her to the airport,” Rafe said.
“You don’t think I haven’t already thought that? Give me some fucking credit.”
“Fine. Will you do one thing for me?” When I didn’t answer, Rafe said, “Let me and my brothers be the one to end him.”
Deep within me, I understood Rafe’s need to be the one to kill his father. The exact emotions had coursed through me after finding out what had happened to Maeve. I wanted to be able to give him that privilege, but Alessio burned that bridge when he’d abducted Caterina. “Until I know what he’s done to her, I can’t make that promise.”
“She’s our blood to avenge,” Rafe growled.
“She’s my wife. And she’s pregnant with my child!” I shouted.
Once again, silence echoed over the line. I knew it was the worst way to tell him. But he had to understand everything that was at stake. Even if it had just been Caterina, I still had the right to take her father out for him kidnapping my wife.
“Do what you have to do,” he replied.
“I will.”
“We’ll be there as soon as we can.”
“I’ll see you then.”
As I hung up, Dare gripped my shoulder. “Caterina’s pregnant?”
“She just told me right before she was taken.” I shut my eyes in pain. “It’s because of me that those fuckers were able to take her. If she hadn’t been so angry at me for the strip club, she wouldn’t have run out on her own.”
“We’ll get her back, Callum,” Dare replied reassuringly.
There wasn’t a doubt in my fucking mind that we would get her back. But what sent icy fear through my veins and agony through my chest was what torture she might face until we could get to her. The thoughts of her in pain or frightened had me shaking with rage. The fact it was her father who took her didn’t assuage my fears in the least. Alessio had already fired on her once in Sicily, not to mention risking her life when he put the hit out on me. God only knew what else he was capable of.
A red-faced and flustered looking Quinn appeared with Kellan trailing right behind. Catching them up, I said, “Alessio had his men kidnap Caterina. She’s somewhere in the North End, and we have to get her back.”
Quinn didn’t hesitate. “I’ll oversee loading up the van with ammunition.”
Without ceasing my frantic pacing, I replied, “Good.”
He then sprinted back into the club. Dare nodded at me. “Our men are on the way into the area. Some will hit the streets checking door to door at businesses and others are headed to the wharf to check out the water situation.”
Kellan grabbed his phone out of his pocket. “I’ll call our contact at Logan and have them ground all private jets for the foreseeable future. Then I’ll have Fionn take a contingency down there.”
Speaking seemed impossible, so I merely nodded. Although I was never one to let fear overtake me, I couldn’t seem to fight the crippling panic spreading through my body. Even with a solid plan, my mind couldn’t shut out the dread. My father’s voice echoed through my mind. You’ve become weak just as I said you would. Loving a woman has emasculated you! You’re going to be the reason she dies. Worst of all, she’ll be the reason you die.
“Don’t,” Dare murmured.
I whirled around to stare at him. He shook his head. “Don’t give in to whatever bullshit your mind is saying.”
I didn’t get a chance to argue with him. A van screeched around to the corner before coming to a stop. “Get in!” Quinn called.
With a renewed purpose, I climbed into the front seat. Dare and Kellan got in the back. As we started for the North End, Rafe called again. “What?” I demanded.
“Twenty-three Boston Street.”
The air wheezed out of my lungs. “What about it?”
“It’s warehouse space my father purchased about two months ago.” After I repeated the address for Dare to track it, Rafe said, “It has a front office along with warehouse space. There’s a loading dock with a truck entrance on Ellery Street.”
“We’re on it.” Just as I was about to hang up, I said, “Rafe?”
“Yeah?”
“Thanks.”
“You’re welcome.”
When I hung up, I turned back to Dare. “I’m sure I don’t even have to ask if you have the building plan pulled up.”
He flashed me a grin. “Of course, I do.”
“I just texted our men to converge on that area,” Kellan reported.
Pride filled me with how well he was rising to the occasion. While he might’ve shied away from some of the grittier side of our work, he was really coming through when it came to logistics. “Great. Now we just have to figure out how to get in there.”
Quinn grimaced. “The fact he isn’t getting the hell out of Boston doesn’t sit well with me.”
“It makes perfect sense if he’s trying to draw me out.” At my brothers’ silence, I said, “He’s wanted me dead for a long time. To ensure that it happens, he’ll shoot me himself. Then he’ll force Caterina into another marital alliance.
“And he’s just enough of a bastard to put Caterina in danger,” Quinn growled.
“He’s a fucking moron to think this wouldn’t end badly for him, especially since he’s pulled it on our turf,” Dare remarked with his head bent over his ipad.
I shook my head. “He wouldn’t be willing to stick his neck out this far unless he’d made a powerful alliance, which means we’re walking into a possible firestorm.”
As we careened into the North End like a bat out of hell, I leaned into the backseat and grabbed two guns out of the arsenal at Quinn’s feet. With a nod at my brothers, they did the same. Quinn reached into his suit pocket and produced a Glock.
“Our men have the warehouse surrounded,” Dare related.
“How’s the opposition looking?”
“Oran says there’s a large number along the front and back perimeter.” Dare glanced up from his iPad. “He says we”re not completely outnumbered.”
I nodded. “Send in a contingency in the front to see if they have her in the offices. Minimal heavy range firepower just in case.”
“Got it.”
“Once we know she’s not in the offices, we’ll start at the back and work our way through to rendezvous with the front contingency to seal their escape off.”
When we wheeled into the warehouse driveway, I heard Kellan murmuring in the back. “A Thighearna, cuir dochas dlùth, ”s olc fad air falbh. Cuairtich orm a Thighearna, cum solas am fagus, agus dorchadas fad air falbh.”
We all momentarily froze at the Irish Circle prayer. For as long as we lived with Mam, she recited it each and every time we went out with our father. Although I knew we needed more than reciting frenzied prayers, I was willing to say or do anything to get Caterina back safely.
After unlocking the safety on my gun, I said, “áiméan.”
And then I went after my wife.