Chapter 44
Caterina
The world tasted like fire and rage.
My body ached, but I didn’t care as I stormed the streets. New York City might be labeled as the city that never slept, but until I found my wife, Chicago wouldn’t rest. I would make the streets watch as I scoured the world to find my wife.
The pain in my head, my shoulder, and my ribs was nothing compared to the pain I knew Harlow was experiencing.
I was laid in bed, trapped in my mind, healing, while she was trapped with her monster.
The thought of what he was doing to her was more painful than the wreck, then the lingering pain in my skull.
I could hear her voice screaming in my head and the misery she was in.
My men were whispering behind my back. Lena was concerned.
Moira was ready to tie me to my bed, but I didn’t care.
I was still recovering, but it didn’t matter.
Nothing mattered except finding her, finding clues.
Vincenzo was a rat who disappeared, taking the best part of my soul with him.
I would find her, even if I had to paint the streets red to do so.
Six weeks.
She had been in his grasp for six weeks.
A lot can happen in that amount of time, and I knew she felt trapped in a time warp.
Alexi and Malachi were behind me even when I told them to stay home.
They didn’t listen. It seemed to be a trait in the famiglia.
They both knew not to crowd or question me, especially with this rage flowing through me.
When my mind was set on something, I would see it through, and the only thing I wanted was my wife safe in my arms and Vincenzo dead.
What I was doing was sloppy, but I needed to do something.
The man I cornered in the alleyway was a drug runner, a rat of a man, barely on Vincenzo’s ranks.
Tonight he was a key, a clue to point me in the right direction.
Even with Vincenzo in hiding, he was still in charge and running his businesses.
Everything would burn, and he would pay.
The kid was no more than nineteen, probably a scared kid who needed money.
I wouldn’t kill him, or I would try not to.
The anger inside me was taking control so if he pissed me off, I couldn’t prevent myself from snapping his neck.
I was sure I could do it with one arm. His eyes widened when he turned around and slammed his back against the brick.
“Where is my wife?” I hissed, my voice low but the storm building. My control was like a building storm. If he helped, it would dissipate; if not, I would let out the rage of a thousand storms.
I grasped his throat with my good hand as my men flanked my back. “I-I don’t k-know!” Tears streamed down his face. “I-I’m a runner. I-I don’t.”
I squeezed tighter. “Did you ever rape my wife?”
His eyes grew wide. “N-No! I didn’t know h-her. H-He t-threatened m-my mom! I-I’m just trying to save her!”
My grip loosened gently. “And I am trying to save my wife.”
He nodded frantically. “T-The club. S-Sebastian. H-He’d k-know. T-Training to be u-underboss.”
I glanced at Malachi. Xavier was his second, technically the closest man he trusted to be his underboss.
But Vincenzo never gave him the title. Vincenzo said he didn’t need an underboss because he was the king of his kingdom, but when I killed Xavier, his kingdom started to crumble.
He must’ve been appointed when Vincenzo decided to destroy his treaty with Roman and attack us in New York.
“We heard rumors, but we didn’t have proof,” Malachi said.
“Where is he?” I hissed.
“V-Vincenzo’s club. T-The o-one where t-the g-girls are.” The club where Harlow suffered so much. “T-They have a l-lot of girls there.” He knew to add that piece of information so I wouldn’t go in there like a bat out of hell.
I was one step closer. The kid was useless to me, but I had to put the fear of whatever god he believed in deep into his soul.
“If you give them a hint of the repercussions that are to come, I will find you and I will end your pathetic life.” He gulped.
“I would stay away for a week. Find an actual job.”
And then I let him go.
My body was groaning in protest as I walked back to the car. I was getting closer to finding my wife. When I got to the end of the alleyway, I stopped, resting my head on the brick. There was fury and fear flowing through me. I was petrified of losing my wife, but I knew Vincenzo wouldn’t kill her.
He thought I was dead. She thought I was dead.
I was a ghost walking the streets looking for my warrior queen.
I was losing my patience, but my fear was also taking over.
Fear was a slow killer.
But I had something up my sleeve. While fear was dancing in my veins, love was erupting through my soul. Love made people do crazy things, and this savage queen would burn the world to find her queen, and Vincenzo would reap what he sowed for laying his filthy hands on my wife.
It was my motivation.
I slid into the passenger side of the car as Alexi got in the front and Malachi in the back. Thunder growled overhead, low and approving of the coming days. The city was awake and watching. I would find my wife, and the city would celebrate when Vincenzo was finally dead.
Hold on, amore mio.
I would find you, and there would be nothing left of Vincenzo but his screams painting the night sky.