31. Sly
The amount of people in my home while my wife is missing is a problem. Instead of continuing to look for her, everyone is crowded around my kitchen, yelling at each other while I stand against the wall, watching it in what seems to be slow motion.
It’s been four hours since Vinnie was due to arrive home. Four hours of my heart feeling like it’s been ripped from my body, and like my lungs are being squeezed with an iron fist.
And to learn that it’s not just my wife missing, but our child she carries, too? It feels as though the rug has been swept from beneath me—like the world is playing a cruel, cruel joke.
I spent hours riding around the city on my Ducati, swerving in and out of traffic as I looked everywhere I could think she might be.
Raina searched the stores she enjoys shopping at.
Cecilia searched all of Central Park on foot.
Sully and Nixon went to the grocery store where Sully ran into her, then back to her apartment to see if she turned up there.
Luciano and Enzo went their separate ways, not elaborating on where exactly they searched, but I trust Luciano went to the places he thought he may find his sister. Lorenzo, I can’t be too sure he even looked for her, but his presence counts for something.
Wasting no time, Luciano looped his father in, and Maurizio pulled together his security team to start their search. And still, there has been no sign of her anywhere.
But I know who is behind this. I know it as certain as I know the sky is blue, and the grass is green.
“Think, Luciano. He’s your brother. Where could he have taken her?” Raina snaps, glaring at him from across the island. She is confident Joseph’s behind this, too.
He glares back, holding her eye contact as they play a silent battle of the wills. She swipes at a tear that falls, then crosses her arms over her chest, never looking away.
I know she feels guilty. She and Vinnie track each other through their cell phones, and Raina immediately thought of that, only seconds later to realize I have her cell phone. Watching the hope drain from her face was just another sucker punch to my gut.
“Have they checked his apartment? The office building he works out of?” Cecilia asks no one in particular.
“Of course they’ve checked those places. My father and his men went there first,” Luciano counters. “His car was at his apartment, too, which is unsettling.”
“Could he have hijacked Ross’s car?” Cecilia questions, the fear evident in her voice. Sully shifts closer to her but keeps his hands to himself.
“It seems like the most logical of explanations,” Nixon chimes in. “Have you tried calling him?”
“I did earlier, it just rang.”
“Try again,” Sully urges.
The sound of everyone’s voices is like nails on a chalkboard as I rack my brain about where they could be.
I’m also battling with myself silently. The monster within is clawing his way out—the only thing I can think of aside from bringing Vinnie home safely is killing Joseph for what he’s putting my wife through.
I’m on the verge of snapping.
My cousin catches my eye from where he sits at my kitchen island, wiping the condensation off a bottle of water with his thumb. He hasn’t said much this entire time, and I briefly wonder how he’s feeling. What he’s thinking.
It’s no secret he’s struggling to accept my marriage to Vinnie because of who she is, but I know my cousin as well, and with the Lucchettis, family is family. Because of that, I can see the confliction on his features each time I look at him. And I understand it, truly I do.
Her father killed his father.
Separating years of hate won’t happen overnight, especially when Enzo and Joseph have had many altercations. The time Enzo and his friend showed up at my clinic after his friend was shot, enters into my mind, and I’m transported into the memory.
What happened?” I asked again, walking to my cabinet to grab supplies.
“Intel gone wrong,” Enzo said, his tone clipped.
“Intel on what?”
“Just a business situation,” he snapped, and I take note of his annoyance.
“Don’t be so casual about it, man,” Nathaniel interjected. “Fuckin’ Paladino assholes shot at us!”
My head snapped over to Enzo. “Paladino? Enzo, what are you doing starting a war with the Paladinos?”
“I’m not starting anything, cousin. I’m just gathering information. Seeing what they’re up to.”
“If Papà finds out?—”
“He won’t.”
“But he will, and when he does?—”
“He won’t find out, Sly. I have it handled.”
“They shot at you.”
“It’s fine, we were just spotted this time and?—”
“IT COULD BE YOU ON MY TABLE RIGHT NOW,” I screamed, losing all control, my sense of level-headedness completely gone. “Or worse, Lorenzo. You could be dead. And for what? Information?”
“I’m going to bring them down, Sly. If it”s the last thing I do, the Paladinos will get what”s coming to them. Maurizio will pay for what he did to my father.”
The memory swirls away, and realization dawns on me. Stepping forward, I stand beside Luciano.
“Lorenzo, do you recall the time your friend was shot after you went looking for information on the Paladinos?”
He looks at me, his eyes narrowing slightly as he recalls the memory himself. “Yeah.”
“Where were you when that happened?”
“At the Paladino’s warehouse down by the docks.”
Turning to Luciano, I bark, “Get your father on the phone.”
He glances at me, then pulls his phone from the pocket of his coat. Maurizio answers on the first ring, his voice radiating through the phone’s speaker. “Did you find her?”
“I should ask you that question, Father, you’re the one out there looking.”
“Call your contact at the NYPD, Maurizio,” I demand over Luciano. “I think I know where she is, and unless you want me to have the death of your son on my hands, I suggest you have them meet us there.”
“We don’t know he took?—”
“Yes, I do,” I say with pure confidence. “They’re at the docks. They have to be.”
Luciano and I make eye contact, and he nods before taking his father off speakerphone. “We’ll meet you there.”
I’m already halfway to the door when Raina yells, “Wait up!”
“No,” I say over my shoulder. “Joseph is dangerous. You’re staying here.”
“You can’t expect me to just wait here—she’s my best friend!”
“And she’s my wife!” I say firmly, turning on my heel to face her as I swipe my keys from the entryway table. “What kind of husband would I be—man would I be—if I allowed my wife’s best friend to be put in harm”s way? Stay here, Raina. Stay with Cecilia. Sully, Enzo, and Nix will wait with you.”
“Like Hell I will,” Nixon grumbles, striding through my living room. “Let’s go, I’m driving.”
“This is bullshit,” Raina complains again. I’m about to retort when Luciano steps close to her, engulfing her with his size.
His voice is low when he says, “Vinnie will be happy to know you’re here, safe. For once in your life, don’t be a pain in the ass, Raina. Stay for her.”
Quickly, she wipes away another tear, and I can’t help but notice the way Luciano’s fingers stretch out by his side, as though he wants to reach up and wipe them for her.
Then he turns and stalks toward where Nixon and I stand. “Let’s go find my sister.”
As we approach the building Luciano points out as the one belonging to his father, Nixon cuts the lights, drenching my SUV in total darkness as we park several yards away. “We should go the rest of the way on foot, so we have the element of surprise.”
“Has your father responded about whether la polizia is on their way?” I ask, looking at the building to see if there is any movement.
“He says they’re five minutes out.”
“And where is he?” I ask, noticing a shadow through a closed window shade directly ahead. Reaching forward, my hand clasps the handle of the passenger door, my instincts kicking over into high gear to go investigate, just as a small knock comes from the window.
Turning, I see Maurizio standing there, along with the butler—who is also his head of security—Capaul, and another man I don’t recognize.
Pushing open the door, they step back to give it space, and I get out. “He’s in there,” I tell them with urgency. “I saw his shadow.”
“We still don’t know it’s Joseph,” Maurizio states. “The police are on their way, let’s let them handle this.
“The way you handled Joseph at the dinner? You barely said a word when he began yelling with great hostility, and now that he’s taken Vinnie, you want to wait?”
“It seems a little peculiar that you’re so keen on proving that it’s my son in there. Maybe I should be wondering why that is.” The accusation in his tone enrages me, and it takes everything I have to not lose all control.
My hands ball into fists by my side, and I slam the car door shut. “If you are so uncertain of my intentions, then explain to me why someone with the Lucchetti name would go to such lengths to protect a Paladino. The moment Vincenza entered my life, she became my priority, and I will not stand here while you accuse me of having ill-intentions.” I push past him with a rough bump of my shoulder.
Behind me, the sound of two car doors closing reverberates through the night, and gravel crunches beneath the footsteps that follow.
“Then wait for the police and let them handle it,” Maurizio hisses as he stumbles behind me.
“I’m not wasting another second, Maurizio. My wife is inside there—your daughter. Don’t you value her safety?”
“Of course I do,” he snaps.
“Then act like it,” I snarl, quickening my pace. My eyes are trained on the window of the warehouse, watching for any more movement. I’d be shocked if Joseph can’t hear us coming with how loud this argument has become.
“Don’t be reckless. Those are my children in there,” Maurizio says with exasperation.
“Now you believe it’s Joseph? Which is it, Maurizio? Did he take her, or did he not?” I argue, my voice in a whisper as we get closer to the window I saw movement in.
“Shh,” Nixon commands, pressing his body against the side of the building. His gun is in his hand, ready for anything.
The blinds of the window are open enough to see through them, which I am grateful for. Carefully, I peer through the small opening, and rather than seeing the shadow that was moving around just moments ago, I look through the window on the opposite side of the room that shows through to the warehouse.
Immediately, I see the back of Vincenza, seated just a few feet from the glass, her body slumped forward slightly as she sits in a metal chair with her hands tied behind it.
I don’t think when I see her, the feeling of desperation seizes my body, and rather than force myself to keep calm, I find myself crying out her name.