38. Chapter 38
Chapter 38
Ronan
“ I ’m just saying, you didn’t need to bring her to the warehouse.” Giaco sat across from my desk with his legs crossed and a look of disappointment on his face that matched our father’s. “What were you thinking?”
I pressed my fingers to my temple. “I already told you: I trust her. I needed to show her she can trust me, that she’s safe.”
“I hope you don’t regret that.” He dropped his leg to the floor and sat forward. “I don’t trust these detectives. They’re up to something.” It seemed like the feds were always up to something—always trying to pin some chain of crimes on our family to get us put away for as long as possible. It didn’t usually work, but they kept trying.
“I won’t regret it.” When my phone started to ring on the desk, I laughed. “Speak of the devil.” My brother looked unamused, but I answered the phone anyways, holding up a finger to him. “Hey, sugar. I was hoping I’d hear from you today. How are you feeling?”
“I think something is wrong,” she said, and my lungs slammed into my chest, knocking the wind from them. Her voice was shaking, and it sounded like she was trying to stay quiet.
“What do you mean something is wrong?” I asked her, sitting up straight. Giaco sat up straight too, suddenly interested in my conversation.
There was rustling from her end of the line, followed by a huff and a clatter like the phone was dropped. Then, I heard her scream, and red fogged my vision. I listened to what sounded like people fighting, the muffled thud of one body against another.
“Nellie!” I shouted, already convinced she wouldn’t hear me. I yelled again anyways. “Nellie, what’s going on?”
She didn’t answer. I heard a scuttle, and then it sounded like the fight was further away, but when she screamed again, the sound pierced through me. The third scream was quieter, shorter, and then she was silent. “Fuck!” I hung up the phone and slammed it against my desk. “Something is wrong.”
I didn’t have to tell Giaco that before he was standing behind me and looking over my shoulder at the computer. Nellie had insisted she didn’t want me to install cameras, but Carlo couldn’t see the back of the bakery. I told her I would protect her—that nothing would happen to her.
“What are you doing?” Giaco asked when I started furiously typing, pulling up the camera feed.
“I’m checking the cameras.” The video started playing, and I backed it up ten minutes to just before she called me.
Nellie had walked into the bakery, looking around and shouting for Ava. “Is that a flashing light?” Giaco asked, pointing to the corner of the screen. I nodded.
“What the fuck is that?” I asked, and it looked like Nellie had asked herself the same. That’s when she pulled out her phone—likely to call me. I watched the hefty body come out of the shadow and put the bag over her head, and when she struggled, I gritted my teeth together.
I tried to get a good look at the man when he put his arm around her shoulders and pulled back against her neck, but his face wasn’t clear in the shadow. Then, he turned. He placed his hand over her mouth, and she struggled, forcing him to turn toward the camera enough that I saw his face.
“Son of a bitch,” I cursed, standing and grabbing my phone. “I have to go.”
Giaco leaned in. “You can’t just run out of here like that without a plan. That’s when people get hurt.”
“Nellie has been taken, Giaco.” My chest heaved with painful, shallow breaths.
He put his hands on my shoulders. “I know that, but if you run into this without a clear head, you’re giving whoever that is exactly what they want. An easy target.”
“I know exactly who it is,” I snapped. “I know where she’s at.”
He pointed to the video on the screen. “How do you know? You have a half-shadowed figure at best.” I shook my head, zooming in on the stilled frame. “Son of a bitch,” Giaco repeated when he recognized him too.
“I knew he was Irish,” I said. “I recognized him as soon as I got back. He’s been working over at Nikki’s club too.”
“ Marone! ” My brother seethed. “Why didn’t you say something?”
“I don’t have time for questions right now. Someone has my girl, and I need to go get her.” I clenched my jaw. “I made her a promise.”
Giaco nodded, turning back to the zoomed-in image on the screen and narrowing his eyes. The vein in his neck that popped when he was angry looked like it could burst. “Take Enzo,” he demanded. “And keep me updated.”
“I will.”