Between Control and Chaos (Crimson Ice #7)

Chapter 1

One

Luca

“What do you mean my wife is missing? Is Zeke all right?” I rush past my father in haste, hurrying to the playroom to find Zeke standing and coloring at the easel.

“As you can see, Zeke is fine,” my father says, his expression grim.

How long has he known Harper has been missing? Why didn’t anyone call me the moment her disappearance was noticed?

I’m choking back silent sobs, my heart in my throat with worry. I hurry out of the playroom, not wanting Zeke to overhear and start crying.

He’s been doing so well, finally sleeping in his bed again and mostly sleeping through the night. We have Nikki and Paige to thank for helping get him back into his routine after the nightmares.

Nightmares caused by Santino DeLuca.

I blame my father, Dante, for those hellish dreams. Had he protected my family as promised, Zeke would be blissfully unaware of the dangers of the world. And Harper, she’d be home safe.

“Where is Harper? What do you mean she’s missing?” I rattle off one question after another. “She’s supposed to be at work.”

Clearly, she made it here to drop off Zeke. Did she not make it work? “Did anyone find her car?” I grab my keys from my pocket, prepared to drive the path to the bar to see if she broke down.

It’d dark outside; perhaps she followed the road or foolishly took a shortcut and got lost in the woods. The bar isn’t that far from the compound.

“Something happened at the bar,” Dante says and glances at Moreno, who is walking down the hallway, approaching us. “We’re not quite sure what. She was bartending and then—she was gone.”

“Gone?” I repeat. Harper wouldn’t just disappear. Not while at work. “What about her phone?”

“Still at the bar,” my father says.

“Her car?” I glance from my father to Moreno.

“Also at the bar. I don’t believe she left willingly.”

“Of course not!” She wouldn’t leave Zeke. I’d like to think she wouldn’t leave me, either, but I know for a fact that she’d never abandon her son.

“We’re going over surveillance, but there isn’t much to go on.

There’s no surveillance inside the bar, for obvious reasons, and the camera outside doesn’t show much.

The window from when she was last seen until someone noticed she was missing is rather wide.

There are several vehicles leaving during that time frame. ”

Are they telling me they have nothing? “No leads?”

“We have a few ideas,” Moreno says and glances at Dante, “but they are more like theories with potential for who might have taken Harper.”

“So, we’re in agreement she didn’t run away. Good.” I fold my arms across my chest. Not that I believe Harper would have fled again. “What about the DeLucas?” I ask. It seems the most plausible explanation. They are the obvious enemies.

“I have someone on the inside. If it’s the DeLucas, we’ll know soon.”

“Are you sure you can trust your source? Weren’t you concerned he betrayed you?” I ask, remembering when Harper confronted Dante, just a few short weeks ago in his office. After Santino’s death.

“She and I have no reason to believe in her betrayal. It is more likely she was unaware until it was too late. We still have good intel coming in from her.”

“Who is your source?” If Dante trusts me, he should give me that information.

Dante shakes his head. “No one you should know. The fact I’ve told you it’s a woman is dangerous enough for her. If she has information, she’ll provide it to us shortly.”

“How soon?” Does he not realize the urgency in finding Harper? The longer she’s gone, the less chance we’ll have of recovering her alive.

I click my tongue and grimace. “What about—there was this guy at the bar, he ordered drinks for himself and for Harper. What if it’s him?” Something felt off about that night, at least to me.

Dante’s eyes tighten. “When was this?”

Moreno silently exchanges a look with Dante that makes my stomach roil. Bile rises to my throat, and I swallow the burn back down.

It takes me only a second to recall the information. “Last Saturday. Can you comb through receipts?”

“I’ll look into it. I might have to drive over to the bar—” Moreno says.

“Why was your wife drinking on the job?” Dante’s question comes out more like an accusation. “Was it a slap in the face for making her work for me?”

I scoff at his suggestion and back away from him. “Not everything is about you, father.” The words come off snide and with disdain.

He’s certainly not my favorite person, and he’s not even making my top five.

“We will find Harper; after all, she’s family. We don’t leave our own behind.”

I can’t help but flinch at the realization that he now considers her family.

Mafia.

“Do whatever is necessary to find her,” Dante says and waves his hand, dismissing Moreno to go and work.

“Wait! She told me his name.” I pinch the bridge of my nose, my eyes slam shut, trying to remember what she’d said. “It starts with a J—”

Jeremy.

John.

Jacob.

“Jayden!” My eyes flash open as I meet my father’s stare.

He flinches and grimaces.

“Does that name mean anything to you?” I ask, but already, there’s a hint of recognition and anger, his hands balling into fists.

“Fucking Jaxson Monroe,” Dante growls and storms toward his office.

Who is that?

The name means nothing to me.

“What’s next? I can’t just sit around and wait for a ransom demand.” My breath catches in my throat, my world spins wildly on its axis, out of control.

Dante opens the office door. The room feels suffocating, and I back up a step.

“Are we sure the police didn’t show up? Maybe she was arrested?

” For some reason, that would be the easier solution, the happier ending, which doesn’t seem happy to me.

But I could hire her a lawyer, and at least I’d know she’s safe. Alive.

“Jayden is behind this mess. I can feel it.” Dante glances at Moreno. “Go find him. I don’t care if you have to wake all of them and interrogate them, find my daughter-in-law.”

He gestures for me to step into his office, and I relent, trudging inside. I can’t sit. I’m filled with nervous energy, and I stand behind the office chair, my hands on the back of the chair while Dante comes around to sit behind the desk.

“What would Jayden want with Harper?” I ask, completely unaware of who he is and why he would go after my wife.

Dante huffs under his breath, the answer to him, simple. “To get to me.”

“Harper wouldn’t betray you,” I say, confident that after what happened with Santino, she’d have zero desire to spill any of the family’s secrets or turn on Dante. She’s too heavily involved now after killing Santino; it would only incriminate both of us.

His jaw is tight and his eyes flicker. “She’s not stupid enough to rat you and herself out, but she might betray me.”

“She wouldn’t,” I say, instantly defending my wife. “Harper knows to keep her mouth shut because all of it ties back to us. She’s learned her lesson, understands her place in the business.”

Dante stares at me, raising an eyebrow, seemingly unconvinced. “Does she? Harper hasn’t been working for me for very long. I’ve had men with more years under their belt betray me.”

“She’s not like any of your men,” I roar.

Harper is different.

She’s softer.

Kinder.

Warmer.

She doesn’t deserve this.

“Are we sure Jayden is responsible for her abduction? We need to rule out all possibilities,” I say.

While I appreciate Moreno taking a car to check out Jayden or whoever he thinks is involved in Harper’s disappearance, time is of the essence.

Letting any other potential leads slip through the cracks could be deadly.

“Who else do you think might have taken her?” Dante asks, getting right to the point. “Jayden is our best suspect.”

“Do you have any other enemies?” I ask, staring at my father, assuming he’s the reason that she’s been taken.

His eyes flicker, and he clasps his hands together on the desk. Slowly, he tilts his head, his gaze never leaving mine. “Who’s to say I’m the one responsible or to blame? Your wife has a way of making enemies, son.”

I scoff and shake my head, pushing myself away from the chair and stalking the length of his office. It’s not very large, considering the size of the compound. But I suppose since it’s an interior room, it wasn’t intended to be large, it was more about protection, safety, and security.

“Aside from the DeLucas, who I blame, you are responsible for the mess we’ve dealt with. What other enemies does my wife have?” I approach Dante from the other side of my chair, standing over his desk, awaiting a response.

He merely shrugs. “Her parents don’t seem fond of her.”

“They didn’t kidnap Harper.” I roll my eyes at his suggestion.

“Never said they did. You asked about enemies. I suspect she may have a few others growing up. She’s got a baby daddy, Luca.”

“Who wanted nothing to do with Zeke.” I grind my teeth together, nearly chipping them, and shake my head.

“Perhaps that’s changed. We should look into this fellow, whoever he is, make sure that he isn’t after Harper and Zeke.” Dante rises from his chair and stalks around to the filing cabinet. “I’ll reach out to my police contact and make sure there’s no involvement from the baby daddy.”

Nova storms into Dante’s office without so much as knocking. “Where’s Harper?” The worry in her eyes tells me that she’s heard her best friend, my wife, is missing.

She’s not asking me.

Her question is directed at my father.

“We don’t know.” He’s calm, collected, like he’s done all this before and he’s not the least bit concerned about the outcome.

This isn’t just one of his men who disappeared.

She’s my fucking wife.

“How’d you hear?” I ask, glancing at Nova.

“Ashton heard Moreno and Nico were heading out. He offered to go with them, but Moreno suggested he could do more here to find Harper.” Nova stares at me, her eyes glassy. “Who would take her?”

“I’m not sure,” I say. “It could be this guy, Jayden, from the bar. Do you remember her telling you anything about him?”

Nova’s brow pinches. “She doesn’t talk about work.” She glances from Dante back to me. “Someone at the bar? You have all those cameras installed—”

“Outside the premises. Yes, but inside, there aren’t cameras because it’s where we do business. We’re not recording inside for problematic individuals to get ahold of.”

He means the police or feds.

“You forced my wife to work in your bar, and you don’t have any idea what happened when she disappeared on your watch.” My jaw ticks as I stand toe-to-toe with Dante. “Fix this!” I demand.

His eyes flinch for a fraction of a second. To almost anyone else, it would be unnoticeable. “We wait,” Dante says, his voice calm.

“For what?” I glare at him. “A ransom call? Should I just stare at my phone, hoping someone will reach out demanding money?”

Nova clears her throat, interrupting the storm between Dante and me. “What about the DeLucas? They broke into our home, we killed one of them, maybe they want revenge?”

Dante purses his lips. “It’s possible they’re behind the abduction, but if they are, as I’ve told Luca, we will find out soon enough.”

“How? From a ransom call? What if they don’t want anything except to hurt her?”

I wince, the realization a painful possibility I don’t want to acknowledge.

“We have someone on the inside,” Dante says. “If she’s alive and being held captive by the DeLucas, we will know soon enough.”

I don’t even want to consider that as a possibility. After Massimo’s and Santino’s deaths, if they have Harper, it’s not going to be for ransom.

It’ll be revenge.

Nova’s voice is soft, hesitant, as she says, “Maybe Harper will escape and call you.”

It’s wishful thinking.

Not that I don’t think Harper wouldn’t try to flee, but whoever has her, they’re not going to just let her go that easily. I shove Dante out of the way and take the seat behind his desk, taking command.

“What the hell are you doing?” Dante’s tone is fueled with shock, but he’s not screaming at me to move. Even if he were, I’d ignore him.

I open his desk drawer, retrieve a notepad and pen and scribble down every possibility as a list.

Man in bar offering Harper drinks. Jayden?

DeLuca’s men. Who is in charge?

Zeke’s bio dad.

It’s currently a short list. I glance at Nova. “Anyone else?”

“What if it’s someone like the feds? I mean the police would be loud, noticeable, if they came to arrest her. But what if it were someone who wanted her to turn against the family?” Nova suggests.

I grind my teeth together, praying that it isn’t the feds who got to Harper.

Feds?

Hospital.

“Do you think she’d have walked to the hospital, Luca?” Nova glances at me skeptically as she studies my list.

“No, but if she did escape, she doesn’t have her I.D. on her or her phone, maybe she hit her head,” I suggest. Right now, I’m hoping for a case of amnesia over a kidnapping. I feel physically sick.

Dante clears his throat. “I’ll have my men check the hospital, call to see if anyone matching her description was brought in tonight.”

“Any other ideas?” I ask, glancing at Nova and Dante.

Dante examines the notepad and taps his finger on the second line about DeLuca’s men. “Livia DeLuca, Santino’s widow, is running his empire. She’s as cruel and cutthroat as her father-in-law Massimo, from what I hear. She already murdered two capos who dared to consider taking her throne.”

“Livia, it is,” I say, putting her name down on my list beside DeLuca’s men. “She would certainly have a grudge against Harper, for killing Santino.”

Nova huffs under her breath. “He broke into Zeke’s room. Tried to kidnap a child. Sounds like a monster to me. And one with a motive.”

I meet Nova’s stare. “Are you in?”

I know she despises what we do. Deep down, she thinks she’s better than us, smarter because she isn’t tied up in our sinister dealings.

A small part of me is glad she’s protected, na?ve.

She rolls her lips together. There’s trepidation behind her features. “The bar guy, Jayden, seems like a long shot. I’d bet anything it’s Livia, the widow, behind Harper’s abduction.”

I bite down on my tongue.

I can’t know without a doubt, not yet. There isn’t any evidence, nothing to go on, and we can’t exactly reach out to the police.

“We take two teams and work out both leads. We can’t waste any time,” I say.

Dante watches me with enthusiasm, clearly pleased I’m taking the lead on my missing wife.

“Ashton is here already, but I’ll bring in Sophia and Liam. At the very least, they can help run down leads,” Dante says.

“Are there any of Luca’s friends you don’t intend to hire?” Nova snaps at my father.

“I would think you’d be happy for the extra bodies to scout the woods, make sure that Harper didn’t just get lost in the dark.”

I’d love to claim denial, but there’s no way Harper got turned around and couldn’t find the building.

I don’t buy it. “That’s more than just a little highly unlikely.

It’s impractical. Even if the light outside was out, there is enough light out front that she could have found her way to the parking lot and inside through the main doors. Someone took her.”

Dante sighs. “I agree as well, that seems the most likely scenario. The question is who.”