Desidario (El Fuego de los Muertos #1)

Yakov Dorfman 1.

“They took Sophie by mistake…he wants Sophia.”

There is a moment of silence…a single heartbeat as my words echo around the room, the taste of them bitter on my tongue before they turn to ash.

I wanted to be wrong, desperately. I wanted any other explanation and motive for Thijs Teuling’s actions.

I needed Hiram Goldman to be dead, yet even from the grave he is destroying his daughters one by one. First Dottie and now…fuck.

My precious Sophia. Our sweetling.

“NOOO!!!” Sophia wails, collapsing in Monty’s arms. Tev pushes me with a nod and I rush to her.

Sitting on the couch, the others give us room as Monty and I situate her across us, each holding her tight.

Monty’s soulful eyes are devastated, as are mine, but it’s the lifeless, blank stare of Sophia that has tears streaming down our faces.

“Baby.” I whisper in her ear, my breath hitching when she doesn’t respond. I look to Monty for help, but he shakes his head, not knowing what to do any more than I do.

“Monty, Yak. Can I take a look?” Vandy kneels in front of us, cautious but kind, her hands in view as she patiently waits for our answer. We nod and she begins examining a catatonic Sophia while Tev fills everyone in on what we discovered.

“Teuling is fucking pissed Goldman fucked him over again. He’s out a lot of money and no pussy to show for it.”

“TEVYE!”

“Sorry, Mom, but now seems like the time to be fucking direct. The mercenaries he hired were instructed to capture all Kosher Nostra women to hide his intended target. When the second attempt failed after the wedding venue, Teuling got sloppy and posted the contract, looking for new hired help. The original mercs wanted the pay out, so they tried again.” Tev swallows hard, fighting his own emotions.

Sophie Schlay is like a cousin to him, not by blood but by heart and deed.

She is a beloved member of this family and the organization.

My gaze shifts to her parents, Sarah and Morris.

He holds his wife, though both remain composed and I admire their strength in the face of uncertainty.

We will get her back, I know we will. I am torn between my duty to the mishpocheh…

and my duty to my heart. Vandy whispers to Sophia, soft and reassuring, but I know if our girl can hear any of what is being said…

it will only make it worse. Her heart is so big, and she will blame herself for Sophie’s abduction.

“Sophie has been dating a man named Clark Smith.”

Tovah snorts, “She would never date a man named Clark.”

Tev glares at his twin. “Well, she was for months.”

“She never said…” Sarah trails off, Jonah and Harper crowding around her and Morris for support.

Jonah is pissed. His jaw is clenched, his fists flexing at his sides, until Harper twines her fingers with one of his hands and rests her head on his shoulder.

His sister has been taken, no doubt bringing up memories of Harper’s abduction a couple years ago.

“The merc killed him, used his phone to lure her out of the compound and to her condo. Once she was inside, they killed Sam and Matt, then they tussled with Shul, shot him, and left him for dead.”

“He’s at the hospital.”

“We know.” Tev steps further into the room and reluctantly, I rise to stand next to him.

Monty squeezes my hand briefly before releasing.

It hurts to move away from Sophia, but I won’t let Tev face this on his own.

“They used the guards’ phones to check in while they entered her condo, tranquilized her, and carried her out in a suitcase. ”

“FUCK!” Jonah bellows, picking up a vase and chucking it against the wall.

“She was stripped of any tracking device. We’ve searched traffic cams and area surveillance; we lost them on their way out of the city. We aren’t sure what Teuling will do when he realizes they have the wrong woman.”

“Why go after Sophia in the first place?” Moshe asks and Tev looks to me.

“Part of Goldman’s deal to enter the flesh trade in Cuba was to provide collateral.”

Dottie sniffles and I notice she and her sisters are now surrounding Monty and Sophie. “Like me.”

“Baird wasn’t the only one he made a deal with.”

“Are we all in danger?” Blanche asks as if she’s up to the challenge.

“We’re still looking into it. Goldman was a fucking moron, but he occasionally kept things close to the chest, that’s why we didn’t find this sooner.”

I glance at Tev and then look Blanche, Rose, and Dottie in the eyes. “I’m sorry…I should have…it’s my fault that—”

“Stuff it, Yak,” Blanche spits out.

Moshe points at Blanche. “What she said. Is there a way to find her or her abductors again?”

“We have our programs running, however we only have partial views of a few of the guys, so the facial recognition will be more difficult.”

Nodding, Moshe runs his thumb over his bottom lip in thought.

“I want all Teuling’s American holdings, anyone he’s ever done business with stateside.

Once we’ve established his connections here, we can move abroad.

He can’t have her shipped overseas right away, we control the ports on the coast, so he’d have to take her somewhere else to get out of the United States. We need to find them before he does.”

My phone beeps with an alert, a second later Tev’s does too. “Teuling is in Florida.” I say absently. “He flew under an alias, but the program caught his appearance at a private airport near Miami.”

“Call Diaz.” I nod at Moshe’s command. That would have been my suggestion as well.

“If he wants to trade…” Morris steps up toe-to-toe with me. “We trade.” I don’t think, I just swing with a mighty roar, connecting with Morris’s glass jaw and knocking him back a step before he crumples to the ground.

Jonah mutters, “Moses, Aaron, and Miriam, I’m about to die,” then takes a swing of his own in my direction. Tev reaches out and grabs Jonah’s fist, twisting Jonah’s arm around his back.

Morris shakes his head with a groan, but “elderly” or not, he gets back up on his feet. “That’s my daughter!”

I point to Sophia. “That’s my fucking woman!”

“I know!” I’m not sure what to respond to that, so I glare at him, my chest heaving.

“I didn’t mean literally give him what he wants!

Fuck you for thinking I would ever trade one person for another, even my…

even for my daughter.” I blink, trying to process his words, the violent surge within me ebbing. “Arrange the deal, then kill him.”

David places a hand on Morris’ shoulder with a wry smile. “I would have initially phrased that differently.”

Morris nods, rubbing his jaw. A bruise already forming on the swelling. “I’ll remember that next time.”

“Yak, Tev, get me the information we need, track Teuling’s movements, and someone get Diaz on the fucking phone.”