Chapter 46
EMILY
“Lorenzo, what’s going on?” asks Emily.
She has no idea what Dante said, but one look at my face must tell her something is terribly wrong.
“It’s Teddy, isn’t it? What happened?”
She looks at me, eyes wild. Face ashen.
“Is he … dead?”
Her voice doesn’t sound human as she asks the question.
She collapses to her knees, sobbing so violently it seems she can barely breathe.
“No, no,” I say, dropping to my knees and pulling her into my arms.
“He’s alive.” I press my lips to her hair. Then I hold her tighter as she continues to cry.
“But he’s been taken captive. The Russians have him.”
Emily looks up at me, blinking. “But why would the Russians take him? What do they want?”
I hold her against me, comforting her while I try to figure out the best way to tell her.
“They took Teddy to get to me and Dante. They’re trying to force the casino license deal.”
“Then give it to them!” says Emily, her panic rising again “Tell them it’s theirs!”
“It’s not that simple, Emily. If it were, we’d do that. But they want more.”
“Then give them whatever they want so Teddy comes back to me alive.”
I take a deep breath.
“We will bring him back alive. Dante has a plan. He and our best men are in a helicopter as we speak.”
I look Emily in the eye.
“I need you to stay calm enough to follow my instructions. I can’t bring Teddy home safely if I’m worried about you too.”
“All right, Lorenzo. I’ll try.”
She’s so light, so delicate, I can feel the bones beneath her skin.
“Now we have to move,” I say, half-dragging her toward the parking lot.
Before we reach it, she recognizes two of the men I’d assigned to guard Teddy. Black and Simmons.
“Look! There’re his guards!”
She rushes toward them, probably thinking they have information about Teddy.
But there’s something wrong with this picture.
Black’s hand disappears inside his jacket.
My stomach drops even before I see Black’s gun.
My hand reaches for my own gun before my mind can make sense of what I’m seeing.
I aim, shoot, and he goes down.
Simmons reaches for his weapon. I fire before he can draw.
Emily’s scream pierces the air.
Shit.
If Black and Simmons are compromised, Teddy’s entire security detail has been compromised.
“No questions,” I say to Emily, half dragging her toward my car.
I buckle her in tight.
“Emily. I’m going to drive fast. Very fast. Avoid screaming, clutching me, or anything that can distract me from our mission. Understand?”
“Yes. Yes,” she says.
“Good.”
We speed off.
I tear right through the exit gate when it doesn’t open fast enough. The wooden gate breaks apart as if in an action film.
“But how do you know where he’s being held?” she asks, wild-eyed when we’re on the main road.
“The tracker,” I say.
“What tracker?”
“The tracker on the keychain I gave him when we went out for ice cream.”
“And I never even suspected that,” she says, voice hollow.
Emily’s nails go white on the dash when I whip the wheel around another blind corner.
G forces compress us into our seats.
Emily digs for her phone.
“Don’t call anyone. They’ll trace the call,” I say.
She drops the phone like it burns. I can feel the tremors rolling off her.
My own hands are steady. Dry. Even though I’m mad as hell at myself for dragging Emily and her kid brother into this mess.
We blow through a red light, nearly crashing into a truck carrying a load of hay.
I look at the tracker, showing Teddy’s location just ten miles away.
“That’s my uncle’s summer house!” says Emily, startled.
I turn to look at her.
Those fucking Russians. I wonder if Emily’s uncle is a guest or a hostage.
“My uncle… was he part of this?” she asks, as if reading my mind.
“We don’t know all the facts,” I say, my voice low. “But it looks like that may be the case.”
As I spit the words out, I can’t imagine how it could be possible that her uncle would put Teddy, a child and his own flesh and blood, in jeopardy like that.
For now, there’s no time for her to make sense of her uncle’s possible betrayal. He’ll get what’s coming to him one way or the other.
On my tracker, I see the signal still moving. If Teddy is still carrying the keychain, he’s likely still alive.
But I don’t tell Emily. I need to keep everything close to my chest until it’s finally over.
I punch the gas toward the remote farmhouse.
The passing breeze sweeps Emily’s hair from her face, but she doesn’t complain about my speed.
The house appears at last from a distance.
It’s large but otherwise normal, without ostentation. Dante calls and I pick up the phone, careful to keep my game face for whatever he has to tell me.
“What did Dante say?” Emily asks once I hang up. “They’re landing now. I want you to stay in the car. No matter what happens.”
“But —
“Do not disobey me.”
I slow the car and swerve into a tall line of trees.
At the same time, I see Dante’s helicopter hover close to the grounds.
Two of his men jump out, guns in hand.
“Like I said, stay here,” I say, running to join them.